Lessons and Reflections from another Year As an Artist
As February now quickly approaches, the last of the snow has melted from the mountains around my new home in north Wales and I begin to get firmly back into the swing of my creative life again. I thought that now would be a great time to share with you some of my thoughts and reflections from another year as an artist. The turn of 2025 marked the seven-year point in my creative journey. It is said that life is made up of seven-year cycles, and so it seems to hold some significance to be sat here writing this.
2024 was, for me, a year of transition and personal growth - a year in which I found greater comfort in using the word ‘artist’ instead of ‘photographer’ as my work evolves and souls’ message deepens. Photographically speaking, it was an unproductive year, to say the least. I created just a handful of photographs, and only a couple of those contain any real depth and meaning and might, perhaps, stand a chance of remaining in my portfolio for any significant length of time. The camera took a back seat as I committed more of my creative energy to the growth of my business, as well as the blossoming relationship with my girlfriend, Darcia. Anyone who has embarked upon a journey into another soul will know just how much creative energy it takes to lay the foundations of a relationship as you open yourself to and learn about another person. This journey has been one that I would not trade for anything, and I have become a more well-rounded man for having met her back in 2023. A new layer of meaning and purpose has since emerged to my creativity and that has, I believe, been communicated through my writings over the past twelve months. As I sit here and write this, I look forward to seeing how my relationship with her might be reflected in the photographs that I create in the future.
Growing Reputation Through Publications that Reach an International Audience
As my photography struggled to gain any real momentum throughout 2024, my writing, on the other hand, excelled, and I landed two major publications in magazines, both of which contained significant depth and meaning, and will stand to add merit to my voice as an artist for some time. ‘The Dance Between Thought and Being’ was published in the up-and-coming ‘Nature Vision Magazine’, and communicates the purpose behind my Yin & Yang approach to creativity, using the mediums of photography and writing as I pursue self-mastery. ‘Learning to See Again’, an essay about the benefits of Nature photography for the human being on a personal and spiritual level, soon followed in the prestigious ‘On Landscape’ magazine.
It is important to me as I walk along my own path, that I share what wisdom I accrue in the hope of making a world a better place and educating other people as I go, so these publications at this stage of my journey filled me with a great sense of purpose. There is a wider purpose behind my creativity which I am doing all that I can to articulate and share. The therapeutic benefits of both Nature and creativity on the human spirit are, I believe, unprecedented, and we are only just beginning to understand their importance for humanity. I stand much stronger now after this year as a messenger for Mother Nature and a torchbearer for her spirit with my creativity.
Educating and Inspiring the Next Generation
The year started off in the best way possible. I landed a role as a creative practitioner in a local primary school where I was invited to share my creative practice by guiding a class of six and seven-year-olds into a nearby woodland and introducing them to the art of writing. For ten weeks, we visited the trees once per week, and I taught them some basic breathwork - we ‘breathed with the trees’, slowly, in and out, in harmony with each other. We learnt about the beauty of connecting with Nature, as well as each other. They learnt how to write their own poetry, as well as short stories through which they explored their own emotional landscape and translated how they felt into words in their own personal journals. It was a beautiful experience to be able to share what I have learnt with children, planting acorns that I hope will grow into beautiful oak woodlands the future. I learnt a great deal about myself throughout this process, and reconnected with my own inner child through the ten-week project which marked the beginning of a year of giving back to the world.
Delivering Private Tours of Eryri (Snowdonia) for International Clients
It was something of a surprise for me to have opened an email in the spring from a lady from Texas, USA who was telling me all about her plans to visit the UK for an ancestry researching mission. I had not focused any particular efforts on marketing to clients in other countries, and yet, here was somebody that was looking to hire me out for a multiday tour of Eryri (Snowdonia). It filled me with such joy to sit on a Zoom call with her a couple of weeks later to talk to her about Wales and all of the photographic delights that it has to offer. Fast-forward a few months, and she was here on these sacred lands with a friend. I met them in the national park to guide them to some of my favourite places to photograph. A month later, I welcomed another client; this time from Canada. A few weeks after that, a lady came over on a similar ancestry research mission from Kyama, Australia for a few days and hired me out to help her develop her photographic vision. To finish off what was a memorable year, and something of a breakthrough one as a tutor, I welcomed my final client from Kansas City, USA for another multiday trip of Eryri (Snowdonia).
Finalising My Debut Photobook ‘Finding Light’ and Telling More of My Story
One of the major breakthroughs in my life as an artist was finalising the drafts for my debut photobook, ‘Finding Light’. Around six years ago, as I tiptoed along my creative path, I made a promise to myself that I would be more vulnerable and open more of myself to the world as I believed that I had a story that was worth sharing - one that could offer hope and inspiration to other people. It has felt, at times, as though many of my life experiences have led me to the point of producing this book, and I am most excited to release the fruits that I have chosen to bear into the world.
One of the highlights of the year was appearing on Matt Payne’s brilliant ‘F-Stop, Collaborate and Listen’ podcast, on which I talked about the book as well as my journey from a childhood marred with episodes of domestic abuse and violence, to my interactions with the natural world that have brough healing to my soul and offered purpose to my life. I also delivered my presentation ‘Finding Light: A Journey into Nature to Find My Soul’ to Company of Makers which offers veterans a place of sanctuary and community. After so many years searching for and finding new parts of myself along my creative journey, it filled me with a great deal of purpose to be sitting in front of audiences and sharing myself in this way. It is something that I am planning to do lots more of as I head into 2025, and I have already lined up a number of public speaking engagements as I continue to put myself out there as an artist.
Joining the Ranks of Light & Land - A Leading Photographic Tour Guide Company
To mark the next stage of my career as an artist, I was invited to offer my expertise as a photographer and educator as a tutor for the prestigious Light & Land - a company that has offered worldwide photographic tours and workshops for thirty years. I was invited to exhibit with them in Mall Galleries in London in September, which was a real highlight in my journey so far. This exhibition gave me a fantastic opportunity to talk to art-lovers and gallery owners about the wider mission behind my work, and it was an unforgettable experience. I am looking forward to a long and fruitful relationship with Light & Land, and I am excited to be offering my first photographic tour of Eryri (Snowdonia) for them in October 2025.
Processing Grief and Loss Through Nature Photography
I was en route to Northumberland in November to attend my first photography tour as a guest tutor with Light & Land when my phone buzzed. It was an unusual message from my sister asking me to call her when I next had the chance. I drove on for a little while before pulling over at a service station just outside of Leeds to make the call to her as she waited patiently back in Welshpool to deliver the most surprising news. My father had passed away in the night. She had just been informed by one of our long-lost cousins that he had been found in his bed that morning. He went to sleep on Sunday night and hadn’t opened his eyes to the Monday sun rise.
The art of photography has been instrumental in my life since I picked up the camera back in 2018. If it weren’t for the discovery of this creative practice and the meaning that it offered me, I wouldn’t like to know where I might be now. Through my photographs, I have been able to speak a language that is beyond words and express some of my deepest and most complex emotions, transmuting pain and unburdening my heavy load. I was reminded of the importance of this beautiful form of creative expression during this short tour of Northumberland.
I went on to create a handful of meaningful photographs during the trip as we explored the dunes at Bamburgh, the golden sands of Budle Bay, Dunstanburgh Castle and Lindisfarne. These photographs might not be worthy of winning any awards, but, to me, they are some of the most beautiful that I have created since the dawn of my time as an artist. They stand to serve as a milestone in my life, and help me to tell the story of a man coming to terms with loss and a lifetime of grief. I dealt with that loss in the only way that I know how; by using my pain to fuel creativity because that, I believe, is the only option that we have as human beings if we are to prevent a descent into our own pit of darkness.
A Handful of Other Photographs of Note from 2024
My life throughout this year took plenty of twists and turns, and I had to overcome hurdles that I could never have foreseen. My soul deepened with every one of my experiences this year and my writings have reflected that deepening. The excavation of the soul is what the artist lives for, and so, with that in mind, it has been a hugely successful year. I have spent a great deal of time reflecting and asking myself many important questions over the past twelve months, at times even seriously questioning whether I will create photographs again. My time to create, I know, will come again. Until then, I will continue to follow my souls’ intuition which has not led me far wrong over the past year. My advice to myself at the end of all of this? You are right where you need to be.