End frame: Evening Tracks, Swaledale by Garry Brannigan

Robert Hewitt

I am amateur landscape photographer. Now that I am semi-retired, I am able to focus rather more on taking images. Although based in Surrey, my favourite places are coastal and hill scenes especially those of the west coast of Scotland. When time allows, I also enjoy trips to Southern Africa. In addition, I enjoy a project of finding trees with shapes which can be interpreted as something else. I enjoy printing the better images.

rdhewitt.co.uk

I first met Garry Brannigan in March 2007, a year or so after he had started to provide photographic workshops. My reason for attending was simple; I had bought a DLSR when they came below £1,000 and needed help to get it to do what I wanted. In the event, the necessary information was provided very quickly at the first session before we went out on location. I so enjoyed this first experience that I, like many others, rebooked for subsequent workshops. Of course, the content changed from the mechanics of the camera to a greater understanding of what works in good compositions and different situations.

Garry has been running his workshops since 2005 after a career spent in editing photojournalism on UK national newspapers. He is based near Swaledale, where I first met him and, through him, I have been fortunate to explore much of the Scottish west coast developing a passion which has seen me return most years.

This slot is called End Frame and I was asked to contribute comments on an image which has influenced me. Like many others have said this is a rather awesome task as so many good images abound by many famous photographers and some less so. We get bombarded with images good and bad through social media and so many stay on computer drives never seeing a printer. Garry encouraged us to print our images - sometimes with surprising results! I often find images once printed move between keepers and not; the immediate impact may not be the lasting one.

The image I have selected is one of Garry’s early images from Swaledale which introduced me to some of the elements of composition. As part of his workshops, he shows some of his images and invites comment. Essentially a simple picture from which further ideas and styles naturally develop, but one which made an impact when I first saw it at that first workshop. I am pleased to see that it has retained a place on his website.