Exercise: The Journey

'Go on a journey. This needn't be a long journey but make it a journey you haven't done before.'

This is my second attempt at this exercise. The first one to a local beauty spot was a bit of a failure in terms of a photo essay. I liked the images. I just couldn't find a narrative in them and they were all a bit too similar. Knowing when to put aside work is a valuable skill that I've acquired in the last module. It's all about confidence really, and having the strength to move on - even if a lot of work and emotional energy has been invested.

With my second attempt I decided to use Hastings as a location. I've been to the seafront here before and I wanted to see if I could look at the place with fresh eyes - find vistas and elements that were new to me. Hasting's seafront was easily a good choice to go on a journey. The British seaside is awash with sights and sounds to inspire a photographer - bright colours, crazy people behaving out of character etc. Once I had the images processed I analysed what I had and began to detect certain key elements to form a structure to my photo essay. I'd photographed a number of signs and symbols, most of them made out of brightly coloured plastic, such as the ice cream cone pictured below. In my sequencing I paired these up with other more explanatory images using long shots of the pier or landscape type images of the sea and beach. I've also included brightly coloured municipal flower beds and other detail shots that I found interesting.

I find that pairing them up with one another on a spread is a complex matter. There are a lot of elements in the design process that need to be taken into account. To keep it simple I decided to use a plain layout with centred images that match in either colour, style, or content. So, I looked at the sequence below and attempted to make matches using my planned strategy. The chosen sequence has a certain Martin Parr feel about it - although I have opted more for a 'sense of place' as denoted by the objects and street architecture than by the people themselves.

My discards from the contact sheet are below. I printed all my first selections out and cut them up to arrange on a table. I've probably mentioned this before but I find that the best way to sequence images is to physically move them around, sorting and re-sorting. I just cannot do this in the same way on a computer screen. Patterns and links between images are much more easily spotted when laid out like this.

As you can see I photographed the area with a number of different concepts in mind. The easiest one to spot is the images of shop fronts. I was thinking about highlighting some of the quirky and more traditional business premises. Similarly I took a number of shots of the fire damaged pier and the construction work being undertaken. These were weeded out of my first selection and the remainder on subsequent revisions.