So you just take the pictures do you?

One of the fascinations of selling your own photography to members of the public, whether via exhibitions, craft fairs, or following a slide presentation etc., is the variety of queries, questions, assumptions and comments received. Some of these are hilarious; others promote instant and intense debate; a small percentage have the ability to make me want to hide in a corner for a long period of time and others make me feel very humble and grateful that I am able to enjoy my work so much.

Recently, I was asked as to the price of my framed “paintings” . Feeling complimented, I replied with the relevant information and added that they were actually photographs. “What, photographs of paintings? “

Another asked:- “Have you been to all these places you’ve photographed?” I didn’t dare reply that I had purchased a three thousand mile long zoom lens or that I sometimes send my cameras and lenses to far flung places to photograph landscapes by remote control!!!!

There is one approach which amuses me and which I have encountered on several occasions. The routine usually goes like this:-
Potential Customer – “Do you do your own processing and developing?”
CM – “No, I don’t actually, I have others do it for me who are experts in their field and this also gives me more time to be out in the countryside with my camera.”
PC – “Do you do you own printing?”
CM – “No, if I did it on this scale I wouldn’t have time to do any photography.”
PC – Do you do your own mounting and framing?
CM – “I’m afraid not!”
PC – “So, you just take the pictures do you? “
CM – “Well, yes, I suppose I do really, BUT………………”

My brain usually goes into overdrive at this point, desperately trying to unscramble the millions of thoughts that suddenly spring to mind. There is sufficient ammunition to write a book. By the time I have sorted all my reasoned arguments into a meaningful order, it’s nightfall. I’m on my own and it’s time to go home. Botheration!

If I’d been quicker off the mark I would have mentioned the detailed planning involved; the time of year, what time of day, tide timetables, seasonal changes, decisions re film, lens, shutter speed, aperture, never mind that hugely important subject – light!

I would have gone on for hours about aspects of composition, focussing and movement of subject. What about the problems of sloping horizons, plane trails, telegraph poles, litter, footprints, camera shake and reciprocity failure? Also, does the photograph really work? Does it suit the clients needs? Is there sufficient space for titles, text and logos? Have I chosen precisely the right moment to press the shutter?

What about the mega-early starts and late nights? How many times have I cursed the scaffolding & cranes which weren’t there the week before; the trees that disappeared as if by magic; the flowers and crops which so often played games with me, being at their most photogenic either the week before I arrive or immediately after I have left for home? Who switched on the windfarm turbines which erased stunning reflections from the surface of that beautiful mountain lake?

Who will believe me when I tell them about the one that got away - the “masterpiece” which wouldn’t fail to sell and yet which ended up on the discard pile after the sun dipped behind a cloud at the most crucial moment? Will I ever find out the identity of the rogue person who walked into the scene as I pressed the shutter, thinking I had chosen my moment so carefully?

It’s easy to forget, but at the time I would rather have been anywhere than working in such excessive heat and humidity. The torrential rainfall, sandstorms, typhoons, landslides, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions – to think I could have stayed at home and watched television!

Didn’t I have once have my clothes and specs stolen? Wasn’t it a stroke of luck when the car in which I was a passenger was hit from behind by a single decker bus – the previous weeks’ hailstorm damage had become an irrelevance! Cancelled flights; airport strikes; transparencies and prints stolen in armed robbery at Royal Mail sorting office; buses catching fire; punctures; vehicle stuck in sand with incoming tide; being held up at gunpoint; officialdom; language barriers; tear gas; student riots and armed hold- ups. I DO LOVE MY WORK!

Yes, I have missed meal times. My ribs were injured retrieving a lens shield. I don’t like having vaccinations and taking anti-everything tablets. Nor do I particularly recommend altitude sickness, prickly heat, running out of clean clothes, dogbites, bed bugs, horseflies, mosquito bites, poor sanitation, Delhi belly and squashing a cockroach between bare toes!!!

And then there was the episode when our canoe almost sank when surrounded by hippos and crocodiles; the charging elephants; the termites which ate portions of my camera bag. Thankfully the vampire bats weren’t rabid but did leave their mark! After that the snakes and spiders paled into insignificance.

Ah yes, I nearly forgot, the Insurance Claims too!

Now where was I ?

“So you just take the photograph do you?”
“Well, yes, I suppose that is all I do when it boils down to it.”

I can’t deny it, it is this variety and taste of adventure that I enjoy so much. For each of these ‘challenges’ there are thousands of highs and millions of smiles and happy memories. Just in case I have put you off travelling with Light & Land, I should point out that at least one of these experiences did NOT occur on a L&L trip!!!!! Tee hee - only joking!