Darkrooms Uncovered - Giles Thurston

A peek into a photographer's mental creative darkroom

What does your creative ritual look like? Do you have specific habits or conditions that spark your creativity?

I don’t have any specific habits, other than trying to ensure I always have a camera with me. With the power of modern smartphones, this is pretty easy these days. This year I have adopted the mantra of “if you see it, shoot it” and as such am always on the look out for compositions. Even if it’s a quick snap, I will try and grab something. I feel this has really helped develop my photographic eye and opened so many more opportunities for me.

When you're feeling creatively blocked, what's your go-to method for breaking through?

Reading magazines or photography books can help, as can watching and reading content published by photographers I admire on Substack and YouTube. However, my number one source is podcasts. I am a real podcast addict and love listening to all sorts and have a number of photography related ones in my feed. The Photowalk by Neale James is my top recommendat…