I will admit.. The past couple of years I have been going though the motions somewhat when it comes to photography. I’ve realised that I’ve gotten into the habit of “collecting” locations and gathering the standard types of shots you would expect from them. The only variety coming from hopefully unique conditions.
Aoraki/Mt Cook from Peters lookout
Mt Taranaki from Lake Mangamahoe
The Obligatory road leading to Aoraki/Mt Cook shot.
It’s tough, being such a small country with a high tourism factor all of these spots have been done better than I’m likely to ever be able to produce. Don’t get me wrong, I think there is still value in shooting these locations - particularly for beginners and tourists (and absolutely for photographers making their living by hosting workshops at these locations), but photographers like myself really need to start thinking “out of the box” for their own photography in order to stand out. But, more importantly we need to do it for our own creativities sake and drill down to what we LOVE to shoot. A few photographers I follow and have huge respect for fit this mold perfectly; Nick Carver and his work in the American southwest, Rachel Talibarts coastal photography and Simon Baxters woodland photography.
So this has been something I have been thinking about a lot in the past few weeks for a particular reason. At the end of April I had an out of the blue seizure while driving down to Tarawera with my fellow photographer James Elam - who thankfully was able to wrestle control of the car and bring us to a halt before calling an ambulance. This was on the night of one of the biggest Auroras we have seen recently - just my luck. Unfortunately this means I am no longer allowed to drive without clearance from a neurologist - which from all accounts will take 12 months.
A year.
As a landscape photographer, the thought of being stuck at home for a year is enough to make me biff the camera gear on trademe and just give up. Trust me, I have come close several times. Afer some pretty dark times over the past couple of years - Its hard not to feel like a complete burden on people to have to ask to go out shooting. To have the freedom of just heading out on a whim taken away has made the urge to do it That. Much. Stronger. I will admit, some days I feel i’ve been relegated to a mere tax generating unit with not a whole lot else to keep me going. The health system spat me out the day after admission and pretty much said “BTW no more driving lol. Ok get out, don’t call us we’ll call you”
With all that, i’m on a soul-searching mission to figure out what i’m going to be focussing in on for the near future. Most of it will be local, there may be some forests like Simon Baxter, Coastal stuff up in the Firth of Thames, macro, some street photography etc.. My beginnings in photography were in motorsport so stuff with action maybe? Local Wildlife?
You may have noticed a re-branding of my old @jtwilsonphotoworks instagram account to @thejarredlab, thats where i’ll be throwing a lot of the random stuff. The Traditional Landscapes will stay with the @jarredspec account for the time being.
Expect to see more like the below images. Detail shots, especially ones not tied to a given location. Stuff I want to put on the wall.
Stuff that isn’t just a generic copy of a spot that 50,000 other photographers have shot better.
So with all that published. If you want to support me in this. Go follow @thejarredlab if you aren’t already. Check out the print store and grab a print for your wall, or for other ways to support monetarily have a look at www.jtwilsonphotoworks.com/karma :)