Traces of my Dad..

I have completed the photo shoot and selected the images that I want for my photo book. I've decided on a title - 'Traces of my Dad'  and the book has been ordered.

While I wait for it's arrival, I want to review the images I used and how I arrived at the finished product. It has proved harder than I imagined and the final images are different in many ways to those that I imagined and went after initially.Once I see the photo book, I will write a final reflective account which will accompany my images.

Searching for Dad image..
Originally I planned to use the idea of looking through a frame of fingers to what I imagined would be a scene of some sort as a link between myself and my Dad . We often went of sketching trips when I was young and I remember him looking at a scene in this way. The original starting point was the image below :

P690: f8 @ 1/640  ISO 200  37mm

When I came across an old black and white photograph of my Dad doing his James Dean pose, it struck me that this could be the focus of the viewer and serve as the starting point of the project.

P676 Scan of an existing photograph

The starting point became the book cover as well as the title page.

P675

One thing I have discovered is that still life images are not one of my strengths and combined with the need to find appropriate props made some of the images more tricky than I expected. For example, getting a cigar to burn in the right way with the right degree of curling smoke if there are no smokers in the house can be a real challenge.

P679: f5.6 @ 1.5  ISO 100  43mm 

This image ( P679) also presented a dilemma regarding what caption should I give it. Or did it need a caption? What would the viewer think this said about my Dad? Would they need to look beyond the obvious here? This says Christmas to me - this comes from the combined image of a smoking cigar and uppeeled tangerine. My Dad only smoked cigars at Christmas and when I was a child that was the only time you ever saw tangerines. The fact that the cigar is still smoking makes me think the smoker is not far away...So I chose the caption 'Cigar smoke and tangerines...' but with hindsight I wonder whether I needed to have one.

A working man...

P651: f10 @ 1/60  ISO 100  18mm AWB

Probably too obvious an image ...does it suggest the absence of the nurseryman and the wait for his return ?

The smell of sun ripened tomatoes on the vine..

P644: f10 @ 1/200  ISO 100  38mm  AWB

Trying here to capture smell as a memory trigger, linking to the nursery theme. I suspect I was tempted to chose this version because I like the overall composition rather than introducing what was probably needed more to create the impression on the viewer i.e. a more yellow/ warm feel than this end result. The colouring in P651 indicates -a better feel of warmth perhaps. A conflict of composition and processing that came up more than once during the project. 

Lemons, a pumice stone and a working man well turned out

P680: f5 @ 1/2000  ISO 1600  31mm

Again looking for the idea that Dad is not that far away ..certainly in the way my memory is triggered by this image. Why chose this still life arrangement? 

Over lunch about a year ago, my aunt now in her 90s and the only remaining sibling of my Dad, mentioned how particular my Dad was about his appearance when he went out after work. As a nurseryman, he was very conscious of the effect that this kind of manual work had on his hands and 'religiously' cleaned his hands every night with lemon juice and a pumice stone. My aunt's comment triggered my own memory of Dad in our kitchen each night going through the same cleaning ritual. I never see a pumice stone without thinking of this. That said, finding a pumice stone of the shape I remembered proved a challenge. Finding none to be had in our local high street,I had to resort to having one sent via Amazon from China!!

P682: f5.6 @ 1/0  ISO100  18mm

 Little changes, fifty years apart..same old patter

Dad worked in a greengrocer's for a number of years when his nursery became less viable in the 1950s. The image above ( P682) is a recapture of a photograph taken by a passing professional photographer sometime before decimalisation. I came across it in a drawer of bits and pieces relating to Dad that my Mum had kept over the years. I placed the original against a black background to bring out the lovely customer friendly quality that Dad had, so expertly captured in the original image.

So I then tried to see if I could recreate the original by replacing the original image with a modern version which conjured up the same sense of my Dad. Luckily Portsmouth has a market every Friday and I found a very helpful and patient stallholder. He was very interested in Dad's photo and my idea to try and recapture it..also very willing to try different poses in between customers. I am on a promise to take back a few different images of him for his family.

Originally I tried this out in black and white as I thought this would bring out the differences between the two images but this did not work at all - it seemed flat and lacking in interest. I felt that there was not enough interesting 'structure' within the composition nor a quality of light that resonated with me so I opted for a colour image. I adjusted the tone curves here to achieve a feel of looking back through the use of colour..you might say a slightly faded look.

P681 : f13 @ 1/15  ISO 100  18mm

In shooting for what became P683 below, I  had a bit of fun here capturing this particular version of a lovely chrysanthemeum  taken last autumn when I was out and about looking for 'nursery images ' for this project. I went for the look of 'yesteryear' and used a heavy grain. The reason for this approach is the fact that Dad went back to nursery work before he retired. He grew many kinds of this flower and the slightly richly faded ( if that's not a conflict of terms ) look here is intended to convey his working life coming to an end. That's how I look at it but again, maybe other viewers would  interpret this differently...however, if people wonder what it does convey in the context of the theme here, maybe that is how it should be.

Nearing retirement

P683: f10 @ 1/320  ISO 100  40mm

'Some memories never shared'...I think this caption works well with the image below.

P684:  f10 @ 1/6  ISO 100  250mm

I chose the caption of ' Dad cycled everywhere for image P685 below  It is interesting in itself as I took it in Singapore earlier this year. I tried out many ideas as to how to convey this side to my Dad e.g. shadows of a cycle, cycles with an allotment backdrop ( Dad always cycled to his weekend gardening job).

 

P691

P692

 But at the end of the day the bicycle below reminded me more of the one that Dad used..

Dad cycled everywhere..

P685:  f4 @ 1/15  ISO 3200  18mm

An unexpected side of my Dad was an artistic streak that stretched way back to before the war. P686 below shows the earliest example that I have - one of two pen and ink drawings that he made on honeymoon. Hence the photo book caption  'Amateur artist on honeymoon...' I used a heavy grain to give an impression of a painting .


P686:  f5.6 @ 1/25  ISO 100 22mm

'Looking forward and back' 

I still use Dad's easel,a tangible link to memories of Dad quietly painting away in our dining room after tea while we watched television next door. It also links forward to my own efforts with acrylic paint. For the viewer here though, the image is a rather obvious link to Dad and his interest in art but the blank canvas possibly suggest the artist about to come back.My shadow in the glass of the small pen drawing is a further and again obvious link.



P687: f4.5 @ 1/5  ISO 200  26mm

P689: f5 @ 1/100   ISO 1600  31mm

Different aspects of Dad ..not the sum of all the parts but some traces...