Creative Process And I

Oh where to begin...

We have been asked to try and explain our creative process in class(online)at College.

I didn't think I had one really,I mean just 2 and a half years ago I bought my very first DSLR camera,I didn't know how to change a lens or that I need a card reader to upload my images onto a computer,I really didn't have a clue(I am not saying I do now).

So I have started too think about my process, what I do when I go out to take images, and I have looked back at pictures I have taken in the 2 and a half years since I started on this journey to try and help me understand what I do.

When I go out, first thing is I always have my camera with me,I have made sure the battery is full and that I have space on my memory card or I will have a spare with me just incase(same with the battery).It is simple ,something will catch my eye.It may be a shape or a shadow or a line that goes off into the distance,I will then look at what it was that caught my eye, and start to frame it in my heads to how best to capture what I want people(usually Linda aka Mrs C )to see.What I have noticed whilst looking at my images,I see a story in all of them, there is more than just 'oh that looks pretty', I like to have a couple of things that draw the eyes main point of interest and a few side points of interest.

As with this image ,shape ,form, lines and shadows, what is going in with the people in the background?Where are they going?Where have they been?What is going on in their world?As I said, side points but the main point of interest is the railing frame that with a bit of a bike chained to it, it looks like a three wheeled nike that you could just jump onto and ride off into the sunset.I see a story in and around the image. Do I want it to be aesthetically pleasing?Yes!I want it to be more than that though, I am trying to convey what I see when I take a picture, maybe people will see something else, that is good, at least it means they are looking at it, opening their mind, using their imagination.

There is a lot of self doubt involved when ever I view my images.When I am taking them, there is no self doubt,I am focused,I get lost,I zone out,I am in my own little world.I am not aware of background noise, people talking, music playing.I feel calm,I am relaxed,I am breathing slower,I am looking all around for that next shape, that next shadow.I am always thinking about taking a picture, capturing something that will be like that for a split second, for a hundredth of a second, then it is gone forever.

This image was partly luck(being in this street at the right time)but I was in this passageway, waiting for someone to go by, someone in a rush, oblivious to this strange man lurking in the shadows with his camera to hand.I was about to give up, when I popped my head outlooked along both ends of the street, and I saw him, pushing his wheelbarrow like he was climbing Mount Everest. So I stepped back into the shadowland listened intently as he trundled closer and closer.He was totally oblivious to me as he huffed and puffed along the cobbled stones, thinking his daily grind was nearly over for another day and he could go home and put his feet up before he repeats it all again tomorrow.

I see beauty in most if not everything(sounds a bit pompous I know)but what I see, and what it basically comes down to, is how we use the light, how we play with the light, the, the little dance do, even though it is constantly changing, no two days are the same.The fact I can take a picture, and then return to the exact same spot hours later and I will come out with a completely different image, I think that is amazing, it is what drives me on, it is what inspires me, pushes me when I don't really feel I want to take any pictures.Actually creating something is a big part of it for me.I wish I had discovered this years ago.I wish I had been aware of this passion for photography when I left school, cos I am sure I would have made a career out of it.Knowing that my journey within the confines of the college are almost at an end is both sad and quite scary at the same time.Leaving the safe college environment to enter the real world of being a professional photographer is a slightly terrifying prospect, but it is a hurdle that I must jump and with the skills(who am I kidding)I have learnt at D&A college,I think I have every opportunity of making it not only a career, but a job that I will love doing.