Hello again. It's good to be home.
I recently saw this quote:
I really liked this quote - it’s from a Smithsonian article about home.
It really resonated with me because this seems to be true for me.
I’ve been lucky enough to live and work in several countries around the world and in pretty much every place I've always been able to adapt and settle in.
But, my real home is Newport and that’s where I find myself right now.
I’d like to share some images with you from the place I call home, Newport.
I have a kind of a love/hate relationship with Newport. I am proud to be Welsh, I think my country is fantastic and I am happy to be from Newport, it's not a particularly bad place in the world.
Although it has most definitely been neglected and the city hasn’t grown and evolved in a particularly good way.
That's just my opinion.
I’ve always wanted to get away from Newport, I just think it’s not where I need to be in this moment in time.
I need somewhere a little more alive, I’m most at home in the hustle and bustle of a busy metropolis, a city that doesn’t sleep.
Having said all this, I do find myself back at home in Newport, so I think it's best to see this as an opportunity.
An opportunity to reconnect with my hometown, my family and friends.
An opportunity to start projects and meet new creative people in the area.
But the biggest opportunity is to get out of my comfort zone.
Like I said, I do like the hustle and bustle of a city, and Newport just isn't that really.
It's mostly residential, it's difficult to make street photography without being asked 'certain' questions,
and, just everything like that. So, it is an opportunity to get out of my comfort zone.
After all, I’m sure I’ll be off somewhere else in the world next year..
So I was thinking about this idea of home on my way back from Kazakhstan. Is home actually a location?
Or is it a place? Is it a feeling? The people around you?
I'm not really quite sure, it's a subjective question and I suppose everyone will have a different answer.
But for me, family is home, really.
My family recently celebrated my Nan's 90th birthday.
So it was a good chance to get together, and we went to a little seaside town in England called Sidmouth.
It was a wonderful weekend, we had classic British seaside weather, good food and good laughs.
I did try to have a street photography session but as we were so busy with different things I couldn’t quite get into the flow state, and only made a few images. But that’s okay.
I did also make some photos of family which is a nice change from what I usually do.
Whilst enjoying the process it made me remember a tweet I saw from one of my favourite YouTube photographers, Faizal Wescott.
and he said:
I think this is something really important and something that I have neglected since starting out in photography.
I’ve always kinda shunned what I call ‘social photography’ preferring to go without my camera for most events and 'live in the moment' or be ‘present in the moment', whatever you wanna call it.
However now I feel quite differently.
There’s been so many great moments and great times that are slowly fading from memory and I have no images to show for them.
It does feel kinda sad at times. So I’ve been making more of an effort to balance being present in the moment while also taking a few snaps to saviour the memories.
So yes, I am home. And it feels really good. I’m excited to share more images and projects with you from Newport, Wales and the wider UK.
In the next video, we’re going to be looking what is possibly the best budget lens on the market. So if you're not already please subscribe if you don’t want to miss that one.
All that's left to say really is thank you for watching, thank you to the new and old subscribers alike, and see you in the next video.
Hwyl Fawr! (Goodbye)