Beyond the Postcard mini project - struggles with scope - or how to get a focus of your work in progress portfolio

'Darling, I write a long letter because I didn't have the time to make it short.'

I've never been good with writing short pieces. Each time I get a word count, I usually exceed it with, well, maybe a third. There's so much to say and so many ideas going on in my head that I just cannot put myself through this.

It seems, same goes for photography. For years, I've been told that I should specialize in one or two areas of photography, the implication being that I would be better at what I'm doing if I focus on less than 15 things at a time. For years, I refuse to discard the genres I love. Somehow, cannot make myself overlook that amazing scenery in favour of the architecture in the background. 

When I go somewhere, I take pics of anything that appeals to me, regardless of genre (OK, maybe I tend to avoid some things but most of the time I come back with quite the versatile portfolio). 

Naturally, when I had to devise a project for Falmouth, I came up with a topic that would encompass everything I love: travel, landscapes, food etc. This idea sounds great when you take into account the whole lot of work I have to put in it - go to a place, take a picture, put the picture online, then write a blog post about it and tell the whole back-story. 

That's how I created Culture Crossroads - currently I have a Facebook page and blog - the place where I will try to show the place where I come from, the Balkans, the way I see it - as something worth visiting, much more than just a cheap tourist destination.

So far, so good BUT it turned out that I count way too much on writing to explain to people what they see on the image than to just create a coherent body of work (for example - 14 images that tell a story without me lecturing in the background).

Struggling head-on with the education system in the UK (which, honestly, has NOTHING to do with anything in Bulgaria), I was quite disappointed with my result from the previous module. So this module I was dead-set on doing something better. I've always been a perfectionist so to me any score below the highest one possible is a failure. 

So, unlike the previous module when I traveled around Bulgaria to capture some amazing yet less-known places around the country. This required a lot of logistics and travel in a time not exactly great for photography (July and the beginning of August in Bulgaria are any photographer's nightmare with intense heat and dull blue skies). So, to me, the portfolio of 12 images LOOKED coherent - after all, it was all in Bulgaria, it was beautiful and less-known. 

One of the images from last module's portfolio - known as the Flooded church.
Amazing place with interesting history behind it. 

 When I started compiling the work in progress portfolio for this module, though, it became clear that if I want to get the message across with my work, I will have to focus on one thing in particular. To me all images matter and have some meaning BUT to people outside of my head, obviously things didn't work that way. 

In some sense, pursuing a degree in Cultural studies and having a keen interest in history, I tend to take for granted things that other people deem specialized knowledge. It was particularly puzzling when I got feedback such as 'you should try to keep the horizon line straight' for the image with the church. At that time I was puzzled because I really have problems with keeping the horizon line straight when I'm shooting so I went the extra mile to straighten it. Then, it occurred to me to zoom in the image and I saw that what my tutor referred to was actually the waterline of the dam in the distance that does not coincide with the actual horizon. 

Another case - same module, same portfolio - was this image: 

What totally puzzled me in the feedback was the advice to 'correct converging verticals'. To me, there are NO converging verticals as it is a tomb - here is exactly what I wrote back: 

The image from the Thracian temple, also has converging verticals in some sense but this is not only due to the lens I used (Canon 10-18 at 10mm) but to the architecture of the place itself. 
To me it's obvious how this thing looks like in real life but I've been to numerous such places and didn't even think it would need any explanation but it dawned on me it badly does :)

It is a dome-like structure (I've attached the plan of the place as a JPEG) and all lines do converge at the top. Even though it is the biggest Thracian temple in Bulgaria, it is less than 5 meters in diameter so it is a really small enclosed space. I actually tried to correct the verticals but that led to twisting the other lines in the image (I've also attached my lame attempt to do this) because of the way these things are built. Since more images of Thracian tombs and temples are coming, I attached a bit of information as well. 

So, having been to more than a dozen such places, I didn't even think that anyone would consider the look of this image as a technical mistake. BUT obviously things weren't the case. 

Here is a diagram of how the place above actually looks like - the architectural differences, I mean: 

A diagram of the place - as you can see, the burial chamber is round and dome-like so technically there are no straight lines anywhere. But that is something I know and I cannot put as a text while submitting the work in progress portfolio. 

While writing this, it dawned on me that I can count on the back-story of the place to explain the viewer what the thing is and why it is significant. Throughout the years, I've discovered that images with a story do better than images with just a title so on my page, I always try to tell the story behind the shot. So, it was only natural that I adopted the tried and tested (and proven to perform well) practice to my new project. 

BUT when it comes to submitting a portfolio of a few images with titles only, consistency is not something that works the same way as on a Facebook page or a blog where you have extensive explanations going on with every image. 

What is more, Culture Crossroads has 6 categories - to make the narrative work, I had to break it down into some kind of meaningful chunks. So here are my 6 categories: 

• Feel the Religion
• Admire Architecture
• See Nature
• Be Part of Culture
• Experience the Present
• Remember the Past

BUT at the time I cannot just throw in a few images from each category because, as my first work in progress portfolio proved, it simply doesn't work. When I first submitted it, I had no idea what I was doing - so far, since that's my first-ever formal training in photography, I've figured out how to present single and most of the time - isolated images. Never a coherent body of work. So I had no idea what the problem was...

Then I went to Crete and came back with amazing images (some of which even of the WOW type that make you look twice and crave to visit the place). When I compiled a trial portfolio for a webinar though, it turned out that coherence is STILL a problem (ugh!). Here is why:

I chose to start chronologically so this was the first image in the portfolio - a breathtaking sunrise at Iraklio port (Iraklio is the capital of Crete)

As much as I adore this image - really, I'm not much of a lark type of person so I genuinely hate getting up so this is one of the rare and beautiful sunrise images I have in my portfolio - I was told that it, and many of the other images, does not fit in with the rest. Why? Because what I am showing in the portfolio is too versatile (that thing just backfired on me). 

Same goes for this image: 

It is a Venetian fort famous for its ghosts that appear at the end of May. Long story short, it's a haunted place. Amazing architecture. BUT this one and the one from the port have few things in common:

• both are on Crete
• the fortress above and the one at the port (seen in the background) are both created by the Venetians around the same time
• they are both museums

Similarities end here (if we set aside the architectural similarities which I can point out but are of no relevance to my work as a photographer - at this stage - since I don't have images of the insides of the fortress at Iraklio). 

While, flipping though the images from Crete and choosing what to include in the portfolio, I collected everything that spoke to me in some way. That's how this image ended up on the last slide of my presentation: 

This is an abandoned house and I took the image through the window. It looks really creepy to me - maybe because in Bulgaria abandoned places are usually deemed dangerous and haunted - but I can almost see someone (ghost, zombie, whatever) creeping in though one of these doors.

There must be something in this image because both the tutor and my peers loved it. I too am keen on taking pics of abandoned houses and I admit it is a powerful message - especially if I start telling you the back-story of the place and its location - but somehow I thought of the other images (which are much more appealing to the non-trained eye) were better. Nevertheless, I agreed to search through the images from Crete and find some more abandoned places. And they started forming a pattern: 

Abandoned windmill, again on Crete

Ancient Doric town of Lato

Naturally, there was a proposal that I do just abandoned places for my project BUT the versatile nature of my photographic experience rebels against the very concept of narrowing things down this much. I simply cannot do this for various reasons:

• entering abandoned buildings is illegal and it's deemed trespassing in Bulgaria - you can get into a lawsuit, the police station or even hospital for that. Many buildings are left to rot on purpose so that the land would be reused for some new buildings. Even if the place is a historical monument, it can STILL be left to rot.
• some buildings can be photographed only from the outside
• I really want to do the full scope of the project (and have all categories developed)

These were some of the cons I had to list. 

On the other hand, one of the points of my project is to break the stereotypes of travel and tourism in the Balkans - there is much more to see and experience than just the resorts and the cheap alcohol. So these images - well, some of them really - especially those places with a story (like the Venetian fort or the flooded church) - have a powerful impact and a message. 

That's why I decided that I'll try, at least, to present a portfolio of abandoned places only - some in Bulgaria, some on Crete - to show a more coherent body of work, for the sake of good presentation :) 

This, however, doesn't mean that I will be setting aside my whole concept of the project - on the contrary - I will select coherent images from the current pool of images (because this module I came up with a huge amount of files and topics to choose from) and see if I can make it work this way. 

Next module, I'll choose another aspect of the Culture Crossroads to present (while keeping the work on all aspects available - because different times of the year offer different things to shoot). That's how I intend to enrich my project and still keep the work I submit for grading focused (while avoiding the too narrow scope). 

So - say hello to the subsection of Admire Architecture - Beyond the Postcard which will show abandoned buildings across the Balkans (wherever and whenever I find them).