Photo Journal slash Diary - my way.
Auto-portrait with a fountain pen, ©Piotrek Ziolkowski, 2014
I have a photo journal which I use for all sorts of photography related ideas, notes, quotes and plans. I've used it for a few years now but to be honest, filling these pages had not always been fun. Quite often it felt like a chore or some sort of self imposed duty- and I'm not good with self imposed duties. The theory of keeping a journal is easy, everyone who watched Indiana Jones[1] knows it's vital. It was the practical side of having a journal I was struggling with.
Buying a Moleskin was the only option form me - I loved the quality, simplicity of the journal but also the fact it had been used by so many highly creative people. The only change I might make in the future is buying a lined one. Blank pages are better for drawing but a messy writer like me needs a bit of a structure on the page. Obviously, the only acceptable color for a journal is black. My all non Moleskin journal slash diaries have failed...
I keep losing pens, and when I use them some of them are black, some red, some blue... I am not a person troubled by Obsessive Compulsive behavior but there is something attractive about a nice looking, handwritten page in one color. Quite a lot of ballpoint pens aren't nice to use, the writing doesn't flow. Enter the chore and self imposed duty.
So when I came across a Lamy I was caught. They are light, come in cool colors, comfortable to hold and work great. I picked the high visibility yellow after my first diving knife - stuff gets lost in murky waters very easily and bright (some would say eye hurting) colors help to locate stuff that got lost. I can spot my pen from miles now and because I really like it and it cost me 50 bucks - I do pay attention where I leave it.
Since then I've been writing like crazy: walls, tables, hands... well not really but I like to write in my Indiana Jones inspired journal again :)
All I had to do was to turn something boring into something a little bit fun and personal. Also, if it wasn't for the Lamy fountain pen I would never taken this picture. I was re-reading "Street Photography Now" and making notes and suddenly I was looking at a photograph. Not a photograph in a book, I was looking at a random scene that could be turned into one. And it was.
Piotrek Ziolkowski
[1] It turns out Indy's Journals are available on Ebay. I shouldn't be surprised really - there are people out there who can speak Klingon.