The method method

The method method

I’ve been writing this blog for something over 100 days, and I promised myself that I’d go on as long as lockdown lasted. In my mind, there was going to be a point at which I said that it was over, and lockdown was finished.

It’s actually a messy business, and I’m going to reflect this. I shall go on posting a blog as long as there are 100 or more views by the following morning, and I have ideas left.

However, I’ll be taking a holiday from it on days – like today and tomorrow – when I’m shooting pictures, or doing something else that takes up a major part of the day.

But I will continue on other days, and I might pen an enigmatic line or two where I don’t write something fuller and with substance.

My method has, generally, been to write and post within 24 hours, often thinking up a subject and shooting images on the morning. That’s a demanding discipline, and it’s time to relax it a bit.

Tomorrow may well see an almost-interview with my friend Phil Taylor, about lenses.

For today, I’ll invite you to think about your method with a camera. Do you always do things in a set sequence, almost by instinct?

Before you leave home, do you make sure that the battery is charged and the card has space on it? Make sure you have spares, any special accessories you will need?

When you start shooting, do you check mode, ISO, settings before you take the first frame?

Or do you leave it all to chance?

If you cook, think about how you set about dinner. If you drive, consider whether you always put your seat belt on at a certain point (with me, it’s between starting the engine and releasing the handbrake).

If you don’t have a routine, consider devising one. Start with four or five steps, only. Tell me how it goes.