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timclinchphotography.com

Whether it’s cooking or photography, consistency in the

results is the key to success, says Tim Clinch. He’s been

working his way happily through his portraiture files, but

if anyone’s got a decent recipe for lasagne...

A FORTNIGHT AT F/8

F

orgive me for boasting

a little, but I like

to think that I’m

not a bad cook. It’s

something that over

the years has given me

enormous pleasure, something

I do to relax and something that

I enjoy sharing. The shelves in

my kitchen groan with cookery

books, I’m often to be found

scouring the internet for new

things to do with an aubergine

and have been caught a few

times guiltily watching an old

episode of a favourite cookery

programme on YouTube. Sad

I know, but the truth.

However, much as she enjoys

my food, the Beloved Partner has

one massive criticism, which,

I have to report, is entirely

justified. It is my inconsistency.

I approach my cooking pretty

much the same way as I approach

my photography. I read a few

books, get a few ideas, chop things

up, pop them into the pan and 99

times out of 100 the results are

pretty good...the problem being

that when I’m asked to repeat

something, to recreate a dish that

was enjoyed a few months ago, the

results are never the same. Nice,

but not as remembered.

This (and a rather unfortunate

recent incident with a lasagne)

has made me think a lot about

the role of consistency in our

photographic lives.

I

have been spending a few

months in Spain recently and

have been shooting a lot with

my iPhone, not least because

of the other column I write in

this magazine (The Smart Guide

to Photography, page 74), but

also because I enjoy the freedom

of it so much. I have been

wandering the streets of Cadiz,

Jerez and all the surrounding

towns and villages shooting

away merrily. I had chosen the

same combination of filters and

lenses which seem to suit the

location and used it pretty much

constantly, and now, a few weeks

down the line, am realising that

this same treatment makes them

all hang together rather well.

They ‘flow’ and just seem to work

somehow. No surprise I guess,

because they’re consistent.

I remember, a long time

ago, way back in the days of

print portfolios, I had a couple

of pictures that I’d been

commissioned to take of a

pheasant shoot at a stately home.

The weather had been filthy –

freezing cold and sleeting. In

desperation, I’d shot them on

Tri-X Pan pushed several stops.

The resulting images were great

and I loved them. They were

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