Like many who use Instagram I was thinking about how I should summarise the year that had passed when 2020 was getting close to being over. The previous couple of years I had done the thing we all did. Let a site or app figure out what my most liked posts from that year was go with that.
Best nine, or most liked from back in 2017
For various reasons I wanted to do something a bit different for 2020, it felt like a very different year because of the obvious reason. One of the reasons being that I felt like I was experiencing time strangely where the difference between a week ago and a month ago was hard to distinguish. Another reason was that I felt a bit frustrated creatively, feeling stuck in a rut. So my attempted solution was reviewing all the shots I had taken during the year and look at what I liked and what I didn’t like and why. Something I’ve done before but never for a whole year and I take a lot of shots in a year. It took a couple of days.
When I started thinking about what I should actually post from this exercise I saw a couple of themes emerge in the pile of shots I kinda liked. The first one was the feeling of being separated and being by yourself.
Another theme that surfaced was almost a reverse of the first and much less depressing. Focusing on the good moments with friends and loved ones that did happen.
I really enjoyed this process of sitting down and reviewing my shots in a focused way. I did see some things I want to improve but also saw many things I liked about what I shoot. Not sure if I’ve really found a style that is uniquely me yet but I feel I’m getting closer. There is never a universal solution that works for everyone but I would recommend anyone that feel a bit stuck try doing the same.