2016 in review – Part 1 : My year and things I’ve learned

Introducing the first part of my review of 2016 where  I’m looking back at the year in terms of how I’ve grown and what I’ve learned as a photographer.  In the second and third parts of this series I’ll pick out 20 images from the year which resonate particularly on a personal level.

Making strides

This year has been an encouraging one personally as I’ve probably made some of my biggest steps forward since I started making images all the way back in 2008 , when I was in my first year of my Mathematical Physics undergraduate degree.

For the most part of that I’ve focused on my original aim expressing myself through the images I make – but in the past twelve months I’ve come a long way in terms of discovering how my photography can help others in their own mission and opportunities are beginning to open up as a result. One particular highlight of the year : being interviewed on Notts TV to promote my 2017 Nottingham Calendar project.

As ever it’s still important to be able to create to feed your own curiosities and I’ve visited quite a few places and cities within the last year (York , London , Coventry Cathedral) to do that as well as photographing locally in my hometown of Nottingham and finding new things to see.

Last year I aimed for consolidating what I had with my image making (my review of 2015 can be found here) ,  but I’ve really built my confidence quite a bit over the past twelve months , in terms of photography , the day job and also experimenting with another creative outlet in terms of throwing pots and then painting them!

On thanks…

Thanks to people and clients I’ve worked with including Leftlion Magazine , Nottingham City of Literature , Impression Agency , Louise White Theatrician , Row 2k Magazine , Ruthe and Pete Sawyer , Wolfgang Buttress , My Local Calendar , Chabad Lubbovich of Nottingham , Andrew North , Holly Chernobyl.

Also thanks to First Tuesday Nottingham , Sindy Kaur , Richard Flewett for helping along the way with workshops and opportunities.

What’s next?

Since July I’ve been fortunate to access excellent coaching from Sindy Kaur of The Prince’s Trust who’s helped me to rebuild my confidence. My major goal is to complete an application for Prince’s Trust funding (with an interview panel to boot) – from which at least I’m going to update equipment and find ways of showing my work locally within Nottingham.

Generally though the theme will be trying new things and approaches as opposed to iterating same thing but 10% better and 10% more of it – as I take my work in a new direction. Not sure what that will entail but perhaps looking at more physical print projects following up from my Calendar Project , and also taking a look at some top photographic competitions.

Now onto some images… (coming soon!)