Lock-down photography

I wrote last week about hobbies that folks seem to be participating in these “interesting” times. I mentioned that my #1 hobby is photography. I have been somewhat serious about photography for the last 25 or so years and, over that time, I have been seeking my niche. I have been looking for a genre of photography in which I might specialize. In the last few years, I think that I have found it and, in many ways, it suits my current lifestyle …

I figured that the type of photography that I enjoyed most was “observational photography”, which I wrote about last year. This is all about looking for and seeing images that others might not have noticed. Part of my contention is that, where ever you find yourself, there are pictures to be had. This means that, when we go on a trip or I visit another city on business, I ensure my camera is to hand. This ties in well with my current situation – on lock-down. We can leave our homes on essential business [like shopping for food] or for exercise [walking or cycling]. This leaves quite limited scope for photography: I can snap around my home and take my camera on exercise outings. But I still seem to be getting pictures …

Starting at home – in my kitchen. I loved the shadow made by the pepper grinder:

Also at home, there is a glass bowl that I made in a glass blowing class some years ago. It is on a window sill and was illuminated by bright sunshine one day, resulting it a colorful abstract image:

Our exercise takes us around the area that we live and the surrounding countryside. There is a light industrial area nearby, which is understandably very quiet just now. An opportunity for a study of shapes and textures:

In the same area, there was one of my favorite subjects: reflections. In this case, there is a nightmarish, chaotic quality:

I recently had the “luxury” of being able to make a trip to another nearby town. I was on “essential business” – I was donating blood – so it was quite legal. I did not actually have my camera, but my iPhone did the job. This may look like a messy door, but what I saw were Chinese characters that had disintegrated:

Although I will be pleased to be able to travel farther afield, for both photography and the rest of life, I am still kept amused. I also have many thousands of older images and working on them can keep me out of trouble. 🙂