// Edition 017. Balance

Balancing life and work, One Moonlit Night and a year in endnotes.

Ed Brydon

Dec 31, 2022

Man running out of shadow into sunlight on a street of colourful shops — Greenwich, London. December 2022

Portrait of a caucasian man with gray hair in a white shirt, red and navy tie and tan trenchcoat asking for donations for the veterans poppy appeal — Poppy appeal portrait, Guildford, Surrey. November 2022

Biker in a red vest is caught in a shaft of sunlight in a street alternating between shadow and sun — Greenwich, London. December 2022

Blurred photograph of a streetlight at night, underneath which a tree can just be seen and car lights stream past. — Farnham, Surrey. December 2022

Balance

Festive greetings for whatever you celebrate at this time of year. I hope you’ve all had a wonderful holiday season.

The candle has burned down, the marks down the side merged with the slowly solidifying wax. There’s just a wisp of smoke rising from what is left of the wick. Another calendar year ends.

In truth, towards the end of this year I’ve felt like that candle. Burned out. So much that I ‘downed tools’ for most of November and December. I didn’t write last month’s newsletter, and I couldn’t will myself to bring any of my cameras out with me, let alone to my eye to make a picture.

A lot of that has to do with other things going on. On a personal level, it’s always a busy time of year, with Halloween, multiple family birthdays, and our wedding anniversary. We also moved house, and moving is stressful, whether across an ocean or a town.

I started a new job as a Science Writer, which is going well, but it takes a lot of energy to concentrate and do good work – work I’m already proud of. Even in my new role, I’ve kept some time to myself and decided to work only 80% full time; I intend to save that one working day per week for my own photography projects and commissions. Thankfully, things have started catching my eye again, compelling me to respond to the instinct inside me to make a picture.

Among some challenges, 2022 was also a year of many highlights and I find it important to recognise that:

Early in the year, I photographed the founders of Go Ape for a feature in The Telegraph Magazine. In April, I completed a commission documenting artist Linda Brassington’s process, work, and installation for Crafting Futures, a British Council-funded textile art project. Linda and I enjoyed working together and I also photographed her piece for the Tansa exhibition and book. My last commission of the year was to photograph a beautiful stained glass window for Rachel Mulligan.

A more personal commission enabled me to travel up to North Wales to make a particular photograph by request. It was a really enjoyable process, from talking through what the person wanted to executing the photograph and print. I’d love to do more of these.

In June, I exhibited jointly with my 10-year-old son, Alex, for Surrey Artist Open Studios.

Over the summer, I was able to travel to the US to see family and friends that I hadn’t seen in three years. The trip also meant I could visit Central New York and the Slate Valley to see people, meet new people and make pictures for my project The Singing Hills.

In early autumn, I exhibited pictures from that project at the Camp Good Life festival and was featured in The Guardian and Caught by the River.

I participated in Photo Print Day, and managed to raise more than £150 to split between a few different charities.

And in October, I produced Burned 3.0, a completely analogue piece of work that I intend never to show online. It’s my anti-NFT work, if you will, and challenges some aspects of photography; it’s a reaction to the environmental impact of human activity (including cryptocurrency mining and NFT selling). If you’d like to know more about this project, please feel free to respond to this newsletter and ask.

Thank you to everyone who commissioned me, bought a print, got in touch to talk or let me bend their ear this year. It has been much appreciated.

As we move into a new calendar year, I’m thinking less in terms of hard and fast resolutions and more in cycles. I’ve enjoyed the new direction I’m taking this newsletter in, focusing more on images and small edits. While this one is wordier than usual, I also have some ideas of how to keep it evolving.

As for photography plans, I’m currently in talks to secure an exhibition in 2023 for another body of work. We’re working out the dates and I’ll be sure to share more as plans solidify.

My friend Mary Waltham has also been working on a project for which I will be collaborating with photographs.

But mostly, I will be concentrating on bringing The Singing Hills to fruition. After my trip to the US earlier this year, I sat down to take stock of the project. I now have a list of companion photographs I need to make in North Wales that I will be scheduling time to create. And then, of course, I must edit the pictures, sequence them and begin the process of putting the book together.

As I work through all of this, I’m going to be more conscious of my time and energy, and work through the distractions that inevitably pop up. I plan to prioritise the right things and create a better balance in 2023.

How will you approach the new year? What will you be focusing on, and how will you maintain a better, healthier balance between your creative practice and rest?

Let me know and share your ideas and suggestions via the comments, DM, or email. Your thoughts are very welcome.

Best wishes to you all for 2023.

Fast food shop at night, lit by fluorescent menus. Inside a girl in a brown jacket looks out, while a man faces the server in red polo and cap. — Burgers, ribs, peri peri. Greenwich, London. December 2022

One of the best ways to support my work is to subscribe or forward this newsletter on to someone who you think would enjoy subscribing to it. Just press the buttons below:

Share The[ED]it

// Notes from The Singing Hills

Black and white photograph of a row of terraced houses alongside a road with streetlights recedes into the distance towards a mountain. — Terraced houses, Bethesda, North Wales

Whilst staying at my sister’s house during Christmas, I happened to notice a copy of One Moonlight Night, by Caradog Pritchard, on the bookshelf. It’s a book I’ve been meaning to get hold of and read because I have photographed members of the Pritchard family in Poultney, Vermont. I’ve taken this serendipitous find as a sign to re-immerse myself in the project.

Cover of the book One Moonlit Night by Caradog Pritchard

// Endnotes

Best of 2022

Newsletters: I’ve enjoyed following the rabbit holes Melissa Lyttle leads me down in her newsletter, full stop. Offline Journal has a very informative newsletter covering photography in Wales and beyond. Craig Mod is a prolific newsletter writer, producing both long-running and various pop-up ones. I don’t subscribe to them all but enjoy those I do receive. Tender Photo, a newsletter by Emmanuel Iduma, showcases one image from a different photographer each week, exploring both the nature of the photograph and the background and influences of the photographer.
Podcast: Padraig O’Tuama has been the poetry teacher I never knew I needed, or wanted, until I started listening to Poetry Unbound – I dip into a few other podcasts but this is the one I subscribe to that I always make time for.
Exhibitions: Jo Coates and Heather Agyepong for Jerwood Arts /Photoworks and Chris Killip at The Photographers Gallery have stuck in my mind, each for different reasons. The Tansa: Japanese Threads of Influence exhibition at the Craft Study Centre in Farnham was wonderous, introducing us to delicate worlds.
Book: Lanny, by Max Porter, was riveting and revelatory. In late December, I bumped into a friend in a bookshop who was looking for a book for a Christmas present. When I mentioned Lanny, several heads snapped round and it began a conversation. It was a remarkable moment. I’ve read other books this year but this one will stick with me for a long time.
Play: Jodie Comer is rightly being lauded for her roles in Killing Eve and Help, but the best thing I saw her in this year was Prima Facie. It was a singular performance. (I also love Helen Murray’s photography for it - that overlaid double exposure perfectly encapsulates the duality and feeling of the play)

Thank you for reading The [ED]it, I hope you enjoyed it, please do forward this on to anyone else you think might enjoy it. If you have questions, comments, ideas, projects, sponsorship or anything else stimulated by this edition, you can reply to this email, or get in touch by leaving your thoughts in the comments or contacting me via email at edbrydon@gmail.com

The[ED]it

// Edition 017. Balance

Balancing life and work, One Moonlit Night and a year in endnotes.

Discussion about this post