Join Craig for his latest instalment of his ongoing series, 12 Months of Photography!
Opening with a lively montage of his month, Craig Simmonds explores how Instagram has been a useful tool for assessing his own work, analyses his photos, and discusses his influences.
One of Craig’s favourite photos of the month shows an advertisement in the background and a man in the foreground, a photo he loves for its capability for infinite interpretations. Rather than making full use of the street with a wide angle and lots of detail, a tactic which many street-photographers he admires utilise, Craig prefers taking photos on a closer scale. “I think that the reason that they’re better is because they’re more simple and I think they quite clearly communicate what is is I want to show,” he explains.
An integral part of the success of any photography project, Craig believes, is living with your pictures. “Having your pictures printed off or put in a place where you are going to see them all the time,” he says, “you become more accustomed to them. Things that you might not have noticed about your pictures before start to come to light when you spend more time with them.” Something that Craig has found to be difficult in his experience is that, since you are executing your own autonomous vision, it can be difficult to get feedback on your photography. Instagram can be a great tool to both look at your own work and get feedback from others.
Craig also describes how maintaining an Instagram page has also helped him more closely evaluate and reflect on his own work. “It’s really important to be able to identify perhaps pictures that aren’t as strong as you initially thought they were,” he says. Scrolling through your own page is akin to revisiting your professional portfolio; as time passes, putting more distance between you and your pieces, you’ll gain added perspective on what works and what doesn’t.
“I think about all the people in the images, like where are they now and what are they doing now and… that was a fraction of this period of their lives.”
This month Craig also visited the Van Gogh exhibition at the Tate Britain. He describes Impressionism and Post-Impressionism as a genre he deeply appreciates, explaining that the may pieces in the genre really excel at composition. Ken Schles’ Night Walk, a selection of photos depicting New York in the 1980’s, has also influenced Craig. “It’s been so long since photography or new work that I’ve found has made me feel things like this… seeing some of these images makes me feel immersed in the images.”
Want more?
David Bruce helped us understand the connections between music and pattern. And, Michelle Obama has the perfect advice for you on changing your path in Ariel Bissett’s new video.
For updates follow @TenEightyUK on Twitter or like TenEighty UK on Facebook.
