So today was all about working from home (wfh), reading the work of students, taking delivery of a parcel (Joel’s birthday), speaking with colleagues, and now and again hunting for interesting light, or otherwise annoying my family with a camera.
One of the things I enjoy most about photography is the way it allows you to be present, encourages you to look for something, without really knowing what, and helps you recognise that something in moments that are often fleeting and inconsequential.
Not so this virus unfortunately, which is neither.
Here then are a series of inconsequential musings from today.
Presently, in addition to ‘wfh’, which I still read as wtf, a more appropriate acronym for our new context perhaps, we are also exploring the domestic ‘sphere’, some of us quite literally.
Gwyn has been in the under-stairs cupboard all afternoon and is shocked at how many coats we have. This revelation has been compounded by the unnecessary amounts of shoes we have also accumulated, some of which I was pleasantly surprised by, and will now wear.
I have also realised how many books there are still to read, and how the ones I have to read are not the ones I want to read and how stressful lockdown will be if it becomes a moral obligation to use the time well. Read more books, watch more documentaries, take more photographs, make a film, or something! For the future’s sake document it!
How did we ever manage to leave the house when there is obviously so much to do?
As with many passions, one of the things that makes photography rewarding is the people and communities of interest it gives rise to, the technical and imaginative draw of its different disciplines and genres and the space for creativity these provide. There are innumerable and often quite brilliant blogs, podcasts, youtube channels etc that encompass everything imaginable from the output of well known photographers to discussions of images, equipment, creativity and motivation. Over the last year it’s been a pleasure to discover these and meet some of the people behind them.
In my limited experience this ‘community’ has been incredibly helpful, open and transparent in discussing how they work and create, and today I was in contact with someone who very much embodies that spirit. So it’s to this community I hope to turn again in my non-wfh time. When I am at home but not working, or just at home, again. Maybe then my family can get some peace, or they can learn to hide better.
Just now discovered this page. AlthoughI have admired the quality of your photos from afar for some time. Good to have the writing and the photos. Both pdg (stands for pretty damn good, which I just made up because I have to look up the meaning of wfh or whatever. Keep working on this as much as you can with the corona time. Such good quality. Are you unsung or do you have fans or what?
Thanks Tom, much appreciated.