To An Imaginary Audience

A simple question I’ve pondered myself many times! Why do a website? There’s a need to be noticed, of course – we all want that in various ways, at various levels. You sometimes hear musicians and the like describe themselves as insecure little show-offs. There is that, and success hopefully brings its rewards if you’re for sale. I’m still to set up shop, literally, just to say. But you’re here anyway, so thanks! You’ve either arrived randomly or been coerced into taking a look. I hope you’ll return, but you’re quite right, it’s just another website. It even has links to social medias so why not just stay there if you’ve nothing to sell? The plan is to leave that open – anyone here (or there) is very welcome to request a print of a photo they like. That would honestly mean a lot because we are, most of us, saturated with digital imagery on a daily basis. It’ll help me gauge demand (if any) for a store in the future – still a very presumptuous and preposterous thought for me right now.

The why is actually nothing to do with selling. After years of perpetually posting pictures on social medias and spamming friends, there was a cheap thrill in seeing little galleries of my snaps in miniature. It seemed a better idea to put the best ones on a standalone site, free from the confines and rules of the socials. I felt that this arduous process was taking the joy out of the hobby itself – endlessly dumping the lovingly created subjects into the voids of Facebook and Instagram, competing with so many others, the race to post photos instantaneously, or as currently as possible. There had to be a better process where I could consider and enjoy what I was doing more – by taking time over the composition of a photo, being more selective, using the limited time I have to make the best of that shot at the editing stage, and seeing what transpires overall. It brings focus. It allows more space for creative thought, and removes the mechanical process of posting photos daily. The hundreds of hours of life spent out in nature was starting to seem very much at odds with that clinical process.

But you have to be confident in your ability too, right? In a world where digital photography has become disposable and devalued, people are quicker to judge, and more-so, dismiss. How does one capture attention when there are many, many people out there doing it professionally, much better than you, with all the best and most expensive tech; people using filters and now artificial intelligence to push the boundaries of reality? That how is a big mystery! You put yourself out there and you keep your expectations realistic. It's absolutely about enjoyment at the end of the day, doing something you love, and hoping that it shows. I realise I am not competing with the intimidatingly-good work of the pro’s, and realistically I don’t have the tech or the time to create over-the-top, hyper-real images. I like to present things as they appeared to me, with just a little enhancement here and there, and hope that at least the essence of a moment translates. I love the fantastical effects that other photographers produce in excellent weather conditions, but I don’t have the time to spend hours and days half-submerged in a loch, waiting for the light to hit the water, and that bird to swim out in front of me at the same time! Maybe when I retire.

So this is a disclaimer of sorts. I called this my photographic memory partly as a joke, and partly because it’s a reminiscence of sorts. It brings those moments alive again and gives them all a home together, all those that survived the cutting room floor. At the time of writing, there’s fifteen photos in each of the six galleries, with hundreds to come, so it’s very early days at this time of launching. You’ll see a mixture of subjects, but my main passion is nature, always has been. If you know me, maybe you’ll get an idea of what I’ve been up to all this time. Hello friends!

But what of this blog? Again, it’s a mixed bag. The truth is I’m a quiet kind of person with a lot of internal waffle. Any eccentricities are probably genetic. Similar to the photos, there’s little purpose other than self-indulgence and a creative outlet. I want to write about music primarily, my other big love, so that I shall do. You’ll see there are two blog posts already, and I think you can subscribe to this blog right here should you really wish to. The Facebook page will be updated with links to both new posts and photos as they appear. Instagram and Flickr will contain the same photographic content as the website. Some people might arrive here via those platforms instead so I felt it relevant to keep those alive. On the other hand, no-one might!

What I’ve found with some of the high-resolution photos is they take a wee second to load up fully, but not stupidly long. Hopefully the site is easy to navigate, but if you've got any feedback or suggestions, I'd love to hear 'em! It’s just photos and a blog to an imaginary audience at the end of the day. I love wandering around snapping away – it feels like my calling in life. Putting all this out here is an experiment. I hope you like some of the content and I hope that answers your imaginary question. Maybe that why doesn’t matter at all. Or maybe I've just gone mad.