Access

[Mike Farley]

A intriguing post at The Online Photographer.

http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.co ... young.html

Sometimes access is as simple as getting into your car, or on a bus or train, and going somewhere. You get the shots, but they are not necessarily any different than those others have captured before. Go far enough though and to the right places, and they will be sufficiently unusual and appealling that a judge will not have become bored of seeing similar images.

A few years ago during my early days at the club, a woman joined whose son had severe congenital problems. His future was uncertain, but his survival was a miracle of what modern medicine can achieve. The treatment required several operations and intensive care, with all the associated tubes going into his body and other medical paraphanalia. His mother had photographed it and given the intensity of the treatment it was all she had pictures of. Her world during that period had no time for anything else.

She entered them into a club competition just the once and they were like nothing else I have seen during my membership. They depicted a reality which few of us will ever be unlucky enough to experience. They had been taken with love and true feeling, which came out in the shots. It was a DPI competition for which I did the projection so I had the benefit of being able to reflect on them for a few days. One in particular was remarkable and my shot of the evening, maybe one of the best I have seen at the club, yet I wondered how they would fare.

I was right to be concerned. The judge that night lacked any empathy or imagination about what they were seeing. Certainly the shots did not make for comfortable viewing, but is that what photography is all about? Pretty pictures? Not going any deeper than a superficial level? Those images were quickly dismissed as not being suitable for a camera club and unsurprisingly the member's interest soon petered out. The judge that night did everyone a real disservice, themselves included.

[Rose]

I remember the lady and her photos... Wonderful pics taken with a good eye and I thought it was sad that she didn't stay.

[Mike Farley]

I remember the lady and her photos... Wonderful pics taken with a good eye and I thought it was sad that she didn't stay.

I quite agree. I do sometimes wonder how everything turned out for her and her son.