Match Day

I'm not really a great believer in making new year's resolutions but, lately, I've been feeling like my photography has become a little stale and I need to challenge myself a little more. Consequently, I've started a photographic notebook; the idea being that any ideas I document in the book must then be followed up. The first of these 'projects' is intended to force me to have a more committed go at street photography, a genre I admire but have always found very difficult.

I am an Everton season ticket holder (who says I like things easy) and have occasionally taken a camera along on match day so this seemed like a perfect subject to base my project on. However, I knew that I was never going to achieve much in the short time span I normally have before a game and so, for the last home game, I arranged to meet my father at the ground and set out to arrive at Goodison Park two hours before kick-off. I had with me my Fujifilm XE-1, 35mm and 14mm prime lenses.

It is useful to start with a plan and, prior to going, I had given some thought to the kind of things that might make good images; some obvious like street sellers and some less obvious  such as policemen taking a break in St. Luke's Church. However, I soon discovered that it was going to be far from easy. Opportunities are many but you have to have the courage to take them and, in some cases (as with the aforementioned policemen) I completely bottled it and only came away with snatched attempts which have already been consigned to the digital waste basket. I also had far too many failed pictures as a result of carelessness (focus in the wrong place for instance) and spent far too much time swapping lenses. All good experience of course and this is only the first attempt. I still have some untried plans to execute and am determined to be braver next time. As we Blues like to say; Nil Satis Nisi Optimum!