Letter to myself

I find this sort of thing really difficult, hence my lack of regular blog posts. My brain turns to mush when I try to be self-analytical but here goes:

I'm lacking a certain amount of confidence with my photography at the moment, and i'm constantly wondering if i'm on the right track.

Am I missing the point? My idea/interest in documentary photography is to find subjects that I personally find fascinating or intriguing while at the same time hopefully make for good photographs/photo stories.

This is how I approached my unit 1.1 photo essay (the weighing room). 

Looking at other students' work and plenty of  other work out there, I can see that the idea of 'concerned' docu photography is totally lacking in my thought process and outlook. 

Does this make me unsuitable?

Do I  lack the concern for other peoples'  misfortunes or predicaments?

Am I too parochial in my interests?

AM I A MONSTER? (only joking)

I'd love to be interested enough in Albanian gypsies to want to go and live with them, observe them, photograph them. In short: to experience their life and hardships. But I don't want to.

But it's good other people do - that's the great thing about doc photography.

The feedback from my photo essay I initially found pleasing, then slightly ambiguous.

It was described as a straightforward photo story without the conceptual approach that others have made. 

I haven't got a concept: is that good/bad? I don't no. Should I have one? where can I get one?

Which ever way this blog may come across, I have to say I'm really enjoying this course. It's making me think about my photography and why I want to do it.

It's made me start a notebook of what interests me ( and what I think would make good, interesting photo stories) . I'm now researching and approaching people/organisations and gently persuading them that who they are/what they do needs documenting.

That's something I wouldn't of dreamt of doing even a year ago.

My only doubt is that these stories would be of no interest to others.

Still, I'm going to do them, just so I don't look back and say "shoulda done that".

lack of blog postings

Jeez, I've just had a look at my last entry and it's over 2 months ago.
No real excuses, apart from losing my job/looking for/ getting another, + moving house, so I'm trying to make a conscious effort to remember to do this regularly, and convince myself it's worthwhile.

Just had Street Photog tutorial with John Easterby. It was pretty much as I thought it was going to be. He, very nicely, it has to be said, pointed out what he thought were some good bits in a set of what I know are pretty average images. I think I probably spent the most time of this assignment out of all we've been given so far, yet have come away with the most disappointing results. Having said that, the tutorial helped, because he gave some very insightful advice on how to approach this brief, ie, how to go about winning an unwritten acknowledgment/approval (could be verbal or just a smile etc) that you're operating in particular area and your presence is tolerated. It made alot of sense and made think maybe there are some rules to what is, in essence, an anarchic environment and way of making pictures.

Thanks for the feedback and advice Philip and Damian. I went out in a more positive frame of mind today and, although I didn't get any particularly good images, my mental attitude was better and I was a hell of a lot more relaxed. Hoping to use this new attitude tomorrow when I've got some of the afternoon free. I think alot of my difficulty lies in the fact that I've been limiting the assignment to my local area, and I don't feel anonymous enough. Poor excuse really, but it does play on my mind when I'm on the prowl.

First time blog use

OK, bare with me on this. I've never published or contributed to a blog before, so it's all pretty new. Expect some photos, links etc. at some point - that's if I work out how to do that sort of thing.
To be honest, it's good I started the blog today, as I've been working on the Street Photog brief, and I need to moan to myself (and anybody else out there) about just how difficult I'm finding it.
I had al these big ideas about where I'd shoot and what sort of images I'd get, but the majority of the time I'm coming away with cack handed grab shots that are badly composed, blurred and just downright shit. I really have to pull myself together on this and get into that fabled ZONE that many talk about. In fact, what is the ZONE and what does it feel like? Absolutely no idea. I would say I've reached the pole end of the zone at the moment - nerves, handshakiness, thought process completely skewed. Have a few more days to think and do something about this brief. Got Friday afternoon free to work on this, so I'm gona down a bottle of red at lunch time and walk around naked with my camera - I reckon no-one will notice my camera then.