Entering a New Year offers the opportunity to consider which areas to grow and develop. I was never much one for new year resolutions - too specific, detailed, and open to avoidance or procrastination, with the consequent knock to self esteem or worse, a feeling of failure! I much prefer to think in terms of a few broad themes and, ensuring they stay uppermost in my mind, allow ideas to flow, opportunities to arise, and creativity to blossom. So here are my three overarching photographic themes for 2023 which I’ll review during the year and in more detail through my last Blog of 2023. All these images are taken from a recent trip to a local wood on a beautiful atmospheric foggy morning at the end of January…
Theme 1: I intend to consciously and continuously put into practice the 6-element framework for next level photography which I wrote about extensively during 2022: Luminosity; Contrast; Geometry; Colour; Atmosphere & Connection, both in the field and during processing. Remember, images don’t have to have all six - two to three can make all the difference. These images are an example…
Theme 2: I’ll regularly explore new places, off the usual paths, and connect more deeply with the surrounding environment in order to find more interesting and compelling subjects. This tree was in a local wood but down a new path than I’ve not trodden before. It spoke to me in different ways from three alternative angles...
Theme 3: I’ll explore the connection between my shamanic practice and my subjects more explicitly, seeking a deeper and more integrated undertanding of both. For me, photography has become a spiritual endeavour, not just an end in itself, and I’m beginning to find ways to express this more explicitly through image titles and my monthly blog…
So - a focus for 2023. Three broad things to bear in mind as I get out and shoot this year, filling me with optimism and anticipation…