Evaluation

It only took three years and a few dozen projects for me to find my thing. Landscapes. I feel I should justify why only a Landscape project here and now. There’s three reasons one, time I know how much land there is to cover in Lincolnshire and I knew if i split my attention it would make it a less well focused piece and I wanted it to have a real sense of cohesion. Two, more importantly after the Landscape module I clocked that I’m good at Landscapes and I wanted an excuse to push that side of Photography as until the Landscape module I had always thought that landscapes were my short-coming and three, people in Lincolnshire tend to have some fantastic stories to tell and not ones that I could do justice to with a short conversation and cherry picking quotes from. You could spend a fortnight in one village and still have more to do, I’m not sure why but people who move to the sticks in Lincolnshire tend to have lived some pretty incredible lives. I mean, that could be a sign of my youth and the difference in life experience but I am always surprised when I talk to some of the older people around the place and so many of them have worked  all across the globe generally doing engineering work of some sort, from working in eastern block gunsmiths in berlin to fixing oil rigs where death is an accepted risk and not uncommon.

Now, with regards to research for this project I didn’t really have to do much, thanks to my dad having lived there most of his life and me being there on and off since I was a toddler. I know the place pretty well and I knew that I wanted to make a visual record of the Land and try and show the diversity of the place through that alone. I feel that has been successful though I don’t consider it a finished piece, it is one that I want to continue and I intend to chase some contacts I have in the County about doing something with the work. In a perfect world I’d love to exhibit the piece and make some form of return on investment, but I doubt making any money off it is a likely proposition. Still, don’t ask. Don’t get.

If there’s one thing I wish I could do different it’s give myself more time to shoot. I should have got back at working towards it sooner as it would have given me more than just shy of two weeks to get her done. It would have also let me spend some more time with my younger siblings but, that’s a total aside and not relevant. Mind you, the weather was pretty unpredictable in March so I’m not sure how many days shooting I would have actually got out of it. Still, it would have done the piece good to have more to choose from. Also, I feel I need to work on my post-processing (especially with regards to white balancing, I always seem to get things close but, just and just off. It could just be because I’ve spent a long time staring at the images but, I think they’re slightly too warm which makes them look a little magenta which is kinda annoying. It’s not my monitor being mis-calibrated. I think it would do me good to shoot some Motorsports for someone with a tight deadline to force myself to get back into the swing of being able to edit quickly and accurately.

Now, a couple things I am pleased with. One, the title ‘The Road Beneath My Feet’. Although it does mean a couple of images that I love just don’t fit the edit I do like the title, it was a name that popped into my whilst I was on a train and my mind just wandered to it. I only later realised that it’s a song lyric, from Frank Turner’s The Road. First few lines of the song:

“To the east, to the east. The road beneath my feet. To the west, to the west. Well I haven’t got there yet. And to the north, to the north. Never to be caught. To the south, to the south. My time is running out”.

I still think the title works really well, it just makes me chuckle that I thought it was an original thought. Nope, totally stole it from someone, though it is appropriate for the project which would probably explain why my mind went for it. If knowing a few hundred songs is good for anything it’s to randomly plucks part for project titles.

Another thing I’m glad I did was to go to London and get them printed on 16×12’s and have them in a box with sleeves. It really does make them feel so much more like mine. Or to quote our very own Mr Moxon “take some ownership of your work” not cheap, but in the grand scheme, it’s not all that much and it certainly makes for a portfolio with impact. I just need to find someone who’ll look at them and hopefully get something out of it. So, first port of call is the County Council. If nothing else they may know some people.

As for the unit itself, I love the fact it’s totally open and the output is something which is agreed rather than dictated. While I agree that this would work as a book, to a degree. I am also of the opinion that this works far better a box of large prints (or possibly as an exhibition, though with a harsher edit). If this had been any other unit the output would have been dictated by the module guide and while I agree that is necessary for other units. For gods sake don’t change MDP and as much of a busy time as the run off from Christmas to Landscape exhibition and Diss hand-in is. I’m glad we then have the last couple of months to solely focus our attention on one thing. It gave me the time to sit on an idea all year and let it develop in my head. Then I had time to do a test shoot, sit on the images over a few days and think about it and let it develop into a project on rural Lincolnshire.

There are certainly more ambitious projects that people have undertaken than mine but, upon reflection. That doesn’t phase me, there is room for a wide variety of Photographers and everyone takes pictures of different things. So, I need to remind myself that I don’t suck and that it’s a good thing that there is better work than mine. Gives me something to aim for, not to be jealous of or to be put off by its existence. Also, I need to admit the flaws in my own work otherwise I’ll never improve. My main one with this is that the images all come from within about a 40 mile radius. The county is bigger than this and i didn’t get to the seaside (which is still rural in parts, and a large part of Lincolnshire, what with it being coastal). So, there is certainly room for expansion and you know what, good. I’d be rather dismayed if I could have shot everything there is to see in just two weeks. To me, it says the project has legs and room for it to grow.

As a short summary of this rambling mess. Good unit, don’t change a thing. I’m pleased with my work but it has more to give and I want to chase that. Finally, So long, and thanks for all the fish.

 

 

Of all the spacebars, in all the world. You had to end up in Lincolnshire…

With so many Landscape projects being based around historical events, a journey across a large expanse or just trying to capture a changing culture. Why of all the places would you take pictures of Lincolnshire? Well, the short version has been mentioned before. I love the place, I find it wonderfully relaxing to be out in the open without a million other people running about the place.

The fancier version is that Lincolnshire is a very singular county. It’s got this mass of land (most of it farm-land) and due to this not all that many people. It also has no direct link to London which keeps Whitehalls mitts cleanly off the place and stops people moving out there just to commute back down to London. You can still buy a 2 bed terraced house in Lincoln City for 80k (and it’ll be in decent nick too). Yes, it won’t be in the nicest part of Town but, who cares if you want to buy property without selling your soul then, it seems obvious where to go. Plus a few years down the line you may have enough capital to be able to sell up and buy a bigger house in the ‘posh’ end of the city. There are some lovely victorian properties dotted around, with some very odd architectural features and a fair few have ground, 1st and 2nd floors. So plenty of room for activities. Mind you, it’s unlikely you’ll get a garage but, if you want more space just leave the city there’s plenty of room and a shed-load of property (all not costing the earth either). Though if you move much more than 20 miles out your commute will get past the hour mark in rush hour really quickly.

Which leads me onto one of the interesting features of the county. There are so, so many back roads. For instance, from Scamblesby to Market Rasen there are literally a dozen different routes to get there and back, a couple of those include sections of A road. Thanks to it being a farming county roads just kept getting built as people needed access around their land and to able to move goods and cattle about the place. Which now means that Lincolnshire has a quite ridiculous amount of paved roads and if you get off the beat and track you’ll generally come across these little hamlets of five or six very large houses just dotted along a winding section of road. Why, because people liked the view and thanks to the fact that so much of it has or is farm land and has had buildings on it prior to the current building planning is pretty easy to get so long as you play their game and build to the ‘local vernacular’ which is a pretty disingenuous term because there isn’t really any such thing. The closest you’ll get is victorian buildings as an awful lot of the county’s villages have a fair chunk of victorian property in them. There are certainly older domiciles kicking about but, a fair majority isn’t much older than a hundred years. This isn’t a bad thing as it does allow people to have decent amounts of individuality within their buildings. however, contractors are starting to cotton on to the fact that Lincolnshire is fairly untapped potential, lands cheap, planning is easy and there are people who are looking to buy.

One thing that should be mentioned is that the County is 98.5% white, not to say you don’t see other races. In fact, there are lot of eastern europeans as farming and factories are the lifeblood of the county and they work for less pay and will work harder than their equivilent UK native does. Still, you don’t see many people from outside europe and there are certainly people who have a clear attitude against ‘bloody foreigners’ which always make me laugh as they clearly have no problem buying goods made in other countries and all the ease that has brought our nation. Still, you can’t win them all and for the most part people aren’t dicks. The backwards attitudes towards ‘social norms’ are certainly more prevalent in the sticks than they are in the City but, that’s the same anywhere besides which you get some people with cracking stories if you’ll just lend them an ear and let them speak.

So, that is why. I find Lincolnshire a fascinating place but, with the time I had I wanted it to be a Landscape project and then expand it into both Portraits and Landscapes in my own time when I don’t have a looming deadline.

Donovan Wylie – British Watchtowers

These images aren’t from ‘the troubles’ these were taken in 2006. Long after the bombs had stopped, our watchtowers remain a seemingly permanent scar on the land. Me thinks he watched the weather and went out on a misty day as it helps focus your attention onto the tower and other guff that has been put there by the army. My only grip is that he was clearly above the level of the tower across from him. Which has forced him to pan down to get the framing he wanted. I can’t help but wonder how treacherous the walk down to the level point would have been.

That’s better, nice and level. Mind you, that looks like a really lonely posting on an exposed hilltop with not much cover from the wind and rain. I bet the squaddies stationed there loved it! Again, overcast day but this time with a smidge of haze in the distance rather than full on mist.

Very magenta tones in this image, it was obviously a conscious decision by Donovan and I see why it does give it a slightly other-worldly look. Though it doesn’t help it sit with the others with their walls of green and much truer colour balances. What I do like is how neatly this shows the distance (or lack thereof) from towns that some of these towers are situated. Which for the people living there must be a pretty depressing reminder of a time gone by.

This image sits in stark contrast to most of the others for a really obvious reason, it’s in a town. But, it goes to show how many resources were poured into northern Ireland, when there are clearly dozens if not hundreds of these towers dotted around and most of them seem to have small barracks and radio towers attached to them. So, the army was clearly digging in for the long haul.

Great idea for a project and it is well executed and something that I had no idea existed. I knew we had poured soldiers and equipment into NI during ‘The Troubles’ but, I had no idea we had put that much infrastructure in place and also maintained so much of it. That’s the power of Landscape work, they’re great historical records and can highlight things that people don’t give a second glance to or aren’t aware of. Especially a few years after an event.

Alec Soth – The Last days of W

These images were made around the USA during the last months of George W. Bush’s presidency. Clearly Soth is a political individual, though from looking at the images it’s hard to see which side of the fence he sits on as despite the fact the buildings here look derelict, it’s a strangely beautiful scene. There is a massive vignette on the image though it looks a little too extreme in the top right corner to be anything but deliberate and to me it just drags my eye straight to it and I have to try hard to pull myself away from it. Which, kinda ruins the image for me.

Nice image, perfectly straight on to the building. Vertical and horizontal is bang on but, it feels wrong to compliment the photographer on a job well done when the subject matter is something that has caused so much pain to so many families living from pay check to pay check just to have what meagre funds they have having to go back into paying back the loan sharks with shiny signs. America is a huge country and the way their mindset works couldn’t be more foreign to me, the UK isn’t perfect but America looks like an utterly insane place to live by comparison. Obviously payday loans have crept their way over here now too but, it doesn’t change the fact they are exploiting people and draining them to beyond dry.

Mind you, if it all becomes too much there is an awful lot of space in the US. Just pack your bags, buy a caravan and become a crazed hermit in the middle of the mojave. Also, if you have cash America is a fantastic country, however if you aren’t and don’t have any assets to fall back on, you’re basically screwed. Anyway, the image itself. The fact you can see the vanishing point coming into effect on the left side of the image and yet, the caravan and other little signs of humans in the background are still there to be seen. We British have no idea what flat and arid looks like and well, it’s haunting, beautiful and will kill you given the chance.

I do like Soth’s framing, it’s all very K.I.S.S, just keep things straight and level and put the stuff in the middle. Rather than try and be clever with it and miss the point, the simple compositions aid the images. Also, the fact that they are devoid of and human figures and it’s just what is left behind, the buildings, bikes and bright lights are all that give a trace of humanity in his images. Does make me want to go to America and just drive.

Mark Power – Postcards From America VI

It’s a journey from Oklahoma to Inland California. Simple, but you can’t help but admire the romanticism about taking an american road trip. Especially considering the fact that Power is very much a british boy.

A crop can make or break an image. His choice to crop out a load of sky and road really sets this image off. As it accentuates the feeling of everything being that bit further away and also helps lead you from left to right and back again. 

There is an abundance of information in this frame and I love it. The tracks from a multitude of vehicles in the dirt, the people walking their dogs the giant looming freeway overhead and then that glorious light, in america bigger is better apparently. Great picture and also, what a amazing range of colours and shades in the sky.

Damn California and it’s arid, rainless deserts…. The great plane graveyards must be one helluva subject and we just don’t have the environment in this country to support it on this scale. We have a couple but, those are mostly storage in between re-fits or them being sold. Not here, these are where aircraft come to die and be chopped up for parts, or even just stripped down for anything worth money and then left to be mothballed. It becomes pretty clear he was shooting with a crop in mind for a lot of these images. Leaving a lot of space top and bottom to be cropped later down the line. I think it really depends what your intentions are for your images as to how this sort of crop will work. As you would need either odd paper sizes or massive prints for these to have the same impact as 3:2 straight from camera with a white border sat onto a piece of 16×12 paper would have.

But, with the right output method (my mind says gallery exhibition and big prints) these images would look fantastic.

Mark Power – 26 Different Endings

Mark Power’s 26 different endings is a curious affair but a nice idea. Every year the a-z of London has it’s boundaries re-drawn and naturally some things drop off the edge. That’s what this project is about, those places that are no-longer in the A-Z.

It’s images like these that help remind me that good landscape work isn’t made in the himalayas, those are great locations but there’s a lot of average images of them. This is the opposite, a very average location but a great image. The little bit of elevation either side of the junction helping give a great sense of depth though interesting he has put himself dead centre to the round-a-bout rather than the road. Personally, I’d probably have gone for the road as the centre point but, it does work.

What the hell were the architects thinking? Not to say that house design in this country has moved forward in the past couple of centuries but, these are especially awful to ooh at. Now, the photo’s are interesting because they’re clearly the same place with the camera panned left, then right. I love his decision to not stitch the two together and to leave a bit of white space as at first it isn’t obvious they’re the street. I thought they were opposite views and only clocked they were the same street when I looked at the kerb in the middle. This is also a good example of how to take a really boring location and make it really visually interesting.

I am fascinated by this location, there are two questions that come to mind. One, how long have those cars been there? and two, where is this? Though I intend to go and see what I think of New Zealand, it’s things like this that make me love the UK. It is also beautifully framed, everything looks like it was more or less placed there waiting for him to discover it. That’s not true of course, he must’ve moved his camera quite a few times before he found this angle but, I’m glad he found it because it looks like a film still with the way everything so neatly frames up.

Now, here’s something I struggle with, what to do with giant objects in the backgrounds of images. This image gives me pause for thought, maybe don’t try and include the entire object. Just go with and interesting foreground and by only showing part of the giant object it’ll feel like it goes off into space without having to force perspective to show it.

I’m not sure what he was trying to say about these places now ‘out of London’ but it feels like a common theme is dilapidation and disuse. To me, that feels like a very London-centric attitude and it certainly doesn’t like up with my experience if anything I feel that things improve the further away from the capital you get. The reach of whitehall still doesn’t seem to stretch too far north of Nottingham where the calls for de-centralisation of power ring ever louder the farther north you venture. As policies which work for the great shining City, don’t always go down so well further afield. Now, trying to drag myself back on topic Power’s edit is what makes this project. Obviously the title ’26 Different Endings’ does lend itself to the edit of 26 and gives it a great feeling of cohesion. I can’t think of a title that would force such a deliberate edit for my work but, if nothing else. It is pause for thought.

Paul Strand Un Paese: Portrait of an Italian Village

Research is painful at times. Strand’s work from Un paese is painfully good, the compositions are very minimalist and aren’t trying to be clever. He simply places things in logical places. With this opening shot the boats are being used to give a sense of depth and they also give you some hints about the kind of place you’re in. The big fluffy clouds that flit playfully across the frame and in the background there’s what looks like an old Italian villa. Mind you, there is one thing about the image I can’t help but notice. There’s a sapling in the foreground. But, despite this being such an obvious annoyance in the forefront of the image, it doesn’t detract because there’s so much space in the rest of the frame it just sorta melts away. This said, I would have been sorely tempted to kick it out the way.

This is on the next page, and I found it curious that we go from giant vista to a close up of a crop and then a very Italian farm on the right. Complete with dirt track road and trussed crops either side. I’ve included this as I feel this is a far weaker image than some of the others in the book. It just feels a little too ‘close’. I feel Strand should have taken a few steps back wads to include more information and not cut off the sides of the bushes.

A few pages later and we land on this, Strand has a very singular style to his landscapes. He certainly isn’t afraid to cut the sides off of things. Though his portraits are all fairly similar. Stick someone close to an interesting background and just sit them in the middle of frame, still it works. Anyway, as perfect as the light is for that image. I really can’t help but thinking, why not step back a couple paces to be able to get the whole of the building in. Or at least have enough of the side of the building to be able to more neatly crop it. I’m being picky but, I suppose this is also the difference between shooting film and shooting digital. With film you have a finite supply and have to live with what you have. Digital you can review it instantly and you can near infinite frames to play with. That and I don’t like to cut buildings off if I can avoid it.

As I said about the last portrait, stick ’em on an interesting background. frame them in the middle. Done. Great example of K.I.S.S (Keep it simple, stupid). Now, the landscape. Big impressive cloud bank and the river is choppy enough to give itself texture and not just act like a big mirror. Also, not taken straight on. Strand always seems to be slightly off to one side and rarely points his lens at something dead on. I can’t help but ask myself how would I have taken that? Me, I suspect I would have taken about ten paces to the left had the grass bank as the framing device going off into the middle of the frame with the boat in the foreground off centre left.I would have got a little closer to the boat (maybe a foot or two) I would have stayed high up to be able to see over the bundles of sticks. and I would have kept everything nice and level, same as Strand there.

I think Strands work is if nothing else, an interesting exercise as it shows how things have changed in the world and in the way we photograph since 1953 and as tempting as it is to look at works such as these and want to throw everything away and give up. You have to remember that half the game is how you edit a sequence and that is a skill I need to practice.

Final Edit

Right, here is the final edit after post-processing. Below is the accompanying text that will be in the print box to open the project. Frankly I don’t know what else to say about it. So, I’ll let the opening text do it’s job.

 

The Road Beneath My Feet

Lincolnshire, it’s a strange old place. It is the second largest county in the UK but it has the lowest population density in England. As such it is constantly underfunded from central government as the calculation for local funding is based off population density alone with no regard for the area that it covers. Still, no self-respecting Yellowbelly cares, just make do and mend with a hint of stiff upper lip.

It’s a welcoming place where most (certainly not all) will stop and have a chat. They aren’t being nosy; they’re just interested in what you are doing wandering about with a tripod and camera. Being rural, life also ticks along at a more manageable pace than it does in London and even under the ‘big city’ lights in the Cathedral City of Lincoln people will happily chat with strangers. Though calling it a city is a misnomer as you are never more than fifteen minutes from the countryside and there is still a thriving market every week.

The following images are a love letter to Lincolnshire’s countryside; they serve as a visual record of the county in 2016 and also show some of the oddities that are strewn about the place, ranging from disused radar dishes to a scraphead dedicated to the Ford Capri, as I said: Lincolnshire, it’s a strange old place.

Right, Image 1. The Green Man, Scamblesby. This is one of the few images that is shot at wider than 35mm. this is around the 20mm mark and thanks to Lightroom’s lens corrections it doesn’t look too badly distorted. Why this as a start, well mostly because of the ending picture. Ties the project in a neat bow, plus it’s a strong start and gives a sense of character.

Image 2, Scamblesby. Here’s the thing about Lincolnshire, the people are proud of being Yellowbellies (yes, that is what you call a Local) and a lot of them are proud of being British and have no qualms about flying the Union Flag. Also, symmetry I like symmetry.

Image 3, Just outside West Asterby. I know people think Lincolnshire is flat. it isn’t, although this looks pretty flat from here this is actually the beginning of The Wolds (yes, that’s right. There are hills).

Image 4, Scamblesby. Another thing you notice pretty quickly is thanks to the space available people have yards like these with stuff in them. This is out the back of the truck repair station. They also have a few cranes from a business in Louth.

Image 5, The Windy House, The Big Sky (South of the county). Now, here’s it’s flat. But what I love is the fact that this farmer could have built his house anywhere so, where does he choose. Right in the middle of his field, why? Because that way he has no neighbours.

Image 6, Bus Stop , Scamblesby. A couple of years ago the council ripped out the old wooden bus shelter and put that thing up instead, personally I love the fact that just to the left is a telephone box that is still there due to it being listed and therefore the council have to keep it and maintain it, whereas the bus shelter. Who cares, just stick up a perspex thing.

Image 7, A153, Scamblesby. This is the end of Old Main Road looking out onto the A153, see what I mean? So many of these are all shot within spitting distance. Not saying they don’t work just that to be it seems disingenuous to call this a complete project when there is so much more that needs doing to make it a county-wide record.

Image 8, RAF Stenigot WWII Radar Dishes, Manor Hill. The radar tower in the background is now Grade II listed and was a cold war addition to the site, (yep, the steel grid is listed whereas the WWII dishes are just left to rot away in a cattle field and are used as cover for cows or as somewhere to practice graffiti for the local kids) and gets used for selection tests by the RAF Aerial Erector School. Naturally the majority of the site has been turned back over the farmer with the RAF only retaining a small compound about 300m behind the downed dishes beside the road.

Image 9, Derelict House, Donington On Bain. This is a fairly common sight. There are quite a few derelict (or very decrepit) houses kicking around the place. This doesn’t look like it’s lived in as the bridge that goes over the ditch is well overgrown.

Image 10, A house, Scamblesby. Lincolnshire has no such thing as a ‘local vernacular’ it’s a just a bunch of different things plonked down next to one another.

Image 11, Scamblesby. Back in the truck repair yard, there is soooo much stuff dotted around that yard, it’s paradise if you like looking at old stuff and trying to figure out what the hell it was, this. No idea.

Image 12, Top Of Cawkwell Hill. This is the view down from Cawkwell across to Hemingby (just off the the far right) and then the 153 snakes across the middle through the left of frame and through to Horncastle (7 Miles), (though it’s utterly hidden in the frame) and behind this is Cadwell Park Circuit (about half a mile from here) and then Louth (7 miles).

Image 13, Scamblesby. Again, Truck yard. It’s an awesome place.

Image 14, Kinema in the Woods, Woodhall Spa. Woodhall’s claim to fame. National centre for golf and this the last rear projection cinema in the country, they also have an intermission, a compton organ and are very much a independent cinema.

Image 15, Capri Gear, Just outside Donington On Bain. I have some very fond memories of this place, now why here. Simple, much like most of the county it’s somewhat trapped in the past. Capri’s are lovely, but they aren’t any good and that’s why most people lust after Escort Mk 1’s & 2’s as they have a reputation for being good rally cars, (it’s true but they’re grossly overpriced and the Fiat 131 was just as quick, and a lot cheaper these days). Meanwhile the Capri has been left to the annals of time.

Image 16, Ploughed field, The Big Sky. The east of the country gets some fantastic cloud banks. Also, I do wonder what made the farmer run such an odd set of tracks through his neatly ploughed field.

Image 17, Old Stables, Scamblesby. It’s now a shed for the Truck yard.

Image 18, Hagnaby Road, Old Bolingbroke. The claim to fame is the remains of the castle built in 1220 and it was unearthed in the 1960’s and 1970’s. There’s not much to see, just the outline of the walls and the outline of the Castle. Though the moat still exists. Sort’ve.

Image 19, The Old Football Hut, Donington On Bain. This is a structure which has no use as no-one in the village wants to put a team together so it just sits there waiting for it’s fate to be decided.

Image 20, New Bolingbroke. Yea, I know it’s very straight. It was also established by a rich businessman in the late Edwardian and early Victorian era. Why call it New Bolingbroke? Pass, it’s about 6 miles from Old Bolingbroke so it’s not due to them being right next to one another. Then again, it was started by a rich businessman who wanted to setup a new Market town in the Fens. It failed pretty spectacularly. 

Image 21, The Village hall, Donington On Bain. More flags, it’s an odd little place Donington, it has a shop, a post office, a village hall, a pub, a fancy looking church (left side of the image you can see the tower) and a new development on the far side that look very out of place with their shiny new bricks. And no direct links to anywhere, the A153 is a couple of miles back out of town though there are back ways to get to Horncastle or Louth.

Image 22, Drainage Ditch, Holbeach. This is a weird part of The Big Sky. as there are a lot of little winding roads with hedgerows and tree lined archways. I know that is very much a normal sight down south but, In Lincolnshire it’s bloody bizarre. This is much more indicative of The Big Sky. Long straight roads with big ditches to keep the fields dry.

Image 23, Another house, Scamblesby. As I said, the first and last images give it a good sense of opening and closing. I like this sense of cohesion this gives it. Yes, an edit of 23 is a lot to get through but, even in this small space there’s a lot of visually interesting things to be had.

Edit’s

Here is my first edit, I did this and then realised I had an awful lot of other images left over and decided to do a different edit with some of the other images.

Which is the reason for this edit here, once I had done these two I went and found Andy and got him to help me bring the two together into one coherent piece.

Edit 3, This feels far stronger and much less disjointed than it had just half hour prior to this image being taken.

Which leads us to Edit 4 and what is now the final edit and order (Ignore the top right image it’s just the wastage). I then found the relevant RAW files and processed them which up this point I hadn’t done. For my documentary work this is how I will now operate, making a selection off the screen of my favourite images, printing them out as A6 and then making the edit on paper and only then going back find the files and Post-Process them. It not only saves a lot of time, but it also stops me getting too possessive over images I like as this way it doesn’t give me the chance to fawn over an image in Lightroom and make it look wonderful when I will have to throw it away (for the purposes of that project at least).