As the images arrive I keep thinking "I wish I'd taken that" or "that's got to be the best from that area". A couple of days later another picture turns up and it is becoming increasingly likely that we will have a big editing job on our hands. Group edits are a very interesting thing. Dominant personalities can have a disproportionate effect on what gets chosen and on the mood of the project. Quiet people who have strong opinions can make a real difference too and the evidence from our past projects tells me that the final edit is far greater than the sum of it's constituent parts.
I remember being confused as a photography student about the phrase "body of work". It sounded dull and not something that a young photographer should worry about. I'm not a young photographer any more and I have come to appreciate the concept of a body of work. I am extremely appreciative of bodies of work with a theme and many authors. My favourite books are often collections of essays or pictures on a single topic. The best of these have a wide range of contributors and the kind of web gallery that UK09 will produce will see the work of thirty and forty year veterans with international standing sitting alongside that of very young photographers just starting out in their careers.
Yesterday afternoon I spent about three hours sorting out my contributions to the project. I haven't decided on my final ten yet but I thought that it would be cool to share some of the candidates here:
