Perhaps a strange but accurate description for photography is the following,
“It is much like birdwatching. You have to have the patience of a saint as sometimes nothing is inspiring or worthy of photographing, yet the next moment something comes along that you just have to capture”.
Yes photography is very much like birdwatching and sometimes you can leave an area or location with no photographs or you can leave with a lot of photographs. That being said though - the month of January is about the most unphotogenic month of the year and why January even exists is beyond me, as it really is a (dull, drab and boring) month that serves no purpose other than to act as a bridge between December and February when things begin to turn more interesting and the first signs of spring appear.
Still though at the time of writing this, England is in yet another lockdown (of sorts) which is looking as if it will more than likely become more draconian. Basically if you are a landscape photographer and was planning on capturing some of the glorious January weather and landscapes, you can not as the government have prevented that from happening, all with their fantastic science that they have been following, still though the evidence behind these restrictions surrounding exercise etc, seems to be missing.
So therefore January is not looking like the best month to capture anything at all, not that it matters as staying local can provide some equally interesting scenes to capture thus also discovering - for exploring a local area can reveal clues and tell stories about the area that we live in.
Thankfully though the government has allowed us to exercise which is incredibly generous of them and only the other week did I have a delightful walk, at a local country park. Shipley Park is one of those places that throughout lockdown I have managed to capture and have seen so many changes especially with the seasons and that is something that as a photographer I shall cherish, the taking things slowly and seeing along with appreciating the smaller and finer details within life.
However though the other week - a short walk at Shipley Park, was one which I had planned on doing. But even that came with a photographic surprise when I noticed a bench, upon the top of a rather small hill, none the less the drama of the skies in the background was incredibly dramatic and I just had to take the following shot,
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| For what were they pondering upon? |
A family sitting on a bench, thankfully I was at a distance from them and I just had to capture them sitting on this lonely and incredibly isolated bench with the dramatic dark clouds behind them. For those dark clouds had snow in them which eventually began to fall. But the question remains,
“What were they pondering upon?”
What was that family thinking about? Life perhaps being different at the moment or something else? Either way it was a scene that was incredibly thought provoking that remains possibly one of the best images that I have ever captured. A family sitting down pondering upon something and the simplicity of the photograph is something else that I like, all too often within photography simplicity is thrown out of the window for more complex photographs, yet simplicity is what you need at the best of times, and it is this simplicity that often results in the best photographs you can capture.
The other thing to mention is that within photography planning ahead really is not advisable, but no matter what, carry a camera with you and you will be rewarded no matter what.
