Another review of the photographic year. I've had misgivings about this one from quite early on. I took very few photographs in the early part of 2012 - and I could see that those I took weren't up to my usual standard - limited though that is. I became lazy about carrying a camera with me, preferring my lightweight Panasonic Lumix FZ45 when I did, but becoming increasingly frustrated by the limitations of its electronic viewfinder. No attempt to use a tripod, either; no point, the FZ45 can't be triggered remotely. Bad start, then.....



By the time I questioned the way I was going about things, I was into the annual round of visits to places already familiar to my lens and, rather than take the same shots over again (although I did - believe me - on many occasions), I simply decided, once again, not to carry a camera - far less a tripod.



I think it was August before I realised my portfolio wasn't really worth looking at for this year and decided to do something about it. Now, it stands to reason when you've become lazy about the business of making photographs that you'll find it difficult to re-adjust to the demands of trying to do the job properly - or at least as well as you're able to. I discovered my equipment had become alien to me and something as simple as selecting and using the right lens had to be learned from scratch - or so it seemed. The run of 'duff' photographs continued, despite my best efforts. There were one or two exceptions, but not many.



I wasn't enjoying my photography, so in the time-honoured way of photographers, I decided to chuck some money at it. I invested in a couple of prime lenses - a 35mm and a 50mm - in an attempt to get back to basics, moving around to find my shots, instead of standing still and letting a zoom lens do all the work for me - which, in retrospect, was part of my problem.



A return to my Canon EOS cameras and a better balance between fixed lenses and zooms has helped no end, as did a decision late in the year to return to shooting RAW images for the first time in around 5 years. God, I've even had the tripod out more than once!



The upshot is a badly imbalanced PhotoScape 2012, however. I'd aimed for 120 pages, as usual, still wondering if I'd reach that number, while keeping the quality decent; in the end, I got to page 119, only to find that I hadn't yet included what I thought were some of my best shots of the year, all taken in the last couple of months.



Even some hasty editing couldn't fit a quart into a pint pot, so the book I thought wouldn't make 120 pages now runs to 160!



Funny how things turn out..... Hope you enjoy looking at the photographs.