Sometimes I can find inspiration and ambition in the work that we have done, or played a small part in.
Much of my past work in taking, preserving and printing images has been as a part in a larger group effort. As a result it is the achievements of the team working together that I find inspiring. Here are a few examples I have gained from - you will probably be able to compile your own list.
For the last 30 years I have taken part in large collaborations to acquire or preserve images. In many cases I was not the one that "pressed the shutter". In one memorable case I never even saw the result - classified by the foreign power by virtue of its success. For me it is a point of pride that we worked together to achieve the result. The work that Katie Bouman did with the Event Horizon Telescope team must feel like this
I see similar outstanding team efforts within my work with the RPS. Some months ago I went to listen to David Hurn HonFRPS talk. It was a South Wales Region event at Cardiff University and was a real team effort.
David had some inspiring words.
Thinking "I will be a failure as a painter if I am not Rembrandt", then you will be a failure.
Do what you can do as well as it is possible for you to do. That should be your ambition. Do it well.
I thought at the time that it should be our ambition too. To enable people to do it well. You can now view the recording of the event - hopefully you will be inspired too.
I would like to share one last source of inspiration with you. I have a background in photo printing but the use of printing has taken me in many different directions over the years. As a result I am proud to be a Visiting Academic with the Department of Materials at the University of Manchester and their Centre for Digital Fabrication. Over the years we have together published work on printed texture and investigated applications for print. During the current pandemic they have been busy as a part of the University of Manchester Covid response, illustrated in the image above.
Dominic Williams, a PhD Student in the EPSRC CDT in Advanced Biomedical Materials was using 3D printing to create parts for life-saving systems for the sickest patients during the pandemic, again as part of a larger group in the Department of Materials.
They did it well and I find this inspiring.