Out-standing in their own field....

Original Idea

My initial idea for the photo-book segment of my submission was to illustrate a selection of phobias, the phobias I researched included the fear of balloons, peanut butter and of course less extraordinary phobias such as the phobia of heights and of course spiders, which I would photograph in a clinical fashion in the studio. However, on reviewing my two previous projects that had both been shot in-studio, I decided that I wanted to shoot on location. I struggled to find interesting subjects and despite emailing various people with an interest of taking location portrait photos, I was unable to compile enough images to constitute a photo-book.

I started to research other photographers photo-books online to gain inspiration and observe the interesting subject matter that they had chosen to compile. After watching a David Lynch film a friend of mine mentioned that he had published a photo-book entitled 'David Lynch Snowmen'. The book including 8 photos of snowmen taken in Lynch's hometown of Boise, Idaho in the early 1990s..

Lynch's book demonstrates intriguing imagery and a very personalized and unique subject matter. The snowmen in each of the images represent more than just a pile of snow, constructed together to resembled a figure of a man, the photos represent the unity of family in creating its temporary additional member, the craftsmanship inherent in every human and pushes nostalgia upon us from childhood.

I wanted to document a similar subject matter to Lynch's 'Snowmen', but I didn't want to merely replicate Lynch's book and with a lack of snow I had to find another subject matter.

Scarecrows....

Aims & Objectives

I wanted to create a photo-book that presented a selection of scarecrows, I decided that 20-25 images would be an ideal number for the photo-book as this would give a large enough selection of interesting images without overloading the viewer. I started to research scarecrow festivals that are held in the UK online and I discovered that there was a festival being held in the neighboring villages of Tetford and Salmonby in the Lincolnshire Wolds during the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of May.

Shooting

I shot using a Hasselblad 500c with Kodak 400NC 120 film and also shooting back up digital shots with a Nikon D90. I shot several rolls of film on my first visit using the Hasselblad, and took many digital shots as well. I used a grid on my D90 to replicate the same square composition as the medium format camera in order to keep continuity of format within my photo-book. I had the first rolls of 120 film developed and on return found a unrecognized fault with the shutter release had ruined many of my shots. Although I had enough digital back ups, I decided at last minute to pay another visit to the scarecrow festival with the Hasselblad the following day and attempt to capture another roll of 120. My second attempt was successful and I was able to use my medium format exposures.

Editing

I scanned the negative 120 film and made minor adjustments to them in Photoshop, from the 11 exposures I used 6. The remaining images were shot digitally, altered in photoshop and cropped into the same square composition format as those taken on the Hasselblad. Due to page number restrictions in the book-making software (Cewe) that I used, I had to edit my final images down to a total of 19 with an additional two images, shot at a different location, taking the front and back cover spread and inlay double spread to accompany a title synopsis.

Distribution

The photo-book will serve as a a part of my portfolio as a book and as selected prints in my folder. An online album of the photos taken at the Tetford and Salmonby Scarecrow Fesival is also available online here.