Community

One Street: Market Square, Shipley #37

Thanks so much for the encouragement and understanding yesterday. For right now I'm going to keep offering my photographs up for the community despite not being able to engage, to hopefully entertain and interest you. And continue to write a few words, because that's become as important to me as the image making.

I've come to understand that photography is mostly about desire. It's the simple desire to take a good photograph that fuels the creativity and throws up opportunities. Sometimes it seems like the less time I have the better the shots I come back with. My lunchtimes are an example. On the rare occasion I've not been rushed, or when I know there will be time in the evening, I often struggle to find any street shots. Yesterday, with just a few minutes available, I garnered enough good pictures to cause a problem over which to choose to blip. The need to take a photograph made me bolder and perhaps just see more acutely. I find it fascinating just how much more I notice when I know I only have a small photographic window in my day.

I saw John, the Big Issue seller, and told him of our win and shared the prize. That was a lovely moment, although the picture won't appear until next week's issue. Walking back I spotted these two people meeting and sharing a tender moment with lots of laughter. This is what I really love about Shipley and the Market Square. There is a real sense of community here. People from all walks of life come to shop and meet in this space. It's not fancy; indeed, it's rather tatty, but that's part of the charm. There is no pretension here. The people are real. Almost all the old folk have lived here their entire lives. I've never really felt like a member of a community like this and I can see that I'm missing out.

We had a works dinner last night as a reward for all the hard work being done by the team at the moment. It's not just me under the cosh right now. My younger colleagues brought their partners which added a French girl and Lithuanian lad to the mix of Latvian and Algerian and half-Finnish, not to mention a Scot and me, the token Englishman! I relish and cherish this amazing cultural diversity we have in our country. It made for a lively evening. I am very lucky to be working with this talented bunch of people. As I write this I realise that this is my real life community at the moment, and blip is my wider virtual one. Perhaps I'm not missing out so much after all.