I realise as I read photography books, see images freshly posted online and review my own catalogue that there is very, very little that is truly different. Probably subconsciously I absorb many of the ideas exhausted by others. I was fascinated recently by a series of photos in which the photographer had done an assignment based purely around a park bench. How many ways can you interpret a bench. Well the answer was quite surprising. Compositions varied enormously but so did light. It seems obvious but we are perhaps conditioned to wait for the best of the light. We either wait for it or chase it. Occasionally we come across it fortuitously. That was why I thought about photographing boats. I live no more than a 20 minute walk from the sea front. I can see the boats from where I write this blog. They are, so to speak, on my doorstep. No excuses. So how would I see boats? What light could I use? Wide or detail shots? I have no special interest in boats. I do not sail. A rare trip out on a junk is as far as it goes. Perhaps the short hop to Yim Tin Tsai. A good test of my ability to look at boats from all angles at all times of day.
I am still thinking through what I can do that is different. The knots were my first attempt. Currently I am treading water without inspiration. It is a theme at which I shall have to work for some time. Here are 2 more images from my last walk along the sea wall, starting with that sinking feeling. Was it Oxford or Cambridge this time?
Mayday
Supplies
Do these float your boat?
All downhill from here 