A Sense of Perspective

One of the things I have been doing in an effort to improve my eye for a good image is to look at the work of other photographers and try to sort out what it is I like about the images which strike a chord with me,  and to also look at images I know are, or have been, popular and do the same.

I find this is easier with printed books or photographs and have discovered the National Trust's 2nd hand bookshops can be a treasure trove for this sort of thing.  The Oxfam shops in Stratford and Leamington also very good.

When we were at Montacute House on Sunday I found two Time Life books on the history of photography and one by Patrick Lichfield.   The Patrick Lichfield one is particularly interesting as we had a blipmeet at his home Shugborough, last year.  Much of the camera info in these old books is of course, out of date, but it does serve to show how easy we have it now!

There is also the social history aspect which is fascinating in that what is or is not acceptable has changed so much.  How many photographers now would get away with a portrait of the queen, the duke & duchess of Westminster and the Pirelli Calendar, all within a few pages of each other? 

The time Life books are fantastic - I bought one at Hardwick Hall a while ago and quickly realised I should have bought the set - so I was really happy to find two of the others on Sunday :-)

Thanks to everyone who has visited my journal over the past few days. We had a great time seeing Gill's sister and her husband before they start their new life in Scotland.  I'll catch up with your journals over the next day or two/three/four :-)