Or to be more accurate I need to stop enjoying the process of photography so much. It is actually stopping me from taking photographs.

At the start of this year I committed to working on two personal projects that I would complete by the end of the year. Eleven months in and one is just about on schedule, while the other (“Loss”) is nowhere close. Oddly the delay in this second project is not because I can’t think of what to shoot or that I am not enjoying it. In fact the problem is the exact opposite. I am enjoying the process too much. Spending too much time thinking about the images, constructing them in my mind, reconstructing them, thinking about each of the elements and what they mean. In some cases I’m constructing multiple different versions; alternate takes on the same concept.

While my “Neon Hong Kong” project is up to 20 (candidates for finished) images “Loss” is far behind. Oddly I have been enjoying the process so much that I didn’t realise how few shots I have finished. I just looked…. it is one image… and actually I thought of a new item I need to add to that image, so it isn’t actually finished at all. In part this is because it is a far more complex project (I had to find, buy and wait for delivery of of a newspaper from the 1980s) Don’t get me wrong. I’m not just sitting on my hands dreaming about images, I am actually shooting. I have taken 160 test images of various types for this one image alone. It has also taken some time to source some of the items such as an original newspaper from January 1980.

Genesis of an image

Assorted vases were auditioned for the image as well as cups and bowls (cereal/soup and fruit bowl variants). Assorted test props were created/used for testing to go alongside an original newspaper and a Dear John letter that I received from my first love back in January 1980.

I guess I need to stop coming up with new ideas and get down to shooting some more images for this project. I will do that… just as soon as I track down a Cadbury’s chocolate bar from the 1980s.