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dark sand

I first remember getting mega excited about photographing sand on a beach c.1981: Blackpool, a college coach trip organised by the graphics department; they offered spare tickets to the photography department and a couple of us went along for the day out. I shot several rolls of black and white film with growing fervour, thinking this was the best thing I'd ever done. I didn't even mind the fact that after a '15 minutes, guys' stopover at a motorway cafe on the way back they promptly drove off after two minutes and left us behind which meant us having to hitch back to Nottingham.

I can't remember if that would have been before or after setting up the camera for the zone system but probably before as I found I couldn't print the negatives to give the tonalities I thought I'd got. It was all rubbish. Over the subsequent decades there have been several more 'sand on the beach' attempts with that first disappointment always tainting the thrill of trying again. The outcome almost invariably turned out the same, more dire, dumb rubbish.

Today on the way to a day out at the beach I told myself I wasn't going to even bother, but didn't leave the camera behind all the same.  And inevitably when walking down to the sea (not too cold) I couldn't help but start another session, taking 400 more, thinking through ideas that seemed potentially interesting, while resigned to the usual ultimate fail.

Unexpectedly then, I got home and found I like some of these (today at least). I'm not used to this, I am used to cringing my way through a quick peek and accepting another defeat, I'm no good at sand. I'm aware my standards may well have plunged to an all time low, but it's crossed my mind I could maybe make a little Issuu book of these.