I made this #dailysketchext at the tender age of 16, on a trip to London & Paris -- my first time to ever fly out of the country! I posted this to remind myself how satisfying it is to sketch my hotel view (or whatever) instead of simply making an image of it, even if it's a great image. There is something more personal about this, more authentic. Honestly, it probably comes down to this: when using a camera to express myself I am still having to work within the framework of the camera's limitations -- the characteristics of the lens, the film or digital back, the range of values/detail it can record, etc. -- but when I draw, I am directly recording what I see and feel straight from eye to hand to paper. As much as I have loved and continue to love photography, sometimes there is something very fulfilling about cutting out the middleman.
As for myself, because of work I began to pull away from drawing and painting and focusing only on photography for a while. Oddly enough, this burnt me out in a way, even though I was doing artistic work. I guess it's that photography is great, but in some ways it's like it's too easy. I think this is why I'm looking into Production Design/Art Direction because it seems to have more of that artistic challenge I am looking for while still being within the confines of a camera/photography.