Around we go again…

After spending all of last year taking a photo every day, for some reason I decided to go around again.

This could be another year where I rarely leave the village, or do anything remotely interesting. So what on Earth possessed me to carry on with it?

Consistency

Truth be told, forcing myself out of work/care mode and doing something creative and entirely for me was something I really benefitted from in 2021. There was also a slight dopamine hit from producing a photograph that I enjoyed looking at afterwards.

Yes, it’s a bit of work; yes, there will be days where I really can’t be bothered, but you have to take the rough with the smooth.

Unlike last year, which turned out to be a bit of a bureaucratic nightmare with all the processes I had behind the scenes to manage everything, this year I’m keeping it simple.

I’m going to use one big set on Flickr to store all of the final images; plus I’m going to dispense with the monthly updates, unless I have anything novel to share.

There’s only one rule this year –everything is going to be square. I loved square format photos before Instagram appeared, but never managed to buy a Hasselblad 500CM when they were still affordable. The difference this year is that I will use whatever camera I have to hand –in the hope that I find some time to ride my bike again. Seems fair?

Here’s the set.

By some luck, I’ve had one photo picked up by Flickr’s “Explore” page already –the one from 9th January. For the uninitiated, Explore is where Flickr’s “magic donkey” algorithm picks up images it finds interesting. By interesting that is usually just lots of ‘activity’ –likes and comments mostly.

The result has been over 5,000 views, 110 people added it as a favourite since I posted it on the 9th January (it’s the 13th as I type this). This beats my second most ‘interesting’ photo by around 4,000 views and 75 favourites…in a couple of days. It’s quite a surreal experience to have that much attention on one photo, but it’s quite fun when it happens.

Explore is a great lesson in how unpredictable the internet is. The photo I posted on the 9th was not one of my personal favourites, I’d argue that there are others in my collection more deserving of the attention, but yet the algorithm seemed to like it and promoted it for a day or so.

There’s little point shooting to please others, because you can never really know what others will want –or when they will want it. Yes, you can adhere to the various compositional rules that exist in photography, but that will only get you so far. You have to shoot for yourself, for your own reasons. Maybe you’ll find an audience, maybe you won’t, but that’s not entirely within your control. You might as well enjoy the ride.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for today. Until next time…