Today was a mixed day to say the least. I took in a trip to London today with my good friend and work crewmate David Tremayne to forget about the fact we are about to start a set of night shifts and explore some areas that we are not familiar with.
We set out mid-morning to avoid the early rush but still able to take advantage of some of that low autumn sun. Having not explored Camden much before I was excited about the possible Urban shots that I could come home with but despite having a renewed and amplified enthusiasm for my photography at the moment the same old faults started to appear through the cracks again.
I really enjoyed taking in the buzz and the vibe of the bustling Market town but, despite that, did not work with my cameras enough and bring back enough shots. I still suffer from the severe shyness and awkwardness to ask complete strangers if they mind having their photo taken, which is a real shame because there was a few characters their that would have made for some really interesting portraits. This is something where I am just gonna have to take a big brave leap since i’m sure most people would be fine with it, even if they are not, what would I have to lose! Dave on the other hand was the complete opposite and able to approach any bugger, but then he does have about 20 years experience over me!
Time just seemed to fly by on an enjoyable morning but the shots were just not building up. This is a common fault of mine also. There have been many occasions that I have gone out for the day with a camera and come back with much less than the effort of getting out there deserved. Perhaps I shouldn’t put myself under so much pressure and expect to come back with 200-300 shots to comb through at the end of the day. Perhaps the the key thing would be to go out with an idea in mind of what I want to capture rather than just wander aimlessly with the expectation of finding many interesting subjects or scenes to shoot.
The most disappointing thing today though was the gradual transformation from an urban photographer to a typical tourist taking photos. It’s something that we tried to avoid today but was perhaps inevitable as we eventually moved from Camden and instead walked from landmark to landmark along the bank of the Thames snapping away at every opportunity.
Despite all this though (and the drenching we received from the heavy afternoon rainfall), a thoroughly enjoyable and enlightening day. I still have much to learn and improve upon, but thats gonna be the fun part I guess.
