Scratch that idea

Yet again something seemed like a good idea at the time. That field photograph got me thinking that I might be able to make a series of pictures in a similar vein as a bit of a project. The subject matter is close to hand, which is always a benefit. This weekend I gave it a try. even though the sun was shining and I had an idea when to be there Saturday evening saw me mistiming it to retake the picture so it wouldn't need cropping. Still feeling confident I went in search of others, even if it would only be for future reference.

As things worked out I took quite a few photographs, even using that hated tripod. I often find, however, that when I feel like things are going well and I'm taking plenty of pictures when I get home and look at them they're rubbish. Really rubbish. Rubbish to the extent of not being able to work out why I took them at all! However, a couple of the pictures were OK. The two I didn't work hard at taking.

Feeling like things were getting somewhere I went as far as checking t'internet to see which direction the sun would be casting shadows at various times to enable me to photograph locations I'd sussed out after the light faded. Today I went looking for these places. And once more what seemed successful while I was taking the pictures proved not to be. Even less so than Saturday. It does seem to be the case that the harder I try the worse things turn out. It's that 'being in the zone' thing. In the zone you don't feel like you're doing anything special yet the results are better than average and often some are really good.

In an attempt to do this landscape thing 'properly', not only did I take and use the tripod I also used a polarising filter. Just a shame I didn't manage to put the tripod down in front of anything that worked. Too much thinking about what I'm trying to get across about the land being a worked environment, not enough looking.

 The simpler pictures are working better.

Then I got sidetracked and wondered if odd details might actually make the point better than wider scenes.

On a technical note I have a workaround for the lack of 5:4 cropping with the 'real' camera. It allows raw files to be cropped to jpegs of that ratio in-camera. Which means I can check if I have got my framing within limits. Quite handy, but not as seamless as the toy camera's cropping. Except that doesn't do 5:4 at all.

After all this I think I'm going to have to let this project simmer before doing anything else with it. I don't think landscapes are really my thing. I prefer pictures with people in them. Preferable people doing something. Or failing that pictures of chickens. When I went for a wander this evening and saw a hen looking as glum as I feel about my photography at the moment I took some snaps of her.

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