mcginnly's photostream

I'm 38.

www.aa-d.co.uk

Well it's been a while since I updated this profile, so it's probably overdue. I took a long break from photography in 2008. 2 reasons for this essentially, the first was some personal upheaval while I set up my own business. The second was I'd achieved my objective of getting some basic technical proficiency, but I started to feel everything I was producing was rather stale and derivative, and particularly with the architecture shots, it didn't feel especially creative to go to someone else's product of creativity, find a nice angle and produce an image. Similarly the minimal stuff felt empty and without any meaning. Abstract art at least grew out of the idea of 'abstracting' an idea, feeling or image and it all felt rather superficial without that underpinning. So I've been wrestling with the idea of imbuing more meaning into it all. A few days ago I was walking along, musing on this, and it struck me. The problem is what I think about things is invariably complicated, and the 'block' is trying to communicate all that complexity in an image. The thought is, it's not really my fault, the medium - a single image - can't convey it all, so the solution, it would seem, is to not try, but to produce a bunch of images that look at different aspects. So that's the challenge now - getting some of the stuff in my head out onto single images, without being too naff and crass. Something like 'the unexamined life isn't worth living'. If they're pretty too, then so much the better. Let's see...... (Oct 2009)

A few years ago I got a Nikon point and shoot digital camera. I made some progress indulging my love of buildings with the complement of a nice photograph, to the extent I thought it was time to get a better camera. I'm currently taking the first tentative steps into 'proper' photography - and loving it.

Strangely, although I got the camera to shoot buildings, I haven't been to see much architecture recently, and as I vowed to never be without the camera, I've taken to nipping out in the lunch hour and the way home from work to shoot landscapes. I've also really enjoyed the few portraits I've done - so for now I'm happy to go with that.

I'm trying to develop my own style - ostensibly by emulating other people's to start with in the hope my own tastes will eventually come through - but the first goal is to get some technical proficiency. (approx 2007)