Eclipse photos and narrative confusion

Now presenting, for the first time ever..... some photos from the Siberian Eclipse mission. Starting to put together some ideas for how my book will flow using rough scans from prints as a guideline- plan being to only scan the negs of the definite contenders after doing some test scans to get an understanding of the colour parameters. This will probably turn out to be a silly way of going about it but it seems logical at the moment. Sequencing is going to be as much of a mission as going to Siberia, some things work visually together but that doesn't necessarily mean that the meaning is enhanced. The easiest thing to do is one image per spread on the right but for my purposes that then loses some possible connections. I 'd like to layer up as many connections as possible without losing the individual resonance of each image. Arse, and I haven't even gotten near print issues yet... but in a way it is enjoyable almost like playing Snap trying out different relationships between the photos.

To Siberia

So slightly apprehensively setting off to Novosibirsk, Siberia, for the Solar Eclipse on August 1st. A partial eclipse will be visible in the UK early in the morning. I was outside Edinburgh Zoo, on my way to the festival, for the 1999 eclipse. I think the animals were making strange sounds but that could just be the perversion of memory. I took a photo- would probably have burnt my retinas out if it hadn't of course been cloudy. But the light still made a very strange effect through the clouds, streaks of light. I can't find the photo of course....

Martin Parr

Like every photographer must do eventually, no matter how different the intent, I find myself photographing following in the footsteps of Martin Parr. Sometimes I think that there must be several Martin Parr's, or perhaps, more likely, his sleep patterns are like those of Margaret Thatcher. His photos from the total eclipse in Cornwall in 1999, show the impact of the weather on any photographer, they are good, but not fantastic... but of course there is something terribly British about the bloody rain: '"The weather bonded people together," reports Parr. "The atmosphere was good- humoured - it was the Dunkirk spirit, and all that."' The best photograph, most classically Parr in its post-modern document, comes from the following day: 'On returning home to Bristol, Parr realised he hadn't documented the full story. "I got back and switched on the 11pm news, and all the newspapers had this picture on their front cover. I thought, `I must photograph people reading it.' So the next day, I went to Weston- super-Mare to find someone."'

Parr does work constantly, which I really respect, and this must feed back to the ground-breaking work that he does and has produced, ground-breaking regardless of personal taste. In addition, surely Magnum must appreciate him keeping them in post-its and beer for their annual knees-up. (quotes from this Independent feature, images Magnum)