Sarah Kirk Photography – South Tyneside and South Shields based Photographer

Most people have times in there lives when we know we need a change of direction.  Deliberation on which road to take when there is a road sign with numerous options (metaphorically).

So we eventually decide on a path but we are not sure it is the correct one, once again we change our mind trying to decide which the correct cause of action is for us.  So what is the solution we ask ourselves?

I am going to tell you a story about such a simple everyday creature, a garden spider. . . . . . . . . . . . . .   . . . . . . One day I felt particularly inspired by nothing more than a little spider I was photographing in my garden.  Here is the little fellow.

Just a normal garden spider.  At first I photographed him in his web on the side of my wheely bin in different natural light, on numerous days, to make a “pretty picture”-As I became bored with this, I thought to myself, “why not do a creative assignment which tells a story”, so I started watching his behaviour.  He built his web, nothing unusual for a spider, but as I started watching him create his web section by section, I admiringly noticed the beauty of the construction.  I appreciated the aesthetic quality, it’s photographic beauty.

The next day I went outside and his web was destroyed so what did he do?  He had already started constructing a new web immediately, no deliberation and in a different location.  I saw him enjoy eating a fly but a few hours later I returned and noticed his fine work must have been destroyed by wind.  What did he do?  Of course this spider had an immaculate brand new web the next day, that’s what spiders do.  Only problem was his web was across my front door so I knew it would be broken as soon as I got a visitor and a few hours later it was demolished but the next morning a new web was gleaming in the sunlight!

If only things were that simple for us.  Of course things are a lot more complicated for us but if there is one thing I will take from watching nothing more that a spider doing spidery things is his consistency. How important consistency is in every aspect of life.  If you build your life somewhere and it is not working build it some where else and be persistent with that decision.  You wouldn’t catch a spider building half finished webs everywhere in indecision.  If things don’t work out that’s o.k. The spider fed on a fly because he built that web.  Without that web he could not have eaten and his survival instinct give him a meal.  You don’t see a spider giving up when his web is destroyed.

I am now inspired to create the name of my new website Art Of Life Photography and guess what the next step is?  I am creating the first “strand” of my new “(web)site” in my own time when I am feeling most inspired with heart and passion.  We creative types may speak metaphorically and some of us may be a little quirky but inspiration is what drives us all to create something new and exciting.

Sometimes beauty seems to be absent, missing, the glass is half empty. Then something happens, a conversation, a decision, a moment happens. Nature provides. You can block out the world then all of a sudden you don’t notice the bad stuff, just for that moment you see. Postivity is present, you have a goal again.

I love when it happens unexpectedly. Sometimes someone else points you in the right direction. Hope is the most important word in the world.

I lived in South Shields most of my youth, then off I went for 10 years, moving all over the U.K. and even abroad learning my photographic craft and living life to the fullest-always photographing nature out of enjoyment.  

You sometimes forget what is on your doorstep.   I’d be lying if I said that I did not miss the thrill of the race sometimes, not knowing how long I would be in one place, the excitement of planning my next move, my next adventure. . .

So what is on this “doorstep” of South Shields?

My family who I rarely saw for 10 years, wow, that’s a long time.  -Every time I visited each year dad and I discussed how we should visit  Seahouses and see the Seals at the Farne Islands now we’ve done it.

These images won’t win awards and are not photographically anything special but they remind me of our day together.

We saw yellow fields on the way home and stopped so I could photograph it!  Dad calls this “Fields of Gold”

I was envious of the guy with the £2000 long lens but hey ho. . .gotta love this little Grey Seal !

Guillemots and a single Cormorant

What’s on my doorstep?  A lot more than I thought IF I CARE TO TAKE A DEEPER LOOK.