The motivation to notice

I’m a retired primary teacher, married (to occasional Blip subject Anne) with two grown up children and Welly, our faithful hound who also features in my journal from time to time. 

It’s only right that my profile picture should feature my other half, the ever-patient Anne. She’s much more photogenic than me… :-)


Have you worked out the blipper yet? He may well hold the record for the highest number of BlipMeets held in different countries!

Today, we’re enjoying a conversation with UK blipper martindawe:


Retirement has given me plenty of time to indulge the enthusiasm for photography, which really started after my son did a photography degree at university. Before this, I had no real history of taking photos (apart from holiday snaps) but I started to become more interested in basic compositional aspects. I then felt some feedback might be useful. 

A quick google of ‘photography feedback’ came up with Blipfoto and from that point, nine years ago, the journey started.
   
My Journal And Photography

For me, the journaling side of Blip has become less important over the years (though I still really enjoy following the journals of others who write in more detail about their day-to-day experiences). My favourite subjects for photography have also changed considerably during my time here. 

Looking back at the first couple of years, landscapes, seascapes and sunsets featured predominantly (mostly over saturated!) I’m lucky to live next to an RSPB Nature reserve which provided plenty of early subject matter and which I rediscovered during the recent lockdowns when street photography wasn’t really an option.

I still return to these themes occasionally (often when visiting other locations on holiday) but, inspired by street photographers on Blip, my interests began to change and it’s now street images that dominate my journal. I love the candid, non-posed nature of street photography. The challenge of creating a captivating image, from a circumstantial, everyday moment that will never be repeated, is exciting and keeps you motivated.

A few themes have emerged within the Street genre. Most of my journal entries focus on the juxtaposition of people and signage, or light and shadow-play. I like the feeling of being on the lookout for a shot that will resonate. The anticipation, the waiting… (an important trait for this kind of street photography is patience!) Composing the elements and then waiting for the right person to walk into shot and complete the scene can take a while (especially on those days where you get lots of very polite folk who stop and wait for you to take the photo they think you want of the shop, wall, etc.)

Humour can be an important element for me — it could be a caption involving wordplay, a bad pun, a connection to the signage, an imagined narrative or made up context for the image. But it’s always the image that comes first and the words follow.

Over time, the theme ‘fagbreak’ evolved and became a bit of an obsession. Lots of the blippers that I follow have also contributed and there’s a great collection of images at the #Fagbreak tag. Please feel free to contribute your images!

About Blipfoto

The best thing about Blip, which has been a complete bonus, is definitely the like-minded people to be found in this community.  I’ve had BlipMeets in England, Scotland, Ireland, USA (Oregon, Colorado,South Carolina), Canada (Vancouver), Australia (Melbourne) - even on the Greek Island of Skopelos, and they’re always a joy. The warmth and generosity that’s been shown by blippers continues to enhance the experience of visiting these locations.

The enjoyment of the community aspect also comes from following the journals of others and reading comments made on my journal. It’s become part of life’s daily rhythm for me and although responding to comments is limited these days, I always look forward to the humour and generous spirit of these comments, often finding insightful observations/connections being made which I may not otherwise have picked up on.

Blip also opened up a once in a lifetime opportunity when I quite surreally won the first ‘Lovers of Light’ competition, the prize for which was a week’s holiday for four, staying at the Treehotel in the Arctic Circle. What a brilliant few days that was!

As others have said, blipping really does encourage you to ‘open your eyes’ when seeking out that daily image. I suspect that pre-Blip the world around me seemed a bit blander than it is now. I would gloss over things that were visually stimulating or interesting. But Blip provides the motivation to notice - small details in landscapes, buildings, architecture, people’s faces, their clothing, how they are affected by the light. I’m certainly not qualified to give any photographic advice (still usually stuck on Auto), but you can definitely learn from the excellence of other blippers. One thing I have learnt is that a small camera works much better for me in terms of street photography - I found larger DSLRs were too ‘in your face’ for the type of images I wanted to capture.

Only other advice I’ve got is, don’t let blipping become a chore — have a break or miss the odd day if you need to recharge the photographic batteries.

To sum up, blipping is all about the daily engagement and healthy doses of humour. I’m still enjoying the creative outlet; the opportunity to pay more attention to my environment; and trying to make sure I spend some part of each day with eyes wide open!

Martin’s Top 10

Eek! Where to start? 

This involved looking back over the last nine years of blipping. Some blips I’d completely forgotten about, some I actively sought out as I remembered liking them at the time. In the end, I tried to choose a range of images that exemplified the themes I’ve talked about in this profile. This review process was interesting for the way it has illustrated how street photography has gradually become the dominant theme for me, but there were still a few landscapes that I wanted to include as they have been an important part of my photographic ‘journey’.

Enjoy them here in this short film.