I get very involved with lighting in many of my pictures, and every now and again some dip-stick says –‘why don’t you use natural light?’ –this is usually after I have sweated my cojónes off for the past hour or so trying to attain a pleasing level of light, and I imagine coming as a result of seeing something that they assume has been lit naturally. Now I’ve got nothing against someone just putting something down and shooting it au naturalé, it’s more that I’ve never been able to do it myself with any degree of success. I’m a bit like that gunfighter who when challenged couldn’t hit a can in the distance, missing several times and being berated as a fake, -but when he was allowed to draw from his holster shot it several times whilst still in the air, -well, something like that. Anyway, to shut this person up I conceded that when I had finished the shot I would turn off					all the lights and open the blinds and shoot the result. When I picked up the film I’d forgotten about this (the alternative version only took about 2-minutes), and at first thought it wasn’t mine as it was virtually unrecognisable as the same picture. I suppose it just goes to prove that it’s not as simple as just plonking things down and shooting them ‘naturally’ –otherwise everyone would be at it, -and nobody would be any better than anyone else. I often wish I could subscribe to the romantic notion of just going off into the sunset with a camera over my shoulder and just shoot what I happen to see and come back with brilliant results, but for me it’s always involved planning and forethought, not to mention suffering and pain. Alternatively, maybe you prefer the daylight version below and I’ve been barking up the wrong tree all these years…