I've just finished listening to an audio book on J.M.W. Turner. Largely regarded as Britain's greatest artist, those of us that live in north Kent can claim to have a closer-than-most association with him since much of his work not only depicted this very coastline but most Saturdays throughout 1827 he would travel, by boat, to Margate to escape London where he would stay at Mrs Booth's guesthouse in Cold Harbour, now Harbour Arm. There he would live for the following 20 years and after Sophia Booth's husband died in 1833, Turner adopted the name Booth (he wanted to remain as anonymous as possible) and lived at her guesthouse, becoming Sophia’s long-term companion.
An ambitious artist, what struck me about Turner (aside from his numerous mistresses and liaisons!) was his continual strive towards personal artistic fulfillment. Highly curious and experimental, Michael Faraday (the first to produce an electric current from a magnetic field and inventor of the first electric motor and dynamo) would advise him on pigments and how best to test their rate of discolouration.
It was Turner who inspired my Marsh Light series where in 2016 I began experimenting in seeking new ways of interpreting the North Kent Marshes which resulted in painterly, impressionistic studies of its reedbeds, mudflats and marsh. You can view it here.
Whether or not you regard photography as an art form we can surely draw similarities with how we, as photographers, need also to grow and to strongly resist stagnation. For if we continue to make the same, tired-looking images of over-familiar scenes and subjects using 'tried and tested' formulaic compositions over and over are we not just standing still? Draw inspiration not just from photographers (see my earlier post here) but from painters, sculptures, and composers. Be enlightened and inspired, push the boundaries and create works outside of your comfort zone. Do this and you'll never tire of this medium nor succumb to what is often termed as 'losing your photo-mojo'.
