Intermedia, series of photos of The Canal

'to see'

'faic' Scottish Gaelic for 'to see'

This is a preliminary set up of only two out of the four in the series. I will go out on another sunny day and position them better in their suitable locations along the river.

The brief was titled 'Journey'. I approached it wanting to make the passer by's journey more relaxed and enjoyable by slowing them down and making them 'see' what is around them, to notice things that might interest them or make them see their everyday 'Journey' in a new light.

The idea stemmed from a personal relaxed journey on a sunny day through Old Town and the Meadows in Edinburgh. My journeys are usually rushed but on this one I was relaxed and walking to get my photos developed with no pressure to rush. I observed things more closely, how everything looked different in the sunlight - calmer, more peaceful and friendly. I walked down the path to the Meadows (which a few hours before had been swamped with people marching through on an Anti Racism rally) and had just been speaking to mother Jane. I watched the huge police horses marching up the path, and instead of thinking about why they were there, I thought about how much I love horses and miss being around them. It conjured up fond memories of my childhood.

The next thing I observed was a toddler who was so intrigued by a man playing some skin drums that he kept ignoring his mum calling to him so the man playing the drums stopped and was saying "go back to mummy, to mummy!". The Meadows was full of families taking their kids to the playground and people walking their dogs and students playing tag rugby. So much was going on that I was grateful I had the time to take it all in on my relaxed Journey.

This is what I want the passerby to experience, just to simply slow down and take in their surroundings and not be rushing and rushing to do the next thing. 

I took the photos on a sunny day using my Olympus OM-1, a wonderful combination to produce nice grainy bright prints. The 'to see' verbs on each board are languages of the top four Nationalities in Edinburgh - Scottish, English, Irish and Polish. I used Scottish and Irish Gaelic. This and the small size of the type is intended to slow down the passerby by making them want to get closer to read/translate it.

yup. That's it. Better images of the project will follow...