Late change. My picture featuring a cliff was taken in Ireland and shows the Cliffs of Moher. While this fitted with my purposes at the time I made this, the starting point for this piece wasn’t my work, regardless that I have shaped and changed the work many times. For my exhibition, it would simplify permissions if I just used my own work. I therefore researched some similar cliffs in terms of height, shape and approachability, looking to replicate the typology of the original piece. I found several places to visit in the far north of Scotland and planned a short trip. The cliffs I chose are near Thurso, Wick and John O’Groats. This is a 6-hour drive from home. Two days before my trip, my father died. This changed my trip as the time on my own in the car and out with the camera would become time for introspection. Lots of time to think about my work and the deaths of those close to me and of my research and creative efforts working alongside the sense of loss. It is also interesting to consider that the end of my degree studies could also be thought of as a time of loss. My father wanted to leave his body to medical research, so there is no funeral going to happen anytime soon. His body will be sent to Dundee University, and we are told that the funeral could be up to two years in the future. My sister wants some kind of ceremony to mark his passing, but to me, this feels odd. There is no funeral, no body, no wake, no gathering. It’s just a social media post suggesting we all light a candle and listen to hymns on YouTube. All with the knowledge that a real funeral is yet to happen. I don’t have a huge sense of grief right now, but maybe that will come. When I have a long drive or am working with the camera, my mind can wander, and this loss will be high up in my consciousness, and who knows what paths I might go down: memories of my father or family, ideas around my body of work which trigger other creative possibilities or thoughts of my future research or studies or of work in my chosen field of death studies or more.

Below, I show the original work from Ireland and two images which are very close to my original idea. In the original, the cliffs appear very white and darken towards the bottom. I have copied this idea in my first example, although not an exact replica. The texture of the rockface in these two attempts is very close. I note that in this example, the cliff edge was fenced off and it wouldn’t have been safe to attempt to cross the fence and try to descend the cliff I was on so as to change my perspective on this cliff I was photographing. For this reason I used AI within Photoshop to create a horizon close to where the horizon appeared in the original shot I used. I also chose a third piece, which has a different feel and where the darkness at the base of the cliffs is delivered through shadow from a nearby rock face captured in the low winter sun. Note that the third piece is in landscape format rather than portrait. The portrait format helps to emphasise the height and the drop of the cliffs.

Note that in these two test pieces, I have not added the child to the top of the cliff. I will decide on whether to do this just before I get my final selection printed.

I will ask for feedback on these works. The second test piece is the most obvious choice, yet there is something appealing about the final example, too.