Lumbypics: meanygates

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Saturday, 5 June 2021

A slow month's catch up

May was very wet, which hampered my wanderings. I still got out round the moss when dry weather and spare time coincided and found some useful photographs. By the end of the month, however, it was obvious that my enthusiasm for following the same routes and photographing pretty much the same things was waning.

I did manage to get a few 'work' pictures, which are more interesting to me than the unpeopled pictures. taking that sort of photo from afar, as the ditches force me to, isn't ideal and I do wonder if they are worth taking because of that. Still they do show what was going on. In this case a low tech way of feeding out insect netting.

Among my pictures of inanimate objects were one of a Mylar strip bird scarer which I think might be 'the one', and a series of pictures of a hoe.

I took a variety of pictures of the how from different angles using different focal lengths and apertures. The one I like best being the simplest one. The overhead shot which showed most clearly the cobbled together nature of the hoe using the insulation tape..

Having brought this project to a conclusion in my usual way (getting bored of it...) there is now a zine in production of a selection of geometric field photos and I should make an effort to put some order into all the photographs I've taken over the last twelve months or more. Maybe even make some prints.

The end of May saw dry and sunny weather return and the restarting of sheep dog trials. My enthusiasm for the trials had already begun to dwindle when they were stopped last year but the chance to go and photograph some people from closer range than on the moss wasn't to be turned down.

The trial I planned on going to was a four day event and I had intended to be there every day for a few hours at least and all day for the finals. As it turned out I couldn't make the second day and the first one had proved less than inspiring. The third day I knew I could only manage a few hours and almost didn't bother but got back into the swing of it and got a few pictures which were worth having. In particular the one of the dogs watching the action while a human uses her phone, and one of the event being live-streamed which was a cut above the more pedestrian shots I've taken of this subject. This encouraged me to make it for the fourth day.

Unfortunately a combination of the heat, it was the hottest day of the four, and a trial where the close range action at the pen and shedding ring was only every half hour or more lead to a lot of slack time.

In truth the dog/sheep action doesn't really fire me up but there wasn't much else to photograph that I haven't photographed before. Maybe the heat had got to me too as I felt lacking in energy. I ended up sitting most of the day out in my car watching the trial and checking the cricket score from Old Trafford.

While I might not have been adding much to my documentary archives this last month what I have been doing is playing around at home with artificial light. I think this was really the result of a bout of retail therapy (or gear acquisition syndrome!) had struck me after selling some lenses. My justification for the spending spree was that I wanted to improve the photographs I occasionally take of the fishing rods I make. After much faffing about and buying the wrong stuff I've managed to get close enough to the results I've wanted to achieve.

I'm sure there are many faults in my results but they are only intended to serve as illustrations of what things look like. In truth the people who see them probably couldn't care less about how good or bad the pictures are. Phone snaps would do well enough!

With this new gear I thought I'd try some selfies. I've been reading threads about studio portraiture and lighting on Talkphotography for years now and have always been baffled by the technicalities and underwhelmed by the results. Having always been a 'learning by doing' kind of person I found messing about with the lights and seeing results much easier to understand than being told an understanding of the inverse square law was essential!

Two other things also became apparent. Firstly I like the kind of flat light that the experts seem to despise. Secondly when dramatic/directional light is used it isn't what makes a portrait work. As I keep trying to tell people, good pictures are not all about the light. No matter how good the light is if the subject is rubbish the picture fails. In the case of portraiture it's expression and gesture that are most important, lighting only serves to improve and already good picture.

While I'd quite like to photograph other people using lights I still don't find this kind of formal portraiture all that engaging. I much prefer a documentary/environmental style where the relationship of the person to the location is important. All I need are some opportunities to take that kind of picture. Which is where I struggle.

Saturday, 8 May 2021

500 up!

The weather and work have again kept me from venturing forth. if the day was dry I was tied up with work, if I had spare hours the rain arrived. I'm typing this when I'd rather be out and about while the rain lashes down again.

This said I have had some fruitful outings. This field being drained had been spotted on a day I had no time to stop the carp. Luckily work hadn't carried on a couple of days later when I was free to go for a look. It's yet another of my centrally aligned near-symmetrical compositions which are building into a substantial collection.

The fields of fleece and bags make regular appearances in this collection.

On one late afternoon walk when the sun shone I passed by some pigeon shooters and their decoys. If I hadn't been on a mission, which proved fruitless as my missions usually do, I would have lingered and taken more pictures. As it was by the time I returned they had left.

Setting out late in the day has been a feature thanks to the tedium of waiting in for deliveries. This means that by the time I hit the moss work is coming to an end for the day. So it was the day onions were being planted. The last rows going in as I arrived on the scene.

The new month didn't start off much different. When I did manage an hour or two earlier in the day my daft idea of taking just two single focal length lenses backfired on me with plenty of work taking place but too far away for the lenses I had with me. I guess I need to decided if I'm working on a project or just playing around. Maybe play around away from the moss? Still, I have improved slightly on my search for a photo of the Private Land sign and the yard beyond.

When there's a ditch between you and the subject you want to photograph having a zoom lens can help you get the best angle. That's why this picture isn't framed the way I'd have preferred...

It might have been cool and breezy but the sun was at least shining and the morning looking set fair when I started out. Rounding the corner on to the moss itself the distant sky looked ominous. Great as a backdrop when the sun illuminated the foreground making the colours sing. Not so great as a prospect to be walking towards when the clouds were heading my way.

Not onions being planted, but still going the wrong way - like the weather. By the time I'd walked another fifty yards it hit. Not just rain but hail too. I was lucky to take shelter by the greenhouses, the wind strong enough to blow most of the precipitation past me. Planting was called off and an early lunch taken while I waited out the passing of the shower. Ten minutes of standing around and it was dry again. April showers in May.

The moss project, such as it is, has therefore made little progress. The Lost Balls Found project, on the other hand, has reached it's conclusion. I spotted ball number 500 and managed to get a sharp photograph of it! It's a bit of a mish-mash of a series as far as artistic merit goes, but it was something I wanted to get out of my system. Now it's done I can stop looking out for lonely balls!

The zine swap is in full swing. Fifteen of us involved this time and already six have dropped through my letterbox. Mine is still in the pipeline but expected to arrive on Monday. I can't wait to find out how appalled the other fourteen are with it! When they are all complete and received I might have something to say about the swap and zines in general.

Saturday, 24 April 2021

Plodding along the same track

There's a lot more to see on the moss at the moment with ground being worked and crops planted. The sun has been shining and I've been out as often as possible taking mostly the same old pictures. Sometimes trying to improve on ones which I haven't quite got a 'best' version of. Always showing up how a directionless 'project' will always end up without a conclusion unless circumstances enforce one.

The glint of light on the Mylar strip lifted this a little above my previous pictures of the subject, as did being able to get closer and include some crop in teh frame

The blue fleece holding pegs were something new.

A trailer of dressed seed was another subject I hadn't photographed before.

But fleece held down by bags wasn't. It still makes me want to photograph it though. I suppose there's an outside chance I'll get 'the' picture one day.

Engine power and muscle power.

A sunny evening meant even I couldn't resist some sunset pictures. I tried to put some story into them rather than just being empty landscapes.

In an effort to make me look afresh I took out a wide angle lens. It came in useful when I couldn't go any further back without falling in a ditch to photograph yet another trailer laden with trays of seedling salad crops. I always try to avoid pointing the camera too far up or down when using a wide angle lens so as to keep the distortion effect to a minimum. At 20mm this is not too difficult to achieve, and is why I prefer not to go wider unless space makes it essential.

Summer is on its way. The cricket pitches are now in fine fettle. There's a project there, I'm sure, but it'll probably never get started beyond my random snaps as I cross the playing field to get to the moss.

At long last I've got a picture of the egg sales with a chicken in the frame!

On the evening wander I'd spotted a tree trunk which had been dragged out of the earth and resolved to return and photograph it in close up at a later date. That turned out to be the following afternoon. It was one of those theoretically good ideas which, in my hands, turned out to be a waste of time.

I was much happier with the photograph I took of two road cones!

In another attempt to shake things up, visually, I went to the other extreme and took my long zoom out. This isn't all that different to my usual mid-range zoom if I'm honest. Not outdoors with plenty of space at any rate. If there's room to step back there's not all that much difference between 35mm and 70mm. The extra between 150mm and 200mm at the other end isn't all that different either. Certainly not now I'm more willing to crop a little.

But when forced back against a hedge the shorter focal length would have given me more framing options. But maybe it was good to be restricted?

In my head I wanted more focal length to close in on the stacks of trays. I also thought I wanted more in focus but the stopped down version of the picture below lacked the sense of space the out of focus areas provided.

I've taken lots of photographs, quite a few I'm content with, but don't feel like they, or the project, are going anywhere. Which is a bit dispiriting. Probably going to have to be another case of 'working through' the stagnation.