Thursday 19 April 2018

Let there be sunlight!

The lack of motivation continued. I'm sure due to the relentlessly dour and depressing weather. An enforced visit to town on a rainy day saw me snapping aimlessly with the little camera. I seem to haev a quite a few photographs of umbrellas in my archive. It could become something to concentrate on when the rain falls.


The following day was supposed to be warm and sunny. It was warmer and briefly sunny. I stopped off at the sandplant, which hadn't changed much from last time. It looks like the work is pretty much done on tidying it up. Can I face putting my pictures from there into some sort of order? Probably not!


The weather continued to fail in meeting expectations. A dry afternoon turned showery when I visited the marsh. However, I did get to add a sheep's skull to my collection of both photographs and found objects.


What I always seem to find with small cameras is that on overcast days they don't render landscape colours the way I like. And I can't get them right on the computer either. I also find that they can be too sharp for my taste. I don't know what it is. There seems to be too much detail, with too sharp edges. maybe there's some unknown trickery going on in the firmware.


With no clear aim in my head I have been trying, once more, to bond with 85mm as a focal length. I've done this by sticking the lens on a body and taking nothing else. It's kinda working. But the bloody thing will never focus close enough for me.


Yesterday the weather did as it was told. Later than I should have, and without planning for food and drink, I set off in the heat and bright sun for the forest. I had nothing in mind, just wanted to get out and clear my head. All I did was park up at a few spots and photograph stuff close to the road. It was just practice really.


I wasn't brave enough to risk the 85, but did resist the temptation of the superzoom. Which meant that I saw lots of faraway things that might have made pictures. Like sheep with lambs.


The making of great pictures isn't always important. record shots have their value, but even those can be lifted above simply snappery with a little thought. Trying to include some context and detail helps a documentary picture even if it's something and nothing.


Sometimes I just can't get things right. This barn, or rather these two barns, have seen me before. I know the picture I want to make, but never quite manage it. The first one below has the closest barn breaking the skyline. Which is good. Unfortunately because of the focal length the distant barn is rather insignificant in the frame. The viewpoint needs to be further back and the focal length longer to provide more compression.


Unfortunately at 85mm the topography put me too high and the closest barn no longer breaks the horizon. Ideally I'd prefer a longer focal length too. I should have taken the superzoom, and knelt down...


It's a few years since I first visited this barn, but there were the remains of a sheep inside. This time was a repeat. I doubt it is the same sheep, though.

By the time I had done at the barn I was regretting my lack of planning and hunger decreed that the last few hours of daylight would have to be ignored as I headed home for food and drink. At least  an afternoon in the sunshine cheered me up and got me planning some proper, focussed, sessions in the near future.

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