Photo Walk: Yellow
I always have a camera with me. For nearly twenty years now this has been a habit. I’m old enough to remember the pre-digital era of carrying a film point and shoot with me on holidays, or trips overseas. (Seems a lifetime ago now.) I never gave it a much thought, it was as though a camera just sort of arrived in my life and like Dr Who would occasionally evolve as each one died. Thing is, although I have had cameras with me for so long, I’ve never actually considered myself to be A Photographer. I just liked, and still do like, taking photographs. I also like writing. I also like film. Hence, I think of myself as a hybrid artist.
However, photography has been with me throughout most of my life as a passionate hobby, integrated part of my working life in the arts, and a source of enjoyment.
One of my creative practices is photo walking—there’s nothing new in this technique. Many, many photographers (and other artists for that matter) have a daily or regular process of walking and contemplating, capturing, documenting and imagining. Sometimes I might sit and observe, and use a journal to write spontaneous prose too. There’s always something to notice, always a story. Writing has been the foundation stone of my professional arts career. I consider cameras fantastic writing tools for storytelling. Might sound strange but that’s how I would describe my relationship with cameras—they offer an alternative way to write. Photography offers a way to transcend language barriers and tell stories that come alive as words in our own minds, in our own language, in stories that only exist in us. To me, that’s just plain magical and wondrous.
Photo walks aren’t always purposeful. It can just be wandering and seeing, and taking a photo as inspired. On days when I need a little discipline or motivation—those days of feeling tired, not quite in the zone creatively—I set myself a task for a photo walk. Often a colour theme helps. On this day, I chose the colour yellow. What I hope to demonstrate here is how the use of a colour can help us to look, and see objects and scenes that we might otherwise not notice. Colour theme photo walks break up habitual ways of searching for subjects to photograph. It’s a fun little pick-me-up method that I use. It’s a little like trying on a different writing style.
