I’m Still Looking

I’ve spent more than 40 years with a camera in my hands.

Newspapers. Magazines. Commercial jobs. Weddings. Sport. People who wanted their photograph taken and plenty who probably didn’t.

The cameras have changed. Photography has changed enormously.

I probably have too.

But one thing hasn’t changed.

I still look.

I notice the bloke opening his shop before everybody else is awake. The person sitting alone at a café. The cook working behind a cloud of steam in a tiny warung. A conversation happening across the street. Light falling somewhere for thirty seconds before disappearing.

Most of it isn't spectacular.

That's probably why I'm interested in it.

Photography has taught me that you don't always need to go looking for the extraordinary. Sometimes you just need to pay attention to the ordinary long enough for it to become interesting.

Queen Victoria Market

And I've missed plenty of photographs.

Every photographer has.

You see something, hesitate, and it's gone. You leave the camera at home because you're only going down the road. You tell yourself you'll come back tomorrow and discover tomorrow doesn't look anything like today.

But there have also been thousands of moments I didn't miss.

Some became good photographs.

Some didn't.

And some never needed a camera at all.

So, what is this?

I'm not completely sure yet.

And I rather like that.

It'll be photographs. Short films. People I meet. Places I visit. Food I probably shouldn't be eating. Observations from the street and occasional stories from four decades of pointing cameras at things.

Australia Zoo

Sometimes there'll be a photograph with a few words.

Sometimes there'll be a longer story.

Sometimes I might simply show you something I think is worth seeing.

There won't be ten tips for taking sharper photographs.

I'm not going to tell you which camera you need to buy next.

And I'm certainly not going to manufacture something every Tuesday because somebody says that's what the algorithm wants.

I'll publish when I've got something worth sharing.

At 60, I've realised I'm less interested in producing content and much more interested in making things that matter to me.

If somebody else finds something in them as well, even better.

There are still people I haven't met.

Places I haven't walked.

Food I haven't tasted.

Stories I haven't heard.

And photographs I haven't made.

So I'm still looking.

Pete George

See with Purpose. Share with Heart.