It has been an odd few weeks. I’ve been out and about, usually to the local woods but also to Pembrokeshire and the Wye Valley and, well, the photos - they ain’t happening.
I have tried. And I haven’t. I’ve focused and I’ve just gone with the flow. I have concentrated on themes/subjects, I have just shot everything in sight, I have taken 100 photographs in an hour and 300 over three days. I have shot the trees, birds, flowers, the sky, the sea, the shore, rocks on the beach, silhouettes and everything else. The keepers, the ones that please me to an extent, have been far and few in-between.
But I am trying to not care about that too much. I am learning, re-learning, to just enjoy the process of wandering about with a camera in hand and no specific objective. Just take the photos. See the sights. Build it and they will come.
That is to say it hasn’t been without some images that I have liked.
Berrow Beach, UK, Lomo 800 CN, Olympus XA2
The one above was one of several I posted and it generated, for me anyways, a fair amount of interest. It was just a snapshot, taken on my little Olympus XA2 using Lomography 800 Color Negative film. And I really like it. The family on the right hand side kinda balances out the shape of the branch and that grain! I don’t know. I rarely analyse my photographs.
Clevedon Pier, Clevedon, UK, Fujifilm XT20
I really like the one above, which is my friend taking photos of the underside of Clevedon Pier. On reflection I wish I had moved (or moved her) to completely hide the model of the ship. I did briefly attempt to clone it out (how hard is that shit?) but ended leaving it as-is.
Wooltack Point, Marloes, Pembrokeshire, Wales, Fujifilm XH1
The above was a simple shot of a random person topping the hill at Wooltack Point. Cropped to square format and tweaked a bit in Capture One. I, again, really like this one, but then again there weren’t many keepers out of the 300+ photographs that I took over those three days. I seem to have a penchant for photos of people in the middle of the composition facing away from the camera.
Anyway, I am not sure why I am writing this, other than to inadvertently realise that actually, despite the momentary frustrations and creeping despair, there are photographs that I am taking that I like, and that I should just chill.