The Lows and the Highs

Moments of feeling absolutely sick with nervousness, close to tears when I look at the ‘stuff to do’ list with less than 2 weeks to go, alternate with blasts of sheer excitement seeing each scan as it comes in, images looking so much richer and vivid than I’ve ever seen them before.  

My heightened emotional state is probably contributing to just how much I am enjoying working with my images. Reconnecting with shots I pushed the button on as long as 18 years ago is making me fall in love in the whole process of photography all over again.

There are always tiny specks and scratches that remain on the negative even after cleaning, so I need to zoom right in to repair them onscreen – the automatic scanner version of this process just isn’t good enough for me. What this means is that I am examining every shot in tiny detail. And it’s the detail that’s capturing me. This shot for example…

1093 - Trinidad., Cuba, 2001

the way the tiles fit together…

 the number over the door…

 the little drain under the step…

all the little human touches are breaking my heart.

I often wonder why I take the pictures I do, lately I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I think part of it is looking at these little things that become part of architecture, taking a building from the perfection of completion, and humanising it with these little events and modifications and wear and tear. It’s been said that people don’t feature in my photography, but to me humanity is all over a shot like this. And it’s the wonder of photography that lets me bring it all back on a piece of film, and now onto a print in a gallery, the location frozen on film for 10 years and counting.

So, to sum up, the worst thing about producing all the scans and prints myself is how long it takes, and the best thing is… how long it takes.