A Journey - Introduction | Reflections in Photography

Introduction

It feels natural to start this series of personal blog post's at the beginning of the journey, right?  Well yes, that would seem logical, but I have come to reflect that life has many beginnings, endings and parts to a journey.  The series of post's have no preconceived order, structure or even a frame of reference over time.  They maybe random in topic and content and sporadic in frequency.  I will write when I feel I have something to share, though I can't always promise to say that those thoughts will be refined or will even have a point.

The purpose of this series, as mentioned in my last post "an idea" is to share my journey in photography - the things I have learned, the things I continue to learn, the images and artists that influenced me and continue to inspire me and of course my own personal reflections on my own photographic journey - the decisions I took, the mistakes I made, the ongoing struggle to avoid conformity,  yet provide a solid and credible base for my students and still remain authentic to my creative expression.

I don't propose to tell other's how to think or what they should feel, this form of art bondage does not allow the individuality of self-expression or recognise that each person is travelling at a different pace and time in their journey to become a happier photographer and dare I say it person too.  It is this very principle that has been the most rewarding aspect for me when I switched careers from the corporate world of Change Management and Business Transformation to a self-employed photography practitioner.  

The satisfaction gained from nurturing, witnessing and developing so many beginner's through the initial step on their journey and then the ongoing growth and blossoming individual creativity for those that have continued with me has been both inspirational and worth every penny I now don't earn in this change of career.

I also hope to share some of my own reflective thinking on the world of photography, the frustrations of certain elements in it and the often insular perspective that seems to frequent the social networks, magazines and even the judging community.  I am not concerned about public reaction, in fact, I doubt many will even read the post’s let alone engage or comment on them, though that would be welcomed.

I frequently hear the statements; “I am just not that creative” and “I wish I could take photos like that” – they are statements I am sure I whispered in my inner thoughts many years ago but at some point, the exact moment I don’t recall as I believe it was a slower realisation, I made a conscious decision to improve.  I was too self-conscious about using the term creative because my frame of reference was so high it felt out of reach for a mere mortal like me who had spent his life from 15yrs old working and building a conventional career and existence.

So I hope that this series of blog posts will reach out most, to those that hold this self-limiting view of their own potential and show them that anyone with the right determination, patience to accept a hundred failed images to make one satisfying image can and possibly will become a happier photographer and dare to live the dream as I am now.

Previous "A Journey" Post - An Idea

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