2014: what did we do?

It’s the final day of 2014, and several weeks since my last post.  It’s a beautiful crisp frosty day, with weak winter sun that’s slowly turning the grass from a steely grey-white to a glistening green.  The Christmas tree lights are still twinkling, the radio’s on, and we’re both enjoying the seventh work-free day of the festive period.

We're not the only ones to indulge at Christmas!

What’s been achieved in 2014?  Some quickly brainstormed bullets include:

  • January – surviving the rewiring of the entire house in January
  • Feb – <er, doesn’t appear that much was achieved in February!>
  • March – meeting Andrew Scriven for a photography workshop in St James Park, London, along with a visit to the Bailey’s Stardust exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery (also, for Mr G, being part of a very small audience at The Globe, London, watching a concert by John Williams and friends).
  • April – photographed my first strongman competition, and climbed Buckden Pike for the first time in over twenty years
  • May – photographed a powerlifting workshop presented by Andy Boulton
  • June – attended a production of War Horse at the Alhambra Theatre in Bradford, and Newark Antiques Fair
  • July – first Gosney family gathering at our new home
  • August – my photographs of local flooding make the front page of our local paper, and we photograph the Pontefract Cycle Grand Prix event
  • September – I make a snap decision to embark on a 365 photo project, and we have the honour of beginning to look after Portia
  • October – attended a RPS Distinction Advisory Day, and have the pleasure of listening to the assessment of prospective panels by RPS assessors including Joe Cornish, and attended a RSC performance of Henry IV Part II at The Lowry Theatre, Salford.
  • November – finally collected two photography books from The Little Black Gallery, South Kensington, London, after up to 18 months of storage.  Captured the image of a robin at Fairburn Ings that would be used for our first non-commercial Christmas cards
  • December – distilled 5 images on a theme of flowers from the year’s photography and used them to create cards for Christmas presents

This is a relatively satisfying list, especially when viewed in the context of being secondary to our extensive professional commitments, but some targets to aim for in 2015 may be:

  • develop my understanding and use of film, including a focus on street photography starting in local cities
  • increasing the quality and frequency of people photography (phrased in a deliberately-loose sense)
  • enhance knowledge of lighting techniques
  • complete my 365 project

I guess that a final bullet should be

  • post regular, interesting, insightful blog entries.  That may be one bullet too far, but one can only aim high!

Happy New Year’s Eve, and Happy New Year when it dawns tomorrow.  Let’s hope that it is productive and peaceful.