the blue bracken

the blue bracken, originally uploaded by jamesburden.

I love walking in woods that have bears in them – the way it quickens my pulse and heightens my awareness. Unfortunately we have no bears in England, so woodland walks tend to be somewhat tame – beautiful, but tame. So instead you look for beauty in the ordinary, for remarkable in the usual. And every now and again you find it – if you look really hard…

I know that this is a little unusual and most definitely not straight out of the camera. But as photographers we do more than simply reflect what we see through our lenses. We tell the story ourselves. There is often perceived kudos attached to a lack of manipulation of the image, and I wonder if we spend too much time defending ourselves against accusations of digital manipulation. As soon as you frame a scene in your viewfinder and press the shutter you are digitally manipulating the shot. If you choose a shallow depth of field, or use ND filters you are manipulating the shot – we don’t see the world like that. Whether in post-production you choose to crop or desaturate, how you choose to tone or frame, is simply an extension of the photographer interpreting and conveying a scene.

In this image I want to communicate cold, fragility, brokenness and perseverance. Is it so strange that I should adapt the image to help convey that? If I wanted to portray that in a poem or prose I would shape the language, choose the sound and colour of the words, the length of the sentences… Why should it be different in photography?

I’m not decrying the marvellous images (far far better than mine) here on flickr and elsewhere that are graphically realistic and evidently pretty much straight out of the camera. But why limit our visual world to just that? Sometimes I want my physical world to go beyond the bounds of reality…

sunlight through blinds

sunlight through blinds, originally uploaded by jamesburden.

Today the sun is shining through the blinds onto the wall. Today is a day to exploring in the woods with my wonderful son and my camera (also wonderful but not quite as important to me as my son).

the hills of stirling, scotland

the hills of stirling, scotland, originally uploaded by jamesburden.

I saw the sun today for the first time in what felt like months. I forget how important the sun is to me. Whilst I adore the winter and all the sharpness and vagueness that it brings through frost and fog, I relish the moment when the sun reappears and reminds me that spring is next in line.

I like black and white very much - but this needs to be green - green to remind us that winters never last forever.

the mess of the woodland floor

the mess of the woodland floor, originally uploaded by jamesburden.

I’ve been thinking about flickr a lot lately. Why do I find it so compelling, so inspiring, and at times so demoralising?

There are some truly great images on flickr. But is that why I’m here? No. It’s more than that – much more. Flickr doesn’t have the last word on great photos – there are plenty of sites out there with wonderful images on. Flickr for me is about friendship, interaction, exploration and support. For me, it is a place to express myself – not just in pictures, but in words too. I find something cathartic in conceiving an image and a concept and marrying them up in my photostream/blog. For me, flickr means that I can share my thoughts – sometimes some of my deepest and most personal thoughts with a community of people who I value as friends.

I like getting comments – who doesn’t? Comments are important – they motivate you as a photographer. To be honest, most people who are on flickr (apart from the dark minority) are here because they are fundamentally creative, and people who are creative often suffer fluctuations in their motivation. That’s all part of being creative and flickr is a place where I can gain encouragement from those who visit my stream, and see that even my most talented of flickr friends occasionally suffer from the same lack of inspiration that I do. I wonder sometimes how I should ride out that lack of inspiration so it doesn’t completely throw me off the horse.

In my quest for mediocrity this year (which is only 21 days old) I’ve become quickly aware of how much that quest goes against the grain. Maybe an important part of me achieving mediocrity might be to realise that I’m only mediocre in achieving mediocrity – if you see what I mean…

Maybe I need to learn that sometimes it’s that which can seem mediocre, chaotic or just messy that actually makes a photo, or photostream, or photographer interesting…

What does flickr mean to you?

frigate bird

Frigate Bird, originally uploaded by jamesburden.

I’m in the mood for the marvels of the natural world at the moment.

This is a Frigate bird. I saw this one when I was in Florida last year. Frigate birds can hardly walk and can’t take off from a flat surface. They have the largest wingspan to body weight ratio of any bird. They are almost constantly in the air.

They can’t swim either – hence the age-old affinity with sailors who knew that when they saw that distinctive silhouette of the frigate bird that land could not be too far away.

the clown fish

the clown fish, originally uploaded by jamesburden.

I’m fascinated by the natural world. I think it is beautiful, vicious, inspired and bizarre.

I think clown fish are very very cool fish. They have protective mucus coating their body so that they can live in poisonous anemones. The fish are therefore afforded protection from predators, and in return the clown fish eat small invertebrates which otherwise could harm the anemone.

Clownfish live in small groups inhabiting a single anemone. Heading up the group is a breeding pair, and they cohabit with a few smaller males. When the female partner dies, the male changes sex and becomes the female.

Our world is a place where truth perennially seems to be stranger than fiction.

your feet's too big

your feet's too big, originally uploaded by jamesburden.

Every now and again you come across an unusual law of the universe. I came across one today. If you are decorating and happen to use a roller with your right hand in order to apply paint on the wall, you will invariably find that your left foot attracts more splatters of paint than your right foot. Strange but true.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=in1eK3x1PBI

village pump in fog

village pump in fog, originally uploaded by jamesburden.

Have you ever noticed that when driving in fog it’s easier to see with your lights on dipped rather than on full?

Sometimes when my world is chaotic and foggy I blaze through, lights on full beam, dazzled and confused by the sudden immensity of mist.

I’d do better with my lights on dipped.

How do you drive in the fog?

the quiet lonely snow

the quiet lonely snow, originally uploaded by jamesburden.

I know, I know. There’s a lot of fuss about snow at the moment. It’s amazing to think that somehow as a life form we’ve managed to make it through an ice age.

I love snow – in particular the quietness and loneliness of snow. I love the way that it strips away all distraction, all untidiness, and swamps our chaotic world with a perfect white.

the yellow toboggan

the yellow toboggan, originally uploaded by jamesburden.

To begin to toboggan first buy a toboggan, but don’t buy too big a toboggan. Too big a toboggan is not a toboggan to buy to begin to toboggan.

two horses

two horses, originally uploaded by jamesburden.

You know by now how much I love horses. Unfortunately I didn’t see any live horses today so had to make do with these.

I’m off to play chess tonight. I expect my success to be very mediocre!

the beauty of the bow

the beauty of the bow, originally uploaded by jamesburden.

Sometimes it seems like there is nothing to photograph. No inspiration. Sometimes I seem to have eyes that only look for big spectacular subjects – a mountain, an ocean, an iconic building. Then sometimes when I stop trying I see that there is beauty in a bow.

house in the hills

house in the hills, originally uploaded by jamesburden.

How much would you like to live here? Are you instinctively an urban fox, or are you a rural rabbit at your very core?

I’m a rural rabbit – but I’d like to keep broadband please.

nant gwynant

nant gwynant, originally uploaded by jamesburden.

I don’t have anything to say today. I didn’t get to sleep until 3am this morning and am rather tired. When I’m tired I seem to lose the power of speech. So here’s a photograph of one of my favourite places: Nant Gwynant in Snowdonia, North Wales.

I know I’ve got a massive area of blown highlight in the sky. But the sun was bright, my fingers were freezing, and I’ve made a commitment this year to post even when I feel the shot is mediocre. Huh. Turns out I did have some words after all.

dance of the jellyfish

dance of the jellyfish, originally uploaded by jamesburden.

I was waxing on yesterday about the unpredictability of horses. So here’s some unpredictability in my photostream. Bet you didn’t expect to see a jellyfish!

the winter horse

the winter horse, originally uploaded by jamesburden.

Snow, horses and empty landscapes go very well together.

Considering I’ve never really had anything to do with horses, I have a surprising fondness for them. They always seem to know how to pose – and they often project this air of stillness alongside wildness. Horses are unpredictable. This is a good thing.

the problem with 3:2

the problem with 3:2, originally uploaded by jamesburden.

So many photos are shot at the standard 3:2 ratio (because of the historical precedence of 35mm photography). The problem with 3:2 is that it often doesn’t do the subject justice. It either includes unnecessary space or excludes important space. And for no reason other than ‘that’s the way it’s always been’.

I have a weakness for square photos – there’s something about a square photo that strips away any focus on the aspect ratio and allows the subject to dominate.

However, my personal favourite is the 16x7 panoramic format (as above). It has lush amounts of space – and actually seems to replicate pretty closely what we often see. This shot above was taken just before Christmas when I was on my way to work. The light and themist was so amazing, that after getting half way to work I had to turn round and go home to get my camera.

Two things I've learnt in photography over the past week:
1 - Always take your camera with you
2 - Always ask whether 3:2 actually works for the image you're creating.

the dawn of a new year

the dawn of a new year, originally uploaded by jamesburden.

I’m not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions. However, this year I am choosing a theme for my year. And my theme is this: mediocre creativity.

Those of you who follow my online presence, or who even know me in person, will know that creativity is very important to me – whether that’s with photographs, words, or music. But I have a weakness. I only ever post something which I think is worthy of remarking – remarkable with a small ‘r’! This means that often I don’t post something because I don’t feel its good enough. I find it difficult to be mediocre. I either do something really really well, or I don’t do it all. This all-or-nothing thinking has led me to some difficult places in the past and I want to challenge it this year.

So here’s what my theme for the year means. I will blog everyday this year. Some days I might not actually upload it on the day – that’s all part of me being mediocre! Some days it will be something new, some days it might be something from the archive. Some days it will be trivial, some days it may be deep. Some days there will be a relationship between words and image, some days the link will be astonishingly tenuous to the point of non-existent.

A journey is infinitely better with companions – with friends. So I invite you to join me on my journey. You can either follow my stream on flickr, or if you have a google, yahoo or twitter account you can follow my blog. If you’re on facebook then you can either friend me or become a fan of my facebook photography page – either way you’ll get updates in your news feed.

Happy New Year – may you be blessed this year.