2 – My approach to photography

When I was  a dentist, I took photographs all the time – mostly macro settings of small objects and areas. These were essential records of what I was seeing.

In my private life, my photographs have also been records – records of places, people and details. My family will tell you somewhat wearily, “He takes photographs of boats mostly!”

I have always assumed that my photographic aim was to record what’s around me in pursuit of personal and professional interests.  Photography was a means of outlining progress, something I did as an offshoot to the basic process of living and working – not a mainstream activity. Certainly my knowledge and skills were rudimentary.

 Now that I have finished the day-job and dropped the professional interest, I have been looking through the files, reflecting on this. My files are labelled by time and place, i.e. they are a record of my progress through life. Now I have begun to find different way of viewing them.

I have posted several black and white images recently. The ‘convert to black and white’ option in the edit screen loses the ‘colour’ and brings out the shapes within the image.

This works best when there is a sharp contrast between the light and dark areas – sunny days are good. I took the following from files of our visits to Crete.

Now I see these images from another viewpoint, they take on a new meaning – whether they are images of boats . . .

   or

or people – posing and doing . . .

or architectural detail . .

. 

or atmosphere . . .

By linking the shapes a story will emerge. My aim, as in my previous post, is to create a framework with these images and for you to build your own story.

(Images by Bill Whateley)