IJM Photography — Blog & Projects

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

  • Letter to my daughter

    Letter to my daughter

    I have a daughter.  Those of you who have followed this blog for a while will have seen pictures of her.  She is a thousand things to me, and more.  A muse, an inspiration, a little mother, my child, a force of nature, an enigma, a reminder of her mother, a little person turning into… Read more

  • That time of the year

    That time of the year

    Since my last article, I seem to have spent more time away from this blog than usual. Let me reassure you, Dear Reader, that I have not abandoned this enterprise, nor am I dead. Quite the contrary really. I have been living life. I have been drinking tea. I have been eating cake. I have… Read more

  • Day out with my son

    Day out with my son

    I’m in the pub after having heard Mass in the Cathedral with my son. Last might he was out having “drinks” with friends for his birthday. I said I would meet him in Nantes the next day and that we would spend the day together. He would be able to choose his birthday cum Christmas… Read more

  • Out to tea

    Out to tea

    On a slightly miserable Friday afternoon, the writer was cheered by their boss allowing them to leave work early, a friend working at Fnac, and the Sugar Blue Cafe. Despite considering buying a drone for aerial photography, they ultimately decided against it. The evening ended with enjoying cheesecake and tea at the cafe. Read more

  • Marianne en Concert

    Marianne en Concert

    I have a friend who sings, and who really sings well. She plays the guitar too. She also happens to be Australian but we won’t hold that against her! Tonight is her first concert in the pub where she works. She’s a nervous as heck, but the first song went off really well, and she’ll… Read more

  • Sainte Anne, and the Grue

    Sainte Anne, and the Grue

    This weekend I haven’t taken any photos, but as they say so well in Blue Peter, here’s one I made earlier.  These photos are now two weeks old. They were taken from different sides of the Loire. The first were taken in the Hangar à Bananes on the Saturday when I was with my daughter,… Read more

Featured Projects

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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

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