Josh Abbott Photography

You’re bound to trip when running through the fog to the light.

Over the last few months, I’ve found it incredibly difficult to continue being productive at the level at which I’m accustomed. Between being in quarantine, the lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and a general lack of meaningful human interaction, finding inspiration has been rather difficult.

This has definitely had a major toll on my mental health. Whilst I’ve been extraordinarily lucky due to strong support from friends and family, in combination with being an essential worker in my day job, there have been nagging thoughts in the back of my head, asking why I’ve not done more to stay productive with my photography. 

Over time, these thoughts have pushed harder and harder upon me, and the weight has become increasingly hard to deal with. While I wouldn’t say that I’m in a bad place mentally, I definitely am aware that if I do not address it, it’ll only continue to get worse. 

So, with all this in mind, what can one do during a lockdown. I decided that there’s really only one logical choice, and that is to take as many precautions as possible. That means staying within walking distance of my house, limiting my interactions with people, and most importantly, leaving the house as early as possible, in the hopes of avoiding people altogether.

This week has been rather different. As I was walking to work, I noticed that the weather was ideal for taking emotive photographs, and I decided that the following morning, I was to wake up earlier than usual in the hopes that the weather would still be perfect. To my delight, when I got up at 3 am and looked out the window, I was greeted by all the fog my heart desired. And then, with a warm coffee in my thermos, and my camera strapped around my shoulder, I headed out.

I’ve come to realise that without photography as a release valve, I slowly become more and more self critical. Although this relationship with my passion may not be healthy, I find the act of creating images quite cathartic. As my eyes followed my feet through the foggy city, I rediscovered something that had been missing over the last few months, and the more photos I took, the more my confidence grew.

It’s certainly an unusual time to be a photographer. Whilst I’ve been using this time to improve my knowledge and to learn new techniques, not being able to go out freely to create is incredibly unsatisfying. All I have to remember is that this isn’t forever, and that there is always a light shining through at the end of the tunnel.

Until next time, Josh Abbott.

Why do it alone?

I’ve found that over the last few years, my best photographic work has been done while being pushed by others. Whether in the form of collaboration and competition, or through basic motivation, I find that when I rely on others, the quality of my work increases dramatically.

Neon Red – Copenhagen

I am going to touch on all three, but today I more want to stress about how important it is to communicate when you’re in a creative dump, and that the only way to get out of it is to reach out.

As such, I want everyone that I’ve relied on over the last few years too know that I really do appreciate you dealing with my shit, and helping me continually reach for higher goals. The journey’s nowhere near over, and I’ll undoubtedly be needing more help in the future. I just hope that everyone knows how much they mean to me, and that I’ll try to reciprocate, and be there for you all as much as you’ve been there for me.

Until next time, Josh Abbott.

Neon Red – Copenhagen

Whether you travel to flee problems, or to solve them, all people travel with baggage

With experience comes wisdom, and as I continue to travel, I find myself questioning the amount of baggage I carry while travelling. While staying in one place, we generally begin to collect a variety of things, either because they have some value to us, or due to them solving a problem we have in life.

When we decide to leave our lives behind, it is important that we reassess what we need in life, and what we can leave behind. We cannot travel with all of our burdens, both physically, and emotionally. Care must be taken however, as if we shed to much weight, we risk returning to an empty life. On the other hand, if we do not shed enough, our journey becomes more difficult.

Finding balance is important, and takes time. I’m hoping that I have finally figured out how I want to travel, and have packed accordingly. Gone are the days where I pack in every lens and camera I own. Packing light always leads to easier travel, and takes a significant burden off your shoulders. I can now deal with the baggage I carry, and am excited for the journey ahead.

Travelling is many things, but first and foremost, travel is revealing. Nothing peels back the unnecessary layers of your life more than travel, and nothing rewards the soul greater than leaving behind that which you no longer need.

Sincerely, Josh Abbott

Talking is silver. Silence is gold?

There’s no doubting it, I am a talker. Conversation is by far my favourite past time, and honestly I have probably done enough of it to fill multiple lifetimes. However, during my recent stay in the small city of Lübeck, I was forced, by circumstance, to not indulge in conversation. This lead me to being more productive than usual, and I utilised the time by working on the multiple projects I am currently undertaking. Of the most importance, is the photography, and whilst I did not take a lot of photos while here, I do think that the quality of the photos was rather high.

Lübeck is an interesting city for me, and my personal opinion about the city is definitely rather rocky due to several experiences I had during my stay. First impressions are important, and the first thing that I did in Lübeck, was lose my camera bag. So, not off to a good start. I made the mistake of leaving my camera bag under my seat on the bus, and I simply just jumped off without it. Quite stupid.

However, my opinion of the city slowly became more positive the longer that I stayed there. There is a certain charm that only small cities have, possibly due to how they straddle the line between city life, and town life. They’re small, but big. And this leads to the people who live in small cities to be incredibly friendly in my experience.

My stay at the hostel was interesting. I had booked into a six share room, and had no room mates for the entire week that I stayed there. Having no one to talk to is quite strange to me, and for the first two days, I felt quite isolated. However, I found the silence helpful, and allowed me to do a whole lot of planning about what to do over the next several months.

Secondly, I was lucky enough to see snow falling, a first for me in Europe. Unfortunately due to my loss of camera gear, I was unable to really get many photos, but I am adapting to my secondary camera, and as I travel north, I’m sure that my confidence in said camera will increase.

In my opinion, Lübeck is a lovely city, and whilst I wouldn’t necessarily recommend travelling to it in the middle of winter, the city itself is quite beautiful, and well worth the visit. By the end of my week in the city, I found myself reinvigorated to move forward with several personal projects, and the time spent not talking was in highly valued.

I hope you’ll enjoy the photos.

Sincerely, Josh Abbott.

Keeping Things 100. Here’s the Proof.

The past few weeks since leaving Australia have been rather rocky. That’s not to say that I haven’t been enjoying my time abroad, but the significant amount of time that I now find on my hands, has mainly been filled with a lot of introspective self-assessment. Several light bulb moments have occurred, and I have been forced to reassess what I want out of the next few years.

Instead of letting my ambition over reach, I have decided to double down on a few key areas, areas that I think will allow me to grow as a person, and not run into  both creative and mental walls due to exhaustion. So far I have settled on three key areas to focus on in the next few months.

Firstly, I would like to put more emphasis on my photography, and make sure that I allow myself both time and energy to grow. I know that over the last few years, there has been a mismatch in how much passion I have for my photography, and how much time and energy I have put into it, which has stiffed my photographic growth. That has to change, and I hope to be more diligent with my time and energy in the future.

Secondly, due to my love of making compelling images, I am going to branch out into both cinematography and writting. Hopefully this will allow me the flexibilty I need in I approach new projects, letting me produce cross-media experiences. Fingers crossed that I can stay the course and be productive, and I have all of the time in the world to improve upon my currently limited skill set.

Thirdly, I am hoping to work hard on my mental health. Several years of ignoring red flags has landed me in a position where I am no longer in control of my ‘day to day’ mindset. I know that this is normal and that everyone goes through good and bad phases, but I am scared that if I allow myself to wallow in my own self pity, that I will simply continue to dig myself a pit from which I cannot get myself out of. Instead of relying on friends and family to buoy me out of the deep water, I would like to get to the point where I no longer require day to day assitance just to get by. I know that this is unlikely, but this is an end goal, not a step by step guide to happiness, so here’s hoping.

Ultimately, this trip is being approached in such a way that I should have both plenty of time, and resources, to finally get back on top of my desires, and allow me to match my ambition. All I can hope for is that everything goes roughly according to plan (which so far it hasn’t, peachy right?), and I can focus on eventually being happy with myself, as currently, I am not.

Sincerely, Josh Abbott.

No, there will be no photos of me holding a camera as a child.

My personal relationship with photography goes back far further than the 8 years that I have owned a “real” camera. Growing up as the eldest of three, my parents documented so much of our childhoods, whether via photo or video. Obviously, in the era of the smartphone, this is something that is almost taken for granted, however in the late 90’s to early 00’s, bringing a camera along to family events required at least a little foresight. For this, I am both very blessed and thankful that my parents put in the effort to do so.

The earliest lessons I got in photography came from my father. The two that stand out most to me, are about the rule of thirds, and that of leading lines.

I cannot pin down one particular moment where my father told me about the rule of thirds, however it is something that he regularly brings up when taking photos, and it’s something that is intrinsically linked to him in my mind.

On the other hand, I can remember the exact moment when my father taught me about leading lines. It was in 2009, in Las Vegas. I remember it clear as day because my father gave me the camera, and told me that when framing photos, having something leading the viewer into the photo leads to a stronger composition.

This is one of the most important moments for me as a photographer, and ironically, it’s one that happened long before I ever dreamed of becoming a photographer.

From there, I think my love for photography happened incredibly naturally. Before a school trip to Malaysia, my parents purchased me a Canon ‘point & shoot’ camera. I proceeded to develop a love for photography, through my exposure to smartphones and their inbuilt cameras. Then, in late 2012 before a school trip to Indonesia, I bought my first DSLR. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Sincerely, Josh Abbott

Perspective changes with age.

As I move into my mid twenties, my desire to both open myself up to criticism and to allow myself to make mistakes has decreased. This has lead to a stifling lack of professional progress, and honestly, I am fed up to no end with my lack of genuine motivation.

Still to this day, my life revolves around the fact that I am a photographer, and is rare that I will go an entire day without attempting to improve upon my skill set, whether through conducting research online, participating in discussion with other photographers or my actively heading out into the field in order to take photos.

However, this continual desire to grow has not led me to becoming a photographer. On the contrary, it has become a monolithic barrier that I can’t move

Over the last few years, I have progressively found it more difficult to express myself through my photography. Overwhelming self imposed standards as to what I should achieve, have made me not achieve anything at all. So, in order to grow, I need to take a creative leap of faith.

Though this comes with risks, I genuinely believe that if I want to improve upon my photography, and more importantly, myself, I’ll have to put myself out there much more than I have done in the past. Hopefully, this post will be the beginning of a productive year, and I aim to post both here on my website, and on social media in general, far more regularly than I have in the past.

Sincerely, Josh Abbott.

Just thought I’d finally get around to gathering all of my photos in one place, and presenting them in one ongoing progressive project. Please feel free to browse through my galleries, any and all feedback is welcome!

Thank you for the continual positive reinforcement, and I’ll be sure notify you guys of any updated works!

Kindest regards, Josh Abbott.

For a long while now, I’ve wanted to document both my thoughts and progress when it comes to my photography. Unfortunately I find the process of doing so incredibly difficult due to the internalised pressures that I place upon myself, and the standard in which I expect myself to perform at. So, in order to combat this, I’m hoping that the 4th times the charm, and that I’ll actually be able to follow through with my good intentions. Photos coming soon guys!