Trying to capture the potential

I’m an amateur photographer who, after a long hiatus, has reconnected with my love of taking pictures again. It all began when I was 18 and my dad asked if I’d like to take a photography course with him. Back then, our medium of choice was black and white film, which we learned to develop ourselves in a dark room. I remember thinking, ‘how the fu*k does anyone see what they’re doing in here, not to mention the strong chemical fumes?!’ That said, it was something I took to immediately. It seemed like a natural addition to my creativity; a way to bring the stories I write to life through pictures as well as words.

I had no real direction back then; I just waited for something to capture my attention, pointed my camera and snapped away. This continues to be my go-to, today. Sure, sometimes I go out knowing exactly what I want to try and capture, but my absolute favourite thing to do is just walk around with my camera and wait for the potential to call out to me. That’s what we do, amateur and professional photographers alike. We see a potential photograph, take a number of shots and hope that with a bit of editing, we can tease out what we thought we saw. Sometimes we go out and get over 100 photos, and only a couple turn out to be something while the rest just sit in a folder, but don’t let that detour you. It happens to the best of us and is part of our craft.

Once I got back into photography, I unearthed my old Instagram account and started post up my photos. I was captivated by all the night shots I saw, the vibrant colours against the dark backdrop. Everyone seemed to be using cameras, and all I had was my mobile phone, so it was hard not to feel bad about the quality of my work against theirs. I naturally gravitate towards dark edits, so night photography seemed like the most logical next step for me to take, but my phone just wasn’t cutting it. I knew I’d need a proper camera for this.

One of my friends, who happens to be a professional photographer and one of my biggest supporters, suggested I get a Fuji camera which he thought would be an excellent fit for me; he wasn’t wrong. I purchased my Fujifilm X-T30 with the 18-55mm kit lens and have been in love with it ever since. Now, August isn’t an ideal month to try and do night photography. It doesn’t get dark until 10pm and as a woman, I’m highly unlikely to wander around by myself in the big scary city of London that late. So, I learned my camera settings taking some really bad day shots while I waited patiently for the nights to get earlier. I practiced a lot on flowers, mostly because it meant not being around people. One thing you learn quickly, is that no one cares if you’re taking photos with your phone, but everyone watches you if you have a camera!

Finally, my time had come to try for night shots. After weeks of checking sunset times, I decided I was brave enough for 9pm so, after work I walked down to the Thames over and towards Vauxhall bridge. It was lovely out; the large crescent moon made an appearance near some cool looking buildings as I took photos while waiting for the sun to fully set. Once it did, I was so excited to start I didn’t make sure I had the most optimal camera settings which became apparent afterwards. Only having my camera and kit lens, I had to rely on ledges to take the long exposure shots. Your camera must be absolutely still in order to get a crisp image and where I was, the ledges were angled to keep people from sitting on them. So not only were my settings a bit off, but I was actually having to hand steady my camera! I aimed at the bridge, set the timer for a few seconds, held my breath hoping that would help keep my hand still and hit the button. I got about 150 photos that night.

The one thing about using a digital camera today over film back then, is that you can easily edit your photos if you didn’t get the settings or lighting right. I spent all night editing my pictures, bringing out the colours more, smoothing out the water that had I been on the right settings and had a tripod would have come out smoother. I was quite pleased with the end results, which had a very Gotham City vibe. I was hooked, I wanted to go again, try different areas, try bokeh and luckily the nights got longer as did my trips out. Southbank, St. Paul’s Cathedral, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Canary Wharf… I hit them all. My edits seemed to lean towards a Blade Runner/dark comic book vibe. I enjoy trying new things, so I also photograph sunsets/sunrises, the occasional okay day shot and continue to practice on flowers.

You’d have thought that after a year, I’d have added a new lens, lens filters and a tripod to my collection, but you’d be wrong. I’m still shooting on the same kit lens and continue to use the elements around me as a make-shift tripod, including but not limited to setting my camera on top of a bin covered in cigarette ash to capture a long exposure of a marry-go-round. I can’t count the number of times I stood against a wall that had clearly been used as a late-night urinal, set my camera on the ledge, and propped it up using my oyster card wallet to get a shot. As an amateur learning to use your camera, it can be tempting to go out and buy a prime lens, tripod and ND/polarising filters right away, but I’ve found it’s best to learn to use your camera with the kit lens fully first. Will I ever buy those things? They’ve been bookmarked on my laptop for months now, waiting for me to pull the trigger.

Just because the person stood next to me is fully kitted out with fancy gear doesn’t mean I have to be as well. Will their pictures turn out better than mine? Probably, but that’s okay. I have Photoshop and Lightroom on my laptop but learning to use them is a full-time job which feels overwhelming, so I use Lightroom, Photoshop Express and Snapseed on my phone. I know a lot of you just scoffed and rolled your eyes at that, thinking my photos will never compare to yours with your fancy gear and religious use of Photoshop and Lightroom on your computers, but I’m okay with that. I’m not taking photos to compete with other photographers, I’m taking them because I can’t not take them. I’m taking them because I love capturing the beauty in the mundane. So, to all the armature photographers out there, don’t overthink it. Just grab your cameras, crank up your music, go out and try to capture that potential.