I was asked to take photographs of a Lifesaving training session on Collioure beach this week. For over 12 months I’ve been nestled in the Pyrénées, content to be removed from the folly of the world which we have all been living through, but to photograph action, rather than static flowers, was such a thrill. I knew I was in a rut and I had been looking for a challenge so this commission came at just the right time. It was fun to be watching shutter speeds and ISO levels again and I also took my Lensbaby Twist which was really exciting to use - although I felt the results were a bit more arty than was required by the lifeguards! However I will take my Lensbaby back to the beach one evening to experiment just for fun.
Sunday I’m photographing a swimming competition, so again, the act of juggling the camera’s settings to capture the fast action will be great, but it will be much easier this time as I will be in bright sunlight as opposed to shooting at sunset which is when the lifeguards were on the beach.
It gave me such a buzz to be challenging my photographic reflexes, something I used to do regularly before this monster of Covid arrived and it made me realise that I NEED to do this! As corny as it sounds, it made me feel alive again. My travel plans might be on hold but I am going to make a point of escaping the mountains for a few hours now and again to seek inspiring, busy locations. I am not into landscape photography, I prefer observing and capturing people. But if landscapes are your thing - go find them!
A great activity is to give yourself specific challenges when you go out with your camera. Daily challenges could be: only photograph items at ground level, find yellow subjects, photograph hands, photograph in the rain, find reflections. Juggle things up - put yourself in situations where you exit your comfort zone, sharpen your reflexes with your camera.
Above all, have fun and let me know how you get on!
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