10 14 December 2019I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI subscribe 0330 333 1113
THE
VEWS
EXPRESSED
NTH
SCOLUMN
ARE
NOT
NECESSAR
LYTHOSE
OF
AMATEUR
PHOTOGRAPHER
MAGA Z
NE
OR
TMED
AL
MTED
A
friendof minehasbeenan
enthusiasticphotographerfor
nearly 40 years.Theknackof
compositionhasalwayseluded
him,however.In hisstreetscenes,tarmac
occupiesmostof theframe.Groupsof
friendsappearwithouttheirheads.
Picturesquecountryviewsareobscured
byunrelatedforegrounddetail.Backin the
day,I onlyoccasionallysawhispictures
- andwasgratefulnevertohavebeen
pressedtoan‘eveningwithslides’.
In thepastfewyears,however,hehas
beenregularlypostinghisarchivalwork
onFacebook.Whatis strikingis thatfar
fromshowingoffthesorryproductsof
a pursuitforwhichhelackedaptitude,he
is unveiling,littlebylittle,anextraordinary
troveof historicrecords.
Mostof hissubjectsarein andaround
theouterLondonboroughwherehelives.
Buthisimages’technicalshortcomingsare
nowmorethanmadeupforin thequality
of hiscaptioning.A snapof a long-
forgottenpubincludesthenameof the
landlordat thetime,thenamesof a couple
of regulars,thedateof itsdemolitionand
a noteof whatwasbuiltin itsplace.
Delightinthedetail
Sometimesa busappearsinadvertently
in hisframe.Henoteshowtherouteof
the 53 haschanged,recordsa personal
incidentexperiencedwhilequeuingto
boardandoftenincludesanaccountof
howtheserviceevolvedpost-privatisation.
Eventheunfortunatelycroppedhuman
groupsmightlacktheirheads,buttheir
names,occupationsandsubsequentlife
storiesaretherein thecaptions.
It wouldbeeasytothinktheserollsand
rollsof filmmyfriendis slowlydigitising
wouldbeevenmorecompellingwerehe
moreconventionallyphotographically
competent.Actually,hispictures’apparent
randomness,alliedwithcompelling
captions,givethema uniqueintegrity.
Littlebylittle,theyrevealtheevolutionof
anotherwiseundocumentedeveryday.
Photographerstalkaboutthe‘fourCs’
thatshouldbeincludedin a file’smetadata
- credit,contact,copyrightownershipand
caption. The fi rst three can be dealt with
automaticallyin camera.Time,skilland
effortarerequiredforthefourth.
Thequantityof photographstaken
todayis ona unprecedentedscale.In the
1980s,whenmyfriend’sphotographic
odysseybegan,humankindcaptured
approximately 25 billionphotosa year.
Today,it is morethana thousandbillion.
Howmanywillbecaptioned?A far
smallerproportionthan 40 yearsago.
Thatmattersif youwantyourpicturesto
surviveyourmemoryof theirsubjects.
Withoutcaptions,yourimagesquickly
becomethedigitalequivalentof dust.
Technologymayeventuallysolveeven
this.Softwarethatautomatically
recognisesplacesandfacesin digitalfiles
is alreadybeingusedforsurveillance.Until
thatarrivesin theconsumermarket,
however,captioningis thephotographic
practiceleastchangedsincetheeraof
DaguerreandFoxTalbot.A picturemight
wellbeworth1,000words,butit often
requiresa simplesentencetounlockthat
value.Andaswellasthebenefits for
posterity,a freshmomentof reflection
onyourownwork,asyoufleshoutthe
metadata,mightjustpromptbeneficial
reflectiononhowyouare documenting
theworldaroundyou.
TimDawsonis formercommissioningeditoron
TheSundayTimesandis presidentof theNational
Unionof Journalists. Visittim-dawson.com
Doyouhavesomethingyou’dliketogetoffyourchest?Sendusyourthoughtsinaround
500 wordstotheaddressonpage 21 andwina year’sdigitalsubscriptiontoAP,worth£79.
Whatcouldbemoreimportantthan
photographiccomposition?Accordingto
Tim Dawson, it’s the humble caption
View point
Tim Dawson
©
PHOTO
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WARBURTON/ TOPC
AL
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AGENCY/GETT Y
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LEE PEI LING - GETT Y IMAGES
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