One of the massive advantage of having a Fujifilm x100v is being able to take it anywhere in my pocket. Well today was one of those days! I knew my wife would spend ages in Primark so I wandered around for 45mins or so.

I need to go back to Nottingham with nice light for a full day as there is loads to shoot and the people are awesome.

At the end of last week, I went off the grid. We packed our car full of camping equipment, turned all the gadgets off , placed them in a draw, and went into the wilderness. Well, that’s not quite true, we were nowhere near wilderness on a camping site with showers and entertainment – however we were as far as we can realistically go with Lucie’s disability.

Four days, spent doing nothing but walking, talking and enjoying each other's company. There might have been a bit of drinking and eating going on too, but it was a wonderful experience to just unplug and get away from everything. I did take my camera with me, but it was the only electronic thing we had with us. No phones, no watches, and nothing to take your attention away from the present time.

I would like to say it was a glorious experience. Indeed, it was a very enjoyable one, and we had lots of fun and learnt lots about each other and ourselves. However, in times like this, you realise just what a difference tech makes to your life and you as a person. I have written several times about my realisation that to truly live in a modern world, you can’t be completely disconnected. The world always needs an online application here, and an app for banking there – but there is nothing like just pulling the plug for a bit.

I observed numerous behaviours in myself that are totally technology-based. I found myself trying to check my email on my watch, despite not having one on. Not only that, but I tried to claim my Costa points despite having no phone, and I lost count of the number of times I swear I could feel my phone vibrating. Despite all this weirdness, it was fantastic, and I will do it again more often.

I am already in a habit of leaving my phone at home and relying on my favourite minimalist phone, but I am determined to try to do more. I truly think a period of going offline should be mandatory for everyone. Even if you discover you hate it, you’ll appreciate it even more.

Even though I shot about 200 photos over the 3 days we spent camping, I ventured out today to shoot some street photography. It’s like mediation for me and I faced a bit of time out. The weather was a bit rubbish, and the light a bit muted, but I just wanted to get out and shoot a bit for something to do.

This was the first time trying to shoot in the street following my switch from my beloved Sony 85mm to 35mm on the x100v. I really struggled to get comfortable, feeling far too close to everything and everyone. At times I felt like giving up entirely and throwing this camera in the bin.

I struggled to find much to shoot, and those I did capture were not very interesting. Every single shot was deleted in camera. I came home dejected, felling like a failure and wondering why I bother. If I didn’t love this camera in other situations so much, I would have listed it straight away on eBay!

Given a few breaths and a drive home, it’s easy to see the answer is to work harder and practice. To become a better photographer with a 35mm lens and stop worrying. Some days just go like that, and you don’t see anything or don’t feel very inspired. In truth, what I don’t want to do is just take the same shots as others, or shoot for the sake of it. By failing, I have learnt something.

It’s easier to buy new things. There is a whole world out there telling you to buy this and that. Solving any problem you have with new shiny things and mounting up your debt. It’s something I have done before even when I got nice shots, so when I don’t the feelings can become even worse.

It won’t make me give up though, just feel a little disappointed for a while and then just get on with it. Such is life.

You might have heard this term, commonly referred to as KISS, it is used in training for almost any subject you can think of. Indeed, it has become a bit of cliché but KISS relates to so many things and points in life that it should be a mantra to everyone. Keep everything in life as simple as possible, always.

Call it minimalism or whatever you want, but again it has raised importance in my life to do with photography. You may have noticed, or may not even care, that my rate of sharing photos has changed. I am sharing lots because I am taking lots, and that’s because I’m keeping it simple (and I’m stupid).

Since getting into photography 4-5 years ago, I’ve been on a mission of Gear acquisition. Buying new stuff whenever I could, and selling a few things too because I thought that’s what I needed. Every time I took photos, I focused on the things I missed and not the improvements I was making. Compared my pictures to those that I admired and convinced myself that I needed a full frame camera, or some fancy glass. That I could be even better with better stuff. Despite me knowing that this has very little to do with it, whenever I looked at others I wanted their stuff and not their talent.

The thing with camera gear is there isn’t really a ceiling, so it could get idiotic. However, I was sensible, and came to a decision a few weeks ago that I didn’t want to have a ‘proper camera’ any more and I wanted to change things. Out goes full frame cameras and more lenses than I know what to do with, and in comes a Fujifilm x100v.

I honestly can’t tell you how much of a revaluation this has been. I watched enough reviews and videos on the camera to know that others feel this too, but I never expected it. This small camera with a fixed lens just makes me want to take photos again. There are no lenses I can lust after, no settings videos I need to brush up on, it’s almost point and shoot.

I guess it could also be said that it’s making me take simple images. No more worrying about being all arty, just take photos that catch my eye. With less expectation from the photos I take, I relax a bit more and enjoy shooting. It’s so small and light I take it to more places, I feel more comfortable shooting with it, and to be honest, I just love the way it looks.

The x100v also allows me to simplify the camera itself. It spends most of the time in aperture priority and the camera does the rest. Even the JPEG’s coming out of it are great. I love this little thing because it keeps it simple.

Do I try to force myself to write something, or let it come back on its own? The hard to take fact is that after months of having loads of inspiration on subjects to write about, the juices (and to a certain extent motivation) have dried up.

The truth is that I don’t want to force anything out just because I feel I need to. In the words of F. Scott Fitzgerald.

You don’t write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.

At the minute, I just don’t. My brain is a wash with taking more photos, designing new things and generally absorbing information instead of sending it out. So, when I sit down to write anything, there is nothing worthy that comes out – well, nothing I want to see published to the internet at least.

There are so many things that I just don’t care about any more. I can’t ever see myself writing another tech review, or going any deeper than fleeting hot takes on tech topics, I just enjoy doing different things now, and I think that’s OK.

We had a nice day to day, for a bit at least. A day out at the seaside with the kids and enjoyed a bit of time on the beach. Enjoyable but exhausting.

You know the feeling when you get home a after a long day, you’re delighted to be home and just want to relax for a while. Yet, the universe had other ideas for us. Lucie’s feeding tube wouldn’t work correctly, and after some trial and error, we found out it was the button in her tummy that was broken. We couldn’t feed her.

So off we go to hospital. It’s 6pm at night and shouldn’t take that long for them to get us a new one and change it. It’s a 3-minute job maximum. How wrong could we be?

We waited an hour just to talk to a nurse, she disappeared, never to return. Therefore, we waited another hour just to talk to another person. All the time, Lucie hasn’t had anything to eat or drink for hours and is getting increasingly frustrated—as are we. There’s more to this story that I won’t go into, but needless to say we didn’t leave the hospital for almost 4 hours.

I love that we have the NHS in the UK, but it’s times like these that you really struggle to stay zen. The calmness you feel is really tested when you are dealing with organisations or individuals that seem set to try you. Almost as if the universe is playing a game with you to see if this good mood you’re in can last. You try to smile and laugh as much as you can, but the game can push you to the limit at times.

Just as we are about to leave the doctor turns up, takes less than a minute to change the button and we are on our way a little before 10pm. Thank goodness.

I spent one night in Glasgow and couldn't sleep at 6am so I went out and shot a few photos to explore the city a little. Just wandering around for an hour has made me want to go back and explore more.

Like everyone else that uses LinkedIn I get the occasional notification on jobs we think you might be interested in. I am not, but I always have a look anyway to see what’s out there.

The list just now was pretty long, and contained some high profile names looking for new talent. However it took me until the 12th listing to see one with a salary outlined! It only got worse form then on, because it was the only one of 42 jobs that told me how much the alert would be.

Weird that we are still hiding the numbers and seeing what talent we can get and only showing our hand at the last possible moment.

Many is not the only thing that matters, but its pretty important given the current climate don’t you think.