Painting With Shadows
It’s time for a name change.
When I started this blog back in 2005, it was to be a vehicle for my writing. I had sold my web design business, moved to the South-West corner of Scotland and had every intention of starting a new career as a writer. Short stories, novels, perhaps comic books and maybe the odd bit of freelance stuff was all ahead of me. I knew I would need an area to practice in, and a blog seemed like an ideal solution. I could try out different styles and explore different topics, and at the same time connect with other people online to build camaraderie and gauge response levels to my scribblings.
I didn’t have a specific theme or direction, so I called my blog, Ramblings of The Bearded One, making 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.
A few years ago, as I started doing much more with my camera, I found my ability to think and react to the world in terms of blog posts had diminished. Instead I realised that far more often I would see people and events in terms of photography. And this has fed into my blog. Over the past 12 months, more than two-thirds of all my blog posts have been photography related on one level or another, and since the turn of this year, ten out of twelve have been.
For a couple of months now, I’ve been toying with the idea of changing the name of this blog to something more in keeping with its content.
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 towards the end of last year, 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.
So, sometime in the next few days I will be renaming this blog. I thought I’d better warn you just in case you feared my blog had disappeared altogether.
At one point I thought about dramatically naming this post, "The End of the Ramblings of The Bearded One", but it’s not strictly true. I will still put up non-photography posts, discussing different ideas, thoughts and events, but the name change will now more accurately express the content.
This blog has evolved – it has been for the past couple of years – and the new name reflects that.
I hope you will continue with me on my journey.
When I started this blog back in 2005, it was to be a vehicle for my writing. I had sold my web design business, moved to the South-West corner of Scotland and had every intention of starting a new career as a writer. Short stories, novels, perhaps comic books and maybe the odd bit of freelance stuff was all ahead of me. I knew I would need an area to practice in, and a blog seemed like an ideal solution. I could try out different styles and explore different topics, and at the same time connect with other people online to build camaraderie and gauge response levels to my scribblings.
I didn’t have a specific theme or direction, so I called my blog, Ramblings of The Bearded One, making 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.
A few years ago, as I started doing much more with my camera, I found my ability to think and react to the world in terms of blog posts had diminished. Instead I realised that far more often I would see people and events in terms of photography. And this has fed into my blog. Over the past 12 months, more than two-thirds of all my blog posts have been photography related on one level or another, and since the turn of this year, ten out of twelve have been.
For a couple of months now, I’ve been toying with the idea of changing the name of this blog to something more in keeping with its content.
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 towards the end of last year, 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.
So, sometime in the next few days I will be renaming this blog. I thought I’d better warn you just in case you feared my blog had disappeared altogether.
At one point I thought about dramatically naming this post, "The End of the Ramblings of The Bearded One", but it’s not strictly true. I will still put up non-photography posts, discussing different ideas, thoughts and events, but the name change will now more accurately express the content.
This blog has evolved – it has been for the past couple of years – and the new name reflects that.
I hope you will continue with me on my journey.
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