Opening conversation to 2016
One thing that I struggled with last year was sharing what I was doing. My blog was almost non existent, my FB page dropped to the point where the only message was reminders that i hadn't posted in while but to be honest it was really good and I needed to have a break. I shot plenty of weddings went to some amazing places but somewhere along the way lost the will to share. I think in part it was to do with me being bored with what i was seeing and didn't see what I was doing as anything different.
Let me elaborate - my background is press. I shot national, regional and international press stories for well over a decade and working in that industry there was never the culture of self promotion. All you tried to do was not get a bollocking. I have always struggled with self promotion.
One of the other things i want to do (and realise without the blog and facebook, twitter etc i cant so well) is to engage with people more. Engage with other photographers , couples , artists, people that make and do. Open conversation to the ambitious and the interested. To open connections to the alternative and and the inspiring. To have my mind opened , to share ideas and to hear new ones.
I really want to embrace this idea though this year and am keen to tackle this in two ways.
Do different stuff. This is, I know, super simple to say but having taken a year off to think about the direction i am going in. This year I want to produce more tactile work. Analogue film, polaroid, plates, prints, lots of prints. I will try to show a more ambitious selection of pictures. I want to show single images and sets that tell stories. Pictures set to music and sounds and scans and hand made books. Things that there is one of. If i can make work that I think is different I hope that i will be more energised to show it. I want to show it, it makes me feel responsible for the people that used to follow me on my blog. For the people and for future couples , the brides and grooms that read and become more ambitious for their day. I want to feel responsible for them. I should put my ideas down on paper and on screen and bear witness and make a record of my intentions. I want to do more and this year i hope this blog is going to be helping hand i need to push the ideas i have.
Be honest. Be honest on what I am feeling, things I am proud of, days that went well and I am sure some of the days that don't go so well. To document more of the paths I am taking and hopefully open the door of conversation and inspiration to the new people I want to meet and share with.
I am really hopeful this year. The last year I have unfollowed a lot of folks, found some new people to follow, been inspired by all sorts of different ideas and people and hope this year to join in more. It has been amazing though to slowly realise the reasons why I am not inspired to share and be re-inspired to question the reasons and hopefully start afresh with some different ideas.
It has been easy this last year to go to my weddings, shoot for my couples but everything has been private. Over the next few weeks I will be sharing parts of last year and introducing new ideas for this year.
