In the end of mars 2018 I was in a creative crisis, I simply asked myself, me as a photographer that doesn’t photograph, what am I? So I decided that from then on I would take one photograph at a minimum everyday, but not only take it, I had to post it online.  My thinking was, that even if I can’t really photograph what I want to photograph, meaning erotic photography, then at least I should photograph something, if nothing else to practise and to experiment. So I started doing street photography. I decided also that I wouldn’t care too much if actually managed to take a good photo or not, this project would be mostly about experimenting and actually feeling like a photographer, which means thinking and looking like one at all times which I kind of lost because how life went and not keeping up with photographing.

So now a year later, I have to say it was way easier than I thought it would be. Sure there were some near misses where I almost forgot but the vast majority of days I managed to capture something. I also very much appreciate that I gave myself “permission” to not have good photos because I do feel I get insights with my experimentation with filters and colour. Those days when I was being overly lazy and mostly want to do other stuff I had to figure out how to still take a photo, so knowing I had that loose quality freedom made it all much more fun. I’ve mostly been using my phone and that has been a hugely humbling experience, since I again have to learn about technical limitations but it also makes me realise that a good photo is still good when it’s technically bad. So to be able to always take the photo is far far more important than any technical issue. 

Some problems that I realised about myself were as I mentioned I can be a bit lazy, I spend way too little time each day actually taking photos, some days I just take one or two photos.  I am also a huge coward, you can tell in my photos that there are no risks taken and there is always a distance. I have to also get over my “shyness” where I often don’t go near the subjects and avoid interacting with them, mostly because I don’t want to get stuck talking with someone and just want to be on my way.  That leads to me not really exploring anything to any real depth, so everything is kind of things I don’t really care about, because if it would be something I cared about I would have to actually make an effort. 

Going forward I will continue my experimentation with colour and filters, because I’m trying to figure something, not sure exactly what but I feel I’m on to something and I need to find it. I will also try to do more explicit and vulgar experiments and I really need to try and explore more sexuality and erotism in my photography, even if it is street photography. I have to start doing what I say I am about, what I care about.

At the end of each month I will post some photos from the last years month, a look back. Starting next week with April.