It’s probably taken me far too long to have this epiphany, but it has finally happened. In photography, and to be truthful in many aspects of life, less is not just more but all.
The limitations of having less mean you have to be more imaginative if you want to be creative. Thinking you need more to become creative is one of the delusions we photographers have about ourselves. In reality, all a photographer needs are curiosity, discipline, and perseverance. If you can adopt these, then everything else will follow. Everything else is out there for you to go and find.
“You don’t have to go looking for pictures. The material is generous. You go out and the pictures are staring at you.”
Lee Friedlander
During 2022 I attempted a “less is more” approach in two areas:
First lenses. I’ve realised that there is little I cannot capture using anything other than two lenses and a single camera body. In full frame terms, these lenses are 50mm (for street and portraits) and 27mm (for street and landscapes). Whilst I own a 70-200mm zoom lens, I rarely carry it with me, and when I do, often don’t use it.
These images were all made with 50mm and 27mm prime lenses (actually, their APS-C equivalents of 33mm and 18mm) during 2022.
My second venture into photography zen in 2022 has been with this website. I have experimented with several web hosting companies and web platforms but have now been with WordPress for several years. I have tried a number of themes and layouts and had some pretty awful designs.
I have been playing around with my current theme to create as clean and minimalist a layout as possible. I’m finally pleased with what I have, a simple home page pointing to this blog and my photography projects, a contact page and some brief information about myself. I believe this is as good as it will get without me delving more deeply into HTML and CSS design myself.
As 2023 begins I’m quietly confident this approach I have developed will keep me active, engaged and hopefully more creative for the next and a few more years to come.
Happy New Year
Peter Cripps | Photography 