In The Swing?
To have a break in your workflow of two months can be significant. I had completed several photo shoots and was planning on having a joint exhibition with my good friend Will Lake and then the ankle thing happened. You are left in the situation of not knowing when and how capably, you would be able to return to work. For six weeks, I barely took a single photograph. I tried macro, product, still life photography in and around the house but it didn’t really meet my needs. To be honest, I never thought I would have been so patient with myself during this period. Then the cast comes off and you begin walking again. Six weeks on from that moment, I am now walking albeit slowly. I can drive and get up and down small flights of stairs. I have got back into taking my mixture of landscape and urban photography.
I am loving using the Nikon Zs. All the picture quality of the fabulous DSLRs but in a smaller package. There are compromises (evf instead of ovf, poor battery life) but the positives outweigh the negatives. I’ve toyed with swapping one of them for a Z7 but do I need 45.7mp? The detail I get from my z6 and z6ii is more than enough for sharp, good sized prints. I have seen many professional photographers on YouTube, recently heading over to Hasselblad and Leica Q3. Beautiful cameras with stunning optics. The detachment from many photographers both professional and amateur however, seems to be increasing. You are told by some of these photographers, that sensor size and megapixels don’t matter. It is a bit like an owner of a Ferrari telling another motorist, that your car model doesn’t matter as they all get you from A to B and after all we have national speed limits.
Don’t get me wrong, I would love a Hasselblad but it’s never going to happen. I know many of these professionals have put the hard work in over the years and they do an awful lot of good teaching those getting into photography. If a camera company wants to reach out and give equipment to photography YouTubers , I fully understand why.
I am proud of my work and think it has improved with time and hard work but how can I be sure? When a fellow photographer tells me how much they like my work, is it said in a way that equates to ‘good for you’ and ‘well tried’? Am I really nothing more than a budding semi professional who has a way to go to reach a level of quality not yet reached.
I am loving getting back into my routine again. I need things to do and work to set up. My selling of prints has taken a back seat of late but I plan to pick that up again. The exhibition has been rescheduled for February 2025. I shall be contacting my prospective clients who booked shoots but because of my broken ankle, have had to wait. I am out of practice writing about my work too. My social media posts aren’t as erudite as they once were. I have written poetry and fiction on and off for years but it’s as if this ability is lacking at present.
The photography, the business, the writing are all works in progress. A broken ankle doesn’t make you a bad photographer or poor businessman. My literary ability isn’t physically connected to my leg but maybe there is a connection, lack of confidence. I am wary when out walking. I’m terrified of falling or slipping. I have to re-learn how to mobilise confidently, how to trust my balance and strength. This level of doubt creeps into other aspects of my life and given that my photography is so integral, it’s bound to affect this. None of this means I will give up but it just makes the journey a little bit longer and tougher. To those reading this, I have plans and see this recent setback as purely that, a setback. It isn’t a roadblock or ‘sign’ that I’m making a mistake. Please hang in there and I’ll be back in form soon!
