I need to take more photos next year… says every photographer on earth at the end of each year when they look back through their paltry collection of personal life photos and realise they hardly took any! If you’re a photographer reading this and that doesn’t describe you then sshhh – nobody likes a show-off.

But yeah – that’s the position I’ve been in this week scraping around trying to convince myself I took more photos in 2019. But for once I was fully aware it was going to be extra slim pickings. I’ve been painfully aware that I’ve been very poor at picking up my camera ‘between jobs’ this year. Why? I don’t know. I never know. I’ve got my favourite camera I’ve ever owned – the Sony A7iii – and my favourite subjects… but for some reason I’ve just not been all that interested in photographing ‘life’ this year. Busy with weddings, busy with NineDots and busy playing a lot of tennis and going to the cinema. So let’s get the excuses out of the way…

Excuse no. 1 – my kids are getting older… is this a valid excuse? No. Of course not. They don’t mind me taking photos of them one bit. This year my oldest boy started high school and I managed to get some photos of him getting ready for, leaving for and coming home from his first day of high school. I remember vividly just doing it almost subconsciously. Why? Because on that day my camera was out for some reason, just lying around. So I picked it up and shot some photos. Thankfully! Rest of the year where’s my camera? In my bag.

Excuse no. 2 – photography sometimes feels like a ‘job’ or a chore. FALSE. I mostly (for some strange reason) find the thought of taking my camera out with me a bit like the thought of going to the gym… you sort of don’t want to (laziness) but you’re always glad you did it (went to the gym or took your camera with you). But too many times this year I’ve let that ‘don’t go to the gym, eat cake instead’ voice win, and left my camera at home or just left it in my bag on ‘special’ days or family trips.

So if you were to look at my photos of the year, there aren’t any of either of the boys birthdays, virtually none of any family outings apart from a few very half-hearted ones on our annual trip to the Man United stadium tour, and a grand total of ZERO photos of our normal day to day life. I took photos on our holiday in August and that’s really about the only time I actively picked the camera up away from weddings. Sad but true.

What’s the solution here people!?! Well I mentioned that I’m pretty sure the reason I took photos of my oldest’s first day of high school is because the camera wasn’t in my bag. So maybe it’s that simple. New year’s resolution – have the camera ‘to hand’ more and stop making excuses for not taking the camera out of the house with me more often and just do it. I’m even contemplating a couple of personal projects for 2020 to encourage me to photograph my general mundane world a bit more because when I choose to make photos I love them, and when I choose not to I feel extremely disappointed. So I need to sort that.

BUT ANYWAY. Here are some photos from 2019 in the non-wedding life and times of me. I like them a lot. I just wish there were lots more of them.

PS – yes there are *some* phone photos. But I hate phone photos quite passionately. So they don’t count.