Photographs and photography.

Today I've been thinking a lot about photography. During my tidy out (it's not a tidy up, things are going out not up) I was looking back through some old packets of photos. There's nothing quite as satisfying as holding a photograph in your hands, having the physical image there, tangible, real. It's what initially kept me away from Digital.

I was also thinking about Blip, how for a long time I couldn't see any motivation to actually pick my camera up and try and take a photo. Talking to a friend about photography, I realised I've become shy of even getting my camera out in public. With the throw away nature of digital images, I no longer put the effort into documenting events, the happy times, the joy. I don't take my camera out of my bag on a night out or at a party any more. I equally became focused on needing to get a god photograph, something that would make people want to click on that little thumbnail rather than just pass on by. Then I realised, it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter if the shot is something I fire off at ten to bedtime just to get a shot, because it's my record, my day, my photo and my words.

My friend H took me and a car full of stuff to the swap shop this afternoon. I left with an armful of photo frames. It was still far less than I went with so I'm still in a positive state of removal.

Then this evening I got a call from my mum and a photography challenge. So in the spirit of a day that has been themed on photography, here is the photo wall I began creating before I ran out of frames (that's sorted now) and hooks (still to get). The only problem is, they're never quite straight and if you try and straighten one the next looks lopsided!