Perception in Photography

A casual browse around most bookshops, or a look at Amazon or any of the hundreds (thousands, even) of web forums will reveal just how much has been and is being written about photography.

Most of these materials will tell you in varying degrees of detail about how to set up your camera and deal with exposure, focus, composition etc. not to mention post-processing of course. However, very few actually deal with the ideas behind photography. Most of the time we tend to photograph intuitively depending on our likes and dislikes. That is fine of course but just now and then it is worth stopping to think why we are taking a photo. We need not just to see but actually to observe the world around us to produce an image that means something personal to us or speaks to others.

On my recent trip to the UK to visit my daughter, I found myself in Edinburgh with a few hours to kill before returning to the railway station. I had not been on foot in Edinburgh for over 30 years. Buried somewhere I know will be a photo or two from then. As I would be unlikely to pass again for a while, I needed to get something to record my impressions. Making the best of a given situation is a good skill to learn as we don't always have the luxury of time when travelling.

I knew of all the signature historic buildings like Edinburgh Castle, the Sir Walter Scott Monument, the National Gallery of Scotland, Calton Hill and Princes Street and thought I might try and photograph some of these buildings. I walked along Princes Street looking for inspiration. Huge crowds, lots of traffic. The castle partly obscured by trees, the National Gallery with a shroud of scaffold. Nothing there. I walked through Princes Street Gardens with its espresso stands and portacoms. A shot of the Castle through a gap in the trees was the best I could do. On up the steep climb to the Castle Esplanade fully set up for the Tattoo to find thousands of people each, it seemed, armed with a digital camera. It was nearly impossible to get anything like a meaningful image of any of the signature buildings. In any case, would another shot of Edinburgh Castle really be a satisfactory outcome?

No, I needed something else and it was only when I turned off the Royal Mile into a narrow Wynd and emerged onto a terrace overlooking the narrow, curving canyon of West Bow lined with tall granite buildings that inspiration struck. I was looking closely at the buildings and noticed opposite me a former church converted to an Indian

restaurant. Next door was a Mexican restaurant and on the other side the inevitable Irish bar. A few doors down was a French restaurant. Add some trucks, road works, new building works, cars, people and noise all squeezed into a narrow, cobbled street and I formed an impression of Edinburgh way different from how I remembered it in the early 1970s.

It got better. Just round the corner I found what I was looking for. A grey, weathered stone building with the faded words "Wm Macintosh Undertakers Furnishers" above the Thai Orchid restaurant. And next door...."Kurdish and Middle East Café & Restaurant Opening Soon." ‘Och, it was no laike this in the 70s, Hamish, we only had deep fried meat pies at the chippy on the way hame frae the pub!’ The odd Indian or Chinese place, yes, but Kurdish, Mexican and Thai? Welcome to multi ethnic Scotland in the era of globalization, a Scottish Parliament for the first time in 300 years and forming part of a hugely expanded European Union and as such a magnet for immigrants. Slam dunk. The image I wanted.

I returned to the station satisfied with my work but with the germ of an idea for another interesting project.