The daily observations of a Doyle.

 

The Piffle of the Sniffle..

 

 

 I don't like talking about covid and I don't like looking at imagery of covid. Any images that include people wearing masks I immediately dismiss. This is not denial by any means, but more a case of 'too soon'. I am aware of whats going on and don't need to be constantly reminded. I should also add that if one more person tells me we are living in unprecedented times I may slap them with my sweaty mask..

In my opinion, most photographed events are more powerful, and interesting, much later, and I believe this will be the case with such things as covey. What has been most intriguing however, are the images and projects that would not exist had it not been for such world changing events. Some of the finest work  I have ever seen has been shot over the past two years.

I do believe that eventually people will look back on this period with great fondness. Not because of the virus (that would be stupid), but because of all the good things they done during an unprecedented time.... Slaps himself with sweaty mask!

One a day..

 

For the past fours months I have somehow managed to make at least one photograph a day, some good, some maybe not so good, at least that's what I think.

As much as I love old boy Ansel Adams, I never liked his quote: "Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop." OK, he was probably the greatest landscape photographer that ever lived, but the way so many take his quote literally just seems a little daft. And don't get me started on the, "If you don't agree this you are a liar and a fraud" etc, that's just ludicrous. I know photographers that produce  mountains of great images every year. I also know photographers that don't produce any (lots in fact).

Of all the work I have been producing, I am pretty happy with most of the images. Whether they are 'good' or not, well that's completely subjective. 

I do wonder what Adamsky would of said if he was alive and making photographs in a digital age. Personally I think he would of added a couple of zeros..

 

 

A moldy lens

Nostalgia in photography can be a dangerous thing, especially if you think you can recreate it... There you are dreaming about heading out into the abyss, but you can't because you want to shoot film, and you need to spend thousands on some old camera with a moldy lens and dodgy shutter, and then there's film and that old stuff is hard to come by and very expensive, and then you need to get an old car from the 70's so you pictures can look, well nostalgic, and then there's your outfit, etc, etc.

These days we can always slap a filter on an image and post it on Instagram and pretend. But thankfully I want none of that and will just keep my thoughts to myself. 

Only the other night,  I seen this car  (below) under a yellow light and was filled with a sense of nostalgia from the time I first headed out with my camera in America. The camera was old, it shot film, and it had a moldy lens...

 

Cold and bold..

 

Now the holidays are well and truly over and everyone is even more depressed, I am reminded of the therapy that photography can bring. It may be cold and it may be dark, but its better than being inside worrying about being outside.

Dark Light

Low Light photography is a funny old business, but one that I always come back to. Despite the 38 years since my first 'night image' and all the technological changes photography has seen, the actual method I use remains the same.  You just open the shutter and count! 

Many modern day photographers get so carried away and over complicate things technically (just look at a modern camera and all its unnecessary functions). Photographers were making images at night over a hundred years ago with just a box and a lens and they managed just fine.

So often the only thing new technology does is make people lazy, only its labelled as convenient or more efficient. This is especially true of photography and cameras that promise to make you a better photographer... If only that were true...

Where have you been..

 

                                                                                                         Marion, Indiana 2021. Marcus Doyle

 

 I'm often fascinated by the path certain photographers take in their lives and realize its often not what people would assume. Stephen Shore is one photographer that springs to mind, with most people only knowing him for the trips he made in the 70's and 80's across America. During one of Shores gallery talks some years ago I was intrigued to hear about the time Shore got married, moved to Montana and became a fly fisherman from 1980-1983. After his fishy stint, Shore then went on to produce his finest, and most important body of work American Prospects, published in 1987. I found this really fascinating in the same way I found Daniel Day Lewis' detour from acting to make shoes only come back a few years later and win an Oscar.

Not wanting to, but most willing to compare myself in such matters as Shore and Lewis, I have been; a survival instructor, a personal trainer, a knife maker (that's right), and very briefly a male model (very long ago, hair, slim, didn't know any better). But photography has always remained my number one passion, and with that a career I continued to pursue throughout my meanderings as; a knife wielding, iron pumping, forest dwelling, strike a pose northern Englishman.  

The changes in circumstance over the years, (most noticeably my move to another country),  have always brought a new and refreshing perspective not just to my work, but to life in general. I'm sure there's a song in all this somewhere, but sadly music is something I never got into...