I really want to like this assignment but at the moment I’m just not feeling it. We’ve been asked to shoot on the street three times and to look at the relationships between people and their environment. I appreciate street photography but it’s not really something I get any satisfaction from in general. I’m a fast walker, am impatient and have a very short attention span. Plus I suffer from a circulation problem known as Raynaulds which results in my hands and toes getting sore and white when I have to stand around in the cold. And today was bitter.
Yesterday I had the bright idea of catching the train to Blackpool this morning – imagining the interesting characters I would find and the photogenic clapped-out stalls and tat shops along the front and in the town centre. But the place was seriously dead, and once there I found it difficult to care. I tried to stake out a couple of likely spots and wait for people to come to me, but it just wasn’t happening. So I hopped back on the train to Manchester, frustrated with myself for having got up early and made a 3 hour return journey for nothing. Again, town was quiet, which made candid photography difficult. On reflection, a big furry Russian hat might not have been the best choice of headgear.
Overall, my haul of images is pretty lame and I am feeling very uninspired. I have lots of pictures of people’s backs and lots of badly focused images, and I know I didn’t get in close enough. From experience I know that this is what happens when I’m not feeling confident in what I’m doing. I have no idea where I’m going to shoot next, but I think I need to start thinking more positively from the outset if I want to stay with this and try to do myself justice.