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

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!

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.