hello yellow

Given how the ongoing heatwave and drought has turned anything that two months ago was a lush deep shade of green into a withered and dusty shade of yellowy-brown, it felt very appropriate to be going along to a photowalk in Exeter on Sunday with the theme of 'yellow'.

The event was organised by my friend Daniel, founder of Photo Club Devon, in collaboration with excellent local charity Open Salotto. Unfortunately Dan couldn't make it on the day, having fallen ill after drinking some dodgy oat milk. And yes, I was as surprised as everyone else to discover that oat milk can have such an explosive effect on one's bowels, but as they say you learn something new every day.

Anyway, I digress, let's get back to the far more pleasant subject of making art...

Open Salotto is a newly formed CIC (Community Interest Company) bringing together young artists through creative events, workshops, popups and zines. Zines are an idea that is very close to my heart, and something I'm planning to write about in more detail one day. The walk was a fundraiser for their next zine, 'Visual Poetics'.

Unlike other photowalks I've been on where you photograph constantly as you're walking, this one was a bit different. There were several predetermined locations along the route where we stopped for 10-15 minutes to each wander off by ourselves to take photos of whatever caught our eye. I really liked this format, as it means you don't have to worry about slowing the rest of the group down if you get engrossed in something, and it felt like you could go deeper than on a walk where you're always on the move and together in a group.

I do love photowalks for the social aspect (and plenty of nerdy chat), and I've occasionally taken some good shots on them. But in general, and I imagine like many photographers, I really need to be by myself to get in the zone to start taking photos that I really like. So the combination of the group walk and the solo creative times worked really well for me.

It was good to try something new, and I'd definitely like to try this format on one of our next walks here in Plymouth.

I certainly wouldn't say I took anything particularly amazing, but as someone who shoots mainly in black and white, and usually in a very dark n moody style, it was a good challenge to be searching for bright, happy colours!