Subscribing to Kyle McDougall’s video channel has been a kind of reset for me. I’ve watched several of his videos over the past couple of weeks and they’ve reminded me about one of the things which makes me happiest: travelling around and documenting things I see just for the aesthetic pleasure it gives me. Photographing as I used to with film cameras, often re-invoking the way I used to shoot by cropping my images square or to a 5×4 aspect ratio. Photographing interesting places and things, not just capturing pretty scenes.
Kyle is all-in as a photographer and film-maker and gets to spend his life doing what I choose to do in my spare time. His videos are becoming a place of calm for my busy mind. In his latest video, Kyle’s experience with a mechanic in west Wales reinforces what I’m talking about. Both Kyle, as a photographer, and his subject, as a mechanic, are doing what they love almost purely for the enjoyment of it. The mechanic’s garage isn’t an investment or a measure of success, but a place in which to do what he loves and a place to keep the things which make him happy.
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