Taken or Made

Sometimes an image is waiting for you to stumble across it, everything has arrived at exactly the right time and all you have to do is press the shutter ...well a bit more than that but you get the drift.

This was the case with images 1-3.

1 Yes I realise the river had flooded as I was getting wet. I was looking for images, but not expecting to find three cheerful ladies who look like they had been auditioning for Last of the Summer Wine, shoes discarded sitting on the bench. As for the leader posing on the back like a fourteen year old... They had no chance with a Nikon F, but then they seemed quite please to be my subject, unlike Mr KGB man earlier who looked like his meet had been interrupted, first by the river and then the photographer.

2 Early evening, arriving at the trattoria by vaporetto and there they were patiently waiting for me. A 6x12 is not a fast camera to operate, centre filter on, lens hood, use hand held meter and transfer to camera, judge and set distance, cock shutter, take image. They waited patiently. Oblivious. Thank you, especially for arranging yourselves as you did.














3 Perhaps it was the only place he could get a signal.... Sometimes you are drawn to a place or view and another element creeps in and translates it into something out of the ordinary. Yes it does look as if it was commissioned for an advert for 'Our network has 99.99% coverage of the UK', but it also speaks in more worthwhile ways ...Peace... solitude... harmony... nature beauty...

On other occasions you work hard and bring the components together ~ images 4 & 5



















4 Preconceived. Collect friend who will model for college assignment on 'boots'... 90 miles to Dover... day crossing on hovercraft to France... train journeys... find suitable train to suggest that these boots are what you wear when travelling across Europe, images made have meal back to Dover... 90 miles... return friend.














5 Working with identified subject ...College project...Travel to Wales and sleep in car. Find colliery railway leading to pit that is being dismantled... hitch ride on train... meet railway workers... persuade one formally pose for me ... move to appropriate place... take image (and many others at location) ... how did we get back to the car???