This beach project is becoming something I seem to be thinking about all the time and it keeps dragging be to the shore every time I get some spare time. Just when I think I have gone as far with it as I can for the time being a trip sees me getting a new opportunity. Sunday was looking unpromising as the sun had gone in by the time I got to the beach, earlier than usual but later than would have been ideal. Seeing the lifeguard vehicles parked up I knew they might be a chance of some pictures, but I was fully expecting them to be finishing off their training session b the time I reached them. For once luck was on my side and they weren't ready to leave, and they were happy to be photographed.
I always try to find the less obvious pictures when photographing something which has been done before. Always at the beach I like making pictures with lots of space and almost-silhouetted figures scattered across the frame. When I saw two lifeguards standing in similar poses, poses which reminded me of the Anthony Gormley statues down the coast at Crosby, I had to try to make them into a picture. The distant head and shoulders in the water was lucky, although deliberately included in the frame, as was the gas rig.
When photographing movement and gesture it doesn't always matter if the horizon slopes. Not to my mind. It can lend a sense of fluidity.
Fast moving action is difficult to express in a still image. The shape of a figure is important, but water splashes add to the effect. I didn't 'machine gun' to get this frame, it is one of just three I took. In one the shape of the figure was rubbish, in the other two it was good. This one got selected because one foot is visible, whereas in the other picture no feet can be seen.
When the training was over I was asked if I would take a team photo. Having learned a valuable lesson about group photographs a while ago I took a few shots in bursts to ensure I got at leaset one where nobody is blinking! I got the impression that they had done this sort of thing before as I didn't ask for the paddle board to be in front of the group!
I followed the lifeguards up the beach and had my lunch back at my car. Carl the kite boarder was arriving as I walked off the beach and on my return I spent a few minutes trying to get some action shots. But my heart wasn't in it. Partly because I was lacking the right lens for the job but mostly because I couldn#'t think of a use for action shots. Way down the beach, however, at the high point of the dunes there were a couple of paragliders to be seen. It would be a long walk but maybe worth it.
This was my downfall. I should have realised that a fast disappearing horizon and a wall of grey getting larger by the minute meant rain was approaching. When I was within striking distance of the paragliders they fell to earth a minute or two be fore the rain did. It goes without saying that my waterproof jacket was in the car. I trudged the mile and a half or so through the dunes like an idiot. The rain was light but it wet the marram grass, which in turn soaked my trousers, which wicked the water down into my wellies.
I must have been downhearted because instead of photographing a spectacular football in the dunes I kicked it out of my way! My camera seems to have survived as I managed to cram it into my tiny shoulder bag to keep it dry.
Monday was a brighter day than forecast. As work has returned to normal volumes I slipped out in the early afternoon, fully expecting there to be nobody at the beach and intending to take some comparison shots with my new camera and my current compact. I was pleasantly surprised to see two men putting nets out on the beach, and within walking distance.
I was still a little late to photograph the process close up, but at least I got some shots to document the activity.
While my 'big' camera has a flip down screen the focusing in live view isn't as snappy as with compacts and mirrorless cameras. The new camera also has a flip down screen. The main factor in me buying it as I want to use it for a couple of projects I have in mind in the same way as some medium format film cameras are used at waist level. Having two old and knackered knees which make squatting to get a lower viewpoint painful a flip down screen helps get the camera down low. I tried to get some different perspectives. Not all together successfully.
Today I had to go to the bank and the supermarket. With work done for the day that gave me the chance to walk around for a bit playing with the new toy. Not only did I want to use the flippy screen I also wanted to take advantage of the camera's aspect ratio choices and try to use the square format.
The square is noted to be difficult to compose pictures in. It's rarely used in painting. Yet there have been photographers who have used it well. It had crossed my mind to pick up a film camera that shoots square from waist height, but I recalled the faffing about when I tried going retro before. Maybe someday, but not right know.
I started off trying to set the camera up to suit me, but that continues to prove difficult. Although the touch screen is great for moving the focus point quickly to where I want it I keep managing to touch the screen accidentally, and move the point to where I don't want it. For casual street photography it's probably best to leave the camera to choose the focus point itself and switch the touch screen off.
The fold down screen is good for candid
photography. I'm just going to have to shorten the strap and start
wearing the camera round my neck instead of over my shoulder. The lower than eye-level viewpoint gives pictures a different look. And for one of the projects I have in mind it will make the pictures more engaging to the viewer.
I can't fault the quality of the images from the camera, and despite it being a Panasonic like the G2 I had some time back, the colours are much nicer to my eyes. It's not great at higher ISOs in low light conditions. Not the sort of low light I photograph in at any rate (and I am spoiled by the big camera in that respect) but if I can get used to handling the damned thing I think it might prove to be a good 'round town' tool. The silent shutter combined with a wide angle lens means you can photograph people up close without them knowing anything about it!
