Photos of 2012: 52 weeks
The
Guardian's Flickr group ‘52 weeks’ draws to a close this week. I've just uploaded my
final photo. What a great project. A feature on the group recently appeared on the Guardian’s website and the group’s
closing request is for members to offer some reflections on the year. So here
goes.
I looked
back at my half term report and am pleased to see that early enthusiasm for the project grew at
about the same rate as the challenge of finding new, inspirational material. I
have tried to use the group’s aims of sharing images that mark big events,
personal stories or world news in 2012 as a guide. But there is also hefty doff
of the cap to pragmatism when those landmark moments fail to materialise and
the week was suddenly running out, leaving me to conjure a worthy snap from the
garden, the sky or the street.
Surprisingly
as tough was the challenge to limit the choice to only one each week when the
subject matter was stronger. During the Olympics, for instance, or at a
personal favourite event, the Cheltenham Festival.
Many of the subject themes are pretty predictable (in that they match my interests) and are planned or anticipated: horse racing, landscapes, sun/moonsets, architecture…
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| Berko Common - January |
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| Berko Common - November |
My 52
weeks slideshow is here. I thought about doing something clever with the
ordering to reflect recurring subject themes – of which there
were surprisingly many. But the main point of the project for me is simply
to record the year in weekly photos. On that basis, the only way to view the
topic is as a chronological journey. I used to organise my LP collection by
genre, sub theme, alphabetically and release date. But I’m feeling better now.
But the
beauty of the project has been that it should not and can not be planned. And
so there also many spontaneous shots or the ones taken because I’m running out of
time. Someone famous once said that “The best camera is the one that you have
with you”, which is absolutely right and plays so much to the strengths of the
smart phone. More than half my snaps are collected when an opportunity
presents itself. Including when inching our way up the A64 in a screaming blizzard
one night in Autumn when I demanded of Mrs A, behind the wheel, to “put the
lights on full beam, I think I can get a great shot!”
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| A64 blizzard through the windscreen |
Some images I
hunted down with the zeal of a missionary. I had spotted a series of striking
graffiti tags on the side of a disused carriage near Willesden Junction from my train. I had
failed to capture it on many ocassions: too much reflection; too
much speed; too much self-conciousness in a packed commuter car to put the lens
up against the window… The image I ended up with wasn’t quite as good as the one
rattling around in my head. But it is odd what can be picked up in the Flickr
community. This became a multiple addition to the photostreams of ten or so
graffiti artists around the capital whom I suspect were collecting evidence of
their own work!
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| Graffiti train, Willseden |
I’ve loved
experimenting with the apps and learnt loads from the other members of the
group. If you’d asked me to tilt-shift in December 2011 I would have attempted
some yet-to-be-invented yoga manipulation. I have since become au fait with this and many other sassy moves. I am a full-on snapseed drama
groupie. Perhaps that’s the theme of the year – the massive growth of phone and
tablet based filters, editing tools and photo sharing. Who could have predicted
eighteen months ago that Instagram would be sold to Facebook for $1 billion?
Nevertheless
I still found myself returning to my point-and-press compact camera and back to the bulky, but trusty, DSLR when there was a particular shot I was measuring
up.
The group
sharing has been the key to the success of the project. I have shamelessly
stolen approaches and techniques from many other members and can only aspire to
many of the great collections in the group. I’ve long admired the soft themes
and brilliant use of light in Helen Ogbourn's photos; Daviocious captures incredible colours and detail;
and check out Scouser_Steve's great scope.
My
collection seems scattergun and eclectic by comparison. But that’s OK. I have
felt able to stretch out and test ideas here. If not all have worked, well then
that’s just part of the learning curve. There are a few here I’m really pleased
with and ultimately this serves as a tremendous personal record of the year
shared with others who have the same or similar ambitions.
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