As a photographer it has been challenging so far; no photoshoots, grim weather and the oppressing feeling of doom that has overtaken most of us at some point recently. Alongside all the restrictions we live with at the moment. I have been working extra hours in my ‘other’ job in healthcare which has meant that my camera is starting to gain dust, my mojo has mojo’ed off somewhere else and I really need to get my act together! I’m sure I am not the only one to start the year like this!!
So here are some of the things I have been up to during January.
I started the current Lockdown with good intentions, declaring I was going to take my Camera out on my daily walk. Great idea! But my daily walk consists of taking the dogs out too! Well…. juggling a camera, a very active Staffy X and two sniffing Westies did not really work out. It’s hard to focus a camera while being pulled in three directions!! And after nearly being pulled into a ditch while trying to capture a pretty bit of hedgerow I gave up on that great plan!
So next I decided to try taking my camera out by myself locally. I’m really trying to be responsible and not drive anywhere unnecessarily, so my local village is pretty much my source of inspiration. Usually immensely inspiring, we have beautiful fields to walk in, we are so lucky to live in the gorgeous Somerset countryside. However, in the gloomy weather we have had it I have found it really is quite difficult to get inspired by mud and damp foliage.
However, we have had some lovely cold mornings of ice which left fabulous patterns and lace nets on the plants. I managed to get out early when the ice was still crisp and get some close up shots of the beautiful effects of ice on the plants around the hedgerows.
I was also lucky to get a Lens ball for Christmas so have done a little bit of playing around with that. It has been really fun! The trickiest part was trying to work out the best way to flip the picture in the Lens ball to give the look that I wanted. But a great addition to my kit and something a little bit different to play with.
I’ve also been completing an online course with the Fabulous Pawel Lipski. I really love his work and his use of only natural light with no post editing is so inspiring. I’ll be writing more about my learning in a future blog. Check out his work on IG pawellipski.
As with everyone else I am looking forward to lockdown easing so that I can get out on photoshoots again, but for now we must all stay safe, stay home and see what February brings.
