Hit and miss: A photographers guide to disappointment and missing the moment.
Blink and you’ll miss it…
My Dad & Nan (Olwyn), 05.02.23
Life is short and moments pass seemingly faster and faster each year, maybe it’s me who’s getting slower? Who knows? Recently I’ve been doing a retrospective look back at my first work I did with a camera and revisiting or re-editing of old pictures.
It’s been a journey that’s taken me back to places I haven’t stepped foot in for years and weirdly it only seems like it was yesterday that I was a very snap happy enthusiastic photographer walking the same paths. Some places have changed drastically since I was last there and others seem to have been kept in stasis waiting for my return to do more justice to the first set of photos I made.
Revisiting Widnes. 28.03.26
It really has been enlightening to see how much I’ve changed in that time and more about the photos I don’t take compared to the guy who was frightened to miss a moment. It feels nowadays I’ve got more of a handle on what can potentially make a great photograph and what will ultimately end up on the cutting room floor. It’s growth but this doesn’t mean I’ve lost my love and I’ll still try out different compositions and ideas that might not work. It’s fun to play about and find out.
Currently I’m working on a little 6 month project to play around with the concept of time and my own perception of how my photos change over time.
I have a little point and shoot camera that I use to snap quick/throwaway photos, hit or miss they stay on that memory card and I’ll only review the batch once the 2000 photos are completed. It kinda harks back to when I used to use film in the 90s. I already know that since I started the project there will be photos on there that will have a different spin in my mind when reviewing them.
Chrome hill 26
I can be very harsh of the moments I keep and the ones I deem to not be good enough. I only keep the raws of photos I use for print or online, the rest get deleted. I recently sat having a cup of tea with David Wallace, a great local photographer who keeps absolutely everything he takes long term storage of every walk or moment. That got me thinking am I right in the way I work? Will I regret not being able to look back and maybe see moments that I missed the first time around? Do I have the storage to do that?
Revisiting and reviewing is a great part of being a photographer. I often revisit New Brighton nearly every couple of months, it holds a special place in my heart growing up there and having big moments of my life surrounded by its shores. It was the last place I ever saw my nan, she was walking with my dad on the promenade, I only kept one photo of that day which ultimately I fear was a mistake.
Chrome Hill 25
When in New Brighton I find myself shooting shots that have never worked, hoping that one day the light and moment will reveal that I was right all along to persevere. They say to do the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is a sign of madness but as a photographer I try to defy this logic. So far I think I might just be mad.
I also believe not everything needs to be captured and preserved, some moments are ultimately just beautiful to behold with your eyes and to be kept for yourself. That was a big lesson I’ve learned recently, sometimes you just have to let it be.
Ultimately photos are beautiful things that capture that moment and that time surrounding them. Feelings change towards your own work and times/places change giving your work different meaning, a space to breath. You change and that’s an amazing thing, never stop growing, learning lessons from experiences and holding onto those things that make life special cause ultimately blink and you’ll miss it.
