Photography: A hobby reborn

The 4 things that helped me rediscover a passion

As I approach my 40th birthday I am increasingly aware of the importance of having passions and hobbies.

Where there was once a desire to dedicate 90% of my energy to my career, and the remaining 10% to friends and drinking, there is now a void. My work/life balance was unhealthy, and my growing anxieties prevented me from doing things I enjoyed. 

Then the Covid pandemic hit and the following lockdowns and remote working provided a perfect excuse to hide from the world. Isolation and the lack of communication further reinforced and fed my anxiety. Thankfully I had the companionship of Freddy, a 9-month-old French Bulldog I had recently rehomed.

This is Freddy, now 4 years old, snoozing on the sofa | Canon 7Dii

Despite the many negatives, the lockdowns also provided a few opportunities. Altruistically, I become closer to my family. Perhaps more selfishly, I began to focus on myself, questioning my outlook and motivations in life. I am still career-driven and of course, I still enjoy a few beers, but I asked myself ‘Is this it?’.

So like many others during the pandemic, I looked to hobbies. In part to reduce tedium but more importantly to broaden my horizons. Beyond the usual video games, my initial interests were a rather pathetic attempt to learn the piano and start collecting vinyl records.

Later as lockdown restrictions began to ease I started a collection of board games and dusted off my unloved Canon to sell on eBay to part fund a Fuji GFX100s. 

Fast-forward a few years, the electric piano, RIP, is in its cardboard coffin in my cupboard, whilst my much loved and used record and board game collections are growing strong. 

But it still wasn’t enough. Both my work and new hobbies were too sedentary. There’s a big wide world out there and I wasn’t experiencing it. 

So why photography?

Well, as the title of this blog suggests, photography isn’t a new interest for me. I have in fact picked up and put down this hobby multiple times over the years.

As a kid around the age of 6, long before digital cameras existed, my dad bought me a plastic bag full of camera gear from a car boot sale for a few quid. It contained a bashed-up 35mm roll film SLR, an archaic flash gun, and a bunch of other gizmos that I couldn’t even begin to tell you about.  

My first flash gun with replacement bulbs!

Of course, the gear was pretty ropey, but it was the perfect introduction for a young boy. Entirely manual and mechanical, it taught me some fundamentals of photography such as the exposure triangle; the balance of aperture, shutter speed, and film speed (ISO).  

I loved this cumbersome gadget. More than any toy, it had function and purpose, providing a creative outlet and a bond with my dad over our shared interest. I didn’t take many pictures or get the opportunity to perfect a craft, back then it wasn’t that cheap to buy and develop film. Over time my interest dwindled.  

A decade later I was finishing my school exams and starting college applications. I was never particularly academic but I excelled in Art and Design Technology. Continuing along my creative path I chose to study Fine Art, Film Studies, and Photography.

Our college had excellent facilities. There were darkrooms for both colour and black & white photography, a studio equipped with a suspended lighting rig, and medium format cameras we could borrow!

I invested in a lovely manual 35mm Pentax and began to explore the more creative aspects of photography. I was able to go beyond just point-and-shoot and instead experimented with form, subject, and composition mostly focusing on black-and-white street and portrait photography.

At this time digital photography was in its infancy, nowhere near the results you could get from a decent 35mm SLR or medium format film camera. I loved the end-to-end journey, from taking photographs to developing the film and producing prints in the darkroom. I found it uniquely wholesome, a blend of magic and science.    

During the following 20+ years, lots of camera gear came and went. I had few reasons to get out the camera. Aside from a couple of interesting projects my photography was relegated to holiday snaps and no longer a proper hobby.

A few poor-quality scans from a shoot for my ex-partner’s clothing brand | Zenza Bronica

What was I missing?

How could I enjoy something so much and yet let it fall by the wayside? My lack of commitment frustrated me. So I began to reflect on my behaviour to better understand what I was lacking so that I could develop some tactics to overcome them.

For me, there were a few reasons that I didn’t stick with photography. Discipline, purpose, extrospectivity, and end goals.

1, I lacked discipline

Like almost everything worthwhile in life, it requires an investment of your time and effort. My lack of motivation to get out with my camera meant I wasn’t growing, my photographs were average at best.

My biggest advice is to just get out there regularly. I am now more active than I have ever been. Even creating this website and blog is an act of discipline, and one that I hope will keep me learning and growing.

2, I lacked purpose

Without a clear subject or narrative in mind, I would find myself just pointing the camera at landmarks or interesting scenes. Disappointingly but unsurprisingly this produced nothing more than holiday snaps.

Instead of merely rocking up to random locations, I am now very considered. I research and plan my trips thoroughly - both on location and online. I look for interesting subjects, experiment with different compositions, and try to understand the behaviour of light.

3, I wasn’t extrospective

Often photography can be a bit of a loner hobby. I never attempted to join any communities or clubs or learn from what other photographers were doing.

I’ve since found amazing online communities and dozens of excellent social media profiles to follow. I love watching the vloggers on their adventures to stunning locations and learning from their wisdom. Most importantly, they inspire me to push myself.

4, I had no end goals

For years, especially since digital photography, I would go to the trouble of investing in the gear, learning how to use it, taking some nice shots, and then doing absolutely nothing with them! They’d sit on a memory card only ever being looked at once or twice. Why bother at all?

I definitely still need to improve in this area, but I am starting to do more with my photographs so I can enjoy them. Social media is a great start, for me that's Instagram and Flickr but I also recently invested in a decent printer so I can experiment and make my own large prints. You’ll find lots of photographers online talking about how rewarding this is and I heartedly agree. It's a similar feeling to my darkroom days in college. The end-to-end process is far more compelling and the ability to see your prints in physical form is far more rewarding than on a little screen.

What's next?

I am far from a good photographer, but I have an opportunity to develop so I’ll keep working hard on these 4 tactics.  I’m going to stay disciplined and keep practising, I’ll search for more interesting subjects, I’ll continue to learn from the community, and I’ll experiment more with post and print work.

Thanks for taking the time to read my first-ever blog post. I hope it wasn’t overly self-indulgent.