Jim Walker

Number two. Witney to Motherwell.

First van move. Stevenage to Glasgow.

Jimmy and his son Chris at their workshop just outside the town centre of Beith. They make custom parts from plumbing to structural components for buildings.

I felt it was important to include some off High Street businesses to add variety.

Nonnas is a newly opened chip shop in Beith that was until recently Fryer Tucks, although it had been closed in that guise for a couple of years.

I really like the contrast in this shot and again I chose to include a little more of the street for context. The bright blue sky adds a dimension that was completely absent from those old black and white plate images. The newly installed sign has a flaw that is waiting to be replaced, the gold panel with the phone number is not straight. Really annoying for the boys but great as a documentary image.

I made a huge mistake with this portrait, we had been chatting and discussing options this is what I thought I wanted. I was pretty happy with the image until I downloaded it and viewed it on the larger screen and saw that he had a fish supper growing from his head.

Careful retouching in Lightroom allowed me to separate subject from background a bit more by toning down the whites and exposure overall then painting out the highlights even more with a brush tool.

Debbie in the centre of the group is the boss at Envy hairdressing. The team all wanted to be in on the action and were all happy to be photographed individually despite the odd mock protest, some even came in on their day off. how flattering is that?

Once again the sun was a bit strong despite the early hour but we needed to shoot when there was a gap in the diary. The light on the blonde sandstone is great, bringing out the rich colour and texture of the stone.

The shop is one of the best dressed in the town best appreciated in the morning light as it is here.

I shot the portraits inside out of the direct sunlight with those big windows providing a great soft light.

This is Debbie who had a very definite idea of how she wanted to portray herself.I love the sparks in her eyes and the textures of her clothing and hair.

Mirrin had a great look, really striking. I chose this portrait as it shows her in the setting of the salon.

This is probably my favourite portrait from the series far, Soft light, texture, detail and a beautiful enigmatic subject. it was a close run thing not to submit this as first choice.

Denise, the second time around. The first set had a strong highlight that it did not notice initially so she agreed to go again.

Marion at Paws n Claws on Main Street was kind enough to give me some of her time even though she was not mad keen on having her picture taken. The shadow of the chimney on the building opposite was something that I had not counted on when planning the shoot. I had to tone the shadow down significantly in post production as there was little chance of being able to reschedule the shot.

As a variation from the flat, front on images so far in the series I enjoyed the opportunity to show a little more of the street in this shot. A happy break from parked cars and light traffic allowed me to capture this. There was a lovely warm light as the strong mid morning sun was diffused by heavy rain clouds that also made for an interesting sky. I used a little bit of on camera fill flash that was quite subtle at this distance.

Fiona is the funeral director who was joined for the shoot by the Co-op community pioneer Laura Newlands. I took a series of portraits both inside and outside together and separately. As Fiona is the core of the business I had decided to focus on her. I considered a more environmental style portrait but I really liked this one with her soft, thoughtful expression. I felt that the series also needed an indoor flash portrait as the majority are taken using natural light.

Suzanne and Mark at MS Alltrades office on Eglington Street Beith. Framing a photograph means choosing what you want to be in it but also what you want to exclude. I wanted a clean shot of the frontage but there were parked vehicles that I could do nothing about, street furniture and other distractions that made this angle and frame the best option. I considered putting mark and Suzanne to the right but that would have unbalanced the frame too much. There is nothing that could be done about the lamp post other than minimise the impact by aligning it with the window frame.