There was a time that I hadn't quite grasped the fact that being interested in photography wasn’t quite enough on its own, you had to be passionate about other things, things that would inform your work and potentially become your subject matter. 

I’ve always been quite singular in my interests, possibly due to some misplaced idea of loyalty (growing up R.E.M. was my favourite band and I wouldn’t listen to anything else out of pure devotion). 

Soon after going into the darkroom for the first time at the age of 16 I decided that I was going to be a photographer, so nothing else really mattered. I was in my first year at Avondale, an alternative high school in Toronto and after witnessing a photograph magically appear in the developer tray I soon quit all my other subjects for that year, taking only two courses: art and photography. I think even in an alternative school you were expected to take 6-8 courses but I was stubborn and single-minded. 

I wish I could say that it hit me during my next three years of high school that you needed to have other interests outside of photography but I think the truth is that it came to me much later. Perhaps a little realisation started during my HND and Degree but really I think it started to germinate on that first visit to the Lammas Eco Village in 2010. It felt like a completely different world to me at the time and seeing how differently from me the people lived there felt eye-opening and inspiring. I wanted to be part of this world. So  began my real interest in sustainable living and a drive to document the people living a low-impact lifestyle.

I met my partner Duncan while I was on my Photography HND in 2003. Since then he has seen me work in a photo developing lab, as a freelance photographer’s assistant in London, go back to Hereford to finish my degree in 2007 and then finally take the leap to giving up all my part-time jobs to become fully freelance. He’s also seen me through two successful Arts Council project grant application bids. 

On more than one occasion he has said in exasperation “All you think about is photography!” And I have looked back at him, confused, and said “Well yes, of course.” Our morning walks have jokingly been referred to as “Photography walks” and there have been numerous times where he's stopped in his tracks and looked at me and said "Photography, photography, photography!” as a not so subtle hint that maybe we could talk about something else. Or even better, have a quiet walk and enjoy our surroundings. 

(I think my lovely friend Lizzie who proofreads my blogs may point out that there is rather a lot of repetition of the word ‘photography’ in that previous paragraph but well, that is the point.)

Oh the long suffering of the photographer’s partner. 

A new batch of photos come back from the lab and I am beside myself with anticipation. Sometimes I get upset that he doesn’t show any inclination to want to see them. But there’s a reason he’s cautious. Because really, he has no hope of saying the right thing. He tries his best, he says “Great photo... I guess it's  a bit of a shame the feet are cropped out though” and he gets a death stare and an explanation on how the Mamiya 7, being a rangefinder, isn’t always the easiest camera to compose with. And who needs the feet in anyway! Now he won’t look at any of my photos from the Where the Red Kite Flies project until its first exhibition in February. 

Besides all the emotional baggage that comes with partnering up with a photographer, there is all the physical stuff. Under all the beds in the house there is photography equipment (maybe one day I’ll use that Vivitar Slide Printer again) and frames upon frames from my series To Build A Home. I have very gently approached the subject that soon there will be 40 more large frames that will need to find a place in our home. We might have to do something with the loft, which currently looks like some spooky wasteland of badly laid insulation. 

I recently met up with some photo buddies in North Wales and then Liverpool to visit 3 different photography exhibitions. It is so wonderful to be able to just talk so freely about all things photography for 48 hours. You might think this would get it all out of my system and I’d return home fulfilled and could let the subject rest for a bit. Fulfilled, yes, but then poor Duncan has to hear all about my time away and be shown all the things I’ve been bought or been given by my photography friends. Though I don’t think he minds this too much and I think he’s rather looking forward to Mark McNulty's photo of Bjork gracing our walls once I've been on a trip to the picture framers. 

It may have taken me a bit longer than most but I have progressed from being a teenager and 20-something who thinks that you only need to be interested in photography to be a 'good' photographer. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I hadn't come across Lammas and made the connections that I have there. Would I still be interested in finding ways to live more sustainably and to photograph people living low impact lives? Of course I'll never know but I think somehow I would have found my way to making work about people living sustainable lifestyles. But I am so grateful for knowing my little section of Wales and knowing that it is where I want to keep making work for the foreseeable future. It helps that everyone there knows just how obsessed with photography I am and given half the chance I'll try to get them to take photos too.

I really wrestled with this post because it feels a bit too intimate and sentimental to me. This wariness of sentimentality isn’t new to me and it’s something I perhaps worry about a bit too much, both in terms of my writing and my photography (more on that another time, I think that's a whole different future blog post). 

When I told Duncan that this month’s blog post was going to be about how I always bore him with talking about photography he laughed. We were on a Saturday morning dog walk at the time and he said “Like now?” Back home, he pops the TV on in the kitchen and proceeds to tell me about who is playing who in the World Cup this weekend. I could not care less, which he knows and is becoming a running joke. I say “Photography photography. Football football” and vacate the room. 

It's the very last chance to sponsor a roll of film this year! My last visit to Wales to work on the project will be at the beginning of December so get in touch if you'd like to get involved! 

For £20 you’ll get a shout out, a print that I select from that roll of medium format film on A4 paper and my eternal gratitude. 

To participate or for more info please click here