This text is an experimental amalgamation of written reflections made in response to periods of notographing, the practical exploration of the processes involved in making photographs, without making any photographs. By performing all the actions and processes of photographing but having no film in the camera and, thereby, not taking any pictures, I am removing the predominant role of the image within photography, to focus attention upon the performative habits, behaviours, choices and decisions that go into the production of photographs.
The emphasis on the performative negates the central impulse of photography to record, concentrating instead on my routines of composition, rituals of movement through space, idealized mental models of the imagery I make and philosophical considerations of the purpose of photography. With the actions of photography pushed to the fore, I can locate habits that have become ingrained over more than twenty years of photographing to consider their role, value and meaning. To capture these reflections as immediately as possible, I endeavour to produce written interpretations in the time following a period of notographing based on the unrefined notes that I make during the session.