Four decades behind the lens. Six years of sharing the journey.
Welcome. I’m Ian — photographer, horn player, and writer living in the Vendée, near the Loire-Atlantique border. This blog has been running since 2019 and shows no sign of stopping.
You’ll find black and white film work, travel essays, orchestra photography, philosophical digressions about why any of us bother pressing the shutter, and the occasional camera review written by someone with strong opinions and a perhaps unreasonable attachment to grain. No algorithms chose what appears here. No agency wrote it. Just forty years of looking, and six of writing it down.
Start anywhere. Stay as long as you like.
Latest from the Field
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A New Chapter for IJM Photography
IJM Photography now offers a curated collection of museum-quality, print-on-demand photographs—intimate fragments of light, memory, and place. Featuring timeless black and white and rich colour images, each 8×10 inch print is crafted on archival paper, ready to bring quiet beauty to your home. Discover moments captured with care, now shared with you. Read more
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Notes, January 2026
A raw, reflective journal from January 2026: navigating global disillusionment, memory, fatherhood, and the quiet return to film photography after burnout. Honest thoughts on decency, presence, and making art in a fractured world—by IJM Photography. Read more
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Never Complain, Never Explain
A raw, reflective post on seasonal depression, creative silence, and recovery. The IJM Photography blog explores acute depression, Franco-British identity, and the healing power of film photography. Honest writing about mental health, resilience, and returning to art—one frame, one word at a time—amid winter’s weight and the quiet journey back to self. Read more
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Nikon FE Review: Features and User Experience
My Nikon FE—bought from my HR director—has accompanied me from Nantes’ cobbled streets to Lourdes and the Pyrénées mountains. This 1978 aperture-priority SLR rewards deliberate, unhurried photography. With its tactile dials, viewfinder aperture display, and M90 battery-free mode, it’s the perfect companion for film shooters who value feel over function. Read more
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致我在中国的读者们：一封感谢信A Letter of Gratitude to My Readers in China
一颗蜜橘，一杯茉莉茶，一场跨越语言的音乐会——2024年末，中国给了我最温柔的冬日记忆。如今，越来越多来自中国的读者走进我的摄影世界，我想亲口对你们说：谢谢。 Read more
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AI Isn’t Magic — It’s a Tool.
AI isn’t magic—it’s a tool. In a world rushing to automate creativity, I use the A.C.T.D. framework to stay in control: clarifying who AI should act as, grounding it in context, defining the task, and prompting deep thinking. This keeps AI useful without letting it overwrite my voice, vision, or craft. Read more
Featured Projects
- The UK Chronicles
Light, minimalism, and preparation.
Shot entirely on the Fujifilm X100F during a recent solo journey through Britain — a deliberate exercise in traveling light, seeing deeply, and preparing for the sensory overload of China. - The Film Archives
Memory in monochrome.
A vault unlocked: black and white film photographs from Nantes, Clisson, and beyond — captured long before this blog existed. Grain, patience, and timeless moments. - Photography Philosophy
Why do we do this?
Not a tutorial. Not a gear guide. A quiet exploration of purpose — the “why” behind the viewfinder. For those who photograph not to post, but to feel. - The Orchestra Visit to China
Culture, chaos, and concert halls.
A visual symphony from the road with the orchestra — temples, trains, backstage glances, and the electric silence before the first note.
About the Photographer
I am not an influencer. I am not a brand.
I am a photographer, ever so slightly stubborn, analogue at heart, digital when needed, and fiercely independent. I’ve been developing my own film since the 1980s. I built this blog in 2019, not for followers, but for focus.
I do not outsource my editing. I do not chase trends. I shoot what moves me, and I hope, sometimes, it moves you too.
“Commercial editing offers and unsolicited partnerships will not be published or replied to. This space is sacred; for art, not advertising.”
A Note from a Reader
“j’adore… il y a des jours avec, et les jours sans….”
— A kind visitor, September 2025
Stay in Touch
New work drops weekly — never spammy, always sincere.
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IJM Photography 
j’adore
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il y a des jours avec, et les jours sans….
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