When life hands you a lemon, make lemonade

When life hands you a lemon, make lemonade

In England, most of lockdown has, in some senses, been easy. The weather’s been the way that I remember when I was at primary school. OK, it’s been frustrating that we can’t (prime ministerial advisors apart) travel to our favourite locations, but sunshine is cheerful, even seen through a window.

The air’s been exceptionally clean, as well. My road has been quiet (normally, a weekday morning will see standing traffic in both directions before nine, and 20mph is a good speed to average along it, despite the limit being 30.

I’ve had time to go back into my darkroom every week, and start building up my ability to print again. It’s not that you forget, any more than you forget how to ride a bicycle, but you do lose conditioning, the memory in your fingers of how to do things.

I've also been playing with my old 85mm f/1.4 lens on its A-Mount to E-Mount adaptor (for most things, a newer, lighter f/1.8 lens works better, and offers far better AF without the adaptor - but not quite as much differential focus...)



I’ve also been working at my ability to write every day, on a topic that isn’t necessarily part of a longer-term plan, often illustrating with pictures I’ve taken that morning. As an internal auditor, part of my work was talking to people, asking questions: the other parts were seeking and collating documentary records, evidence, and putting all of this together in reports. There was a brief to work to: sitting down with a blank page – as I have done today – is scary.

So today’s the day I’m writing about nothing, and turning it into something. Seeking out something that may provide a hanger for what you could do.

So – the weather, the traffic, pictures I’ve taken standing in the middle of the road outside: and now there’s an idea.

When I pick up my camera after writing and posting, I’ll be looking for something that I’ve not photographed a lot to shoot – maybe a bookshelf, or perhaps an ornament (I have one in mind: bought from a show at Wodbridge Art Club nine or years ago. I christened it the Little Brown Wodget, and it will possibly feature in my Saturday shadows picture…)

What are you going to shoot today?