I’m done
Filed in SoFoBoMo - April 30, 2008Or rather, I’m done in. Whilst the calender tells me that I have several more days in which I can work on my sofobomo project, my life tells me that that isn’t so. I’ve stopped.
I’ve done more than stop. I’ve redefined the project and downsized the ambitions. As with all downsizing exercises it is best to concentrate on the positives, so rather than say stuff like ‘all my photos need further work and some of them need to be rescanned’, I’m going to say:
- I’ve learnt a lot
- I’m pleased with the book that I’ve produced
- I’ve fired the project management department (hey, everybody dislikes the project manager, right?)
- And as a Special Bonus for you dear reader, there will be a volume two of my sofobomo project book out later in May. When I’ve got the time and energy to face it.
I’ll be putting html versions of the photos online in the next day or two, but …. ta da …. here is the pdf: Walking Aberdeen. Best to download rather than opening in a browser. It is 6.4Mb. The underlying picture size is 850 pixels so don’t stretch the pdf too far on your super large cinema display. This is very much a first draft, so download this collector’s edition TODAY!
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Oh dear, I’m a sucker for “British seaside in the rain” shots…well done, an excellent survey (to date) and a fine result. A lot more coherency becomes apparent when the shots are gathered in book form. Are you going to try a printed version?
April 30, 2008 @ 7:39 pm
Ade,
Not immediately is the answer. I follow the various POD threads and colour management generally, and colour neutrality in monochrome printing in particular, are still problematic. When I’m happy that the results will be good enough then I’ll do it. As a regular buyer of POD stuff I can attest to the fact that the industry isn’t there yet. Anyway, lots more photos to take first.
April 30, 2008 @ 8:04 pm
Like Ade I can never get enough of the seaside in the rain (that’s how I remember it!)
April 30, 2008 @ 9:26 pm
The seaside? Well I never knew. Clearly a whole career opens up before me :-)
April 30, 2008 @ 9:40 pm
Congratulations!
April 30, 2008 @ 10:43 pm
Very good book. It has an underlying “spiritual” feeling to it.
April 30, 2008 @ 11:29 pm
Really nice to get to know your town. How big of a city/town is Aberdeen?
May 1, 2008 @ 1:33 am
I liked this a lot – thanks. It offered so much more of the flavour of Aberdeen as you, the photographer, saw it than photosets or slideshows would have, though I’m not quite sure why that is. The subtle details and suggestions worked well. Looking forward to another.
May 1, 2008 @ 2:30 am
Well done – I can imagine the headache of the editing. It looks good. What I find fascinating is how the different areas and their subject matter prompted totally different ways of taking and representing them. The beach/seaside section throws up even quirkier images than some of the south coast resorts!
May 1, 2008 @ 6:45 am
Thanks everybody. Part two will have some more industrial and residential areas in it – this will round out the picture of the city a lot.
Sam – Aberdeen is a city of 200,000. It has rather more facilities than this number implies because of a combination of its age and its remoteness.
John – Of course the weather played its part too. With only one visit to each area, I could only record the conditions as I found them on that day. So the cathedral got sunshine and the beach got rain. I intend to expand and revisit over time.
May 1, 2008 @ 7:15 am
The big one above obviously favoured the cathedral! As a matter of interest, would you have felt able/inspired to do this with the M8 in colour?
May 1, 2008 @ 10:15 am
Colin – I nearly didn’t open the book – I’m not much of a a fan of black and white photos and the prospect of waiting for 6.4Mb to download didn’t appeal much. However I’m glad I did: I am really impressed. Not just by the quality of the photos and the quality of book itself, but by the application and focus you’ve succeeded in putting in to produce a finished product which so many people can enjoy. Well done.
May 1, 2008 @ 10:43 am
John,
I was carrying the DP1 for much of the project so that when a subject shouted colour I had the opportunity to do something about it. Some of the colour photos that have appeared in the blog during the project were taken this way.
I think we have disagreed about this before…but when I know that I’ve only got black and white to play with I see different subjects than when I’ve got colour. With the M8 the results would have been different, but the project would have had the same shape.
The only difference that I can think of is that the M8 would be slightly more vulnerable in bad weather so I might have restricted myself a bit when shooting in the rain. The MP got wet several times. I’m happy getting the M8 damp, just not wet.
May 1, 2008 @ 12:19 pm
Colin,
very nice book. I love the mood you captured by using B&W. I also liked the consistence of your vision. I guess editing was a lot of work to achieve that.
May 1, 2008 @ 4:31 pm
Thank you for inviting me along for the walk. The book is certainly more than worth the download time. Congratulations.
May 1, 2008 @ 9:21 pm
A very nice book, Colin! I love black & white photos, and you presented a very personal view of Aberdeen. I enjoyed taking this intimate tour of your city, and I’m looking forward to Part 2!
May 3, 2008 @ 11:57 pm
I’ve been thinking about this comment for some time trying to get my thoughts organized and it hasn’t been coming quickly.
First, let me say that I may be just full of it, so feel to ignore my comment. On the other hand I’m going to try and be as truthful as I can.
Second, a personal point of reference is in order. When ever I go to a new city I very shortly develop a sense of my interpretation of the character of that city. That character may change completely with time. But there is more, I expect it, without this sense of character the city lost a lot of meaning. It’s like reading a tourist guide to the city compared to walking it’s streets.
In “Walking Aberdeen” for me this sense of Aberdeen’s character is missing (I’m not saying it’s possible to get it into a photo essay). Many of the individual shots have plenty of character but the sum or combination of the photos does not leave me with an Aberdeen character. This is where it gets tricky because there is a sum of the characters portrayed by the collection and it may be exactly what Colin was shooting for. But for me I sense that the sum is not what Colin would say would represent the character of Aberdeen. You might say it represents the character of Colin’s walk around Aberdeen and that would be just fine with me.
But I want more than just a walk. I want Colin to take a stance and tell me what he thinks of Aberdeen.
May 15, 2008 @ 9:55 pm
Bob,
But I want more than just a walk. I want Colin to take a stance and tell me what he thinks of Aberdeen.
Plenty of people might share your ambition/view here, but I don’t. It represents exactly the opposite of what I seek to do. I know that it is impossible for my photos not to have my stamp on them, but really, Aberdeen is much more interesting than anything that I could think about the place. Why not just look.
In “Walking Aberdeen†for me this sense of Aberdeen’s character is missing
This may be partly because time constraints meant that I didn’t include all the areas that I walked, let alone all the areas that there are. Book one contains a higher proportion of the touristy bits than I had planned. Book two will have some different districts and after than I plan to go on walking and expanding.
May 16, 2008 @ 7:42 am
Colin,
Thanks for the perceptive response.
I some ways I agree whole heartedly with you, “Why not just look”, I’m happy with that.
But in many cases I do want more, particularly from an author that has more to offer in the way of a finely crafted perception.
I’ve tried to provide a bit of an explanation for this wanting more thing, over here… http://rvewong.wordpress.com/about/forword/
May 16, 2008 @ 2:16 pm
Colin,
I’m always in to much of a rush.
I forgot to add, “Aberdeen is much more interesting than anything that I could think about the place.”. I think that for every thing that Aberdeen is, there are several perceptions that you could add to each of Aberdeen’s interestingness.
Not only that, but because we humans are geared to interact with others perceptions, it would add another pleasant and interesting dimension.
May 16, 2008 @ 2:32 pm
Colin
I enjoyed watching the process, and the final form [the book] is a treat. I like your straight-forward “as I saw it” approach to your photography and it conveys well.
Anil
May 17, 2008 @ 5:55 am
It’s really lovely. I’ve just signed up for this year’s Sofobomo and was looking at the books from last year.
I’m probably going to do black and white too, since my eyes see photos in black and white that better than color. Thank you for the inspiration.
April 9, 2009 @ 5:11 am