The eye of the beholder.

1990 (Olympus OM1, 50mm, Ilford HP5 film)

I took the photograph above in 1990, in southwest France. I was about 20 years old and not particularly financially well-off, but that never seemed to matter, I made this on a beat-up Olympus OM1 and 50mm lens. I was rationing myself to 1 roll of film every 3 days, as it’s all I could afford, but again, that was never really a problem. When I got home I had the films developed, this one was one of my favourites. I was working as a printers artist at the time and one of the men I worked with, Ian, had been a freelance photographer in the past, so I couldn’t wait to show him. Photographically, I believed and trusted everything Ian told me. Ian didn’t like the shot, he said it was a bit boring and that I hadn’t followed the ‘rule of thirds’. Ian then gave me all sorts of ‘sound advice’ on how I could improve the photograph… I was extremely disappointed and didn’t show anyone else the photo.
For nearly 10 years the photo went unseen, but I kept looking at it, every few months, and thinking “but I like it, I think it’s good”. So I took a chance and included it in my portfolio. The Times Newspaper loved the image and gave me some freelance work documenting the chaos at Heathrow Airport in the days after 9/11.
I took the shot below, 20 years later, to illustrate a story about Morecambe. I don’t think Ian would approve…

2011 (Mamiya 7II, Kodak Portra 400 film)

1991 (Pentax 67, Agfa APX 25 film)

2011 (Hasselblad 503, Fuji Neopan 400 film)