Street Scene

Another crisp and sunny day and for my 365th image it has been taken from the centre of the village, Victoria Square, which isn't really square!  On the left the former Newsagents and on the right the Old Railway Hotel and in the middle Railway Terrace, notice the Union Flag flying from the tower of the old Orphanage which is obscured.

It's been a great experience with many positive outcomes.  I set out on this path with a few objectives and some self imposed rules: these were:
I would only use a 50mm lens, previously a 35mm was my go to lens, but I think the past year has converted me to 50mm.  It’s a great lens that sees pretty much how the human eye sees and that is a great advantage.
I decided when possible to focus on photographing within walking distance from my home and how to make the ordinary interesting was a useful challenge.  Only occasionally did I travel further afield.  Trying to find something new as the year advanced was a great way to develop your photographic eye.

I started off seeking to learn more about light and its qualities.  You may have noticed me commenting on light quite often.  Good light is key to good photography!  I also wanted to try and train my eye to recognise good photo opportunities.  You the readers are ultimately the judge of this.

My efforts soon turned towards documenting my own village by building a body of work.  This provided purpose and I was intrigued by the clues I found to the past.  So what do I do with it now?  I will have a think about this.

My year’s journey has led me into monochrome once again, I see many advantages using B&W over colour.  While colour is attractive, it can also be a distraction and monochrome often simplifies the scene.

What would I do differently?  On some occasions I took images of plants from my back garden, not many gladly.  These were lazy photographs to simply fill a daily slot.  I should have made the effort to take proper photographs.  My photographic process was simply to go walking, the more you walk the more opportunities you find and I rarely go for a walk without a camera.  Photographs should convey something, a feeling, explain a locality or tell a story, being more conscious of this is something I will try to do by default.

So where to now?  I think I can release myself from my self imposed rules and just see what happens.  Many thanks to my group of followers for your encouragement, I will continue using Blipfoto..