.December 2025.

Set phasers to… FLASH!    I went all-in this month. Full experimental mode. Locked-in a shutter between 1/8 - 1/30 and focussed on flash & grit. It got a little invasive. I’m not going to lie, it was also exhilarating. Aside from a few clean photographs I was flash banging all over the city. I wasn’t going to fight the fading light this winter, I was going to own it. I already prefer not to hide when I’m taking photos of strangers; stealing moments and characters. That’s an aspect of street photography. I recently saw a quote online–every great photograph is on the edge of an apology–we street photographers grapple with this regularly, you’ve heard me drone on about this month after month. Well this month, I owned it. I had been on the brink of complacency and under motivated creatively. As much as I love capturing moments of the mundane and yada yada of the everyday life I began to desire something more. So I abandoned the rules I found myself confined to all year and reinvented my motive.

Many times throughout the year I felt lost or wanted to quit, they were growing pains. I am proud to say that I came through the other side of Seasonal Aperture Disorder stronger and excited with a greater sense of purpose and creative direction.

In hindsight, I loved every second of it. Even the waves of failure. Days I felt super confident produced some of the worst images while days I was down and out delivered some all star shots. I still have much to learn and tighten up on this new creative endeavour. I’m trying to lock-in my style combining moments of people and places with some commotion of the city, an intentional abandon of clean and focussed and lean into, crisp messy motion, combined with the grit of the streets.

I don’t expect perfection; it hasn’t been easy. The few photos from November that sparked this concept came without thought. Now that I am actively trying to create I am learning a great amount about ambient light versus flash power. Freezing subjects and shutter speeds. Using my hand as a paint brush to create streaks and smears, too much flash and too little ambient, or too much ambient overpowering the lack of flash power.

I love every second of it. Fear has gone, I once believed it to be sacrilegious to wear headphones and shoot–removing myself from the present moment–but now I was listening to tunes and flash banging strangers. More than a few upset altercations, but hey, stay home. We’re always on camera these days. I know that is a questionable take for many, but you gotta be a little wild to create the good stuff. You have to have what it takes as my good friend Christian always jokes half serious about. It’s true, and it lives in the back of my mind along with the other mantras I’ve picked up along the way.

This month is presented chronologically and I believe there is a clear creative evolution. I culled, but kept many frames here so I can review and reflect on what worked and what did not. This will be evident to you the viewer as well.

This Monthly 35mm is brought to you by the song Walk Through Space - Whirr.

Enjoy–