Saturday 23 February 2019

Back in colour

Continuing to trawl through my old negatives I noticed that I had often pushed the limits of my own technique and those of the film stock I was using. There are a quite a few failed attempts at night time photographs for one thing. With that in mind I took myself out for an evening wander to see what current technology can achieve. The answer, to my 1981 self, is "miracles"! A tripod is hardly necessary. If I could find the enthusiasm for it there would be a 'The Village at Night' project to be made, but it's one of those ideas which will never go anywhere. Not that most of my projects actually achieve a destination, but they do set off.


The sheep dog project is definitely on the move, in a randomly wandering way. Yesterday was a return visit to the sheep dog auction I visited twelve months ago. The weather was more like June than February and people, dogs and sheep were all feeling the heat. Who'd imagine an ice cream van doing a roaring trade at this time of year?


Having a better idea of what to expect I still went in an experimental mode as far as lens selection went. In the end it worked OK but I could have done it all with the ol' superzoom. It might have made me resist the temptation of photographing sheep dogs herding sheep. Enjoyable as that is those aren't the sort of pictures I'm really interested in making. They do tell part of the story though as that is what the auction is all about.


For once I did make some pictures of people standing or sitting around. While I try to resist the 'character' shots they also add to the overall picture.


The addition of a sheep-fixated collie to the mix is a nice bonus.


It shouldn't surprise me by now, but it still amazes me how the collies will stare at sheep in such a focussed way. Almost nothing distracts them, and if it does it's not for long.


The sort of people pictures which really interest me and test my limited abilities are those where there is something happening. Timing is everything and with my speedy computer and larger memory cards in the cameras I'm less reluctant to keep my finger pressed on the shutter button and burn a few frames in quick succession. Doing that got me one, number three in a series of four, in which multiple elements came together. No masterpiece, but a satisfying shot nonetheless.


The auctioneer is in profile and making a hand gesture (in all the other frames he has his back to the camera), the dog's ears are prominent against a light background (not so in the other frames), and the two faces are both visible and well lit (which they aren't in the other frames). Better still is that for this frame only I raised the camera a little and got the top of the shelter canopy in the frame. A combination of seeing the potential for a picture, keeping the composition framed and taking more than one shot. It's a variation on the street photographer's tactic of seeing a setting and waiting for someone to walk into it to make the picture.

Something I wanted to show was the number of people in attendance. It really is a busy event. Doing this from 'ground level' isn't easy. A raised viewpoint makes it less of a challenge. Holding the camera above your head can work, and a flippy screen provides a framing aid. It isn't ideal, especially in bright sunshine. Luckily this venue is on a slope so all I had to do was get myself to higher ground and use a longer focal length. The compression from the longer lens also makes it looked more packed. Even so, a picture of loads of people could be anywhere. Some context was required.



Just as it's tempting to spend a lot of time photographing dogs in action so it is to photograph the auctioneers. This I didn't resist and had two or three goes at it, breaking them up to keep my mind and eyes fresh. Do you go for the close up or the contextual? A tough decision. I'm not sure I really nailed either. Maybe I ought to have spent even longer on it?



As is so often the case I came away with a list of pictures I didn't take, or didn't take well enough. All the dogs are micro-chipped. A picture which shows the scanning process would fit in well. I tried but it only takes seconds and was usually done somewhere cramped. One to aim for in the future.


What I did manage to get were a couple of detail shots. The sort of fillers I like to help break up the narrative as it were. The one of the shepherd's whistle might be the start of a series. Might.



In an effort to be unobtrusive I was using the X100T again. While I came away with some decent pictures from it I felt frustrated once again by the focusing, and also the lack of detail to be recovered from shadows at higher ISOs. It is very quiet to use when stood next to someone. But that's no use if you miss shots. Back to the drawing board on that front.

Oh aye. Shed load more pics here.

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