It's not a team sport, is it?

It never fails to amaze me when I see those advertisements for photo holidays. Go off to some gorgeous location with all your kit and learn from some Jedi Master the art of landscape photography in the company of a dozen total strangers. Perhaps it's me, but I can think of nothing less likely to put me into the zone, at one with my surroundings and the scene before me, than a tripod turf fight with some chap wielding a Canon and a bobble hat.

It's not snobbery - it's a genuine, heartfelt belief that photography is, for the most part, a solitary pastime. I don't mean the "we're-having-a-great-time-on-holiday-go-on-take-a-picture" type of photography - I mean the "I'm-out-to-capture-something-special" stuff.

Now, any photographer who comes as one of a pair, or part of a family, is well aware that he cannot just put himself into the zone and snap away oblivious of the partner beside him or the pushchair in front. He has duties, obligations and responsibilities. He must curb his creative streak until he has the opportunity to focus, in both senses of the word, without irritating anyone else.

When I've been on a trip with a wife or partner, I have always patiently explained that, yes, I love you, yes, I would rather still be in bed, no, I don't need you to come with me, no, I won't be long, yes, I'll be careful as I head out of the hotel room at 7:30AM to capture city X as it wakes up. I have subsequently gone on to explain that no, I am not religious, but cathedrals are very photogenic, and yes I really do need to sit this way around at the pavement cafe so that I can snap the world going by, because people with shopping bags are interesting.

When I've been alone, I have walked around for as long as I have wanted, I have stopped where I want, for as long as I want, and I have not had to explain a single one of my actions. I have pondered angles of view, and lens choices, and "worked" a scene for minutes on end until I have achieved the result I wanted. Nobody to hurry me, none of that silent prickling at the back of my neck because she has walked on 50 yards and I haven't... yet...

Loved-up or lonely? You decide...

Now, I bet you are expecting me now to offer some great insight as to which is "better" - solitary snapping or partnered photography. Well, I've looked at my outputs from periods of my life when I have been in one state or the other and I can honestly say it isn't quite that simple. Generally, my output is more colourful, more, dare I say - cheerful - when I am loved up. When I'm on my own, I tend to take bleaker, but more "complex" images. Do my outputs reflect my state of mind, and the amount of metal on the third finger of my left hand? Probably. Which would I rather be?

Happy.

Wouldn't you?

Of course there is a happy medium, and it is up to you to strike it. Finding a partner who understands your need to not be dragged over to look in the shoe shop window just as you see the perfect street drama unfolding before you is a photographic skill not to be underestimated. Better yet, find one that shares your interest without crowding you and you have it made.

Hold on - perhaps I have got those photographic holidays all wrong... perhaps they are actually hotbeds of coupling and steamy, no-holds-barred monopod-munching as libidinously lusty lens-wielding Leicaphiles get it on with buxom Olympians in the certain knowledge that they have met their soul mates and can double-expose together in perfect harmony for years to come...

The mind boggles...

Bill

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