The photographs didn't really matter

I went to Yorkshire Sculpture Park recently and spent about three hours taking photographs.

I have no idea whether any of them are particularly good.

"Strangely, that might be the best thing about the whole afternoon."

Photography has been part of my life for years, but it's very easy for something you enjoy to acquire expectations. You start thinking about whether an image is technically good enough. Is the composition right? Is the light interesting? Would I put it on the website? Would I show it at camera club? Is it worth spending time editing?

Before long, going out with a camera can start feeling like you're supposed to come home with something to show for it.

That wasn't what happened this time.

I'd originally intended to go for a walk earlier in the day, but normal life intervened. There were things to sort out at home and the opportunity disappeared.

Later, when my mother-in-law, who I care for, was collected to go out for the afternoon with her other daughter, I suddenly had a few hours available. So I grabbed my camera and drove to Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

I hired one of their mobility scooters, which turned out to be an excellent decision. Rather than worrying about how far I could comfortably walk or whether I'd have enough energy to get back, I could simply explore.

And that is pretty much what I did.

I travelled around the park, stopped whenever something caught my attention, took photographs and chatted to people I met along the way.

• There was no shot list.

• No assignment.

• No pressure to produce anything.

For three hours I was simply a bloke wandering around with a camera because he enjoyed taking photographs. The feeling that the photographs themselves didn't really matter wasn't a sudden revelation. It gradually grew during those three hours.

At the end of my little expedition, I handed back the mobility scooter and bought myself an Oreo ice cream. I sat there in the park eating it and thinking about the afternoon I'd just had. And I realised what a lovely little adventure it had been.

I still didn't know whether I'd taken a single photograph that I'd eventually consider particularly good. There might be something worth editing when I look through them properly. There might not.

But sitting there with my ice cream, it really didn't matter.

The successful part of the afternoon had already happened.

• I'd enjoyed being there.

• I'd explored.

• I'd noticed things.

• I'd talked to people.

"I'd spent three hours with my camera without needing photography to prove anything."

That sounds ridiculously obvious, but perhaps photographers occasionally need reminding of it.

We spend a lot of time learning how to make better photographs. We buy equipment, watch tutorials, attend talks, analyse images and discuss technique. All of that can be useful and enjoyable.

But none of it matters very much if we forget why we picked up a camera in the first place.

I'd already had a reminder of that a few weeks earlier when I attended a photography roadshow and met up with other photographers, including friends I'd made through photography. Afterwards I'd gone to Yorkshire Sculpture Park for the first time with my camera while on the way home and ended up buying an annual membership. That membership now gives me something rather useful: an excuse to go back.

It also allows me to take one guest for free each time.

And that's probably the only thing that could have made my afternoon better.

Company.

Another photographer alongside me, not because we were competing for the best image or trying to achieve anything in particular, but simply because spending a few hours wandering around somewhere interesting with another photography enthusiast sounds like a pretty good way to spend an afternoon.

So over the coming year, I'm hoping I can persuade a few photography friends to join me.

The offer is simple.

• I'll provide the free entry.

• Yorkshire Sculpture Park can provide the scenery.

• Bring your camera.

• We'll wander around, talk photography, stop when something catches our attention and take whatever photographs we fancy.

• And afterwards, perhaps we'll have an ice cream.

• Oh, and if, like me, you're not feeling fit enough for a lot of walking, mobility scooter hire is the dream ticket to getting from one end of this park to the other without breaking a sweat.

If neither of us comes home with an award-winning photograph? Never mind.

If we have a good afternoon with our cameras, I reckon we've already got the important bit right.