End frame: ‘Shadows on the wall, Firostephani’ by Clive Minnitt

Sue Shackleton

After working at the corporate coal face of marketing communications for over 30 years, I managed to retire early and have now moved to Orkney to spend my days photographing the glorious colours of the sea and sky, birds and buildings, landscape and northern lights while my husband digs at the celebrated neolithic sites across the county (yes, Orkney is a county).

As other people have confessed here, writing this piece is much harder than you think so I take my hat off to all contributors.

There is no doubt that the photographs of Charlie Waite got me started on working more seriously towards making better images. It was the purchase of a couple of greetings cards, published by Waite and Tait and including the iconic image of cows on the beach, that led me to the Light and Land photography workshops. In 2006 I set off for Vermont, New England for my dream holiday – to meet up with a group of like minded photographers - and Phil Malpas and Clive Minnitt.

That was the start of my adventures with Clive and Phil – and where I received one of the most enduring pieces of advice for photographic composition, embodied by my Endframe choice. It was delivered by Clive and it goes something like 'mind the gap' – at least that's how I remember it. Not a health and safety instruction when clambering over the countryside in search of the perfect spot but a reminder to look again at your arrangement and make sure that there is clear separation, no matter how small, between the key elements to help to lead the eye around the frame and clarify the intent of the photographer.