Breaking the shackles.

How I have found freedom in my photography.

It is fair to say that the last few months have been something of an epiphany for me in photographic terms, in as much as that I have discovered and embraced a freedom that had previously been bound by social media algorithms, my seemingly endless quest for gear and to a larger extent my inner perfectionist.

The quest for gear was easy to justify, buying this camera or that lens would be the one that really made me a better photographer and subsequently my audience on social media would grow.

In terms of my inner perfectionist, he has become a little more open minded and tolerant of imperfection but having been a chef for over twenty years until the mid 2000’s, this beast has been a little harder to tame.

With my desire for being as good as I can be, comes self inflicted pressures, such as those I put upon myself when I have used full frame cameras and decent lenses, I had spent a not insignificant amount of cash, so now I had to deliver the goods and for sure, over the years I have taken photos that I am proud of even today but those ‘bangers’ were never going to happen every shoot, just as an angler will never catch a personal best fish every session.

When a hobby becomes a chore, it is less fun, when more time is spent choosing which camera or lens to use, it’s a wasted opportunity, so for me simplifying my gear has been a big influence on how I shoot these days and a huge influence on my mindset.

In terms of humour, years of working in kitchens and warehouse environments have honed it to a healthy left of centre direction, this too perhaps reflects in my image making decisions.
Sure, I love a sunrise but I also love to find beauty in decay, the vast open landscape of Dartmoor is a privilege to visit but smaller details of a scene are appealing to me more and more and regardless of whether an image may ‘trend’, I could not care less, I am taking photos for myself these days.

Perhaps the biggest personal influence, is that I have learned to slow down, often my photo walks were almost a route march but as I slowly and somewhat reluctantly approach my 59th year, I am enjoying taking more rests and savouring the moments as I do so.

My newly rediscovered enjoyment of using vintage lenses has also been a factor in my slower pace, as a result, I am seeing more of those details I like to find.

The imperfections in these older lenses are after all, now seen as character, just as rust and dirt have now been relabelled as ‘patina’ in many of these restoration shows on TV.
I have enjoyed every moment of my photographic journey but I have enjoyed the last eighteen months more as I have loosened the shackles and given myself permission to shoot how I want.