Surroundings

°☆• ᴀʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛʀʏɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ғɪɴᴅ ɪᴅᴇᴀs ғᴏʀ ᴘᴇʀsᴏɴᴀʟ ᴘʜᴏᴛᴏ ᴘʀᴏᴊᴇᴄᴛs? ᗪO YOᑌ ᗯᗩᑎT TO KᑎOᗯ ᕼOᗯ TᕼᗴY ᑕᗩᑎ ᕼᗴᒪᑭ YOᑌ ᗯITᕼ YOᑌᖇ ᑭᕼOTOᘜᖇᗩᑭᕼY? Then head to my blog interview with Paul Fuller from East London.

Paul lives near the Hackney Marshes, a strip of green marshland along the River Lea in East London. The time he spends there, he uses for his photography (@hackneycamera). In the interview, Paul tells me: “If anything inspires me, I`m probably not aware of it. It`s more that I always see interesting stuff here. I`m quite fascinated by the stuff that`s under the water – when the water is really low you can see random stuff – there even is a car somewhere down here… And there`s a motorbike which was buried by the river. Someone dug it up. The number plate was still visible when I first saw it so I took a picture of it and checked its MOT history online: it was registered in 1977 and never had its first MOT. So, it must have been stolen when it was really new, and somebody dumped it by the river. And it had been buried ever since.”

Oᐯᗴᖇ TO YOᑌ: ᴡʜᴀᴛ ɪs ɪɴ ʏᴏᴜʀ ɪᴍᴍᴇᴅɪᴀᴛᴇ sᴜʀʀᴏᴜɴᴅɪɴɢs ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ғɪɴᴅ ɪɴᴛᴇʀᴇsᴛɪɴɢ? In my experience, those photography projects that you can do without stepping out of your way too much, are those which end up the most successful. Because you will actually do them and spend time on them.

ʏᴏᴜ ᴅᴏɴ’ᴛ ɴᴇᴇᴅ ᴀɴ ᴇxᴘᴇɴsɪᴠᴇ ᴛʀɪᴘ ᴛᴏ ᴇxᴏᴛɪᴄ ᴘᴀʀᴛs ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴛᴇ ᴀ ɢʀᴇᴀᴛ ʙᴏᴅʏ ᴏғ ᴡᴏʀᴋ. Your immediate surroundings will be just fine if you train your eye for opportunities. Paul says: “It was in Lockdown last summer when I started taking pictures of little strips of light on the wall. When you get that little bit of sun coming in through the blinds. And I`ve now got a folder which just says: “Lights in the house”. In the spirit of trying hard to have proper projects, whenever I start seeing something regularly and it becomes a bit of a thing in my head, then I start collecting pictures of it.”