2021 It Wasn't All Bad. 

Happy New Year! A time when reagrdless of our passions or proffesions we all start to reflect on what has passed. It's inescapable; burned into our phsyche from childhood with listnening to parrents and grand parrents making new year resolutions. Ive alwasy seen these resolutions as something which counts for a little as most are always broken, so what the point of going through the routine? Has my photography been the same - did I just go through the routine of taking photographs, throwing them out to the world and moving on?

To be honest it was a close run thing! You may know that I run a YouTube Channel (If not check it out) and YouTube is a hungry beast regardless of how much content you feed it, it will never get fat and say enough. So it easy to get onto the treadmill and keep running to produce content and indeed in the last few month I think I have done this. It's not that the photography has been bad - it hasn't I have taken some of the best images of the year in the last few months. It's just the message on YouTube has been lost, there has been a disconnect between what I'm photographing and how I'm presenting it.

I have seen a change in my photography over the last year, it's a change that I like, and it wasnt planned. Like a lot of creative mediums my photography has evolved and changed course but only sighlty, but I think its having a big impact on my message. My photography is now more connected with the landscape and what I see around me, it's becoming more synergistic a true meld between my emotional response to the environment and perception of it - and this is a good thing. When you start to find true meaning in what you are producing you leave behind the pursuit of mindless creation to feed the beast - wether thats YouTube or Social Media and start creating with purpose.

I have left Social Media, and thats a good thing - its not easy, its scarry at first. reflecting now I think this has been part of the evolution of my photography, I was getting fed up with seeing the same mindless posts competing for attention, the facebook groups actively discouraging sharing links to valuable information - and if Social Media isn't about sharing what is it? Instagramees would chase my images offering to promote my work for a fee. The work should speak for itself. I paint a dark picture but of course its not all bad - I miss the exchange of ideas and images with the few followers and people that really wanted to engage and comment - Maybe I will return but it will be in a very differnt way with very clear intentions.

I have just started reading a book on a method of organsing your lifes activities, goals and dreams called Bullet Journaling. I think it will be a slow start but I have a very simple goal for 2022 - It's to be Intentional.

That is the goal to become more intentional. My photograph has started this journey, clearly focused on being intentional in the moment communicating my feelings about the landscape in the moment regardless of the time of day or weather or location, freed from these contraints the potential expands expotentialy. I will expand this into other areas of life and by becoming more intentional with my time I sincerely bellieve my time will return much more value for myself and others. Im not sure where this will end, but hopefully at the end of 2022 the journey will have been worth it.

Being more intentional with my photography I made this photograph when walking through a managed woodland. I was drawn to the textures of the bark. The stacked logs told the story of logging and this woodland.

Keep Upto date and Subscribe to my Newsletter. Subscribe & Have it delivered to your Inbox and I will send you a copy of my E-Book