I would sure miss the seediness. But, having kids and all, I could see why one would want to retake the area. These images, though meant to show the downside, could be viewed by some as an invitation, much like a Las Vegas advert or something similar.

In this case, it would be hard to provide any clues to the context without writing up an explanation; if one wanted the image to stand by itself and mean something, one would probably end up with a tacky-looking collage (but that might not be a bad thing, given the context at hand).

Good write-up and good series. I hadn't visited in a while, and so when I saw today's image, I was so shocked, thinking, "Has David gone nuts?!" So, thanks for te explanation. Good luck with Chromasia, Inc. (or whatever it is you add at the end in the UK)!

Preston: yep, they're very much like typical Las Vegas adverts, but what I hoped for here is that the backgrounds and the borders would help these images tell a different story.

Hans: yes, I should have realised that I needed to post the backstory too. I'll know better next time. As for chromasia, it's 'chromasia limited' :-)

I think the backstory helps to answer the "Has DJN gone mad?" question but it does nothing whatsoever to answer the "Are these good photographs?" question. That's my opinion, anyway.

Jamey: I'm happy to differ with you on that one :-)

I guess it depends whether you differentiate between things that are good and things that you like. I draw a distinction between the two. Take music, for example... There are plenty of songs that are corny as hell but I like them. And there are plenty of pieces of music that are very good but I don't like them (most classical music, for instance).

I appreciate there are a lot of people that lump these qualities together ("It's good because I like it"/"It's crap because I hate it") but for me, the two are entirely seperate.

My recollection of Blackpool was that of utter despair. Your images flatter that town. A town I recall even the women having tattoos on their forearms. I suppose these tawdry images encapsulate this rather well. I'm still not sure if you would do better were you to invest your abundant skill elsewhere but that's just a matter of taste I suppose.

I think this series has done well to highlight the problems encountered posting projects as a unit.

I've just been thinking (yes, even I think) most photography books have a backstory or opening narrative usually written by a third party. This sets the scene for the pictures that follow and of course because we are used to that format we accept it entirely without question.

On a photoblog it appears to me that we are all so engrained at viewing single daily images that it is perhaps not easy to engage fully with the process of project based blogging.

With the backstory now in place it is now easier for us to decide if the photographer is attaining his own intended outcomes.

I also think it might be worth remembering that there are many genres of photography and what I see here is an attempt to combine documentary image capture with a creative emphasis.

I enjoy this kind of debate. It helps us discover beliefs and attitudes that otherwise would never surface.

John - all fair points but here's where I differ...

Photo books are usually compiled over years, with the author selecting only the very best images that he's shot over a long period of time. The ones which stand out. Whereas here, the idea of a series is being used almost as an apology for the fact that these photos aren't the very best you guys have done. They're not the stand-out ones.

All of us know how hard it is to post quality shots every day so if you two are seious about doign a series, perhaps it's worth considering taking more time over it. Don't tie the series into the pressures of posting every day Seperate the two things however you like: maintaining the blog while also finding time to work on a series for a few months or perhaps putting the blog on hold while you get a decent body of work together to choose from.

Jamey: yes, and no. Yes, in many ways these aren't "the ones that stand out", but I don't think that's the point. For me, these work; at least in the context of the backstory. And this time the backstory came before the photographs; i.e. it's not an apology. I'm happy to accept that you don't like them though, but I'd also like you to accept that I'm evaluating them by a partially different set of criteria.

My first thought was that i dont remember seeing firefighters dressed like that when i worked in Blackpool. I have fond memories of Blackpool for wonderful warm and witty people and for some of the worst visitors to a town that i have ever come across. The influence of the Pleasure Beach on the town and its inhabitants is huge and as an outsider i was in awe of the power wielded by Geoffrey Thompson (?) and his crew, I felt it to be quite a sinister and oppressive place to work as the manager of a 'joint'. The photos so far show a snap shot rather than a story. A look back perhaps. Or maybe signalling an end of that image of the town. What is going to be your look forward? What is considered Blackpools hey day, when Butlins et al where also at their peak, or before that in the days of the big Hotels. When did the sleeze reputation take over from the family fun image. Sorry I have gone on. I look forward to the final installment.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not criticising you. I have a lot of respect for the idea of doing a series and I understand why you're shooting these particular images. All I'm really saying is that you seem to be approaching the series the same way you've previously approached the one-a-day shoots/shots and maybe it requires a different, more considered (and unfortunately more time-consuming) tack. That's all. I don't think it's something to be taken lightly.

Jamey: Are photography books a fair comparison? Take National Geographic for instance. They publish books with their best images every once in a while. However, the monthy magazine itself contains a lot of photographs. The photographs in the magazine itself are used to help convey a story. Not every photograph in a monthy issue is a ground breaking photograph, or is very interesting on its own. Is the expectation that a daily serial photo blog has to be like the National Geographic book where the photograph can stand on it's own to convey a story? Or can it be like the National Geographic magazine where a back story is required to make the photograph intersting?

You see what you know. In my mind a picture should tell the whole story if it´s wanted.

Andrew - if you read back, I was saying that books aren't a fair comparison. That a series requires a different approach to a daily blog.

Oh also, National Geographic is one magazine but it has many contributing photographers, each one typically having spent a good few months in their location, taking hundreds if not thousands of shots, only a few of which make it into the magazine.

Jamey: yes, a series does require a different approach, and in terms of photographing/documenting the inside of this empty hotel my attempts were generally pitiful and I will need to think about it before I attempt it again. I still reckon these ones work though ;-)

Karl: hmmm. Sure, the very best pictures do tell a good story, well, can tell a good story. Two things though: first, I don't think that any picture can ever tell the "whole story", and second, I'm not convinced that any single picture could tell the backstory I included in my description. It might be possible, but I don't see how unless the viewer already had a good working understanding of these issues.

What about if you did a screen grab of your backstory and saved it as a Jpeg. Then you'd have a picture that told the whole story ;)

Jamey - Sorry I guess I misunderstood.

Dave - The backstory you wrote today did change my opinion of the photographs. Now that I have a history I do understand where you are going with this series. The only issue I see, and it's one that I worry about too, when placing these images on a medium like a daily photoblog, most of our pages just place the image up front to stand on its own. There is no immediate text there to help carry the image. Do people who visit our pages take the time to go to the comments section (in your case also the archives section) to find a back story to a photograph? Or do they look at the photograph that may not stand well on its own and think "Wow so-and-so has posted a crap photograph, their site has been going downhill recently"?

Andrew: on a really good day, about 1 in 15 people will leave a comment, while on a 'bad' day that drops to about 1 in 230 (or thereabouts), so I suspect you're right: a lot of people will simply skip over a shot they don't immediately appreciate without reading the comments. What I can say though, is that even though these images aren't going down especially well, I am enjoying the various conversations we've been having over the last couple of days.

Haven't commented for ages, but still visit everyday.

...these aren’t working especially well without the context that would make them more intelligible.

It stirkes me that shots like I wouldn't bet on it, Take a seat, and even to some extent Sorry to interrupt, but, and At play on the beach are all extremely evocative and suggestive of the atmosphere and sense of a changing, twenty-first century Blackpool (‘tell stories’, if you like) without the need for an additional explanation of context. They may not juxtapose the seedier side of the seaside with the dripping ice creams and sandy shoes, or give a view down the darker alleys just off the gaudy front, but—in my opinion, at least—shots like these offer insight and ‘opportunities to think about the stories they might tell’ within an ‘eye-catching’ image, where the last two days’s shots don’t.

Maybe the pole-dancers (pictures, that is...) would have worked better as a series on the top of a skip on the seafront, discarded on the sand, and peering out of a phone box? Maybe not, but somehow—even as exhibits—these don't grab or provoke me to think about a changing Blackpool, even when they’re given context.

...or maybe I’m missing the point...?

I think the fact that it's a series will draw people into the comments section. For example:

Day one - "Hmm... I don't like this picture much."

Day two - "Hey, that picture's a bit like yesterday's. Still not a fan though."

Day three - "Yet another similar shot. What's going on? Perhaps I'd better read what Dave's written about them."

"Ah, that makes more sense."

i wanted to say thanks, not specially for the quality of the picture (which i like, though) but for the quality of your comment: as many of us here i'm following a lot of photoblogs every day and most of the time it seems to me i don't appreciate those pictures half as much as i should, just because i'm unable to put it in a context.

of course a part of the picture has to remain mysterious, get people to wonder and have their own interpretation and backstory, but you have to give enought clue to start with.

now that i've got a context to hang on, i'm looking forward to seeing your third picture with a new (and educated) eye! :)

Arthur: no, you're not missing the point, I guess it's just that i) the story, in this instance, is more obscure than I imagined, and ii) that the images (which, personally, I genuinely do like) are being less well received than I'd hoped.

Dave - It seems that you have a good meter to measure how well your photographs are received by the percentage of people that take the time to comment. Part of the problem I'm having at this point with my photoblog (it's only about a month old now). Is that I get little to no feed back. I think I'm getting a decent amount of traffic for such a young site (the most traffic I've had of any webpage). But at this point not a lot of people feel the need to comment or let me know what to think. The goal for me was to use the photoblog as a method of improving my photography by first of all getting out and shooting more, and secondly by paying attention to the feed back I get.

Hi Dave, I would like to thank you for having inited such an interesting discussion.

I'm usually attracted by a shot when it's able by itself to tell something, even if it's not the whole story as you've written above. In (almost) every artist's work, there's something the author want to tell (the whole story, probably) while the people staring at it perceive just a part of the original idea. This fact is usually accepted, and in most cases nobody would ask to a painter which is the meaning of a paint (and I would consider a sort of costriction to force an artist to trap a paint with a sort of user guide).
Anyway.

I have trying to fix some main facts:
1) A shot can tell a story;
2) A story can be appreciated better if accompained with photos;
3) A photo can be appreciated more if accompained with a story.

The 3rd point is a little disappointing to me: who is the artist in this case, the storyteller or the photographer?

"It’s hard to stop once the music gets started
’til the soles of your feet harden up like your heart did
Stepping in line with the sign of the timer
Seduced by the tune of the decadent dancer...."

"Decadence Dance" ~ Extreme

Good to know that the allure wasn't fatally seductive. :)

Thanks, DJN,

Perhaps ii) is a function of i)?

I'll be interested to see how this style evolves :)

Arthur: I think the focus it's not about the first two point, but on the last one. If you actually need to write down a story to complete your images, then they are not the images to tell that story. On the other hand, a written story can live without images, usually. Because written (and spoken) language allow you to add the time factor, colours and movement and somethimes sounds and smells.
You can do these thing also by images, but it's usually called movie, not photography. With a single-shot (or few shots) you don't have as much control on the story-telling as with the written language. It's like to write a short novel using just three words. Try, if you can. And the worst thing is that in the great part of cases, you don't have the time if you are not in a studio.

[ ...just a quote: "M'illumino d'immenso" - G. Ungaretti]

Um, moving away from the actual images that I really do not appreciate, I note people seem to be picking up on the images as a narrative (as in sequential posts to form a whole story). I still think, as (illustrated by your popularity) that you have a following that would endure/engage you no matter how long the timeline were for any given, project. I produced one that spanned about 10 days worth of posts and centred around a commerical newpaper printing press. I feel that I lost people along the way at times, as I became a little too engaged in detail, but overall felt that is was an interesting exercise for both myself and those observing. I wouldn't do it again as my interest is so broad and I find one image a day is constricting but I none-the-less can play a part in learning what you like.I found that it also made me especially critical of certain images as they stand out more as being less strong. I aslo feel that an image a day is alot better too than a triptych which I feel can trivialise a subject.

Cannot help but sense that you feel somewhat adrift and are looking for direction. Perhaps you have reached a plateau and are looking for the next inner challenge.

Pure conjecture but it is just what I sense.

Oh, must say, I apprecite these sort of debates Dave. I don't wish to over intellectualise but this definitely makes me think about my work and where I want to be. I feel I am slowly discovering this which is a leap. Last August, when I began the blog, I stated I had no subject preference for my photography. Observing others and my own progress plus the reaction of external bodies has meant a decision is being drawn. Not one I feel uncomfortable with which is good too. I love photography and the photoblog community has helped me appreciate it all the more...

"Cannot help but sense that you feel somewhat adrift and are looking for direction. Perhaps you have reached a plateau and are looking for the next inner challenge."

Yep, that about sums it up, though I think the biggest problem is time. Well, the lack of it at least. I'd like to spend a lot more time doing some sustained projects but I'm having trouble fitting them in.

marco: I do think this story can be told with photographs, but not with only three of them, at least not without a well elaborated backstory.

Yes, the back story adds to the images. In an exhibition they would work, with the backstory as part of the exhibit.

The backstory notwithstanding, I still don't find much value in this images. There doesn't seem to be any artistic merit to them. They are just lewd and leave an ugly taste. Maybe if these were part of a book about the history of Blackpool and it's rebirth--a sort of Before and After--then they'd be understood in context and tolerated. But like this, they don't appeal in the least. Sorry--I'm a great fan of your work and believe in experimentation and all, but I'd hate to see your work take this type of turn. (And of course I know it won't.)

"They are just lewd and leave an ugly taste."

It's late, and I'm about all written out this evening, but one of the other stories that I think these images tell is to do with pole dancing and the whole 'adult entertainment' business. I'll write about that tomorrow.

I think it does add more depth to the pictures. I for one was not aware of Blackpool's story nor how it was viewed by a majority, but I'm definately looking forward to the evolution of Blackpool and your documentation of the changes.

I'm not sure if it's really fair to derive a story of your own from photos taken by someone else, which you happened to come upon... especially not for a company, or a so called 'project'... This seems more like a walk on the beach (or wherever, sorry), stumble upon some photos on the ground, then you think to yourself "hrm, how can I make this interesting, what can I do to present this with some sort of 'meaning'" .. *GOT IT!*.. then snap snap and post... BAM, 3 days worth of images :) .. Which is COMPLETELY FINE I think, sure as long as you can admit that you put no more than 10-15 minutes of thought behind this "project" .. A real project (to me) would be something like tracking down one of these seedy dancers, maybe as they have aged, perhaps retired, sit down with them, and find out more about them. And during a conversation--perhaps a cup of tea--snap some photos. I guarantee you nobody would question the worth of those images, and that sort of a backstory. Because that has so much more merit than a series of photos of found photographs.. I think you (and maybe John too) need to come up with an alternative to your daily walks and stumble-upon shots.. Perhaps come up with some premeditated locations, ideas (for 'projects' I mean) .. But like everyone's been saying, that takes time, dedication. These are not something a daily-posting photoblogger always has.

Which brings me to the fact that I still don't understand why it has to be a photo a day, especially now with a growing audience that always demands more and more.. Though maybe they demand more and more is directly proportional to the amout of "thought" or thought-provoking dialog you seem to present with each photo?

Anyway, I give you guys credit at the least for the fact that you have somehow managed to stick to it.

I'm aware, as a resident, of Blackpool's image. This current debate is about it's 'regeneration', but what does that actually mean? The town has always been pubs, clubs, partying, etc. Let's be honest, that's where all the money comes from!
Blackpool has always been low wage service industry driven. I can't see this changing. Most of it's residents won't benefit greatly from the changes afoot.
Although It's a great opportunity to document all of this 'progress', much of it is a shallow veneer...
too tired now: yes, it works

To me, if you have to explain the hell out of an image to make it work you didn't really accomplish much photographically. Also, the chessy border looks like something straight out of the eighties. I am normally really impressed with your stuff but these images are poor in my opinion.

I haven't read all the comments but I get the overall impression that people aren't on your wavelength with this series. I understand the story you are trying to tell, and it is a worthy one but the images just look like bad early 80s album covers and without irony. It's good to see all the comments generated as putting up 'Chromasia' shots every day is very nice to look at but less likely to generate debate. It would be interesting to know what proportion of your fan base would happily view a 'Chromasia' shot every day indefinitely, probably a significant proportion and fair enough (and congratulations) as you have cultivated a recognisable style that looks very good, with some very handy photoshop tips thrown in. It is clear that you aren't happy to rest in this niche but maybe this forum isn't the best place to explore new ideas. I would agree with some other comments that say a daily photoblog is not the place to develop a project, the time constraints are ridiculously limiting. I have no doubt that you will move on to do some excellent photographic work which is very different, but you may well need to take some time out, sacrifice one for the other. Always be willing to give up what you are for what you might become etc...

Very interesting. I like it. Whenever I leave your site I leave with new inspiration! Keep it up!

I just want to tell you that I really liked your recent works. Unpopular (can tell from the dwindling number of comments) but I love it. It is unconventional and Refreshing. Somewhat Un-Davidish, But keep those surprises coming in!

miklos:

"I'm not sure if it's really fair to derive a story of your own from photos taken by someone else."

The 'other people's art' issue has cropped up a few times in discussions on chromasia, and I'll say the same as I said then. Personally, I don't have any problem with it, especially not in this instance where the whole point of these images is to tell a different story to the original by photographing them in a different context. Whether it was successful or not is another matter ;-)

"Which is COMPLETELY FINE I think, sure as long as you can admit that you put no more than 10-15 minutes of thought behind this "project.""

It's something I've been thinking about for months. In this instance I didn't have enough time to add to the project in a sustained way (just three shots on the same thing), but it is something I think about a lot.

"Which brings me to the fact that I still don't understand why it has to be a photo a day."

It doesn't have to be, it just is at the moment. This maybe something that I need to rethink at some point, but for the time being that's what I'm aiming for.

dave: maybe things won't change all that much, or as you suggest, the changes won't really benefit the residents. I don't know.

RyanT and Lex: yep, they do.

Lex: yes, I'll probably need to develop projects somewhere else rather than here, or, though I'm not sure how, present them in such a way that is more congruent with the daily image ethos.

F: thank F someone likes them ;-)

I think this is one of your finer images. My personal need is for the artist to be honest, and to tell me what the ARTIST sees about him. I believe that Truth comes from this insight into the relationship between the photographer and the subject.

It's (relatively) easy for us to be mere recording devices, always doing our best to capture an image - like a wild animal, perhaps - and present it to the viewer as if we ran a zoo. I admit that you have long had a MUCH finer zoo that anyone else I've seen, but I've cherished those pictures that came from inside you. And this series contains some of those prizes.

No recording - even a superb recording - contains the Truth. It comes from a deep description of how the circumstance involved PEOPLE. And in Art, the primary subject should always be the artist.

I will impatiently look forward to ANY future projects you attempt.

The series write up you did up there now just serves to remind me how hypocritical the councils are..

What do I mean by this?

Well they are deperately trying to get the Casino license agreement in place for Blackpool, so how on Earth by getting this license is it going to clean up the town? Surely it's only going to "infect" the area with more scenes of decadence like you are portraying in this series of images?

And this images just re-enforce my thoughts on it all.

Not that I am against this environment / scene, everyone should have the option to do what they want in life as long as it doesnt affect others..

If you've seen one strip show, you've seen them all.

I don't see the point of showing more than one of these.