The blog of photographer Kim Ayres

About Painting With Shadows

For the first 7½ years, this blog was called "Ramblings of the Bearded One"

I’d set it up when I had every intention of become a writer and I needed a place to try out different styles, explore different topics, and at the same time connect with other people online to build camaraderie and gauge response levels to my scribblings. The term "Bearded One" was a mocking nod to a title I was sometimes referred to back in my days at University when I studied philosophy.

But my writing career never took off. The onset of ME/CFS helped put an end to that, although I was able to continue with the blog, albeit at a slightly less frequent pace. I am now considerably improved, although I still have to be aware of my energy expendure.

These days I'm a professional photographer (see kimayres.co.uk for more on that), and couple of years after I set up in business, I started to notice the majority of my posts were about photography on one level or another. Eventually I felt I needed to change the name of the blog to more accurately reflect its contents.

The term "photography" was coined in 1834 (according to Wikipedia) and comes from the Greek terms photos, meaning light, and graphos meaning drawing. Thus, in certain circles, the phrase "painting with light" is often used as a poetic description of the process.

But in a conversation I was having with my father a while back, I found myself using the phrase, "painting with shadows" for what I saw as a more accurate description of my approach to photography, and part of me thought "oh, I like that phrase – I should try and remember it."

When I started thinking about renaming this blog, that phrase popped back into my mind and it felt right. And not only from a photographic point of view. A fair bit of my writing over the years has veered into the darker, moodier, edgier areas of life and mental health. Somehow it all seemed to fit together.

If you would like a fuller introduction to my domestic life and background, then follow this link to New Here? Read This... – which I wrote as an introduction to my blog in its previous incarnation.

Meanwhile, feedback, questions and observations are always welcome; so as you read the posts on this blog, please do take the time to leave a comment. Unless there are compelling reasons otherwise, I always answer them.

And just in case you were wondering, any references to The Cracked Man are about the band I'm in where I play bouzouki.

6 comments

katierobertsart said...

Ooooh interesting Kim! Nice to see a good dark photo of you back on here :) Still liked the Breaded one, but like the new tile too, and it makes sense. Glad you have found a way to keep the blog relevant and useful to you in its new incarnation... I'll pop in now and then to say hi :)

Kim Ayres said...

Thanks Katie - your support and insights are always welcome :)

Mimi and Tilly said...

I really like your new blog name. It fits. Em :)

Kim Ayres said...

Thanks Em :)

Falak said...

Really like the blog's reinvention! But 'Ramblings of the Bearded One' will be missed :)

Kim Ayres said...

Falak - the ramblings are still here, they are just less frequent, or more photography based - but then they had been like that for a couple of years anyway, so nothing has really changed except the title :)

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