Paradise Lost

A shot, taken a couple of years back, from the small town in the west of Scotland (Linwood) that I grew up in. When we moved there, I was 3, it was 1971, and everything was shiny and new; the schools, the roads, the parks, the houses. It really was very nice and community-spirited and a great environment to grow up in. All the men worked at the newly opened car factory and the women either stayed at home to look after kids, or had jobs in Paisley (5 miles) or Glasgow (15 miles). The car factory shut, and it all changed.

Now look at it. This is taken at the shopping centre - mostly closed, boarded up, rubbish and dirt everywhere. The town is penned for re-development, but it'll likely never be what it was again. Very sad.



Ivan

Setting tasks...

It was on my mind that not only had I not posted in ages, I'm still learning... and along with the fact that Gareth has mad skills... :) but also that I did not post any shots from my neighbourhood as per the suggested idea a while back...

Anyways - out here right now the sky is hazy and very bland / grey. It's hot as hell, but not a hint of nice blue. So today I went out with a couple of rules.

1) None, or at least minimal sky.
2) Tight, reportage, human shots only.
3) Try to use the range of the equipment better
4) Try to not melt the camera or myself...

I'm interested in your thoughts... - there are a few shots here - probably too many for one post, however... I'm keen for your thoughts...

Oh, all shots were taken within 1 mile from my house.

I''m sure I could have done a lot more in Photoshop, in camera, in composition - please - let me know anything that comes to mind...













Cheers,

Bluey.