The statistics behind the shooting of the images for my f panel
Why I chose the Victoria Line for my project was because I had researched the train frequencies and found that the Vic would give me the highest frequency of trains to work with. All being well, trains would be coming past my camera every two minutes, or just under. You will remember from previous posts that I was at a fixed location and could only photograph the one doorway in the train that ended up in front of my camera when the train stopped. Quite often I would see a really interesting doorway scene go past, only to stop just a bit further up the platform out of my reach – very frustrating; the occasion that sticks in my mind was just before Christmas, seeing a man holding an inflatable banana taller than himself ……….. in a bear hug!
Victoria Line frequency of service
The Victoria Line frequency gave me 30 or so trains per hour when it was working as it should. When I set off from Devon for a trip to London for some “tube snorkelling” as it was referred to in my house, I always checked the status of the Victoria Line but on several occasions while on my way some event took place that resulted in severe delays or part suspension of the line, and the frequency of trains might drop to 8 minutes or 15 minutes or worse; then the trains would all be completely rammed and it would be time to exit and do something else.
Victoria Line Project statistics
Overall, I made a dozen trips to London specifically for this project and in addition on a number of occasions took in the Victoria Line as a side show to my business there. Before I had all the images I needed for my panel, I had seen inside over 850 trains and amassed over 12,000 images. I photographed every train that passed in front of my camera, as it was impossible to predict what would happen in the short time the doors were open, and then react quickly enough to capture the moment; I was shooting in high-speed burst mode.
Victoria Line Project success rate
Out of the 850 plus trains, I had about 40 contenders. For some slots in the panel there were a number to choose from, but for most of the 21 that made up the panel there was a clear “best fit” for the narrative of the SOI. Until the end there was always an obvious “weakest image” and it wasn’t until my last trip that I was 100% happy with everything I had.
Victoria Line Project – more reading
This is the fourth post in the series on my F panel. You can read the first post here, and see the panel images here.
In my next post on this subject we will look at some of the images that didn’t make it into the panel of 21.
Mike Hawkridge Photography 
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