I have one more shoot to go after this shoot but I wasn't able to do both shoots at the same time. Hopefully once my final shoot is done I will have enough images to be able to start making my book and be on my way to finalising my project.
Why the Grand Western Canal?
Every year I go to stay with my dad at his caravan and we always visit here at least once during the week. I always get forced to go on the walk but then always love its once were there. I'm always negative about going because the walk is 5 miles long and I've never been a fan of exercise. I have been waiting to do this shoot since the start of the project but I wanted to wait until the weather was a bit nicer and closer to the time of year that I would usually visit. I visited the Grand Western Canal in Tiverton first because the caravan shoot was taking a little longer to organise. I asked my dad if he wanted to come along with me because I would normally go with him and I thought it might bring back more memories if I went with him but unfortunately he wasn’t free, so I went on my own. This actually became more beneficial to me because when I was on my own I had to make sure I was going in the right direction even though I couldn’t have got lost and I thought more about where we would usually stop along the way for a break.
I wanted to be able to do the whole 5 mile walk because that’s what I usually do when I visit the canal but the weather was a bit unpredictable so I think I made it to about 4.5 miles as I then got caught in a hailstorm shower.
Where did I want to shoot?
I just wanted to go and do the 5 mile walk and take pictures when a memory came back to me but the one thing I really wanted to shoot as the one memory I have there is of the boat on the barge that is pulled along the canal by the horse. The walk is very pretty and scenic so I was away that most of my pictures would just look like landscapes so I wanted to try and make some pictures that were a little different.
My contact sheet:
Like my Haytor shoot I was cautious that my images would all just look like landscapes. Most of my images were landscapes but there were a few that looked a little different so I was more drawn to those images.
I got home and edited my pictures which is when I saw some images looked like they would be used as a screensaver image on a computer but there were some that really reminded me of why I go there. I showed these images in a crit and was told that a few images could be imagined being seen on a postcard which obviously isn’t the style I was going for but I took the opinion on board. I then thought about the pictures looking like postcard images and postcards are sent when people are on holiday to show people the landscape of the place visited - which is a way of recording a memory so I thought it could fit in with my aesthetic. This shoot made me realise I was on the right track to finishing my final imagery and I was really excited to start making my final piece. It made me more positive to finish my shoots off in the next couple of weeks following on from this shoot.
My favourite images:
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