On My Doorstep

A Personal Project Finding Inspiration Close to Home

I was invited recently to talk to a local camera club on the subject of Personal Projects and Finding Personal Inspiration.

For me this is a timely and very relevant subject as I have discussed an ever deepening ‘crisis’ facing photographers in a previous post. Seeking personal inspiration and discovering your personal photography identity is, I believe, the perfect antidote to this challenge.

This is also a developing theme and a blog post that will almost certainly develop, change and shift over time so please come back and see where my inner sat-nav has taken me! (amazing inspiration from the Photography Show has broadened, matured and focussed my project already!).

There are many magazine and online articles about personal photography projects, lists of exercises and suggestions for themes to pursue. But when I look at many of these, I see little that truly inspires a personal approach or encourages personal development.
Photographing the same scene or still-life throughout a day or week can teach us a lot about light and atmosphere, light-painting can be exciting and produce eye-catching results, but examples like this are far from personal discoveries, instead they’re lessons in technical competence.

Why seek personal inspiration?

See my previous post about the challenges faced by photographers; social media, technology, AI etc and how many, many photographers have shared a growing dis-satisfaction or dis-enchantment with photography and image making.
I firmly believe, and hopefully demonstrate that exploring and re-discovering personal identity within our photography is the key to sparking passion and satisfaction in this incredible practice of painting with light.
The most satisfying achievements come from overcoming personal challenges. Often you don’t know what you want or need to learn until you discover the challenge in front of you. The uncertainty when we peer through our cameras seeking to create a good image, and the answers we discover, are always deeply personal, that’s what makes our hobby so great.
We all know that photographs, images and photography in it’s widest sense is deeply subjective, we all appreciate it differently.

Finding my own inspiration, by chance

Last year I stumbled across a book related to travel, and specifically “local” travel. I wasn’t looking for anything photography related and it’s certainly not aimed at photography/photographers, but LOCAL - A Search for Nearby Nature and Wildness by Alastair Humphreys resonated strongly with me, and inspired me to adapt and explore Alastair’s approach, only with my camera rather than pen and notebook.

In LOCAL, Alastair Humphreys argues, convincingly, that “Grand adventures shouldn’t just be for people with the time and money to cross continents”. He asks “could there be a way to put nearby nature into everyday lives?” and I couldn’t help but frame this in relation to photography and seeking personal inspiration.
Alastair sets out to explore his immediate surroundings one Ordnance Survey grid square at a time, using a map to slowly work his way from his home address, square kilometre by square kilometre. He documents his personal adventures across a landscape that, on first glance, is intimately familiar but in reality leaves him constantly awed by surprising discoveries.

As photographers we can’t all just grab our cameras and head into the mountains, or travel on a whim to the latest stunning landscape to be discovered, but can we find new inspiration and personal challenge closer to home, and rediscover our passion for crerating images in seemingly unlikely and surprising places?

A Personal Photography Project Evolves

I suspect like many people I live in an area which initially offers little excitement, no obvious inspiration, no snow-capped mountain, azure sea or dramatic valley. The view from my office is of gardens and rooftops, looking out over a lively local community, roads busy during rush-hour but dog-walk routes during the day.
Motivated by Alastair’s book I dug out an old Ordnance Survey map of my area (you can just as easily use Google Maps) and initially drew a circle, with a diameter of 1km, centred around my house. 500m in each direction didn’t sound like much, but I quickly realised that the circle I’d drawn and specifically the 0.79 square kilometers enclosed within, contained an enormous amount of ‘stuff’!. I promptly revised my measurements, reduced the diameter to 500m and challenged myself to discover images right on my doorstep.

A brief survey of ‘my circle’ revealed a main road, half a school, a sports ground, a very small segment of a large playing field, a stream, an open but in-accessible field, maybe 20-30 streets and at least half a dozen passageways.
Ignoring the fact that I drive, cycle or walk many of these streets regularly and barely register anything of note whilst doing so, I felt there were enough lines and features on the map discover something of interest.

I started my project in January 2026 with the intention of taking a walk within my ‘circle’, with my camera once a week. Deliberately I set very few further rules or expectations, simply to explore this area fully through my camera and discover interesting images; urban details, colours, patterns, juxtaposition, nature, anything I discover.
Personally I chose very quickly not to focus upon ‘controversial or contentious’ images, litter, graffiti, anti-social activity, I continue to work very hard to approach my walks with an open-mind, always.

Below is just a small selection of images I’ve captured so far, you can see my full, and regularly updated On My Doorstep gallery.

My personal project will continue for some time, I haven’t put a time limit on it and I know already that things change quickly; weather, natural light, seasonal changes, human behaviour, maybe continuing for a full year is logical? I might then expand my circle, closer to my original 1km diameter, we’ll see.

Seek Your Own Personal Inspiration Through Your Own Personal Project

A personal project is a fantastic way to discover, re-discover or develop your photography identity, to learn about yourself and your own approach to photography and put a spark back into your passion. On My Doorstep is just my first, real and documented effort at exploring a new direction or understanding of my personal inspiration.
Use my theme, explore your own doorstep, or discover your own personal project, here are some pointers to help you get started:

• Your personal project is just that, personal to you. You choose where and how the project takes you - start without a title, pick at a thread and see where it goes

• Choose a theme, a subject or a place/person that means something to you, something that will drive you to discover more

• Make it yours, keep it personal, focus only on what interests you

• You don’t need to justify your decisions to anyone - lighting, settings, composition, editing…

• You don’t need to share the details, images or the theme, set out to create just for yourself. You’ll probably find it takes time for you to ‘settle into’ your theme, to build confidence and find the direction. Don’t be surprised if things change mid-way

• Bring your passion, reflect on your progress regularly and enjoy the process.

This blog post will grow and develop so please return often to see how my personal project develops. I’d also love to know about your personal inspiration, your projects and how you fuel your personal photography passion. Share your thoughts, projects, inspiration in the comments below or follow me and share your journey on instagram