Little Tin Houses
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JOURNAL

The Ferry Hut
The Ferry Hut

My first ever roll of medium format black and white, and what a subject to shoot. I’ve seen this hut in Alnmouth a few times, but I never realised that that was a little art gallery inside showing old photographs of local fishermen and ferrymen. I did a bit of googling and found out that the gallery has been created by a local lady who has a thing for huts, and didn’t want to see it fall into disrepair. My kind of woman.

I can also safely say I’ve fallen in love with medium format black and white photography and I cannot fathom why I haven’t done it before. A shout out to Tanners Bank Darkroom for developing this roll, and if you love the shot of the hut as much as I do, you can buy a print here. It would be greatly appreciated.

 
 
Amy Spires
The Algorithm Beast
The Algorithm Beast

I nearly deleted my instagram account last night. The old ‘blogger/internet oversharer’ in me started creeping back out and I found myself changing what I post to suit what the algorithm beast liked best. In a perfect world I’d have my journal and my website and nothing else, but instagram seems like a necessary evil for people to actually see what’s happening on my website.

I’ve been thinking about it, and I think the trick is to use social media just to share what you’re photographing, and not change what you’re photographing to suit instagram. Don’t chase the likes and the followers, it doesn’t actually mean anything. I have a few thousand followers who I’m pretty convinced still think I’m the same emo girl from tumblr in 2009 who must be really confused about all the photos of trees and knackered buildings I post.

I always say the key to life is balance. A good work/life balance, and these days a good social media/real life balance. By all means, log on, post a photo, interact, share a story or two, but don’t let it dictate your life. I’m annoyed at myself for pulling out my phone too often recently and I’m annoyed that I started to doubt myself as a photographer because certain photos weren’t getting as much attention as others.

I keep hearing rumours that instagram will be removing the ability to see the amount of likes a photo has received and I am all for it. I’m tired of it all feeling like a competition and I’m annoyed at myself for even feeling like it’s an issue. The silver lining of this is that I’m pleasantly surprised that I feel much better after having a good rant and writing this post. A few years ago at the height of my ‘lifestyle and fashion blog’ I would write a post just to be all ‘look at me and my nice outfit’ and now I feel like writing a post is more of a therapeutic exercise which generally feels much healthier.

At the end of the day, I just want to live my life, hang out with my husband and dog, travel in the van and take photos of the things we see on our trips. I’ll write about it and share a corresponding photo on instagram and that’ll be that. Phone in pocket, shoot film, upload later when you’re bored in the house. I’ve had a long, bumpy relationship with the internet throughout my life but I’m hoping I’ve cracked the balance now.

Amy Spires
Rainy Days
Rainy Days

Honestly I don’t mind the rain. The only weather that will stop me in my tracks is wind. Wind scares me but now that I don’t spend hours straightening my hair I really couldn’t care less about the rain. It was a grey, wet day but we decided to jump in the van and go to a walking destination that never fails us, Cragside.

This was the first time we’d visited Cragside since we had the van, and it’s another example of us needing to learn that we can’t do all the normal car things we used to. We thought we’d drive the 6 mile carriage drive route around around the grounds, not even thinking that they’re might be some kind of restrictions, but there were, and we only spotted the height signs when we were already at the point of no return. The usually super relaxing drive turned into an ass clencher as I waited to see if there was some kind of bridge or tunnel that we’d forgotten about that the van wouldn’t fit through and we’d then have to reverse back along the whole route. We’re good, there wasn’t. But we’ve learned our lesson. The pros of a van still outweigh the cons, but we definitely need to remember to always check for height restrictions.

We sheepishly finished the drive and parked up (in the coach park as directed…apparently we can’t even park in the normal car park anymore!) and went for a little wander on foot. A nice uneventful stroll, apart from the bit where we realised we were tired and had to do a direct 180 turn and then felt awkward that the old couple walking behind us had seen us just spin around and go back the way we came. Steven cracked a joke about running of a steam and I did a really loud inappropriate laugh and they just deadpan stared ahead and ignored us. Ahh, social interactions.

Amy Spires