Tate Modern Mop Lady

Tate Modern Mop Lady: I was intrigued by the pattern on the floor of the great Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern gallery in London, where I'd come to visit another exhibition. In fact it was the setting for a forthcoming dance performance to be staged by the choreographer Michael Clark, but right now it was inhabited by a lady with a mop who was cleaning the whole vast area. With a compact camera, and using the gallery rail in place of a tripod, I took about five shots which I attempted to keep in register.

I thought it would be interesting to make a picture with the multiple images of the lady overlapping, but it didn't work and I decided to cut them out and spread them slightly so they were not quite touching. Maybe the result does look a bit like a dance. To me it's obvious that the same person appears four times, but two judges who have commented so far have failed to see it – the clue is in the title! They both objected to the original dark corners and I cloned them out for the final version shown above, which is an improvement. Focal length equivalent to 74mm on full frame.

Technical: COOLPIX S5100, f=13.2 mm, ISO110, 1/50 sec @ f4.4

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