// Edition 024 Res[e]t

Challenges, highlights, hunkering down and some end of year endnotes

Nutcracker inflatable, Christmas 2023, Farnham

We are at the turn of another calendar year. I hope you’ve had a holiday season in which you’ve been able to find joy, happiness, and some rest and relaxation also. The wonderful scent of fir is not long for our house now.

As I sat down to write this newsletter I decided to revisit what I wrote this time last year. It became clear that I was at the risk of repeating myself. Perhaps this is indicative of the cycle I find myself in. 2023 brought many of the same challenges as 2022, including another move across town. I have found myself in creative ruts. As in 2022, I missed writing this newsletter for the last two months. And at times I have succumbed to each of the three things Kyle identifies in this video that can hold you back, whether that’s in photography or another pursuit.

That being said, I did make a resolution at the start of this year to lean into things that make me uncomfortable, anxious or nervous. Doing this has definitely helped me grow, even when I haven’t been able to go through with it every time. For example, I still feel nervous when asking to photograph people. However, I am more comfortable in recognising this feeling and not letting it become a barrier. That’s natural and something you might never get over, just ask my friend Gabrielle Motola who has a fantastic way of teaching street portraiture that acknowledges this and that helped me learn so much about myself.

“Cowboy” on the train to London, September 2023

As for highlights, early in the year, I changed up my photographs at Farnham coffee shop Barista Lounge for a set of silver gelatin prints of pictures from Paris. They have been well received and one image from the set was chosen later in the year for a limited print release.

During the summer I also travelled to Dublin to see family. Dublin, and Ireland, is a very special place to me and I felt ready to begin photographing there, which I talked about in this previous issue. I’ve developed all the film exposed during that trip and now need to make contact sheets. I’m hoping to continue this work in 2024.

I then spent the rest of the summer printing pictures for my Hampton Hops exhibition at Farnham Maltings. The exhibition went well and it was great to have a number of people present for the private view and opening event. I’m in talks to work out where these pictures can be exhibited next and may even be able to print more if there is space. That could also provide enough images for a zine.

Lastly, to coincide with Farnham Craft Month in October I exhibited my project Burned 3.0 at Kiln Photo.

All this meant I spent less time photographing for and working on The Singing Hills than I hoped to. Along with the zines, I intend to make progress on the editing for that in 2024. There’s also a lot of as yet unseen work that I need to edit for my website.

That already seems like enough to be getting on with. I’ve said previously that I find myself drawn more to seasonal changes, not the turn of the calendar year, so I’m going to take the winter months to hunker down and make a start on this work as well as to rest and reset. I’ll be back in the spring with new energy, news of projects that I’m in talks about now and perhaps some new features for this newsletter.

A31 Farnham bypass, December 2023

In the next issue I hope to be able to share an edit of images from a photo walk earlier in the year with someone I had been wanting to photograph for a long time. One of my favourite ways to engage with people and make their portraits is on an extended “walk and talk” in which we meet, have a coffee, walk and talk, interspersed with candid or more directed portraits in places we have planned or that feel right in the moment. Stay tuned for that.

Let me know what you were up to in 2023 and what your plans are for next year in the comments, or drop me a line by email if you prefer.

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// Endnotes

A few of things from 2023 that stuck in my head:

1. Film: I really enjoyed both Past Lives and Maestro. Apart from the compelling storylines and performances I was also intrigued by the cinematography; the choice of film in Past Lives, which led me down a rabbit hole to find out what 3-perf is, as well as the format and aspect ratio changes in Maestro.

2. Podcast: I am still an avid listener to Poetry Unbound but the other podcast that I stuck with this year is Empire. It is an absolutely fascinating listen and I’m still catching up on the first season that covers, warts and all, the British Empire in India.

3. Newsletters: I’ve added Melissa Harrison’s Witness Marks and James Roberts’ Into the Deep Woods to my reading subscriptions and been informed, delighted and moved by them at various turns.

I hope you continue to enjoy my newsletters, and if you know of anyone else who might, do please share this newsletter with them.

Sincerely,

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