Same old same old

It wasn't an auspicious start for yesterday's agricultural show. Low, dark clouds was hanging on the fell tops and rain was in the air. The weather folk promised it to turn warm and sunny, which it eventually did. To the discomfort of the sheep.

There were plenty of people there with cameras, some amateurs like myself and some professional. I always like watching the newspaper photographers at work. It's like any job that has a creative side to it in that the crativity has to be shelved in order to get the money shots. It's no surprise that the pictures you see in the local press from events such as this are the same year after year, only the faces changing. Once more the photographer I saw was gone by lunchtime. A quick roam around the various show sections and activities. Get a couple of shots from each - kids with animals are good. Then off to the next job or wade through the hundreds of snaps rattled off at six frames per second. Still, we all do whatever pays the bills but I'd rather poke my eyes with sticks than take hack shots for a living.

 

The advantage of not doing photography as a day job is that you can do it the way you want to. In some ways that makes it harder for someone like me who is always trying to do something different. Most of the time I don't manage it! There are only so many ways you can photograph sheep judging for one thing.

I was looking at some photographs of country shows the other day which were in the style of Martin Parr. It's not as easy a style to copy as it may seem. However it's becoming one that is getting overdone for me. Especially when the same on camera flash technique is used. I think it also makes people go out looking for subjects to fit the style. I'm pretty sure that's what Parr himself does.

It's similar to photographers who go to events looking for 'characters' to photograph. I'm not sure what I'm looking for at these shows, but it isn't characters or pictures which show British eccentricities. Not all the time at any rate. If I see something which is a bit off the wall I'll photograph it. Particularly if it helps tell the story of what goes on.

When there are animal involved there is always the unexpected to try to be prepared for. Making decent pictures of them is another matter. It's nothing like posing a child with a cute looking lamb!

What I think I'm trying to capture is the way that for the people who make these shows happen is a way of life. One that is outside the understanding of the increasingly urbanised mass of the British public. I'm also becoming interested in how it isn't the sole preserve of old men - the characters which get focussed on.

Doing my research on sheep farming I've come to realise that it's decline has been predicted to get worse for at least thirty years. Things may have declined, and in some ways they have changed. One thing that has changed are the predominant breeds. Talking to one of the show committee he told me how one breed used to be entered as a rare breed but now has its own class. It's 'Eorosheep' which are changing sheep farming. What's more they are scooping the prizes. And not all the sheep folk are doing it full time. Either they are farmers who have diversified, or they have some other source as their main income. The end result is that, for now, sheep will safely graze.

Something else I've discovered is that there is a genre of livestock photography which some photographers specialise in. As with all genres, however, it's a case of taking the same photographs over and over. There is an acepted way to pose a sheep, for example. No different to anglers' trophy shots I suppose!

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