After a sleepless night worrying, went today to do my first shoot at the Tower Hamlets Archive. I arrived early as the librarian had suggested and indeed, found it very quiet, and more spacious than I remembered. A distinct lack of researchers was a bit of a surprise and as I intended this part of the project to be about people, that was a bit of a problem!
but never mind, I took some deadpan shots of the archive, and got some of the librarians in too. the place lends itself well to deadpan…cabinets drawers rows of stuff etc. eventually a couple of 'punters' dropped in and they didn't need persuading to be in shot, although one said he wanted make up.
out of the 10 images I took, 2 stood out to me as they were taken, it will be fun to see if they are the most interesting, one is of an open map cabinet (don't ask!). it looked quite abstract and not really the style or subject I had planned, but anyway….. the other was of a high stretch of filing with Malcolm the librarian in the corner. Will see on monday how they pan out. Have planned for another visit anyway, the people at the archive are lovely, very helpful and fascinated by the WISTA. Its funny but its only when I use the WISTA that I feel like a proper photographer…
annoyingly managed to waste one of my last few polaroids when testing, I seem to have an average of "use one, spoil one" but soon I will have none left anyway, but at least I won't need to carry the polaroid holder with me everywhere!
Next shoot Friday 6th march
