Going against the ‘grain’…
With a lot of personal matters and deadlines to deal with in January the new year has started slowly for me. Despite that, I have been actively adding to my ‘portfolio’. Before Christmas I went out with the aim of documenting the decline of ‘real’ retail using my new 68-megapixel camera. It was low cost but I was expecting ‘high’ results! Surprisingly I ended up with the sort of errors and outtakes that are usually associated with film cameras, such as blurry lines, light trails and lost focus. (Even though it’s supposed to have image stabilisation!). This didn’t put me off at all. In fact, I think the ‘low-res’ result gave them a more ‘edgy’ feel, brilliant really. Downloading the pictures I was excited, the image quality was grainy and over sharpened, but I liked it! Going against all you are taught in photography, I say to hell with it! In some instances this gave a more ‘painterly‘ effect (at least that’s what I’m going with). I was intrigued to find out how this £43.79 camera would pan out and I wasn’t disappointed. Arriving at my destination I took some shots in the discount store QD, also sadly the closing down of House of Fraser’s.
With the closing of QD, no longer available locally…
Ironically, posting these images here on Valentine’s Day (yes, I’ve received a card but sent none = result! Until I found one in a charity shop for 50p!). I digress..though what struck me is, it doesn’t matter if you are a budget retailer or a high–end one in this global economic downturn, no retailer is immune from closure. Although I knew House of Fraser was closing down when I returned to the area I found that QD had also ‘shut up shop’. I was surprised and saddened to see this. Before Christmas, it was a bustling hive of activity with no signs of the store imminently closing its doors forever. A loss for the people in the area and the staff, yes there were discounts but that’s not surprising since it is a discount chain. I’m not sure if this is an isolated incident or whether this is a closing down of the whole chain. I’ve not researched it yet. House of Fraser was a flagship store and like many department stores worldwide it has succumbed to the global economic roller coaster of disasters, taking out store after store, chain after chain. Whether a retailer is high–end or as these photos attest with designer fragrances and not so designer fragrances (what is Love Bites Rose?). The end result = the same, gone forever. I wonder what I’ll find next Valentines in this regard? Truly depressing, documenting this rapid and recent decline, seemingly with no end…
High-end does not = protection from the global economic downturn…