What has photography ever done for me?
Prelude
2 June 2020
It’s Week 11 of our lockdown for Covid-19, a period when we’ve been shielding – taking some limited exercise but largely staying at home and relying on our photography/history interests to keep us stimulated and (reasonably) at ease. But last week I realised that my photography wasn’t providing the help I expected; there was an anxious, edgy air about it.
Uncertain Times II
When lockdown started I had turned to re-processing some of the old photos; it helped me believe I could still be a photographer even though I couldn’t go out daily with the camera – and I’ll admit it was the only way I could envisage doing so. But then I became more and more engaged; it grew to be challenging and exciting to reconnect, reimagine and rework these old photos from 2, 5, 10 years ago, in ways which fitted my feelings, memories and emotions – as well as taking advantage of the way my photographic experience and skills have increased as the years passed. (And, interestingly, this re-engagement benefitted from the absence of distractions – particularly the distraction of daily photography). But lately I’ve felt like Sisyphus – that I’m on an endless treadmill, reprocessing similar images again and again, destined to repeat the same purposeless task for eternity!
Trying to make sense of this feeling, I began to think about the entire photographic process – the different stages in a photographic outing – and I was surprised by the breadth and number of different phases; planning the excursion; visualising possible pictures; using apps to check the direction of the sun, the state of the tide, the weather etc; selecting suitable camera equipment; anticipation and excitement throughout the journey; being there, engaging with the location; taking photos; hurrying back home to download the images – more childlike excitement; post-processing; selecting images for printing and sending them online; waiting for Pavel, the DPD delivery driver, to return my treasures; “good morning, Pavel – dzien dobry” (my one phrase in Polish); opening the package; first impressions; scattering them over the kitchen table; then second impressions, third … ; seeing them again next morning, and the next; choosing ones for display; putting them up on the wall; and finally writing about it all for this website.
No wonder the very limited task of post-processing was such a poor substitute for this entire experience!
I shouldn’t be surprised by the richness of the practice; after all there was more to hockey than 70 minutes on the pitch (from checking the fixture list in the week before, to cleaning my boots in the days afterwards). So, I shouldn’t be surprised about the richness of photography, but I was. And it found me considering this; if I was unaware that I value the photographic experience so highly, and I'm ignorant of its benefits, are there other benefits which I’ve failed to recognise? Would it help reinforce them and increase their impact if I explored them fully and made them explicit? Thus the seeds of this project were sown:
What has photography ever done for me?
The project may have long-term benefits; it may just help me in the short term to achieve my lockdown-aim of keeping stimulated and (reasonably) at ease. Either way it doesn’t matter. It’s piqued my interest, I’m excited and I’m good to go.
Take care
Paddy
June 2020