On Saturday 23rd May 2009, I, together with about 20 other members of the Fab Collective, took our cameras to Lark Lane in the Aigburth district of Liverpool.  Our mission was loosely defined as to document Lark Lane; the people, the shops, the community.  As an added bonus, the monthly farmers market was also being held at one end of the street.

Now, Lark Lane is an interesting street in itself with a very strong community feel.  The main road is lined with cafes, bars, restaurants, beauty salons, everyday shops as well as novelty shops and even a tattoo parlour.  Looking upwards, you get a sense of Lark Lane’s history as above the present day shop signage sits an indication of what was there before.  Off the main road are a colourful mixture of residential streets most of which are terraced, but there are the occasional surprises to be found.

The type of photography for the day was clearly a mixture of documentary, street and candid portraiture.  Areas of photography that I’ve not really ventured too deeply into before.  So, the day promised to be a fresh challenge for me which is one of the reasons why I joined the Fab Collective; to challenge myself and push my photography to where it’s never been before.

The day was immensely fun.  Not only were there some very friendly, approachable people in Lark Lane who were obviously very proud of their heritage, but it was also good to get to know some of the other Fabbers a little better.

There were plenty of photo opportunities to be had, both in and out of the farmers market.  As someone who has been used to mostly landscape photography, I was used to taking my time to set up shots and waiting for moments to occur.  Often, if you miss a moment in landscape photography there’s a chance you can simply wait for it to return.  I found that this really wasn’t the case with street photography.  Those candid moments when your subject is both interesting and not aware don’t always last and aren’t always repeated.  There were plenty of times during the day when I felt rushed or frustrated because I was too late to realise that an interesting shot had just gone by.

After a good 5 hours shooting up and down the street, I decided to call it a day and head home to process my shots.  Since then, I’ve struggled somewhat with what I took.  Some photos I’ve processed and reprocessed only to result in something which – it’s hard to describe, but – just doesn’t feel right.  Perhaps, the photos I’d taken weren’t particular great to start with.  Perhaps, I don’t really know what the end goal is so processing becomes aimless.  Perhaps, I just don’t (yet) have the ‘eye’ for this type of photography.  Whatever is the reason why, I’ve come away from a great days shoot not really knowing how I feel about the results.

I’ve uploaded some of my shots and will put some forward for the Fab Collective gallery, but I feel I’m on the beginning of a learning and experience curve.  I know this is a good thing and it’s this sort of challenge that I want because, for me, starting at zero is the path to achieving satisfaction.  It’s just not a challenge if it’s too easy!

Success doesn’t come without the risk of failure.