Hi All,
I hesitated in posting this, not quite sure if appropriate, or if I would get any responses.
I have seen my mental health starting to take its toll on me over the last 6 months, more so than usual.
I seem to be in a never ending spiral, I work 40-50 hours a week and then when I have free time I make plans to get out with my gear and then my head kicks in and I end up staying in.
I am alone, without transport (other than public) and struggle to free my headspace enough for me to grab my cameras and just get out…
I have tried to join a camera club but there is nothing in Newmarket or close by that I can get too.
I was wondering if anyone had any ideas or suggestions.
If anyone reads this then thank you for taking the time too.
Cheers
Andy.
I have a few quick suggestions. As everyone's circumstances will be different, my suggestions may not be useful, but hopefully some of it might be helpful.
1. At least initially, do not think too much about why you are photographing things. Gary Winogrand famously said that he photographed things just to see what they looked like as photographs.
2. Equally famously, Cartier Bresson said he needed to use his camera every day, just to keep his eye in. From what I understand few these "keeping his eye in" pictures ever became famous. But I know from personal experience, if I go for a spell of not taking pictures, when I finally pick up my camera again, it takes me ages to get back into "seeing" that I want to photograph.
Both of the above suggest that making photographs doesn't need to be something that requires a lot of thought or organising, it's something you "just do". The photographs you make don't need to be "special" they just need to capture something that has triggered some sort of visual/emotional reaction. As time goes by, and you photograph things regularly, it becomes easier to start thinking about what you might want from you photographs. But simply observing the world and recording things that grab your interest is a good start
Don't feel you need to take pictures for others. The process of making pictures of subjects you find visually interesting can be rewarding and satisfying even if they aren't shared with others. Having said that, sharing pictures with others also has its value
3. Make it easier to get out by, at least for now, by picking one camera and one lens, and use nothing else for at least a month (taking pictures everyday). From you kit list I would go with the a6700 and the 23mm. Don't be tempted by any of the other option. Don't worry about "missing" photographs. When you know you are limited to the one lens, you quickly begin only seeing pictures that suit the lens you are using.
4. Leave this camera and lens "to hand" when you are in the house. Look for shadows coming though your windows, or reflections from cutlery on the kitchen bench, or the patterns from boiling pasta on you cooker etc etc.
5. Take this camera and lens to work with you. Grab a few pictures at lunch time or when walking back home from the bus stop.
6. Don't think too hard about going to places "good" for photographs. Photographs are "everywhere". Just walking around where you live may well through up interesting photographic opportunities. Looking at places and events within a bus ride that just "interest" you could well give you interesting and unexpected photo opportunities. What interests do you have other than photography? Can you combine following these interests with making photographs. Coming up with a photography projects based on a non-photographic interest is a good way to generate photographs, as can projects based on simple photographic themes.
I have an on-going project called "Tackin the weight" which is photographs of park and garden benches. In spite of these being outdoors, it stems from a common phrase from my childhood (in Scotland) where visitors were often greeted with "Tak the weight aff your feet and I'll mak us a wee cup of tea". This was an instruction to sit down, but I have no idea why it was a "wee" (small) cup of tea, However, it was a commonly used term. For example, the shops often offered you a "wee bag" to put your purchases in: regardless of the size of bag needed. BTW the attraction of benches is that they often have interesting shapes and tonal contrasts with their backgrounds that make really nice black and white prints.
7. Study the photographs of others. A lot of famous photographs by famous photographers are often extraordinary photographs of rather ordinary things. This isn't to say you need to restrict your photographs to "ordinary" things, but rather to emphasise that you don't "need" extraordinary subjects to make interesting photographs.
8. Work on your processing. It extends the experience of "making" the photograph, and helps you learn how you might have made things better at the taking stage. Coming from the film days, I see taking and processing as indivisibly linked, and the time I spend processing a photographs deepens my relationship with it, an 2024-12-08he enjoyment I get from it.
9. Don't expect to make a lot of good photographs, just enjoy the process of making the ones you do make. The more you make the better they will become, and the more you make the quicker things will fall into place. But be willing to give it time.
10. There is a lot of material around now about photography and wellness that might be useful. It has to be said, that what this movement describe as a "new" approach to photography is what I thought photography had always been about, but it none the less it has some interesting things to say.
As a starter:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5wyxTXzzEo&t=23s
and a bit of background here (but there is a fair bit about, and I could probably find some other links if that would be useful)
Therapeutic Photography Workshops to support wellbeing and self-discovery
mindfulphotography.org.uk
