A FORTNIGHT AT F/ 8

CO M M EN T

All images © Tim Clinch

A F O RT N I GH T AT F/8

Inspiration or explanation? This is the million-dollar question Tim Clinch asks this month as he recalls the seminal moments in his life in which one has consistently triumphed over the other.

ince the beginning of

Sthe dreadful time we are having in the coronavirus era, my life, like many people’s lives, has changed exponentially.

As a photographer who specialises in travel, my work has all but dried up. Some of my main clients, both for commissioned work and for picture sales, were airline magazines, almost all of which have either paused publication during the pandemic or closed down permanently. The two or three wine magazines that I could rely on for commissions have similarly halted production and who knows whether they will return or not. My only hope is that in these desperate times most of us find that a glass of wine or two helps the situation along a bit, so fingers crossed.

All is not lost, however, as I have been spending a lot of my time on Zoom, where, alongside a great friend and photography colleague, Joanna MacLennan, I am holding weekly sessions talking, looking at and sometimes arguing about the wonderful world of photography and all that’s in it (see @ twophotographers2020 on Instagram if you’re interested).

One of the questions that has been burning away in my brain during all this has been the one at the beginning of this column – inspiration or explanation – and I realise that, for me, in my career as a photographer, inspiration wins hands down every single time.

t won the first time I ever set

Ieyes on the photograph that changed my life and that I will take to my grave: Migrant Mother by Dorothea Lange. I wrote a whole column about it a couple of years back.

It won during the long and badly paid years I spent as an assistant, watching as several of the masters of their craft I was lucky enough to assist went about their business. The lesson I learned time after time was that planning was pretty much the key to everything in photography. Or, as Terence

THE PICTURES

These pictures are all from the wine magazines I work for and go to prove that a wine shoot is not all bot tles and glasses.

PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE MONTH

In June 19 5 4, at the age of 5 6, photographer Berenice Abbot t set of f with t wo companions from New York and drove south along US Route 1 capturing the road, its towns and inhabitants. From Florida motels made from buses to Maine potato farmers, Abbot t memorialised communities up and down the east coast until they reached Key West in Florida. Once there, they turned around and retraced the route to its nor thern terminus at For t Kent, Maine.

While I love Berenice Abbot t’s early work and her moving por traits of remarkable subjects such as James Joyce, Eugène Atget and Peggy Guggenheim, it is to her Highway 1 series that I return to time and time again.

Donovan once barked at me when I’d left something behind in the studio when we were on a location shoot, ‘Listen sonny, never forget the seven Ps: Prior Planning and Preparation Prevents P*** Poor Performance.’ Yes boss, sorry boss, etc.

It won the first time a still life photographer I was assisting pressed a copy of Irving Penn’s Worlds in a Small Room into my hands and said: ‘Here you go, you might like this.’

It won the time that a photographer I was working for asked me to type out a quote for a job for what I thought was a lot of money and, seeing the slightly startled look in my eyes, said to me: ‘Always remember, I’ve lost far more jobs by being too cheap than being too expensive. They want to think they’re hiring someone special.’

It won the time, when assisting a photographer whose work I had admired for a long time called Rolf Gobits, we went to the Hotel Meurice in Paris to photograph a prominent member of then prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet. I’d been assisting for about five years by then, had learned a lot and was wondering if I was ready to go out on my own. Rolf decided where he wanted to shoot (next to a big window with beautiful soft light coming in) and set up his wooden 5x4 Gandolfi (one of which I was to buy for myself later on, my favourite ever camera). Rolf took a meter reading and asked me to sit in for a Polaroid. Slightly baff led at the lack of lighting, I did so and Rolf held my eyes and said: ‘Right, four seconds at f/8. Sit still and don’t blink’.

At this point, while we were waiting for the Polaroid to develop, my head exploded and every fibre of my body lurched and twitched. In my mind all the things I wanted to say, or actually scream out loud, were

WHAT TIM DID THIS MONTH

Getting inspired by revisiting some of my old books which I haven’t looked at for too long, and thoroughly enjoying inspiring some new people in our workshops by introducing them to some of the greats of photography.

Realising how much I miss Spain and taking pictures there. Before all this started I visited Cadiz at least three times a year and now it’s been nearly 10 months and frankly I’m desperate for a glass of ice-cold sherr y.

Heard someone use the dreadful acronyms BCV and ACV for the first time. ‘Well, of course BCV none of us would have thought any thing like this would ever be possible and ACV ever y thing is going to be completely different.’ (If you haven’t guessed, it’s Before and After Coronavirus).

careering around. ‘Rolf, you can’t possibly make this man sit still for a portrait for four seconds. And you can’t possibly shoot on 5x4 at f/8. And while we’re about it, where is all your f lash equipment? All you’ve got are a couple of small tungsten lights and a f limsy ref lector.’

Rolf peeled the Polaroid apart to reveal a simply beautiful, perfect shot (even though it was a picture of me), soft, gentle light wrapping itself around my slightly puzzled visage. I still have the Polaroid and treasure it, as it was one of the most inspirational moments in my photographic lifetime. Yes, rules are important. Yes, they need to be learned, but the lesson I learned on that day was that rules are also made to be broken.

Explanation? Yes, important but most times you can get that by asking. Inspiration? Once you start looking it’s everywhere.