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I got thinking about how we each look at images and how we bring our own expectations of how images work. What really interested me was how we deal with the times when that expectation is not met.
Several years ago as we were building our new house, I was taken by the idea of recording some of the materials we used or found on the site.
A very personal view of black and white photography.
COVID lockdowns brought frustrations but they also provided us an opportunity. The resulting pictures of our local woods reflected the complexity of the situation. They are now available in a new book from Blurb Books
Latest stories about pictures
Way back in 2011, I was fascinated by the buildings in Manchester – mainly the Victorian and Edwardian commercial architecture. There was lots to go at, and much that was in an attractive state of dilapidation. But there’s lots of modern buildings too and I regret not photographing more while I was there.
Thought-through or intuitive? Do your pictures depend on your experience or do you just go exploring?
Sometimes, when you take a photograph, you know immediately what it’s about. Other times, you’re not so sure. This was one of those times.
You get the telescope out to try and see more clearly but it doesn’t help. It’s the wrong way round. And they’re getting further away.
Has something just happened? Or is something about to happen? Or perhaps nothing ever happens up here in the waiting room on the roof of the known world.
Thoughts of home after the uncertainty of carefully picking your way up river past sandbars and shoals.
It’s as though the bridge is being cast in front of your eyes, a trail of molten gold flowing along the raised track.
There was something about the line of gravestones not just leading to the door but also taking you back in time as you walk along beside them.
I remember feeling quite overwhelmed by the blue and didn’t really notice anything else for a while. I knew I had to take this photograph.
It does seem I get inspired by bad weather. I just needed 50 seconds between squalls to get the long exposure shot, and I wasn’t getting them.
Going back through my pictures, I’ve been finding it far easier to identify interesting monochrome images to document rather than colour ones. Better? Or just different?
By daylight the scene is nothing to write home about. But at night, nearly midnight, all those extraneous elements and colours just disappeared, and the atmosphere of the Venetian night took over.