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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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