One Photo A Day: January 2016

To photograph is to hold one's breath, when all faculties converge to capture fleeting reality. It's at that precise moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy.

Henri Cartier-Bresson

The first month of my 366 project is now complete. Looking back I can definitely say it has been good for me. I finally started to take my camera to work again. I have at least a few enjoyable moments a day, when I can relax and forget about the mundane duties, and I get to do what I love so much.

Some days are very easy. My partner and I spent a few days in one of our most favourite cities - Venice. We also started hillwalking again, which allows us to balance the time we have fun together and the time when I can go off to take a few pictures. Sometimes I break the balance by totally getting lost in time. But I am honestly working on it. Sometimes I also manage to get out on my own, and have the luxury of all the time in the world. Well, at least for a day or two. And then there are my usual times that I spend in the City walking to and from work, which are full of inspiration.

However there are days when I find it very hard to focus - with my mind, my heart and my camera. Like the last weekend, when my mind was set to complete the tax return. At the last minute, as always. I think I will never learn. I will always leave what is not so enjoyable at the bottom of my list, until I really have to do it. I struggled on those days, but persevered. And I am glad I did. Those last few days re-enforced what I have been saying all along - photography for me is not just recording the world around me. It is not about taking a picture for the sake of it. It is about enjoying the whole experience, discovering new views, savouring the moment, exploring undiscovered corners, looking forward to the next day and new opportunities to discover more beauty that abounds in the world we live in.

To photograph: it is to put on the same line of sight the head, the eye and the heart.

Henri Cartier-Bresson

If you would like to see any of the images and read the stories behind them, please us the links below. There are also a few outtakes that didn't make it as a picture of the day, but which I found hard to part with.