alan frost photography

Downhill shopper – returning to a forgotten image.

By alan frost on December 20, 2015

 

I am rather impatient when it comes to processing a SD card full of images. I get home, download them into Lightroom and with luck a number will jump out at me and the processing begins. More often than not these are the pictures which I remember taking and I simply can’t wait to see whether or not I have captured something I like.

I have been told that it can be beneficial to do nothing with a card of images, just download them and then leave them to mature for a good while, perhaps six months or more, before taking a more in depth look at what you shot on the day. Given the passage of time you no longer remember all the shots that were taken, and images which might have been written off on first viewing are in fact worthy of consideration. Perhaps a different or new processing technique will reveal an image which works after several months but might not have done had it been processed within hours of the shutter being released.

‘Downhill shopper’ is one such picture. It was the third shot I took in the lovely city of Bath on the ABC of Camerawork workshop with Andy Beel at the beginning of November last year. Whilst I can recall taking the picture it didn’t say much to me at the time, but a year on and given a high contrast and grainy look to the photograph, I now think it’s worthy of sharing on my blog. There is little or no detail, just outlines of backlit figures, long shadows and the knowledge that you are looking at a busy street scene of shoppers. The rest is down to your imagination. The elderly lady and what appear to be ski poles, give the image its title.

Here is a link to the entry about my day in Bath with Andy Beel.

ABC of Camerawork course with Andy Beel in Bath