THE LETTING GO

This work concentrates on perceptions and losing control. 

Perceptions of women; others' perceptions of me; my perceptions of them. This is interwoven with the letting go of preconceptions; losing control of photographic and personal inhibitions and working with others to produce spontaneous situations and photographing them.

Here is a small selection of photographs from the series. It is a work in progress.

This project has been encouraged and helped by Antoine d'Agata, and 1000 Words Magazine.

Truly amazing people have been involved in The Letting Go so far. Thank you.

GLENDEVON

By way of a little introduction, here is a small part of a film my Grandad made in the summer of 1947. Age 27, he was holidaying with his parents in their small hut in Glendevon, Scotland, and decided to make a film of their time there. He spotted a beautiful local girl and asked her mother's permission to have her in his film.

This is a small snippet, with both my Grandma and Grandad in the summer they met.










Summer 2010, Grandad died. We took his ashes to Glendevon, now a very special place for our whole family.

I saw my Grandma cry for the first time .










Please do not reproduce the film, or music. Thank you.
Piano music played by Evan Lynn He played beautifully, but was suffering from severe dementia when this was recorded. Recorded and edited by Simon Hynd.

MY TONGUE GOES BACK

I suppose it is like sucking your thumb, but instead of getting any digits involved my tongue just slides back and pushes on the roof of my mouth.

This is a pretty strange personal admission, that probably shouldn't be shared. But hey. The thing is, this next set of photographs are not only inspired by this strange bodily function (!!), I took them purely to express it.

You see, the tongue thing is an unconscious expression of contentment. It is involuntary and occasionally embarrassing. It happens several times a day and is triggered by softness, tiredness, joy, taking photographs, painting, music and being lost in a daydream or being engrossed in concentration.

So I set myself a small project last week to intimately illustrate some of the things and feelings involved.

Shot on my Hasselblad 500CM with a digital back attached (got it out of the cupboard to practice for a trip to Fez later on this month). Also shot with an extension tube on my 80 lens. Hand held and uncropped.

Here they are...

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

MY STYLE HAS BECOME PRETTY DISTINCTIVE. THIS IS WHAT I DO...

I NEVER CROP. I LINE VERTICALS UP. I CALMLY AND SENSITIVELY PHOTOGRAPH MY SUBJECT. FALLING IN LOVE WITH IT/HIM/HER, MOMENTARILY. THE FOCUS OF ALL OF MY ATTENTIONS. ANY NERVES HAVE LONG SINCE DISAPPEARED. I AM IN A PLACE OF UTTER DEVOTION.

WHAT I SEE, IN MY WORLD, IS THEN TRANSLATED BY MY CAMERA. WE GET ON WELL.

BUT I AM NEVER SATISFIED. WHAT ABOUT WHAT LIES BENEATH? WHAT ABOUT DELVING DEEPER?. THIS BLOG - I HOPE - WILL BE AN EXPLORATION OF THIS.

THESE FIRST PHOTOGRAPHS PRETTY MUCH CHALLENGE EVERYTHING I HAVE COME TO LOVE, AND BE KNOWN FOR, AS A PHOTOGRAPHER. IF YOU KNOW MY WORK, I DEFY YOU TO FIND ANY OF THE FOLLOWING THINGS IN MY ARCHIVE...

MOVEMENT
CROPS
ABSTRACT PHOTOGRAPHS (OK, OK, A FEW OF MY FLOWER PORTRAITS ARE)

AND SHOCK, HORROR, THESE ARE NOT TAKEN WITH MY BELOVED HASSELBLAD. I BOUGHT A SECOND HAND CONTAX T2 IN JULY (WHICH I CARRY AROUND IN ONE OF MY BROTHER'S SOCKS FOR A CASE). IT IS BRILLIANT.

I AM NOT GOING TO CAPTION. TAKE FROM THEM WHAT YOU WILL... SIMPLY VIEW, ENJOY, DISLIKE, DISCUSS, DISMISS...