Tell someone you're a photographer or get into a discussion about photography and fairly soon the question "What do you shoot?" is going to come up. On the surface, not really that tough a question, but actually, I'm not sure anymore.
A few years ago, my shooting was all for me, and that meant photographing things that I'm most comfortable with. For me that's always been urban landscapes- I love anything to do with the built environment, and spending time seeking out new angles and spaces to shoot would keep me contented for a long while. Although I still love spaces like these, looking back over what my photography has become in the past two years, it's clear that I don't just photograph one thing any more.
A semi-conscious desire to develop my general photographic skills coupled with pieces of work I've been asked to make has changed me to the point where if someone asks me what I shoot, I start to struggle. Usually the answer harks back to what I love- built up areas, but to be brutally honest, this doesn't hold true anymore. The fact is that I've grown to a point where I probably don't have a specific subject that I photograph.
So what am I? I spent a fair amount of yesterday thinking about this (four hours in a car makes your brain go a bit nuts), and in the end, I decided to look back at some images I've made in the last six months. The result was surprising. Traditional landscapes, products, abstracts, vehicles, portraits, architecture. Of everything I looked at, only about a fifth could be considered urban landscape, with the majority being images that were made to allow me to develop as a photographer. Even stranger is that of those urban landscapes, most are spaces I was put into rather than spaces I looked for.
In everything I shoot, I try to maintain a certain aesthetic, and my photographs certainly seem to have a look regardless of what I shoot. Subject has become less important, but stylistics remain. I don't think that is necessarily bad, far from it in fact- being able to turn your hand to a lot of different subjects makes you a stronger photographer, but I do feel a little sad that I no longer have "a thing". Urban spaces are still very close to my heart and I suppose if I could spend my time shooting just one thing it would probably be these, but the truth is that I now want to shoot different things.
So, next time someone asks me what I shoot, I know the answer. Oh wait... no I don't.
