Long Term Photography Projects

Staying With Something

A photography project doesn't have to be a forced or artificial exercise. It can grow out of the life you already want to live.

I've been thinking recently about long-term photography projects and what they actually mean to me. Looking back at the photographs I've made over the last few years, I can see that several bodies of work are developing naturally from the things I already spend time doing - walking through the streets of London, travelling with my family, exploring the coast … exploring in general.

The important part is the returning to a theme. A single idea or subject can produce good photographs, but going back to the same themes over a much longer period gives you the opportunity to understand it differently. You start to notice things that weren't obvious at first, and your decisions become more considered.

That is where I think the real value of a long-term project lies.

Going Deeper

There is an obvious attraction to constantly looking for something new in photography because there are endless options available to you - whether that is following a trend, moving from landscapes to portraiture, trying to force a new visual style. These can all provide a burst of enthusiasm in the short term, but staying with something in the long term requires consistency and can be hugely rewarding.

When I return to the same subject or theme repeatedly, the obvious photographs gradually become less interesting. I exhaust the obvious images and begin to look beyond my first response. I experiment with different ways of photographing a subject -I might change my position, alter the way I use the camera or deliberately try something that doesn't immediately make sense.

Some of those experiments work and others don't. Both are useful.

Over time, I start to eliminate the things that don't interest me. The process of subtraction is important because developing a body of work isn't just about continually adding new techniques or ideas. It's also about recognising what I don't want to photograph - gaining expertise in a specific area and focussing in on something more deeply.

As my taste matures, my choices become more selective. I start to understand the difference between a photograph that is simply successful and one that genuinely fits with what I am trying to do.

The subject can remain the same while the photography changes considerably. It is about developing a deep sense of expertise in a subject, rather than spreading myself too thin.

That is one of the things I find most interesting about long-term projects. They aren't necessarily about finding a style and then repeating it. The style can develop because you have spent enough time with the subject to understand what you want from it.

Landscapes

An example of this in my own photography is the English coast.

My family and I regularly spend time in Cornwall, Devon and other parts of the coast, and taking a camera with me has become an integral part of those trips. The photography fits naturally into something I would already be doing. We walk, explore, find new places and spend time outside. I photograph what catches my attention along the way.

Over time, that has developed into something more deliberate.

I want to keep exploring the English coastline, returning to places I've already visited and discovering places I haven't. The photographs will change as I do. Some trips will produce a large number of images; others might produce very little. But the accumulated body of work becomes more interesting because it represents an ongoing relationship with the landscape rather than a single visit.

Scotland has developed in a similar way. It is somewhere I enjoy returning to with my family, and the landscape gives me plenty of opportunities to explore and photograph. There is no fixed endpoint to that work. The interest comes from continuing to visit, look and make photographs, each time, building on the images I have taken before.

Travelling Abroad

Travel photography sits slightly differently.

When I travel with my family, I'm naturally going to photograph the places we visit and take photos of my family. Those photographs don't need to be connected by a single subject or a tightly defined concept. The common thread is simply the experience of travelling and the places that we choose to spend time in.

That is enough.

There is a temptation with photography projects to make the idea more complicated than it needs to be, but a long-term body of work can simply reflect where you go and what you find interesting when you're there.

The more of those trips I make, the more I can see recurring preferences in the photographs. Certain types of landscape, architecture, light and atmosphere naturally attract me. Those patterns become useful because they tell me something about what I am drawn to photograph.

Architecture

My architectural photography has developed in much the same way.

It started fairly simply. I photographed buildings that caught my attention while walking around London, Basingstoke and elsewhere, without having a particularly clear idea of what I was looking for.

With time, two broad approaches have emerged.

The first is a more detailed study of a building or place: shapes, geometry, lines, shadows, light and smaller abstract details. Rather than photographing the building as a complete object, the photograph becomes about a particular relationship between those elements.

The second approach is much broader, stepping back and photographing the structure as a whole. These images are more straightforward architectural photographs, concerned with the building itself, its surroundings and the way it sits within the landscape or city.

Neither approach was planned from the beginning. They have emerged through making photographs, reviewing them and recognising what continues to interest me.

That process is useful because it turns a general interest into something more specific without requiring the final direction to be decided in advance.

Letting the Work Develop

This is probably the biggest lesson I've taken from thinking about long-term projects.

The value isn't simply in photographing the same thing repeatedly. It's in what happens to your way of seeing while you do it.

You begin with a fairly simple idea of what you want to photograph. You try different approaches, make mistakes, discover things that work and gradually become more aware of your own preferences. As your taste matures, you become more selective about what deserves your attention.

That creates a kind of natural progression.

The subject gives you something consistent to return to, while your experience changes the way you photograph it. You don't need to decide what the finished work will look like at the beginning because the work itself can reveal that over time.

Looking back at my own photography, I can see this happening across the landscape, travel and architecture work. The themes weren't imposed on the photography - they appeared because I kept returning to certain subjects and eventually recognised the pattern.

Once you recognise those patterns, they become useful.

Looking Forward

The next step is to give these areas more attention.

I want to continue exploring the English coast and build a substantial body of work from it over many years. I want to keep returning to Scotland and photographing the landscapes that continue to interest me. I want to keep travelling with my family and making photographs along the way.

With architecture, I want to develop both of the approaches that have emerged: the detailed, more abstract studies of buildings and spaces, and the broader photographs that describe the structures themselves.

Alongside all of that, there will always be room for new ideas.

I don't see long-term projects as boundaries around my photography. They are simply areas that have proved interesting enough to keep returning to. They give me somewhere to develop, experiment and refine my ideas while leaving plenty of room for something completely different to come along.

Perhaps that's what makes the idea of a long-term project appealing to me. It doesn't need to be something that is invented, completed and put away. It can be built around the places you already want to visit, the things you already want to photograph and the interests that keep resurfacing in your work.

The longer you stay with something, the more you see.

And the more you see, the more choices you have about what to photograph next.