Just to be clear, I’m probably a bit of an oddball when it comes to photography. I don’t plan shoots, other than the walk itself — and I don’t chase sunrises or wait around for the “perfect” moment. I also don’t try to force a composition especially if it isn’t working. The shot I’m after is the one that shouts, “I’m over here,” and makes me stop in my tracks. I suppose you could call it run-and-gun photography — the walk dictates the photography, not the other way around.
The places I’m drawn to are local, usually quiet, and relatively untouched — which is getting rare these days. Small English villages with black-and-white or stone cottages, thatched roofs, old tracks, bits of woodland, and open countryside still clinging to their past. I’m also drawn to things that stand a little apart, like my Seat with a View project. I’ve never had much interest in cities or anything too modern.
Black and white has become a huge part of how I see and photograph the world. I’ve always been drawn to it, even as a kid looking through old family photo albums, which I still have. A lot of photographers go on about how black and white looks “timeless” — I think that word’s overused, a bit like “fine art.” For me, I’d describe it as character. A look and a feeling you just don’t get with colour.
About two years ago I decided to shoot only in black and white — both on film and by setting my digital cameras to capture black-and-white JPEGs, no RAW colour conversions. It reminded me of what I grew up with and what I loved about photography in the first place.
As for the walking side of Walking With Pics, I’ve always enjoyed being outdoors. My dad served in the military, so walking and hiking were part of life from an early age — coastal paths back home in Cornwall, mountain trails in Wales, that sort of thing. The little caption I made on my home page sums it up best: “Walking brings me peace, photography gives me purpose and connection.”
Walking is good for your soul. It clears your head and gives you exercise. Photography, along with Elvis, my dog — gives me the purpose to get out in the first place. The connection is what brings it all together — the link between walking, photography, and how I connect with each composition and its surroundings.
That’s really what Walking With Pics is about — everyday photography and being in the great outdoors seeing what turns up along the way, and hopefully inspire others to explore their local surroundings as well.
-Mark