Greetings from Yorkshire!
I know, it's a day early but it seemed rather late in the day for the title of the post to be 'February Newsletter'! It's also a while since my last blog post. I haven't even featured many photographs from Japan, and since then I've also been in the Cairngorms. That does mean I have lots to report, however.
I've been quite open about various health struggles over the years, mainly because I think it's important to talk about such things. People can relate to these struggles in their own life. Photography has been an adventure of self-discovery, but also a healing journey. If I'm honest, I let things escalate in the busyness of the past few months. In November my tinnitus got so bad, with three or more very loud noises in my head, it looked like I might not even get to Japan. I resorted to antidepressants to get me through that roughest patch. Plus the support of loved ones, without which, well, I don't know... I believe there is no shame is taking a pill to get you through the storm, I'm just very stubborn and don't like taking medication, believing that my mental strength will get me through. Since November, I've felt like every day is just spent holding it together. That's no way to live - it's quite exhausting! As a result of recent events, I had to make the very tough decision to cancel all of my immediate engagements for the sake of my mental health for a couple of months at least. This unfortunately means withdrawing from my planned talks at the Photography Show. I will take this moment to say that Hahnemühle UK, Benro UK and the organisers of the show themselves have been overwhelmingly supportive, hoping to see me back there in 2025. Huge thanks to all of them!
You will still be able to view my work on the Hahnemühle and Benro stands.
I will be continuing my own online tuition and I am available for 1-2-1 sessions, both online and out in the wild. Bookings have started coming in for my Black + White Fine Art Print Masterclass, which I am very excited and grateful for. I've worked very hard over the years on getting my prints to the highest quality and I figured it would be good to pass on this knowledge. You can find all the details of this online course here.
The above image is from Lake Mashu, Hokkaido. The amount and style of photographs with which I came back from Japan is quite mind boggling, which is partly why I haven't shared many (although there are quite a few on Instagram - @karlholtbyfoto). Rather than put them all in one blog post, I'm going to blog every few days with various images from the trip, including a little about the adventure. I won't send an email out for every post as I don't want to spam people, so this is just a heads up to let anyone that's interested know about it.
I look forward to sharing more from Japan and the Cairngorms very soon!
Karl.
Good luck Karl. As someone who has historically suffered severe depressive episodes, I have an abundance of sympathy.