After three years of shooting street photography in Liverpool city centre, I’ve started to become bored. The city doesn’t really offer much. Each day I come into the city, I see the same people doing the same thing. Liverpool doesn’t really inspire like other cities. Now, I’m not going to say that there’s nothing to photograph because that simply isn’t true, but for me personally, Liverpool just doesn’t do it.
I just feel that my street photography is suffering as a result of how I feel in Liverpool, you will see this in the photos I post below.
I’ve started to push myself to do better as a street photographer, and instead of just shooting the same thing over and over, I’m pushing myself to think more before pressing the shutter button. I ask myself why and whether it makes sense.
I believe questioning these moments will help my photography and, in turn, help me. Many days I feel low, and the thoughts of why I’m doing this or whether I’ve had enough start to creep into my head, and I need to find a way to silence them.
The problem is similar to what I faced in London, Cambridge, etc., and that was I would walk the same path. I would just stay in one area instead of exploring the city more. I’m 100% sure Liverpool has more to offer than the city centre, and I need to explore more. It’s not like there aren’t hundreds of buses and trains buzzing around. I mean, what’s stopping me?
The area near the river and docks, particularly New Brighton and Bootle, would be great places to explore. I’m unsure what I might find there for my street photography, but I need to try. Maybe I should be heading to Anfield or Everton’s football ground when it’s match day. The trouble is, I know of too many other photographers that take photos of the fans. Again, why does that stop me? Is it just me overthinking?
Then there’s the area around Sefton Park. Surely that area would offer up more opportunities for me and my work. I often think about walking around some of the housing estates like I did when I first moved here. I used to walk for miles along the river. I know my health has deteriorated since moving here, so I wouldn’t be able to walk too far, but again, I think it’s me overthinking that stops me.
I really need to start focusing more on my street photography. The past six months, I’ve found myself being distracted by the problems I’m faced with the place where we lived, and it has really drained me. Then I got back into movies, watching them and buying them, and again, not only has this distracted me from my photography, but I’m spending money that I could be using for trips to Spain, etc.
I made the decision a few weeks ago to sell the movies and to stop wasting time with them. I will still rent films from Snipmovies. Yes, you read that right. I have a video rental store near me, and it’s amazing. Over 21,000 titles are ready for me to rent. It’s like being back in the 80s. Renting 3 films a week and enjoying them with my wife and talking with Dave (the owner) and other customers at the video store is something amazing for not only me but my wife.
I need to give myself a kick in the ass and make sure I do better, I need a repeat of 2025, more travel and photography.
