Getting stuck

Just a bit of a catch up on my thoughts..

Recently I’ve felt a little lost with where I am with my work. Yes, we all go through peaks and troughs of the creative cycle and I guess I’m just at the lower end of one at the moment. For no other reason than I’m looking for a new creative direction to go in and something to fire up my excitement. This doesn’t mean that I’m sat around not making any new work, in fact on the contrary. I know that my way through this little rut is to explore and see where I end up. I’m doing just that but there lays another issue; I feed my creativity with new material (mostly photographic books) and I get inspired by the works of others. This in turn then makes me want to go out and work like that individual. The frustration comes when I see myself doing this and I have to back track with the work I’m making. Why go backwards, well, I have to be careful that I don’t fall into the trap of simply copying these individuals. I have ventured out with my camera and produced images that aren’t really mine, obviously at best only copying others styles. I think any trained eye would spot this insincerity in my photography voice but worse, I know I’m not producing work that’s honest to me.

What am I thinking at the moment – I know I will find a new direction or excitement wrapped up in there somewhere and I just have to work through it to figure it out. Chances are its not going to be a game changer but rather something that compliments the gradual progression that everyone’s work goes through.

For now I am still working my way through my recent images from my trip to the Cornish coast. But as always, I keep an eye on the direction I’m heading in with the things I am shooting today. I’m sure that something will immerge soon and look like a nice continuation – but we know otherwise!.. all the work that goes on in the background is real

What’s your thoughts, and how do you get around those creative ruts? Always great hearing from you guys who take the time to read this, so I’d love to hear from you if you have time. I’m sure you know where to find me on Instagram.

keep creative and have fun (I’m also taking heed of this)

Dan

Risk and no reward

Risk and no reward, a few thoughts on Instagram.

I find it interesting at times using Instagram as a means of getting my work out into the world. Other than posting work to my website (something I tend to do when it’s a little bit more polished and I have found a thread of something interesting to explore), I post images that I’m happy to share with the world onto Instagram. This is definitely the best way to get the work out there and in front of the eyes of the many - Well that’s the idea anyway. These aren’t always the images that are going to be going to be used within a body of work, but they are nice to share and give a flavour of direction I’m interested in.

This is where it starts to get interesting; If I post tried and tested types of images I will get a positive response. Instagram generally rewards images like this by showing them to more people once it gets initial interest. If however, I post images that are more experimental and perhaps explore a different avenue that I’m interested in, then I don’t always get that initial interest and we know how that plays out.     

Now the problem that we face is this – Do we just post images that have a higher chance of success or do we experiment?

But there’s a catch! (there always is). If we declare we are artists and we will follow the direction life takes us with our work. The work generated has great potential and could tread new ground but chances are we aren’t going to get any momentum. And no momentum equals that very few people are going to see it. Perhaps that’s not important and we make the work and its just for us –  and that’s fine.

Now if we post images that follow a pattern of greater success, yes there is a lot better chance the images will be seen and possibly well received, giving us access to a larger audience and in return opportunities to do things with our images. but that will be at the cost of no longer being free to produce the work you truly want to, you become trapped by your own success and end up following a narrow path.

What if there was a third option?

There are anyway more options - you just have to draw your own little option box and put a tick in it. I didn’t even bother to label it, just ticked it and that was enough. I guess if you did want to pencil in a label, it would probably say ‘Dan’.

So off I walk into the sunset doing my own thing (well twilight more often than not in my case) I produce work that comes from only pleasing my eye. I think I have travelled down a path that I see things in a certain way and can’t help but produce the images that fit me. I’m hoping this makes sense, I guess its like talking in your natural accent, you cant help but speak in that way. The important thing for me is not being afraid to just be me and continue to explore the possibilities. 

I do like to try a number of things out and constantly experiment with new ideas. They often fail but every soe often it leads me to a new place and thought process. I dare say this is why I photography the little fair ground on the beach so much. It teaches me that there’s has to be new ways of looking and working. 

I think I’ve been waffling on there. Back to the thoughts on Instagram; I think you have to be honest to yourself. What do you want from your work and the places you share it. If you want to feel success, then work at it – there are no short cuts. (I just want to say ‘success’ has many forms. My success is the enjoyment of what I do). I think its important to do what you love, especially if it’s a personal pursuit.  I am also pleasantly surprised form time to time with responses to my more experimental work. I think its important to try and stay fresh and keep your work moving. I try to find the edges of what my work can be, before it just becomes a mess of colour. Sometimes those experimental images set a bit of an unexpected spark.

Where do I need to be to take new images?

Now the UK has started to ease on the latest lockdown, and we can start venturing out a little further, where do we go and what do we do?

I have had so many conversations with people, where they have said that they need to travel again, see new places and get some fresh air. For sure this is important, and something that I’m also very much looking forward to doing. Albeit within the UK for the foreseeable year but, it will be great to rediscover my own country. This got me thinking; what am I going to photograph when I get to these new locations?

The answer is, I really don’t know and that ok, it’s all part of the excitement for me. It’s the unknowing of what’s around the corner. I have a bag of tricks, and by that, I mean that I have been building my way of seeing locations. I have taken the time during lockdown to photograph one place constantly. That’s not without its challenges and like physical training, you become conditioned to the exercise. My exercise is to make new images from very little and try not to repeat myself. Indeed, this is hard and I’m far from perfect but that’s why we exercise. I keep working at it and finding new ways of approaching a problem. Sometimes when I’m lucky, I figure a new frame out.

My goal is to be able to take a photo anything and of anywhere but still in my own voice. What I must try and do, and this is the difficult part – finding the things that interest me. It sounds so simple but when we start traveling to new places everything becomes overwhelmingly interesting. The trick for me will be to start zeroing in on that thing that attracts me. That can be anything at all, but once I have found a little something, then I need to make a frame that speaks in my voice.  

I really don’t know what is going to happen but ill take my camera and capture what makes sense to me. Hopefully, this will lead to something creative.

Have I got it all figured out?

I have had a few conversations recently with different people that have mentioned that I seem to have got it all figured out with my photography and creative process.

Its interesting how people perceive my work from different perspectives, so let’s burst this bubble to get it out the way – I have very little figured out. I think Instagram has a lot to answer for on this misconception. Its easy to look at something online and draw conclusions based on your own thoughts, but this is often all they are.

Everyone’s process is different so there is no one size fits all when it comes to creativity. The only thing that seems to be a common thread when I’ve talking to other creatives, is taking your own path. This again is something different for everyone with a variety of starting points and different forks within it to navigate.

I have been taking photography somewhat serious for about 16 years now but its only in the last 4 years that I would say that I have got onto a path that I’m now enjoying. In these last few years, I have seen many people pick up a camera for the first time and get onto a path that has led to great places. But that is their journey and as tempting as it may be to try and replicate what they have done, it would not work. How do I know this, well trying to mimic would only get me so far faking it. The biggest realisation I had was that I had to produce the work that really excites me, it’s the images that I produce as a default setting. This doesn’t mean I don’t have to try, I have to put a lot of effort in, but I know I have to produce the images that satisfy my eye. This thought process was the start of the path that I’m now on – making the images that I care for and that aren’t reactions to what I think others might like.

Its seems that the genre of photography that I’m interested in has taken an exciting turn in the last few years and with that has come some approaches that I’m not a fan of. A competitive edge seems to have taken root and I see many feel the need to get onboard with that. For me, I’ve never really been that competitive, probably why I like photography. It’s a chance for me to walk out into the world and explore it with a camera. I very much enjoy the creative process and when I get into the flow of it, hours can pass by without me noticing. This is what drives and excites me, and probably the only thing that we can figure out. Once we know what we want to do, we have to put the work in to actually doing it. The more you work at it the more it pays off.

This is the lure of photography, it looks so simple, and yes, the mechanics of it are once you lean how to control your camera. The hard part is working out what to point the camera at and when to capture that moment. That has very little to do with the camera and all to do with what’s going on in your head.

So what do I know, what have I figured out?

Be honest with myself about the work I want to produce and produce it!

Take inspiration from others but don’t copy.

Be patient – 16 years and counting.

Turn my weaknesses into strengths – I don’t know what I want to photograph but I know what I don’t like, so I just please my own eye. (sometimes that leads to images that not many others like but that’s fine).

There are no short cuts so take the harder path and put the work in.

Take the rough with the smooth, there are many knock backs but learn to ride over them.

Most importantly, to enjoy what I do – otherwise why bother!

I saw a ship

I was driving the other day and thinking about photography. I was not feeling partially inspired and being honest had been feeling a little creatively lost. I’d been feeling like this for a little while, I don’t think winter and a long lockdown doesn’t help matters. Creativity comes in waves and we all go though those good times but equally the periods of drought, and this was one of those periods.

I was thinking what I should do and what to photograph when I had the chance, the more I thought, the greater my frustration grew with the lack of ideas and any motivation at all. Obviously, this was not a great time to put pressure on myself to get creative, as there was very little I could do even if I had come up with an idea. This didn’t stop the feeling of frustration and there was nothing I could do but carry on driving.

As many of you know already or from viewing my work, I live by the sea. As I continued driving I was getting closer to the docks area and as I turned a corner I could see the top of a massive ship. The sunlight was hitting it from a low angle and showing all the details of the white painted metal work along with all the antennas and everything else that is sticking out of a ship. With everything painted white it had a uniformity to all the details. All those details of the white structure were sat beautifully against a clear blue sky and as soon as seeing this, it reminded me of Edward Hoppers paintings.

That was exactly what I needed to see, it was little a nudge of inspiration. Not that I was going to photography the ship (mainly because to make the photos I would have wanted, I would need to be hovering at the side of the ship and I don’t yet have an Annie Leibovitz size budget for a shoot). But this view reminded me that I do not need to figure everything out. I will see things that resonate with me and I will react to them. The inspiration will come when I get out and see things with a creative eye.

I got lucky that day that I was falling into a rut and saw something that sparked a creative thought. I know that this is rarely the case but it did show me that I need to trust myself and get out there. I will see things that work for me and I just have to photograph them. Sometimes it will work other times it wont but the interest and excitement will come in the process.    

By lanes of your city - Interview

Recently I was interviewed by Anshul Raj Khurana of By Lanes Of Your City, on my photography.

Anshul- Street photography is going through a lot of definitional changes nowadays. How do you define street photography?

Dan- To be honest, when I'm out shooting, I tend not to think of the definition or any parameters for that matter, as I find that would inhibit my work. I believe photography is an art form, and trying to place it into neat little boxes often puts too much restraint on the creative process. I think I throw a very loose terminology around what street photography is for myself, images that are taken out in public that are of natural moments as they occur. I see so many artists and photographers today working in so many ways, and a lot of these are falling under the category of street photography but, at the same time, help redefine it into something new and dynamic.

I think sometimes it comes down to the honesty of the photograph that you are taking. I try to make images that are uninterrupted and as natural as possible. But not all of these images are what possibly a purist street photographer would classify as 'street photography.' I often venture into the realms of abstract and pull on many influences to produce the work that I do.

Freeman street

I had an interesting conversation with a friend today. Let me set the scene; we drove down a street that I hadn’t seen before and I was amazed at the amount that was on offer to photograph. It was one of those places where every few meters there was that magic where things were happening and teeming with life, even on this rainy day. To me it was like an epicentre of street scenes and I said how amazing and rich the street was. Sadly I was driving, I didn’t have time to park up walk and shoot the area.

My friend said that there seemed to be lots to photograph around this street that would make the place look bad, in the context that it would interest me.  I found this comment intriguing and replied with; how can I make the place look bad? Surely the place is ‘bad’ or undesirable and the photograph is a representation of what the place is, therefore the place ‘looks bad’ and I’m just capturing what I see. And this got me thinking too; everything is subjective and the place ‘looking bad’ is more of a comment from a perspective which as we know can vastly vary. 

I guess this leads me to the question, Am I making the places that I photograph look bad or is this just from a certain perspective. I don’t know, I mean I’m not intentionally going out thinking I want to take images of subjects that make them look bad or negative. I photograph things that interest me, yes I can show a frame of a situation but that image is of something real that is actually happening. I’m not making a judgement on that, I’m leaving that to the viewer.