Double Take

They say I take after my grandfather...

On the right, some old pharmacy bottles I’ve had for years. Actually, pharmaceutical practice, even in this modern day and age, is as much art as science. For the better care of patients, actually. OK, that's my turn in the generation game.

On the left, my grand-dad, Len. His turn was working for the Coal Board, and in his spare time, a qualified ladies' hockey referree and tennis umpire actually. I was very close to him and spent many hours tramping the fields, streams and lanes around his and my grand-mother’s house on the outskirts of Sheffield. He had an extremely quirky and eclectic outlook on life. I was never so happy as when he and I were rummaging in his garage for “bits and bolts” to “sort that out”.

I wanted a lo-fi feel to “blending” the generations in an image today. It also needed to be a single image, straight out of the camera, without the help of fancy digital filters. So, with much malarkey with a Stanley knife, cardboard, Cokin filter mount and guessing exposure (TTL? Forget it!) - in fact, running with total manual settings on instinct.

Please note: this image has not been harmed in any way by Photoshop.

So, here you are. I think he would have approved…