For the past month, nearly everyday, I have attempted to produce an “Image of the day”. Travelling locally, I have always sought out areas that were not crowded or where I could easily maintain my distance. I have travelled no further than Hill Head, Hampshire to the west, Butser Hill near Petersfield, Hampshire to the North and Goodwood, Sussex to the East. Some might consider this not staying local, government advice is to keep your exercise or outings local. I see the isolation and reduced lack of contact in these spaces I visited as good practice. Better to be alone and in the open than in a crowded area where there is little chance of avoiding others. Where I have stopped and got into conversation with people, I believe they have been grateful for the interaction. On one occasion we spent twenty minutes watching a Kingfisher sitting preening itself on a branch.

The areas and places that I have visited have been limiting in some respects, apart for the reasons I have already mentioned. These choices limited my approach to mainly landscapes or seascapes. It will be nice to travel further afield, photograph different things and be with people without fear. Some days have been more successful than others. On the good days five or six images have been good enough to process from each shoot. Out in all weathers, I have challenged myself to meet my goal. Returning home, I download the files via Photo Mechanic where the files are captioned and keywords added. The images are then exported and processed through Adobe Lightroom. Images that I feel will work better as black & white versions are processed using Nik Software, Silver Efex 2.

My final choice of image is then posted to my social media accounts, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin and Facebook. More recently, I have been posting an alternative choice to my Facebook business page. The images, I believe have been well received. All the social media accounts bar Twitter have had a healthy responses to the images. I will persevere with Twitter and hope to raise my profile further there.

As part my plan, I will be creating a portfolio of images on the recent work page of this website, it will feature some of the alternative choices and unpublished images. Also, I am also going to refresh my shop page, again here with twenty of the best images from January and offer them up for sale. Prices will start at £24.87 including P&P for an A4 print. I have some other ideas to promote my work but I will see what the response to the shop is.

As for February, I will be out there, trying to maintain my “image of the day” regime and hopefully not repeating myself too much. Working the area I have chosen for that day, harder and in more detail and perhaps finding new things and places to photograph along the way.

As with anybody else at this time of the year, we like to set out a list of goals for the coming year. Especially when so many peoples plans were put on hold last year.

Yes there are the usual new year resolutions, get fit, eat healthily, drink less, travel more, etc. etc.. But the only way I see of achieving these worthwhile endeavours is to replace the causes with distractions. Hopefully, this list will help. Though we’re off to a stuttering start. Another lockdown. I am going to put these goals into practice.

• I plan to publish to my social media accounts one image a day. If I can’t get out to take new images, I will find an image from archive and publish that.

• Publish a collection, again to my social media accounts, eight to ten images taken from those shot during the week.

• Keep this website up to date.

• Publish a new blog each month.

• Visit somewhere new every month, with a weekend away every 3 months, again out of this area.

• Find new photographic challenges and projects. New ways to photograph the familiar.

If I can make some money and see my work published, that would be nice too.

Yes, this is a tall order, especially at the moment but I need to push myself away from my comfort zones. After all we’re not getting any younger and in some respects we don’t know what the future will bring. So positive thought and onwards.

For pretty much everybody, the general consensus of opinion regarding 2020 has not been favourable. It has affected us all in one way or another. For me, I saw all of my freelance work disappear along with my sports photography. I tried to replace this with other work, as well as trying out different styles and approaches to my photography. The idea was to stay motivated, keep my skills honed and ideas fresh but it was not that easy. At times you wondered why you bothered or wether to continue with your chosen path. With all this time on your hands, it was little wonder that doubt grew and negative thoughts affected your confidence.

But when you are at your lowest and you realise the only way is up. I know it is obvious and cliched but it is also true. So, you begin to drag yourself out of the mire and smell the rose’s, so to speak. On this journey, not only do you discover things about yourself and what is important but you realise that you are far from alone, you are only a conversation or a sentence away from finding a great weight being lifted.

Journey.

As I searched for a handle on things, a way forward. I began to discover photographers I had never heard off and others I had forgotten or only knew by their images, such as Yoshi Shimizu, Derek Hudson, Clive Booth, Ami Vitale and Victoria Jones, to name just a few. Music that touched your soul and gave you hope, Bill Evans, Hania Rani, Yann Tiersen, Agnes Obel, etc. Art, film, poetry and literature that let you escape the day to day realities. All these influences and pointers gave you the confidence to stop and think. To think about nothing and imagine. It allowed your emotions to roam free, to listen to the silence within. You were allowing yourself to be moved and in that creative space, thoughts formed and ideas began to be nurtured. Decisions are made.

As 2021 approaches, we find ourselves locked down again, isolated from our families and friends. Our plans put on hold or cancelled as we try to evade an invisible enemy. For me, I am not going to let this disrupt my future plans. The borders of our tiers may limit as too how far we can travel or the restrictions of distance, masks and cleanliness may restrict our direction. But, these things will pass, we will overcome and adapt to this so called “new reality”. We will meet again. We will create.

As I have journeyed through 2020, I, like others have realised who and what is important, what matters, what we desire and what we no longer need and want. Over the coming weeks, here on my website and in my social media accounts, my decisions will become apparent with my images and words explaining my journey. I hope you will notice the change, support and advise me. If you are beginning or restarting your journey away from 2020 and into 2021, I wish you ‘Bonne chance’.