In 2016 I developed a series of images to create a panoramic view of the Square in Kelso. Because the buildings there are mostly “listed” they make the Square one of the most attractive town centres in the country. The celebrations of the 200th Anniversary of the building of the Town Hall originally inspired the pictures. I felt it would be both interesting and useful to record the current state of the Square
How I created the images
Rather than photograph all the buildings and stitch them together, I chose a different route.
Firstly, I photographed each of the listed buildings in Kelso’s Square, then edited each one to highlight the building details.
Next, using Photoshop, I converted each image into a pencil drawing.
Then I uncovered the building I was interested in.
As a result, this invites the viewer to concentrate on the building and not on the clutter of a busy street. One of the photographic challenges was dealing with the vehicles parked round the Square. Waiting for gaps in the traffic would have led to a very long drawn out project! Reducing cars, street lights and road signs to outlines takes the viewer away from them and back to the building.
As you can see, the finished product can be a very effective technique for bringing out the detail you want to emphasise.
Outcome
Originally, the intention was for this series of pictures to form an exhibition with pictures from a group of other photographers. For a variety of reasons it became problematic assembling all the required images. Subsequently I offered my set of images to the Scottish Borders Council Archive as a record of the Square in 2016.
