Amateur Photographer - UK (2019-12-14)

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

©

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