For some time now I've been moving in a new direction, but not wanting to completely commit out of fear of the unknown. I have spent some time thinking deeper than usual, about what I should be doing and who I am. I've spent a long time working in a field that I'm good at, but have little love for. I feel that it's time to take a step and let my creativity flow. I have decided to spend more time here, more time creating images, more time writing and more time wood turning, a new found love, and generally creating.
This journey has had me thinking about my own work, how I see my own work, why I feel a need to create, trying to envision how others see my work, and how I see myself as an artist.
What makes an image and what makes my images different from so many others?
What makes an image? I am generalising, but I think that it is fair to say that whatever form of photography you look at, the final creation is all about trying to remove the chaos from what we see, finding a composition to bring focus to the subject within the frame. This is all too clear in minimalist photography, but I think that this is also applicable to landscape, wildlife, as well as macro. Although within wildlife photography there is the extra element of capturing a moment or an emotion.
What makes my images different? I do. Everyone sees the world in their own way, what makes an image stand out, is the ability to open yourself up and show the world as you see it.
With the time that we live in, with so many sources of information bombarding us with images from around the world and often repeated versions of the same image it is difficult to find individuality when we're struggling to be recognised for our work. It's easy to fall into a rut of copying other images that have achieved the amount of likes that we'd like to get ourselves, that we in some way feel that we deserve. I'm guilty of this too, I've tried posting images online with the pure intention of trying to gain more social media followers, but I've stopped. These were not my images, not the images that I want to show as mine, not images that I would want to be known for. I'm not saying that I wouldn't like a large social media following, I would, of course I would, I can see how this could help to achieve an income, but I'm not going to chase it.
Why do I create? I've had many interests through my years, the one that has held the longest is photography. It sounds strange but it feels as if it is part of me, my camera feels like an extension to my arm, it belongs there. The entire process is something special, from being outside alone in nature, to the creation of the image, it calms me down, it helps me to focus, and it helps me tune out my own chaos.
That and the fact that I really love to carry very heavy back packs up steep hills!
I can't write a blog without including at least one image, so I've decided on this one. My favourite image by far from this year and one that in my opinion demonstrates all of the work that I have put in to be able to create something like this.
