Again…I got roasted at the British GT on Sunday.
Silverstone provided a day of exquisite sunshine, following a typical dreary morning. Of course, I went out with no sunscreen and a hoody, expecting a luke warm and blowy day that is usually the norm. But I got it wrong.
Those of you who happen to follow my instagram feed you may have seen the story post I put up the other day in regards to enthusiasm for this photography thing.
If you missed it, it read something like the following;
In all honesty, I find my enthusiasm for photography and images of cars beginning to wane…
In all honesty I do. In fact, I’m becoming really bored of it, close to the point that I may shoot less. Why? Well, it’s a bit of a dead horse which I’m reluctant to continue flogging. From my point of view, and despite my best endeavor, it’s just not getting me or my aspirations, anywhere.
Yes I enjoy the cars, but I would rather be driving them. Likewise, I enjoy the challenge of trying to bag a decent picture… and as I repeat myself again…but I’m loathed to keep on investing time and cold hard cash for nothing much more than Instagram likes and web stats. Some folks don’t mind that. I do.
So I’m huffing and puffing. Gloomy Gus. Then the devil on my shoulder pipes up;
You’ve, met some top folks on your travels and learnt a few things along the way. You’ve refined your eye and opened doors to future opportunity, hell people from all over the world appriciate what you do…and some of them have even bought your book!
That they have. And that’s one reason why I continue to aspire to take better images. That’s why I keep on writing these inane blogs of what are essentially me talking to myself for your amusement, because I don’t often get to chat to folks about this hobby or creativity for that matter. I see this as valid way to express and share what I’m trying to do in today’s modern, screen based society.
The small, but very loud sensible morsel of brain I have tells me to stop wasting time and money on a past-time that is promoting an industry populated by people who hold limited value – nay understanding – over a creative image. I agree, images are ten-a-penny and yes, ask any experienced, educated media savvy office bod; anyone can take a photo, quite literally.
For arguments sake, yes, anyone can actually take a photo.
Whether it’s actually any good is a long and fruitful debate full of context and philosophy, but on the whole and for purposes intended; typically in this case, a run of the mill advert you see printed in the clip-art style programme designed by Doris in Word 2011, they are totally apt. Especially as there no money in motorsport.
Pull the other one. It’s got giant flopping, ring-a-ding-a-ling bells on it.
So my punk rock brain tells me to f*ck it all up. To have a go at injecting a dose of zizz into this mundane, repetitive menagerie of button clicking, back slapping and association.
On a side note…who thought that was a good idea huh? Who was it that came up with the theory that offering recognition as a form of payment for work was a good thing?
What. A. Dick. Anyway, I digress.
So, I’m walking around Silverstone, again, getting toasted, again, thinking to myself how I can capture better images, and I think back to a conversation I had on instagram a few weeks back with other fellow enthusiasts.
One of the comments made was about application, and how the images are used. Suddenly I turn in to Cher, turn back time and find a way. It’s just dawned on me what may well be a good idea. I can’t spill the beans any further or the effect will be lost, but from my initial thoughts the idea has more legs than an F1 grid.
I just need to get on with it and make it happen – Application is the key.
Despite the routine and rigmarole of trying to take pictures of the same cars, at the same race track, at the same race as last year…I may have discovered a little beam of light that could be what not just myself, but many others are searching for.
It simply requires that little application. As the old adage goes, if you want something doing…do it yourself. Watch this space.
Hi Rich, just read the latest blog. Makes for good reading as always, gives me plenty to think about and having been to Brands 3 times this year I need fresh new ideas and options.
Like you say no point in standing at the same corner taking the same photo every time.
I’m determined to use a much slower shutter speed than I would normally, I’ve got down to 1/40- 1/30 with varying results. I was using 1/320 so I’m getting braver!
Liking the new gallery heaps ??
Hey Rob, stoke you like them and thanks for reading my waffle too! you;ve just gotta keep on shooting…experiment and learn. That’s what I think anyway. Keep on truckin’!
Hi Rich,
I’ve recently found your website from some circuitous co-following Instagram route and just thought I’d say ‘Hi’ as having read through your last few posts, your photo journey and artistic approach sounds very much like my own in lots of ways, so this is a bit of a combination comment from a few of your posts!
I think it’s really easy to lose a bit of inspiration and wonder why you’re doing it at times. I started taking motorsport photos 2 years ago and became addicted to panning initially but after half a year of shooting event after event after test day I realised I just had a really full hard drive of similar looking photos of cars going through the same corners, which didn’t really fulfill my creative side – since then I’ve attempted to keep trying different things but sometimes you just have a day where you’re short on motivation or inspiration.
Social media is a very odd vehicle for a lot of this stuff, the number of likes you get is so down to timing, choice of hashtags etc rather than any real reflection on artistic merit so I try not to be too focused on it – yes it’s nice when people like your latest post but I’ve tried hard to move past that – I’m part of a Facebook group where we critique each other’s photos – nothing to do with motorsport so my images sit alongside landscapes, macro shots of bugs etc and that’s quite a nice diversion but at the end of the day if you can look back on your shots and think ‘that’s my photographic vision’ then you’ve done a good job.
All in all it’s nice to read someone else asking the same questions of themselves and ‘why do we bother doing this’ and it’s also great seeing someone else trying to push some kind of creative boundaries – you err much more towards the abstract (I can really see a Darren Heath influence) whereas I sway towards the people alongside the machines but at the end of the day it’s great to see someone trying to create art out of what we do – I really like most of your shots, a few are less to my taste but I’d rather see one of those than a hundred 1/200 pans of a BTCC car just going round a corner.
So if you question why you do it, and wonder how much of it is art, feel happy that someone else out there loves seeing something a bit different in a sea of Flickr mediocrity.
Looking forward to finding out what the unmentionable idea is 🙂
Jon
Hey Jon!
Nice to E-greet you and cheers for stopping by and taking a look! It’s always nice to hear from others who are interested in, or are suffering from the photography habit! You are not wrong in what you say either; inspiration can be incredibly difficult to come by some days.
I love talking about why and how I shoot, what I shoot and discussing the results…I see that as part of the challenge of it all . One aspect I have become more and more aware of is variety – you may have also hit upon a veritable stream of inspiration in your critique group. That’s a wonderful idea and something that appears to happen less and less.
As for the compliments on my efforts – thank you, much appriciated. I know they may not be everyone’s cup of tea, and some of them can be a little funky, but if one or two catch an eye, I’m happy with that.
You’ll just have to wait and see about the idea, it is progressing! 🙂 Hope to shoot the breeze some more in the future!
Rich
Hey Rich,
Another great set. I feel like there’s a twisty thought process behind many of your pics. I’d love to read about some of them if you feel like sharing.
Cheers,
Jeff
Hey Jeff, I’m sure I could divulge a few inner workings for you, although you’re about right with the use of the ‘twisty’ I’ll have a god in a future blog. Got a few coming up, so keep an eye out!