2020 - a year with a difference....

What can I say about 2020? It certainly wasn’t the year we all expected it to be!

My life as a working musician took a big hit when the Covid-19 pandemic struck in earnest. A never-ending stream of work cancellations left me with more time on my hands and the perfect excuse to get out and take photos. Fortunately, when we were plunged into our first lockdown no one said I couldn’t take a camera with me for my permitted daily exercise so I had one with me every step of the way!

Initially I got back into the habit of shooting and sharing new photos every day - an echo of my decade long 365 project. However, by the beginning of June I’d started a new music project, creating videos to help the amateur musicians I would usually work with to keep playing. That took up more of my time and photography reverted back to being something I did frequently, but not necessarily every single day. Even so, I’ve shared over 1500 photos on my blog through the year - not bad for a year when my travel opportunities have been so limited.

Starting to finish

I began the year with a push to complete my longstanding City of London Churches project. With only ten churches left to visit, it seemed entirely feasible to tick these off through 2020. In January and February I photographed four new churches, plus a handful of derelict towers and made a much needed revisit to my first church, St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate.

Bevis Marks Synagogue

Bevis Marks Synagogue

One major success was receiving permission to photograph inside Bevis Marks Synagogue, which is usually off limits to photographers. I spent a happy couple of hours there, exploring every little architectural detail, not realising it would be my last for the year. In mid-March the government’s directive to stay at home came into force, putting paid to my plans. I did make it back into London a couple of times later in 2020, when the restrictions eased, but sadly the City churches remained shut.

Going back to basics

The purchase of a medium format Ondu pinhole camera in 2019 reignited my interest in this back to basics form of photography and I’ve shot no fewer than 26 rolls of film in this medium in 2020. I was thrilled to receive a message from Elvis Halilović at Ondu Cameras in the spring to say that, as one of their favourite pinhole people, I should look out for a gift from them in the post. I thought perhaps it might be a roll or two of film so when I opened the box to find a 6x9 format pinhole camera I was overjoyed! The delivery was timed to coincide with Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day, so I immediately put it to work.

A derelict Nissen hut, one of my discoveries during a walk on Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day in April

A derelict Nissen hut, one of my discoveries during a walk on Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day in April

Using the 6x9 has given me new impetus and I quickly realised there’s nothing more therapeutic during a global pandemic than pottering around with a pinhole camera, doing some very slow photography! The simple process of selecting a composition (no easy thing without a viewfinder), figuring out your exposure time and then just waiting while the shutter is open is all consuming and the troubles of the world just disappear for an hour or two.

Photography with a focus

Back in 2019 I made a decision to focus my photography in a more specialised way, concentrating on the genres which really interested me – architecture and street photography.

This has had mixed results in 2020. Street photography is a big challenge – largely because of the guidance to stay at home and avoid other people. As the restrictions eased I ventured out in Cambridge and London but still struggled as there are simply far fewer people on the streets these days. I’m sure this will change as the various vaccines are rolled out and we return to something approaching normality. This will take many months though, so I think my adventures in street photography will be a slow burn even in 2021.

One of my street photos from a pre-pandemic trip to Cambridge in January 2020

One of my street photos from a pre-pandemic trip to Cambridge in January 2020

Architecture has been more of a success this year, although not without its frustrations. In the spring, when it became clear I wouldn’t be able to visit London for a while, I began a new Essex Churches project. My logic was that every village has a church, most of which are frankly deserted, so I could visit these without having to travel long distances and without the risk of human contact. The logic was sound, but I hadn’t banked on the diocese which covers Essex being super cautious about Covid-19. As a result, while churches in areas around us opened for private prayer and visits, almost all Essex churches remained firmly locked!

Photographically speaking this was incredibly frustrating. I’ve found a few gems in surrounding areas though and even managed to visit Lincoln and Ely Cathedrals, both of which were photographic goldmines. Away from churches, I’ve looked for architectural interest around me. As the first lockdown eased in May I ventured into Cambridge for the morning, interested to see what had changed. What I found was astonishing – a deserted city. There was the odd walker or cyclist, but no throngs of people outside the usual tourist hotspots. It was utterly surreal, but brought with it the opportunity to get a clearer view of the architecture – something I’ll probably never experience again.

Ely Cathedral

Ely Cathedral

Looking into 2021

So what should we expect of 2021? Frankly, all bets are off! My hope is that the rollout of the vaccines will allow us all some more freedom. If that happens my music work may resume and I may get to travel again. I’m not holding my breath though as it will inevitably take several months for anything close to normality to resume.

With that in mind I’ve dreamt up a project to at least keep me taking photos in January. I did briefly consider another 365 project, but my heart’s really not in it when I’m stuck at home so much. However, I had a brainwave this week for a pinhole photo a day project. My plan is to shoot one pinhole photo (perhaps more!) each day for January and see where that takes me. If weather and the virus allow me I can head out into the surrounding villages in search of images, but if it’s pelting with rain I’ll just have to get creative indoors.

This morning I’ve checked my stock of film and I’ve started jotting ideas in a notebook so I can refer to that for inspiration if I run short of ideas. This may turn out to be an utterly bonkers plan, but it’s going to be fun trying and without a specific subject matter in mind I can shoot whatever is available to me under whatever Covid restrictions happen to be in force.

My favourites from 2020

Normally I’d share a gallery of my ten best photos from the year at this point, but given the challenges of 2020 I’m instead sharing a gallery of my favourite photos. Very few will ever make it into my portfolio, but they are some of my favourite moments in a very challenging year.

All that remains is to wish all my readers a happy and healthy 2021 and here’s hoping that by this time next year the last twelve months will be nothing but a distant memory!

 

Prime Lens Project, Month 6 - the home stretch

The final month of my prime lens project has been mostly devoted to getting closer to the subjects I’ve photographed. My chosen lens was my Olympus 60mm f2.8 macro lens - the perfect tool for getting up close and personal. I’d always intended to save it for April as I figured we’d have more flowers blooming in our garden. Little did I realise when I started this that all my photos this month would be taken within about a mile of home!

I started the month with flowers, using a fallen tulip from our garden as an indoor still life subject, through its various stages of decay. A very welcome bonus was the early blooming of the bluebells in our local woods, which put on a fabulous display.

Inspired by a friend who specialises in photographing Lego minifigures I also dug out my Lego photographer, who I christened Henri, as an assistant on my macro missions. He tagged along with me on various walks around the village and added a different slant to my images.

This is a gallery of my pictures from the month, all taken with the macro lens, although not all of them are, strictly speaking, macro photos.

Please click on any of the thumbnail images to see the pictures full size. All images taken around Elsenham.

That brings my prime lens project to an end. Strictly speaking, I could continue for one more month, shooting with my fisheye lens. However, I’m not sure I can face a month of shooting with such a specialised lens when I can only photograph around our village. Perhaps it’s something I can return to later in the year when I can get out and shoot a greater variety of subject.

So what have I learnt from this project?

Fundamentally it’s confirmed to me the strengths of shooting with prime lenses. When using a single focal length I work much harder to find my compositions, often walking around a subject until I find the right angle and shooting distance. Yes, there are shots I have missed out on because the lens I was carrying wasn’t suitable. However, if I know my ability to move around is going to be limited I will take a zoom lens with me for flexibility.

Shooting with one focal length for extended periods has made me appreciate the qualities of the various lenses and helped me to learn which ones suit my style of photography best. I’ve grown to love my 42.5mm lens, even though I’m not a portrait photographer, and I was surprised how easily I adjusted to shooting wide angle when I used the 12mm lens in March. The hardest month was definitely February, as I wrestled with my 75mm lens. It’s an absolute gem of a lens, but rather specialised and not one I would select as a sole lens for a photographic outing.

I will of course continue to shoot with primes, but that’s not to say there isn’t a time and a place for zoomability! All I need to do now is figure out which lens to take when I got for my lockdown walk today now I have no restrictions….

Photographic life under lockdown

As I write this, at the beginning of May, we’ve been confined to our houses by the Covid-19 virus for around six weeks. It’s been a difficult and scary time, but also a liberating one in terms of having some time to take stock.

My working life is quieter than it has ever been at the moment, so I’ve taken the opportunity to focus on my photography. I’m lucky living here in rural Essex as I can get out into the countryside on foot in just a few minutes for my daily permitted exercise. As no one has said we’re not allowed to take cameras with us while exercising I’ve been shooting new imagery every day. This gallery is a small example of the subjects I’ve been aiming my camera at since the 24th March. Click on any thumbnail to see the image larger.

One flash of excitement during this period has been Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day, on the last Sunday in April. I’m still waiting for the negatives I shot that day to return, so I’ll write a separate post about the event in a few days. However, I’ve also been shooting some images around our village for a pinhole photography exhibition themed around the lockdown later this year. I got some very strange looks walking around Elsenham toting a wooden box on a tripod, but I had fun and here you can see a handful of the resulting images.

I’ll share further information about the exhibition both here and in my newsletter when I have it.

If you’d like to subscribe to my newsletters to hear about my workshops, exhibitions and more please visit my contact page.

Prime Lens Project, Month 4 - the challenging one!

I’ve really enjoyed my prime lens project…. until I decided to go telephoto!


All the lenses I’ve used so far are ones I was already fairly familiar with - they tend to be the ones I instinctively put in my bag when I’m heading out and about. For February I picked the Olympus 75mm f1.8 lens - an absolutely jewel but not the most natural focal length for me. For street photography I naturally gravitate to standard or wide angle lenses, while for wildlife I’ll often be found toting my 100-400mm lens (an effective focal length of 200-800!).

The 75mm (EFL 150mm) lives slap bang in the centre of this range. Were I a portrait photographer it would be invaluable for its flattering effect and ability to create soft, blurred backgrounds. The nearest I get to this is candid street photography and I quickly discovered it’s just too long for that purpose. It’s helpful to be able to see your moving subject in the viewfinder before you shoot, so you can plan where in the frame to capture them. At 75mm the field of view is narrow and I often found the person I was aiming for had left the frame again before I’d even pressed the shutter button!

So what about other genres of photography? A few times I used the 75mm when I was out and about in the countryside and in town. Here it came in handy for capturing distant details, and the way it apparently compresses the scene is undeniably lovely.

Don’t get me wrong, I love this lens and the look it gives me in the right situation. I’ll often use it when I’m doing event photography, usually capturing people at musical gatherings. Here it’s brilliant for pulling individual people out of a large crowd as you can reach into the scene and blur the surrounding individuals. Sadly I didn’t have any such opportunities during February!

By the end of February I’d developed something of a love/hate relationship with my 75mm lens. I knew this one would always be a challenge as it’s a more specialised optic than the others. I will continue to use it where there is a specific use case, but I don’t think it’s ever going to be a lens I naturally select as my soul focal length for a whole day.

So where next? We’re already well into March and I’ve gone to a different extreme for month five - a rather wide 12mm. You’ll have to wait until the beginning of April to hear more about that though!

Please click on any of the thumbnail images to see the pictures full size.

Images from Watchet harbour in Somerset, Thaxted, Saffron Walden, Hatfield Forest, Epping Forest and the City of London.




Prime Lens Project, Month 3 - getting closer

I can’t quite believe I’m three months into my prime lenses project now - where does the time go?!

My chosen lens for January was the Panasonic Leica 15mm f1.7 - an effective focal length of 30mm in full frame terms. Using a wider lens than in December meant I’ve had to shoot in a different way and I’ve enjoyed the challenges that has brought.

A moderately wide angle lens is great for architecture, one of my favourite subjects. You can fit a decent amount of the building into the frame, but the distortion is less dramatic than with a shorter focal length.

I’ve heard many people rave about this lens for street photography - its combination of sharpness, quick focusing, a fast aperture and the focal length are all helpful. However, my comfort zone for street work is a 25mm lens. I wasn’t going to let that stop me though and I spent a day in Cambridge working hard to get closer to people. It never fails to amaze me how few people even notice my camera - I guess it’s a sign of the times as everyone carries one these days, even if only on their smartphone.

Over the last few days I also had a work trip to Somerset and spent some time messing around on Minehead beach. Again, the crucial technique was to get close to my subjects and I was pleased with the mini-landscapes I was able to shoot.

Please click on any of the thumbnail images to see the pictures full size.

Images from Caernarfon Castle, walking the neighbour’s dog, Cambridge, Sheffield, Waltham Abbey, the Natural History and V&A Museums in Kensington and Minehead Beach.

So for month four I have a very different challenge ahead of me. I’ve chosen my 75mm lens. With an effective focal length of 150mm I’m going to have to either shoot entirely different sorts of subjects or get much further away. Either way, I’m going to have to re-calibrate the way my eyes see to make the best of the compression and magnification a telephoto prime can offer - watch this space for the results!

If you want to follow my Prime Lens Project as I publish my photos and perhaps even join in, please do follow the hashtag #primelensproject on Instagram.

Prime numbers

It’s now almost a year since I stopped my decade long 365 project. After taking a fresh photo every day for ten years I was ready for a break. It’s been liberating at times, knowing I don’t need to create a new image after a long day’s work. But in recent months I’ve missed using my camera so frequently. I always had a feeling that photographic addiction would be hard to shake off!

So what do I have planned to get me motivated again? Well, it’s a project that first occurred to me a few months ago, involving prime lenses.

What is a prime lens?

Put simply, a prime is a lens which shoots only at one focal length - as opposed to a zoom which can cover a range, from wide angle to telephoto. For a long while new cameras were sold with a prime lens, often a 50mm focal length. This was because zoom lens technology wasn’t great and prime lenses were invariably sharper. Over time zooms improved enormously and it’s now the norm for a kit lens to be a zoom of some sort.

So what’s so great about a lens which doesn’t zoom?

On the face of it, the restriction of a prime lens seems a disadvantage. After all, it means you have to walk to get closer to the subject of your photo, rather than simply turning your lens’s zoom ring. However, this very restriction can have benefits too.

When using a zoom it’s very easy to get rooted to the spot, using the lens to change your composition. This often makes us lazy and we work less hard to find the perfect image. It could be that moving a step or two sideways will make an infinitely better picture - for instance, it might mean the person you’re photographing no longer has a lamp post sticking out of their head!

Another factor people often overlook, or have no awareness of in the first place, is the effect different focal lengths have on the pictures we take. A wide angle lens is great for cramming loads of elements into a sweeping landscape photo, but it can make those elements seem distant and create an underwhelming end result. In contrast, a telephoto lens will appear to compress the scene, bringing compositional elements together. These factors mean the appropriate lens choice can be a very powerful tool. Using a zoom makes you less aware of your choice of focal length, whereas you make an active decision when selecting a prime lens to shoot with.

It’s worth mentioning at this stage that almost anyone who has taken photos with the camera on their mobile phone (unless you have one of the swanky new ones with multiple lenses!) has used a prime lens. The average smartphone camera has an effective focal length of about 28mm - fairly wide angle - so if you want to get closer you just have to walk!

Why do I use prime lenses?

I bought my first prime lens, a Canon 50mm f1.8, on a whim in our local camera shop back in about 2007. It was a twenty year old lens, costing just £59 and sounded like an angry bumble bee when focusing, but I loved it!

Prime lenses are simpler in design than zooms, so you tend to get a larger maximum aperture. This lets in more light and creates beautiful bokeh - that lovely creamy, blurred background effect. They also tend to be small and light and often cheaper too. Over the years I’ve accumulated a small collection of primes of different focal lengths and my camera bag will usually contain two or three of them at any one time.

My decision to use primes is largely as a result of seeing what they do for my pictures. As well as being able to creatively blur parts of the image, I find I think more creatively when using them. I’ll walk around a subject, using my viewfinder to locate the perfect spot to shoot from - the place where I get exactly the composition I’m after. After a while you learn to ‘see’ at the focal length of the lenses you use most, and I can predict fairly accurately how much I will get in the frame with a given lens from a certain distance.

I do still use zooms from time to time, although it tends to be in particular situations. For action or wildlife photography I use a long telephoto zoom lens - after all you can’t always walk closer to a bird or a speeding racing car! I’ll often choose zooms for event photography too, where I know I’ll be locked into one spot, unable to use my feet to zoom.

So what’s my big plan then?

Funnily enough it doesn’t require a big change to my shooting habits, but perhaps a more focused one.

As I’ve already said, each prime lens creates a different look and I want to exploit that more by using just a single lens. Occasionally I already leave the house with just one prime lens, but more often I’ll take a selection so I can swap when the mood takes me.

My plan for this project is to have at least one day each week when I use a single prime lens, making myself really utilise its individual qualities. I will use the same lens for a whole month so I can really understand it and learn to get the best out of it. Of course there will be some occasions when I just can’t limit myself to this single lens, so for this reason I’m only committing to a minimum of one day a week.

How long will this take?

At the moment I have six prime lenses, with effective focal lengths from 24 to 150mm. If I spend a month with each lens that should take me well into 2020. Some will be easy to use - 50mm for example. But the 150mm lens should challenge me significantly more. I’m starting off in November with my 25mm f1.4 lens (a 50mm equivalent for those who shoot on a full frame camera) - in fact I already started this afternoon.

How to follow my project…

If you want to see the photos that result from this project your best bet is to pop over to one of my two Instagram accounts: HelenHookerPhoto or HelenHookerArchitecture. I’ll label images with the hashtag #PrimeLensProject so you can also search for them that way. They’ll also be posted over on my Photoblog and you can search there with the same phrase.

This project isn’t as full on as committing to shooting every single day again - I’m not sure I’m quite ready for that yet! But it’ll give my photography a little more focus and will hopefully help me understand my lenses even better.

Why not join in?

If have a prime lens and fancy joining me on this adventure, please feel free to use the #PrimeLensProject on social media and I’ll create a post here every few weeks to let you know which focal length I’ll be using for the following month.

In case you’re wondering, the pictures dotted through this post are the first ones created for this project, taken during a visit to Audley End, with my 25mm lens. Who knows what I’ll aim it at next, but I’m already raring to go with this challenge!

One of those eureka moments

Don’t you just love it when you have one of those ‘eureka’ moments? That split second when a cracking idea springs into your mind and you think, “Aha!”.  I had one recently, while driving home from the supermarket, although, luckily for the world, unlike Archimedes it didn’t involve jumping out the bath and running down the street starkers!

Since I stopped putting pressure on myself to take and share a new photo every day I’ve been considering ways to give my photography more focus. Doing a 365 project (be it a single one, or ten on the trot as I did) you’re always grateful for those spontaneous shots that just appear unexpectedly. Days like that mean you don’t consciously have to seek out something to photograph and they’re always a bonus. They’re great opportunities, but they rarely result in meaningful, artistic images.

So how to stretch myself and give me more focus?

Well, I think it’s a matter of specialising.

Architecture

In recent years I’ve found an unexpected interest in architecture, especially historic buildings. Since 2014 I’ve been working my way around all the churches within the Square Mile of the City of London. I’ve really enjoyed documenting them, capturing the beautiful lines and telling their history through my photos. Throw in the huge number of historic places I’ve visited with my camera since I started working for the National Trust and that adds up to a fairly sizeable architectural portfolio.

Beautiful light in the library at Anglesey Abbey

Beautiful light in the library at Anglesey Abbey

That’s not to say I don’t appreciate modern architecture - it’s just that I encounter more historic buildings on my travels. I’ve recently read Tom Dyckhoff’s wonderful book The Age of Spectacle, all about iconic modern architecture and that’s got me itching to photograph more of it. Living within easy reach of London, that shouldn’t be too hard to achieve!

I’d already decided to try and develop my architectural photography, now I can take a more deliberate approach and plan my photo shoots with greater care. I spent some time before Christmas experimenting with using off-camera flash to add extra drama and illumination to a disused church near to home and I want to do more of that, as the results excited me.

Using off-camera flash in Chickney Church

Another area I’ve explored is using tilt-shift photography, to capture architecture as I want it to appear in-camera. Faced with a large building, the photographer’s first instinct is to grab a wide angle lens to fit it all in, and capture the drama. A logical choice, but one that almost always means you have to aim the camera upwards, to a greater or lesser degree. That results in vertical lines which converge, often giving the impression the building is about to fall over. It’s an interesting look, but not the impression the architect intended!

For the uninitiated, a tilt-shift lens employs a complicated mechanism of sliding and tilting elements, which allow you to line everything up in-camera. I won’t explain it in detail here - when I tried to enlighten my other half his eyes glazed over and he lost the will to live! If you have a desire to understand the physics, you can find a useful article here.

Unfortunately, the engineering in a tilt-shift lens makes them very expensive and certainly out of my budget. I hired one inexpensively over Christmas, but it was always going to be a short term love affair. Thankfully, I’ve found a less expensive solution, which allows me almost all of the performance at less than a quarter of the price - result!

The Lady Chapel at St. Albans Cathedral, shot using my budget shift lens

OK, so that gives me lots to be working on, but I can’t just photograph buildings....

Street photography

I’ve dabbled with street photography since attending a workshop with Richard Cannon in 2010. There’s nothing quite like engaging in a spot of people watching, with the added challenge of capturing what Henri Cartier-Bressan would have described as the ‘decisive moment’.

My early efforts were all about trying to catch that magic moment, or a particular expression. Since attending other workshops on the subject with Damien Demolder I’ve developed a taste for a more graphic look, using light and architecture to add drama to my images. Damien also encouraged me to get closer to the people I’m photographing, which takes nerve. It also gives me a huge thrill when I get that killer shot though!

(Click on any of the images below to see them larger)

My plan this year is to spend more time developing my street photography. I know the look I’m seeking, but it’s hard to achieve when you’re just snapping a few frames en-route to somewhere else. When the weather (strong sunshine or pouring rain are my favourites for this genre!) and time allows I intend to get out and shoot for whole days to really improve my street portfolio.

Back in January I spent a morning at Speakers’ Corner in London. This was wonderfully liberating. You’ve got lots of extrovert individuals who want to be seen and heard, and who generally don’t care whether you take their photo. Add in casual observers and the folks who actively engage with the speakers and you’ve got a heady mix for any street photographer!

How to focus my specialisms?

This was the eureka moment I had in the car, driving home from the supermarket.

I’ve been a member of our local camera club for nearly six years now, regularly participating in the many competitions. I’ve had some successes, but many failures too. Photography is such a subjective thing that one judge will love an image, and give it 20/20, while the next will hate it. Ultimately I’ve learnt that you have to enter images you enjoy and take the rough with the smooth.

Over the years I’ve entered everything in club competitions, from wildlife to motorsport, architecture to abstract. My plan for the coming year is to be more specialist, focusing on my favourite two genres - architecture and street photography. Who knows if it’ll be a successful strategy in terms of prizes, but at least it’ll enable me to get more feedback on the images I love.

Getting off to a good start

I employed my new strategy last month in our end of year exhibition competition, entering a mix of architecture and street images. Then I held my breath and hoped for the best! To my astonishment, my chosen pictures performed better than I’d expected and I won prizes with the three shown below. I doubt my luck will hold for the whole year, but I enjoyed focusing my selections in the two areas

So there’s my strategy for the coming year. Will it work? I’m hoping it will at least help me improve my skills in these two photographic genres. Creating new images every single day for ten years gave me a fantastic grounding, and taught me a lot. Now it’s time for me to hone my skills in a more deliberate way.

What next?

Well, I’m already planning a new project, which I’ll talk about in another post. I’ve also booked to attend a workshop with Astrid McGechan and Charlie Waite in Liverpool next month. The chance to learn from two photographers whose work I love, shooting architecture in a city I’ve always wanted to visit was too good an opportunity to pass up!

In the meantime, I’ll continue trying to produce ever better images and will do my best to care less about whether a competition judge likes them or not!

To follow my progress, please do subscribe to my blog, where I post new pictures regularly.

Looking back

It’s now three months since I completed my ten year long photo-a-day project, over on Photoblog. Since then I’ve unashamedly taken some time off, although it was a little while before I could do so without feeling guilty! I’m still taking plenty of photos, but it’s very liberating to know that if I have a particularly hectic day, or I’m simply running low on energy, I don’t have to find something to shoot.

Having had a little time to take stock, I’ve enjoyed the process of looking back through a decade of daily photos to see what I’ve learnt. I thought it might be an interesting exercise to share a selection of my favourite photos from the last ten years.

2008

I shared a mere 429 images during 2008 - just a fifth of the number I’ve published in 2018. Of course, I didn’t actually begin shooting something fresh every day until November 2008, but I thought I’d pick a selection from the whole year in any case.

2009

2009 saw me properly into the swing of shooting and posting every day. I’d shoot anything and everything, although wildlife and motorsport were already definite favourites.

So, what’s changed in a decade?

One thing that struck me was the change in the cameras I use. When I started my blog I shot with a Canon EOS 400D - an entry level DSLR. It did what I required of it then, but over the years I gradually upgraded, through faster, more powerful, DSLRs, culminating in a full frame Canon 5DIII in 2013.

Early in 2015 I bought my first mirrorless camera, a Panasonic GX7, and I quickly learned that bigger wasn’t always better. The smaller form factor was liberating and I gradually found myself using the smaller camera more than the bulky DSLR. As of early 2018 I’d ditched all my Canon gear and I now shoot with a duo of Panasonic cameras. They do different things well, so I choose my camera according to what I’ll be shooting on a given day.

Looking through my photos, I suspect most people would be hard pressed to tell which camera was used when - and that’s as it should be. After all photography should always primarily be about the photographer, not the gear used. However, there are photographic genres which demand a particular type of gear and I find the cameras I use now are the best tools for me.

Of course, the biggest change in ten years has been the quality of my pictures. Practising every day has had a very beneficial effect on my skills and eye. Yes, there’s plenty more still to learn, but I would like to think there’s been a distinct improvement in the quality of my pictures. 

2010

This was the year where I began to challenge myself a little more. In August I went on a course, with photographer Richard Cannon, focusing on people photography - something I’d always shied away from. Even today I don’t count myself as a portrait photographer, but I do a lot more candid people photography, some of which still stems from that course.

I also made my first forays into airborne action photography, be it aircraft or birds. Both hold their difficulties, but I still feel that birds in flight are one of the greatest technical challenges for any photographer.

2011

2011 saw me take my first real steps in street photography, a genre I enjoy more and more as the years go by. I love people watching and it’s a wonderful challenge to try and capture that extraordinary moment in an ordinary scene. Looking back I can see I still had a lot to learn about candid people photography but I’d made a start!

2012

By 2012 I’m beginning to see more architecture creeping into my output, alongside a whole host of other genres. In the summer I went to two events at the London Paralympics, including the track and field events at the Olympic Stadium, and I loved being able to capture some of the action.

A change of scenery

2013 brought a big change in my working life, as we relocated from Sussex to Essex. Losing most of my school teaching gave me time to explore, and for a long while it felt like one big holiday! Over the years since our big move I’ve gradually built up my freelance work, so I now travel around the country much more than I used to. This has proved very beneficial to my photography as I’m fortunate enough to have a never ending supply of new places to photograph.

2013

2014

This was something of a eureka year for me. I attended a workshop with wildlife photographer Andy Rouse at the British Wildlife Centre, where the main focus of the day was our autofocus skills. As a result of that day I changed my technique, which I feel has had a long term beneficial effect on my work. I also came away from the day with one of my all time favourite images - Frodo the fox giving me a very knowing look!

Personal projects

I also started a new personal project in 2014, which continues to this day. A friend shared some photos of a church in the City of London and this spurred me to do some reading. I learnt that there used to be as many as 75 churches within the square mile of the City of London, although many were destroyed or damaged during both the Great Fire of 1666 and the Blitz. Even so, over fifty remain today and I decided to photograph all of them. It’s been a fascinating experience and I still have a dozen or so to photograph before I complete my project. I hope to create a self-published book once I’ve finished, so watch this space for more information when I get that far!

2015

2015 was the year where I started to downsize my gear - mostly thanks to the National Trust! In 2014 I started a new job with the National Trust at Hatfield Forest. Having free access to all the National Trust’s beautiful places offered lots of photographic inspiration, resulting in many photos. Late that year I won the NT Staff and Volunteers photo competition, with prizes supplied by Panasonic. This led to me shooting with a Panasonic GX7 mirrorless camera, particularly when travelling, and I got hooked on the ‘less is more’ ethos of mirrorless cameras. Yes, a large DSLR camera will offer the ultimate image quality, but having the option of using a smaller, lighter camera made me more likely to be ready for unexpected photo opportunities and this is very liberating.

2016

Architectural beginnings

By 2017 I’d been working for the National Trust for three years, alongside my freelance music work. During my travels I’ve visited dozens of NT properties, from nature reserves to stately homes, taking photos along the way. I’ve gradually come to love the challenge of telling the story of places I visit through the pictures I take, and 2017 saw a big increase in the quantity of architecture in my annual output.

2017

2018

This was the year when I finally ditched my Canon DSLRs entirely. January saw the release of the Panasonic G9. I could see this was the camera I’d been waiting for, which would allow me to shoot action - previously the Canon DSLR I’d kept alongside my mirrorless camera had had the edge when it came to speed.

Once I’d bought a G9, there was no need to run two different systems, so my old Canon 7DII went to a new home - with my Dad! I now shoot with a brace of Panasonic bodies (the G9 and a smaller GX8), both of which use the same lenses. This smaller set up is perfect for when I’m travelling and I swap between them, depending on the subject I’m photographing.

Where next?

Since finishing my prolonged 365 project, I’ve been lucky enough to be featured in Amateur Photographer magazine, which was a wonderful way to start the new year!

I’m still taking photos regularly, although the pace has slowed considerably since the start of 2019. Rather than pressuring myself to take photos every day, I aim to have at least one day a week when I take some high quality images. I’ve been focusing more on architecture photography and have plenty of plans for the coming months.

Would I do it again?

Never say never! However, I’m quite happy concentrating on quality rather than quantity for the moment. I think the slower pace has already resulted in an improvement in my photography and I hope this will continue. There are days when I miss using my camera so much, but it’s still always in my bag so there will continue to be unexpected photo opportunities that I grab spontaneously! Here’s to the next ten years….

All things must change....

Think about your life over the last decade for a moment. Is there something you’ve done every single day, without fail? I’m not talking about mundane tasks, like cleaning your teeth or doing the washing up, but genuinely creative activities. I bet most people would be hard pushed to think of anything, unless they work in a creative industry or perhaps play a musical instrument.

This November will mark a significant anniversary in my photographic life. Back in 2008 I started a year long photo a day project. Ten years on, I’m still at it. That means for 3652 consecutive days I’ve taken at least one fresh photo and posted it on my blog!

Where did it all start?

I started my Photoblog in December 2007, initially posting sporadically. Over the months that followed I began to share photos more regularly, although not daily.

The first photo I ever posted to my Photoblog, taken at Marwell Zoo. Not great art, but you’ve got to start somewhere!

As a musician I’m used to the concept of practising regularly. To hone your technical and musical skills it’s important to play your instrument as often as possible, and I figured there was no reason why that shouldn’t apply to photography too.

Eventually I slipped into the habit of shooting and posting every day and 8th November 2008 was the the last time I didn’t share a daily photo. I never intended to do a 365 project (shooting every day for a year) but it was something I slipped into, almost by accident!

One year in...

During that first year I learnt a lot of photographic survival skills. Inevitably there were times when I lost motivation, but somehow I always found something to photograph, no matter how mundane. I reached November 2009 and considered whether to stop there. Despite the inevitable ups and downs I figured I’d miss the regular shooting so I simply kept going, with no finish line in mind.

So what did I learn?

As I suspected, my skills did indeed improve with daily practice.

Looking back through my blog, there are plenty of shots from 2008 I wouldn’t dream of sharing now. Today I like to think my photos have more polish thanks to improvements in both my technical and creative skills. Shooting regularly has also led me to try new genres of photography, sometimes with surprising results. Who’d have thought I’d get into street photography, but it’s now one of my favourite genres!

A few years ago I’d never have had the courage to get this close to strangers on the street - now I love street photography!

Along the way I’ve learnt lots of useful practical skills, many of which are useful to all photographers, regardless of whether you’re trying to maintain a 365 habit like me.

Always carry a camera

This one’s obvious when you think about it. Many people do this in any case, with a camera on their smartphone. Despite this convenience I still prefer to use a camera if possible, so I’ve got into the habit of always carrying at least a camera body and one lens. Over the years my camera kit has changed quite substantially, from a Canon DSLR to a much smaller mirrorless setup. This certainly helps when it comes to portability and I no longer have to lug around a huge bag!

I would never have been able to take this photo of Bosham Harbour if it weren’t for my habit of always carrying a camera. Quite by chance I was in the right place at the right time and had my little mirrorless camera with me.

Shooting every day doesn’t need to be time consuming

People often assume that taking and sharing a photo every day consumes a large part of my day. Yes, there are days when I choose to take more time, but it doesn’t have to. For instance, today I took a quick snap of a cosmos flower in our garden, spent a couple of minutes tweaking it in Lightroom. Combine that with writing a little text and posting to Photoblog - all done in no more than 15 minutes. I probably spend longer drinking coffee each day!

Photos can be found anywhere

I’ve been known to photograph all sorts of unlikely subjects to fulfil my daily picture remit, from forks to manhole covers! If you try hard enough, there’s a photo to be found in anything and everything.

There are days when I find myself travelling home from work, pondering the fact that I haven’t yet touched my camera, and something will jump out at me. For instance, on Sunday I noticed the moon as I drove home from a rehearsal, so I stopped to take a photo. A little local knowledge meant I knew of a suitable lone tree nearby so I stopped again further down the road to shoot that. A few minutes spent in Photoshop to combine the two when I got home, and I had a moonrise picture which wouldn’t have been possible if I hadn’t opened my mind to the possibilities as I was driving.

The art of editing

And I don’t mean editing in Photoshop!

Some days I’ll go out for the whole day to take photos, coming home with perhaps hundreds of images on my memory card. As the years have passed I’ve become much more efficient, and ruthless too, when it comes to selecting which of those pictures will be shared on my blog.

When you start out, every picture seems valuable and you’re reluctant to bin anything. As my photographic eye has developed I’ve come to recognise what makes one photo more successful than another. Yes, there will be some pictures that make the cut simply because of the emotional relationship I have with the circumstances surrounding the moment I shot them. There’s nothing wrong with that, but if you really want to develop you have to learn to be ruthless.

You only have to search Flickr to see people who share fifty incredibly similar photos, all telling the same story. I like to think I’ve moved away from that type of sharing now. Yes, I’ll come back from a shoot with several near-duplicate shots, but I’ll whittle them down to the very best one or two. This stops my audience getting bored and ensures I show just my very best work. I won’t necessarily delete all the rejects, but the world really doesn’t need to see dozens of almost identical meerkat photos!

A pair of courting fulmars from my trip to Orkney in March. I have lots of fulmar pictures, but this one made the cut because of the sense of tenderness between the two birds.

Not every photo has to be great art

Much as I’d love to share a piece of fine art every day, sometimes life just gets in the way. On those occasions I’ll find something that interests me, or perhaps document a little of what I’ve been doing that day.

This has got harder as the years have gone by and I’ve become pickier about the quality of my pictures. Some days I’ll come to the conclusion that I’m hopeless and my pictures are complete tosh. Then I look back to 2008 and see how far I’ve come and realise it doesn’t matter if I have the occasional off day! People often still find quite mundane photos interesting if there’s a story behind them, and sharing your failures can be helpful to others too.

I shared this picture recently to show how I digitise my film negatives. Not great art, but others found it helpful and it sparked quite a discussion on Facebook!

To continue or not....

This has been a difficult decision. At the end of year one I instinctively knew I’d miss it if I stopped there. Each time I reached an anniversary I thought long and hard as to whether to keep going. Five years might have been a sensible time to stop, but I was still enjoying myself so I kept going....

More recently the pressure of shooting every single day has begun to take its toll a little. My working life now consists of many more different elements (music, photography, writing and working for the National Trust to name a few) so I find myself juggling many more deadlines. I still enjoy photography enormously, but there are days, usually when I get home after a whole day of conducting somewhere far away, without a single photo in my camera when my heart sinks. I always find something to shoot though, even if I’d rather flop on the sofa with a cuppa!

Ten years seems a natural time to call a halt on shooting and posting every single day - after all, there are many crimes for which you’d do less time!

Why stop now?

Over the last few years I’ve been working on a long term project, photographing the dozens of churches in the City of London. I’ve really enjoyed this and would like to have more time to devote to projects. Freeing myself from the constraints of shooting something fresh every day will help with this.

The geometric staircase at St. Paul’s Cathedral - part of my City Churches project

I’d also like to work towards my LRPS qualification. For that I need to have a group of ten really strong images to display. Yes, I could dive into my sizeable archive for these, but they wouldn’t necessarily make up a coherent collection. By giving myself a little more free time I can really plan these images and make sure I achieve a better quality than I would if I shot things in a hurry, as I so often do.

Another recent enthusiasm is shooting on film again after a gap of fifteen years. I’ve got a small collection of film cameras I use and I’m really enjoying the results. However, film isn’t as instantaneous as digital. That means if I’m shooting on film I also have to carry a digital camera to take extra photos to share that day. I’m relishing the idea of having the occasional day when I shoot just with a film camera. Don’t worry - I’ll still share the photos (if they’re any good) but it may take a week or two before I get them developed!

A photo from a recent foray into film, taken on an old Olympus Trip 35 from the 1970s

What next?

Fear not, I won’t be disappearing from my Photoblog entirely!

Once I reach the ten year mark, on 9th November, I’ll still be posting new pictures very regularly. I may miss the odd day, and it may be that I don’t necessarily publish images the day they were taken.

I will still carry a camera with me everywhere I go as you never know when a photo opportunity will arise. After all, fortune favours the prepared mind, as Louis Pasteur once said!

Will I ever go back to my 365 project? Never say never - but I think it’s time for a break for now. Nothing in life should remain the same forever, especially not photography!

Half way there...

It's a little over two years since I started my project to visit and photograph all the churches in the square mile of the City of London.  There were once as many as 75 active churches in the city but many were destroyed, either by the Great Fire in 1666 or during the Blitz in World War II.  Today there are some fifty six church buildings left, although some of those are just shells (often used as gardens) or solitary towers.  

St. Etheldreda's Chapel, in the heart of Hatton Garden

During the course of my project so far I've visited twenty eight of them so I'm exactly half way there.  It's been fun getting to know the City of London better and it's been so inspiring seeing the huge variety of architecture among the churches.  

Today I've updated the gallery over on my Personal Projects page with the churches I've visited in recent months.  Please do pop by and take a look and do pass the info on to anyone you think might find it interesting.  I'm planning to create a book once the project is finished, although that may take another year or two!

City of London Churches: St. Margaret Pattens

It's always a pleasure when you rediscover photos you'd forgotten about and today's post is one such rediscovery.  Back in February I spent a day in London continuing my City Churches project, focusing on churches in the south-eastern corner of the city.  Some of the photos from that day remain unpublished so I thought I'd share them here in a couple more posts over the coming days.

St Margaret's is rather dominated by the 'walkie talkie' building from certain angles

St. Margaret Pattens is tucked away, like many city churches, among much more modern buildings.  There has been a church on this site for around 900 years, dedicated to St. Margaret of Antioch but, in common with so many others, its fourth incarnation was burnt down during the Great Fire in 1666.  The current building was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and built between 1684 and 1687.

Inside I found a remarkably light and airy space, with lots of plain glass and rich, chestnut coloured pews.  The church warden was very helpful and encouraged me to spend as long as I wished there, even suggesting a few interesting details I had failed to spot on my own.

The name of this church may seem curious to those unfamiliar with the history of this part of London.  At the time there were numerous churches dedicated to St. Margaret so 'Pattens' was added to distinguish this one from the rest.  The church is positioned on Eastcheap, an area that was the centre of the pattenmaking trade in the centuries before the streets were paved.  To avoid getting dirty shoes one would wear a pair of wooden undershoes strapped to your soles, thereby lifting you above the mud on the roads.  The tradition largely ceased in the nineteenth century as the roads became cleaner but, to this day, there is still a sign in the church requesting that "women leave their Pattens before entering".

City of London Churches: St. Magnus the Martyr

During my last trip into London to photograph the churches in the Square Mile I worked my way around no less than six churches.  The church I''m featuring here from that day, St. Magnus the Martyr, lay the furthest south, just north of the Thames, on Lower Thames Street.  

Looking up through the foliage at the tower

Although St. Magnus the Martyr is close to London Bridge it once had an altogether closer connection, with its churchyard once forming part of the approach to old London Bridge.

The original church on this site had a lucky escape in 1633 when a careless servant in a nearby house spilled some hot coal ashes, causing a fire which destroyed no less than forty two houses.  Despite the fact that water was scarce, because the Thames was frozen at the time, the church survived unscathed.  Sadly it didn't survive the Great Fire in 1666 and was one of the first buildings to be destroyed, as it stood less than three hundred yards from the bakery in Pudding Lane where the conflagration started.

The clock, a later addition, was presented to the church by Sir Charles Duncombe, then Lord Mayor of London, in 1709.  According to tradition  it is said that "it was erected in consequence of a vow made by the donor, who, in the earlier part of his life, had once to wait a considerable time in a cart upon London Bridge, without being able to learn the hour, when he made a promise, that if he ever became successful in the world, he would give to that Church a public clock ... that all passengers might see the time of day."

Reconstruction of St Magnus' started in 1671, under the direction of Sir Christopher Wren and was largely complete within five years.  The resulting church is really quite ornate and I was torn as to what to photograph when I walked inside, with so many interesting and eye catching details.  I arrived shortly after the Thursday service finished and the aroma of incense was all pervading, adding to the atmosphere created by period shafts of sunlight falling through the windows.

City of London Churches: All Hallows Staining and St. Dunstan-in-the-East

My odyssey to visit and photograph all the remaining churches within the square mile of the City of London has taken a bit of a back seat in recent months.  However, I got started again in earnest last week, with an afternoon spent visiting no less than six churches.  

With help from the Friends of the City Churches website I planned a route around seven churches in the south east corner of the City, carefully avoiding clashes with services and lunchtime concerts.  On the whole my plan worked perfectly, although my visit to the final church, All Hallows-by-the-Tower, will have to wait for another day as the church closed an hour earlier than advertised on their website and was already locked by the time I got there.

My first two destinations were two churches which are somewhat incomplete these days, thanks to parishes combining together and damage caused during the Blitz in 1941.

All that remains of All Hallows Staining

All that remains of All Hallows Staining these days is a tower, although it has evidently been lovingly restored in recent years.  Tucked away, just off Fenchurch Street, it is surrounded by more modern buildings, like many of the city churches, and it's something of a challenge to get a good angle on it.  Its name comes from the church's 12th century origins when the word staining meant it was built of stone, in contrast with the other All Hallows churches in the city which were wooden.

The original church survived the Great Fire in 1666 only to collapse in 1671 because its foundations had been weakened by too many burials nearby.  The church was rebuilt in 1674 but only continued as a place of worship until 1870 when it combined with St. Olave Hart Street.  The rest of All Hallows was then demolished, leaving just the tower which is now maintained by the Worshipful Company of Clothmakers.

From All Hallows I headed south to the church of St. Dunstan-in-the-East which lies about half way between Monument and Tower Hill tube stations. 

The tower of St. Dunstan-in-the-East

St. Dunstan's is another church with medieval roots and, like so many in the city, it was badly damaged during the Great Fire in 1666.  Unusually, what was left after the fire wasn't demolished and rebuilt from scratch but instead it was patched up and a new steeple, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, was added between 1668 and 1671.  Unfortunately, by 1817 it was discovered that the walls had been pushed out of alignment so badly by the weight of the nave roof that the entire church was rebuilt once again to make it safe, although Wren's tower was retained.  

The final insult came in 1941 when the church was severely damaged during the Blitz.  On this occasion only the tower and north and south walls survived and it was finally decided that it should not be rebuilt yet again.  Instead the church has been turned into a community garden which is maintained by the City of London Corporation.  The result is a wonderfully peaceful space, with seats to sit and enjoy the architecture or simply to contemplate the world.  In the four decades since the garden was opened in 1971 the planting has matured beautifully and some of the windows are gracefully entwined with creepers and other plants.  There is even a magnificent fig tree inside what was once the nave which I would imagine must be quite productive in the summer months.  

Click on the pictures below to open them in a lightbox and see them larger.

I will share my photos from the other churches I visited in the coming days.  They include a church designed by Sir Christopher Wren, the church for the parish of Billingsgate and the final resting place of diarist Samuel Pepys.