Rethink and more sheep

After another period of reflection I returned to the reedbed, and over the next few days made more short visits with a better idea of what I wanted to achieve. It's funny, but I've photographed phragmites on and off for years but having the zine project as a sort of motivator because there's a deadline I've got round to doing something more focussed about it.

For reasons of design I am cropping all the pictures (except the covers) square. It's an arbitrary choice. The cover pictures I'm cropping from horizontal to vertical for design purposes because I didn't take any in a vertical format, and at the size they'll be printed there's no loss of quality/detail.

With sufficient pictures to make a small zine needing only twelve it's all in the editing now. With over a month to the deadline, however, there is a strong temptation to tinker with the ordering of the pictures. That's one reason I've made four dummy copies before sending anything off for a proof. I'll try to be strong and resist any further fiddling!

I managed to take these photos before the storm arrived, although it was quite windy. That didn't matter too much as some of the pictures I wanted to have movement blur in them. What changed most over the few days was the elimination of the sky from the pictures. This was to give a visual consistency across the set of pictures. Initial ideas have to remain flexible.

With another storm scheduled to arrive on Saturday it wasn't hard to decide where to go looking for photographs on Saturday. Sheep dog trial in the hills? No chance! Poultry show? Not after last week's burnout. Sheep sale? That'll do nicely.

Once again it took me a while to get my eye in. It's as if I don't know what I'm looking for when I first arrive somewhere. One of the first pictures I took was to get a second chance at photographing a stick I'd messed up on at the last sale I went to. This time I did a better job and, although it's at high ISO, it is in focus this time!

The light levels were the usual problem in the main shed. Made worse by the cloud cover which was noisily dumping rain on the shed roof by the gallon. Being an in-lamb sale all ewes were being scanned. As last year the chap doing the scanning was tucked away in his crate, but one pen of ewes were scanned in their pen, which gave me a chance to try to record that. A couple of frames worked okay.

This was a sale of rare and traditional breeds. With a large consignment of mixed rare breeds I tried to get some record shots of those. The dim light and dark wool didn't help though.

There was a bit of showing taking place too. This was in the better lit new shed. Unfortunately I messed most of the action by being in the café eating a bacon butty... I still managed a few frames for the files. I'm not sure if I 'saw' this picture or it was down to chance, but I like the way it combines two things in the one shot, even with one being slightly out of focus. Had it been shot in teh fashionable super-blurry background mode it would have had no narrative to it, but as the background activity can be 'read', it does.

As usual I continued with my sub-framing approach. Again chance played it's part and I got two, maybe three, sub-frames in one shot if you can count the faces on the left framed by the ring structure and the ones behind the ring gate.

Either I'd settled in to looking or the butty and brew had kickstarted my imagination but I was now seeing pictures and reacting when something happened.

The prize winners' photo call is part and parcel of shows these days as marts are quick to poist to social media. A phone snap instantly uploaded beats a professional shot even a few hours later when it comes to promotion. It's become one of my habits to photograph the photo call, always trying for a new angle, but rarely succeeding. Choosing where to focus is tricky when light levels restrict apertures but this time I think I got it about right. Sub-framing again.

Did I mention sub-framing? A bit extreme this but I was trying to show the size of the crowd and give context by including a sheep. Otherwise it's could be a picture of a crowd of people attending an auction of anything.

I've been looking at other people's sheepy photographs again on t'interwebs, and again I see that mine often take a different approach. Not just to the technical aspects such as composition and processing, but purpose. While the documentary aspect is important, so are the formal ones, but most of all I try to avoid being journalistic without being arty to the point that the documentary aspect gets lost. Hence my liking for 'busy' pictures which many might consider cluttered. Then there's also my penchant for large areas of nothing. Which doesn't always work!

An uncurated over-long gallery here.

Randomness

The project vacuum continues to frustrate me, so I've resorted to the old standbys of wandering round town, locally or just photographing random stuff at home. I pretend that it's all good practice...

As a rule I see photographs of street art as nothing more than record pictures. The real picture's being the ones on the wall. However, I thought the empty cigarette packs on the table in the smoking alcove added a slightly different touch connecting real life and imagined life - or death!

Maybe it's having the small Fuji as my regular opportunist camera that has tuned me into using a 35mm lens on my 'serious' camera. It's not a focal length I used to gel with, but that's changed. It's starting to feel like it does what either a 28mm or a 50mm can do. When I have the room to move forward or back it certainly works like that. Other times it can seem a bit too short or long. It's a good compromise for travelling light.

Clear blue skies are a pain for scenic shots. Putting something in the space can help. Framing this church with this shrub is something I've tried before and the frame below might be my best effort yet. Even if I cheated and used a zoom.

Having a camera lying around encourages me to snap sights on the Winogrand basis of taking photographs to see what things look like photographed. The accidental use of the pop-up flash made this view through a window take on a different look.

Walking by the canal on a frequent basis I'm still convinced there's a project lurking there. What the hell it is has yet to strike me. Perhaps I need to start thinking in black and white?

The monochrome approach could be the way in to a documentation of the village's suburban environs. Although that might be an unconscious influence of pictures I've seen over the years at work. Likewise the 5x4 crop. One advantage of black and white for this sort of thing is that bald skies can be darkened without out looking fake as the images rely to a great degree on their graphic nature.

Then again, colour brings something to such subjects. As does winter sunlight.

On the whole I'd rather stick to colour for documentation as it's all about recording information to my mind. looking at old pictures I often wonder what the colours of things were.

It may be the next village along, but photos of the old brickworks/builders yard would have been worth taking before the new builds started. I hope someone had the foresight to take them.

I would probably have been to a sheep dog trial today, and maybe a poultry show tomorrow but this first dry and sunny weekend in ages sees me car-less. It's no good having fantastic cameras if your most useful piece of photo-gear is off the road. Shank's Pony for me at the moment. At least it's made me start looking harder close to home.

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Going round in circles

It really does feel like I'm repeating myself at the moment going to the same sorts of events. Both of this weeks outings left me feeling a bit flat at the end of the day. I didn';t think I'd come away with anything worthwhile at all. Although looking through the silly number of frames I taken didn't produce as large a selection to 'tell the story of the day' on either ocassion, I did  have a few pictures which could find a place in the sheep project as a whole. I should know by now that's the way with longer projects.

Friday was a sheep dog auction that was down on entries, so not many folk about. This time I resisted the temptation to photograph the dogs on the field using a telephoto and concentrated on getting in close with my little 'kit' zoom. I don't know if it's boredom or an experimental nature, but I keep playing around with less than standard compositions. A lot don't work at all and many I like raise the eyebrows of others!

Before I set off I was hoping to improve my record of the micro-chip scanning of dogs on booking in. But as there weren't many entries that was mostly over by the time I arrived, even though I thought I'd got there in good time. I got two chances and one 'nearly' picture.

I also wanted to get some shots of the trailer used as the on-field office. But again that didn't quite work out.

Other than that it was more of the usual fare. dogs looking cute and general scenes.

When the sun was out it got warm and the ice cream van was well patronised. Seeing people licking their vanilla cones I put my Martin Parr hat on. His is not a style which is as easily mimicked as you might imagine!

The thing I'm constantly striving for is pictures which aren't 'record shots', or the sort of stuff you'd see reporting an event in the local free sheet or in Lancashire Life, but also not so 'arty' that the subject becomes irrelevant. It's a difficult balance to strike, making pictures which tell the story and give a flavour of what's happening and yet which stand as pictures on their formal structure.I suppose it's that challenge which keeps me going back for more. And back for more I was the next day at an agricultural show!

I wasn't really in the mood when I got there and the low turnout of sheep didn't help either. However things picked up as the day wore on. Even though I did spend a lot of time looking. This time I took the do-it-all zoom plus a 20mm and a 50mm in case I fancied being radical. The extra focal length of the DIA lens was useful round the sheep pens where access and angles were restricted. Not that there was much to catch my eye and I resorted to looking for detail shots plus the usual stuff like sheep tarting up..

It was a little unusual to see a priest judging the Suffolks. I thought I'd been transported to Craggy Island for a moment! I failed to get a shot which showed his dog collar clearly though.

Where I was slightly more successful was photographing the sheep dog and sheep shearing displays. The longer lens again came in handy for the former, and I got some better pictures than at the previous display I'd photographed. The waterfowl being more cooperative and the light brighter helped.

Having photographed the shearing demo last year I was in two minds about bothering this time round. Not only that but I'd put most of my gear back in the car and almost left for home because my bad foot was aching. However after a sit down I stuck the 50mm on teh camera and the 20mm in a jacket pocket and went back travelling light.

While I didn't get anything other than snaps doing it, I found myself more confident in taking pictures of people close up with these lenses. Very strange. As the shearing was about to commence I wandered over for a look. It was being held in the main ring so I imagined the lenses I had with me would be useless, but the barriers were moved and the public allowed into the ring for a better view. I joined them, kneeling down to get a more useful angle and allow people to look over me.

At first I thought I'd picked a bad spot as the sun was in my face but that nearly worked to my benefit as it backlit the fleeces as they were thrown up to spread them before rolling. There wasn't much time for the demonstration, which meant I couldn't develop ideas, but I got a couple of pictures which will fill a gap in the project for now.

What this episode proved once more is that limiting the gear you use forces you to think more creatively. With lenses that means viewpoint selection and framing. Dare I go to the Great Yorkshire Show with just my trusty 28mm and 50mm lenses? Or how about the 35mm and nothing else? Eek!

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Sheep, dogs and sheep

After the Toddy show I decided to check out the brand of waterproofs which seemed popular with the sheep folk. They might not be breathable but the price was right for a pair of over-trousers to replace my ancient Dutch army ones which are well passed their prime and no longer living up to their job description. The new waterproofs arrived midweek - along with the promise of hot weather. Saturday's visit to a sheep dog trial was the first event for ages when I didn't need to either wrap up warm or keep the rain out. Those trousers had been a good investment!

With there being a three-day trial going on elsewhere I didn't expect there to be a big turnout at the one I was at, and it seemed to be the case. My main aim was yet another gear evaluation task. To see if I could do away with the consumer telephoto zoom and use my superzoom to do the same job with the sheep dog action. This venue didn't require a longer lens so it was ideal for the job. The mostly sunny day also helped in making the autofocus of both lenses work to their best advantage. I was still trying to make pictures though. The only way I can evaluate gear is by using it as intended rather than doing 'bench tests' like most people on the web seem to do.

I keep trying for a good shot of a sheep being shed and got one that is heading in the right direction.

Silhouettes on the skyline always catch my eye. A pity about the power lines crossing the frame. Or is it?

The sheep were a bit tricky and had got to know where the escape route was. This lot were making a break for it when they stopped in front of me. It's almost a picture.

Not every trial has a livestock trailer in attendance as a mobile office, but when they do I like to get a picture of it.

The lens evaluation proved to be a failure. Most of the pictures I ended up keeping were taken with the telephoto zoom, or at focal lengths it covered. I also thought the pictures looked more pleasing in the out of focus areas. That was a bit of a blow as I was hoping to sell it as surplus top requirements! As it was I decided to take it to the final day of the three-day trial to see how it fared for photographing the sheep show being held there.

Day two was probably the busiest day at this trial, with lots of other attractions to draw the family crowds, but a sheep show featuring my three favourite Pennine breeds was of more interest to me. The venue is owned by the sheep dog society and features a permanent stand and judges' box, and a 'clubhouse'. The crowd isn't all sheep dog people either, there are plenty of 'normal people' there too!

The sheep show took most of my time, and most of the day too, which meant I didn't spend much time at the trial field. It is a pretty good venue with the pen close enough to the stands for a 300mm lens to get good shots from the fence at the field edge.

Unfortunately while I was by the trials the sheep were mostly uncooperative and most handlers retired before getting near the pen. That prompted me to look for pictures around the event.
There was quite a bit to photograph and I almost wished I had attended one of the first two days.

Regardless of missing out on the dog front I had plenty of opportunities with the sheep. Being further south than I have been before there was a good showing of Whitefaced Woodlands. So many that I overheard on exhibitor bemoaning the fact that there was more competition! Woodlands are listed by the Rare Breeds Survival Trusts as 'vulnerable'. Derbyshire Gritstones are listed as 'at risk' and were also well represented. Lonks are not on any RBST list and also had a good turnout.

Although other breeds are photogenic there's more to photography for me than making pretty pictures. I like my photographs to have a point. What this point is when it comes to sheep I'm not sure, but I have narrowed my field of view from sheep in general to the three breeds mentioned above. That doesn't stop me taking photos of other breeds, but the pictures tend to be stand-alones or parts of sub-sets. Something which I haven't considered as a project within a project, but which someone else pointed out to me, is hands. Rather than hands on their own I'm thinking hands on sheep might be the way to progress the idea.

Unlike the other Pennine breeds Woodlands have white faces. hard to believe given their full name, I know! I think they are a fine looking, and very sheepy, sheep.

The telephoto zoom did a good job of the close-ups. However, it's people interacting with sheep and each other which is my main area of interest. I was able to get in close enough to use a wider zoom and to alter my viewpoints to get the framings I wanted. Even so I shot a load of rubbish which needed deleting.

I'd been looking at an Elliot Erwit contact sheet which contained one of his best known pictures. The impression we get from seeing a great 'street' photograph is that it was a quickly grabbed frame that captured a fleeting moment. Yet there it was, the last frame of almost a complete roll of 35mm film. This made me think about shooting more frames of a scene until I either get a picture or miss out altogether.

Early on I spotted a personalised polo shirt being worn by one farmer. I took a quick shot of the wording on his back. As it was it made a 'one liner' as I call them. A picture that is worth a single glance of recognition of the message. Later I was stood by the guy and it struck me that a photo of a wider scene which included the shirt might merit a second look.

As I got into my stride I tried to capture the feel of the show rather than what it looked like. The results are a bit chaotic, which I like.

This isn't to say that I ignored details. One, which was another hand picture, got me close to making a picture of the awarding of a rosette.

Details do tend to be one-liners, but this sort of picture can work either as a group or to add to the rhythm of a sequence.

The lens evaluation was a bit of a flop. I didn't work out if using the telephoto and a wider zoom was any better or worse than using the do-it-all lens. Either in terms of the dreaded image quality or the user experience. I do know that the results from all the lenses I use are on a par when it comes to the ways I'm likely to show them. In fact, apart from light gathering I can't see any need to use fast 'pro' zooms at all. I can get subject separation with slower lenses by using  longer focal length and standing further back. Most of the time I'd rather have more depth of field anyway. Bu tI'm not normal!

In terms of adding to my collection of sheep show pictures and idea development I was more successful. That's more important than gear. With good ideas the gear's not all that crucial.

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