Hey friends and other human beings! This week, I am back with another edition of Five Things Friday. This is a list of five things that have been buzzing around in my head this week — be they podcasts, books, news articles, hobbies, games, whatever. This week, I talk about my love for film shooting, how to overcome imposter syndrome through immersion therapy and getting away with campaign finance fraud.
Without further ado, here are five things for this Friday:
1. I like shooting film more than digital photography
Call me a luddite but one thing I learned from the Terminator movies is to never trust robots because they may come back from the future to kill you. I wrote a post about why I love shooting film photography last week. If you haven’t check it out already, now’s your chance!
2. Immersion therapy for imposter syndrome
Speaking of photography, I went to my first-ever photography conference/expo/shindig. It actually may be the first conference I’ve ever been to that wasn’t some kind of religion conference.
I’ve been reflecting on the experience throughout the week. I should say I went under the impression that I would just be able to look at a lot of cool new cameras and that may be the only reason I ever actually crossed the threshold of the Kentucky International Convention Center. Once there, however, I discovered it was one of the largest trade gatherings for photographers in the U.S.
To my slight disappointment, I found the amount of cool gear to look at and play with was rather limited. And, to my surprise, it was actually a humungous gathering for photographers to network, learn, explore other non-camera-related gear, and generally have a good time. Ya know, conference stuff.
For the most part, I felt like a complete fish-out-of-water, an outsider, one who didn’t really belong. Every step I took on the convention floor, I almost heard my imposter syndrome smacking me over the head. I’m not an artist, a photographer, a creative person!
It took a couple of familiar faces and an invitation to a photo walk to really snap me out of it. I don’t know that I was really cured of my imposter syndrome. I wriggled with self-consciousness over my clothes, my gear, my work.
I did find that when I stopped caring about those things and focused on the whole reason we were there — namely, a love of photography — well, all the other stuff seemed to fade away a little. I leaned into curiosity and opened myself up to conversation with strangers. I took time for myself when I needed it. I found some kind of space for me in the giant crowd of very professional, very artistic photographers.
Ultimately, I came away realizing that despite being an entirely different focus than the conferences I’m used to going to, there are some universals for these kinds of gatherings. We all just want to connect with people who kind of speak the same language we do. We want to learn from each other. And no matter how uncool, unimpressive or small you may feel, there are still people who will want to talk to you, remember who you are and think you might have something worth sharing with the world.
3. One thing worth reading: Trump’s PACs Spent Roughly $50 Million on Legal Expenses in 2023 by Maggie Haberman and Shane Goldmacher
The 2024 election cycle has already had quite a bit of shenanigans in terms of campaign finance. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, for example, moved funding from a PAC he controlled to a Super PAC in ways that tow the line of campaign finance laws at best. His campaign then in turn outsourced much of its operations to a supporting Super PAC.
But the fact that former President Donald Trump can use campaign funds to pay his own legal bills seems to be a horse of whole different breed. From the article:
"Donald J. Trump piled up legal expenses in 2023 as he was indicted four times, spending approximately $50 million in donor money on legal bills and investigation-related expenses last year, according to two people briefed on the figure.
It is a staggering sum. His lone remaining rival in the 2024 Republican primary, Nikki Haley, raised roughly the same amount of money across all her committees in the last year as Mr. Trump’s political accounts spent paying the bills stemming from his various legal defenses, including lawyers for witnesses."
4. Song of the week: HAPPY LIFE by Judah and the Lion
The sun popped out for the first time in months in Louisville and I just feeling like bouncing. So a bouncy song for this bouncy Friday (albeit with a not-so-bouncy message).
5. Words of the week from Annie Dillard:
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.
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