Michael Scott

I received a Flickr Mail on Sunday saying that one of my images has been selected to be part of the exhibition, The Best of Leeds, Vol 1, as part of Leeds Photo Week run by ExposureLeeds. The image was titled A Cold Crossing 1, and I took it on 17 January 2009 on a shopping trip to Leeds to collect my wedding suit which was being altered.

I’d never heard of ExposureLeeds or Leeds Photo Week before, nor of the exhibition, and I still know precious little. However, the image that you see above will be part of the exhibition at  the 42 New Briggate Gallery, Leeds, between 1 and 7 September. It will either be in printed form, or projected along with other images.

It is exciting to have some work selected to be part of an ego-boosting-titled exhibition, but I am kept in reality with two thoughts. How many images have been selected? I imagine the selection will be vast, and my image will be just a tiny part. And why pick this photo? I don’t think this is a particularly strong image, for the reasons below. I have many images of Leeds that I think are better.

It conveys some movement on the freezing cold street, but the composition, with the fence to the right and the chopped off roofs, could have been so much better. The movement in the left part of the image is blurred and confused. This was my intention, but at two seconds, I think the exposure was too long to have any real impact. I like the colouring of the image, but I was going through a ‘contrasty’ phase which has given it an unpleasant overall darkness.

I sound like I now hate the image, compared to my comments on the original (“I love this image”) which suggest that at the time I was more than happy with it. It shows how tastes evolve and the eye changes.

Regardless, I am proud to be part of the exhibition, no matter how small a part I play, and I will pop down between 1 and 7 September to see if I can spot my photo in amongst the probably countless others.