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.

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Shocked of Southport

The idle council workers have now finished their holiday enabling me to go see the exhibition I tried to view last week. If the easily upset get wind of it I expect the local free sheets to be filled with letters of moral outrage. To be honest I was surprised that the exhibition was as explicit as it is. I half expected it to be all portraits and flowers with the homoerotic nudity left out. So well done The Atkinson. There is a warning sign at the door to the room the show is in.

With a couple or three exceptions all the pictures are in square format, and exquisitely composed. While carefully lit studio photography in black and white isn't my 'thing' I have long admired Robert Mapplethorpe's pictures. I can only think that is his compositions which appeal to me. In that respect the portrait of a grinning David Hockney is probably the weakest on show.

The show consists of a number of sections including self portraits, Patti Smith, artists, flowers (not the best selection) and still lifes. I thought there would be more flower photographs in a show like this. Of those the leaf was the pick for me.

Most of the pictures were familiar to me from magazines, books and the internet. It's still better to see real life prints as the tonal range is different and although not large by many exhibition standards they are larger than magazine sized. As is so often the case, however, the glass in the frames makes for annoying reflections at times.

Well worth a visit before the exhibition closes on the 23rd of March. I'll certainly be back for a longer look.

Leaving the gallery to pop into WHSmith to pick up the latest BJP (£9.99!!!!!) I managed to get a couple of Dogtown pics. The Fuji is proving pretty good for street snappery.

I was trying to get the reflection to work in this one, but was just a bit too far away I reckon.

Dogs come in all shapes and sizes...

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Obsessed?

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!

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Situation normal

The beach project continues to occupy my thoughts. Most photographers who operate outdoors get frustrated by the weather. That was my problem on Saturday. It was too sunny. It seems to me that the more interesting thing occur down by the seaside when the sun isn't shinning. When the clouds part on a weekend everyone and at least three dogs hits the sands. But they don't get up to anything out of the ordinary!

Friday had seen me on a cold and windy, but largely deserted, beach. While it was nice and dull mornings are proving more fruitful, but I could only nip out after lunch. So I tried to photograph the sea. With the right gear (a tripod and  a longer lens) I'm sure that a series coul be made of pictures of the gas rig in all the weather's moods.

Whenever I get bored I start messing around. For most people a muddy looking sea and a uniformly grey-blue sky probably wouldn't appeal as a picture of the sea, but I've always liked the colour combination. Throw in some tonal variation and a splash of white and I find it a pleasing combination.

The wind had dropped somewhat on Saturday and that blasted sun was shinning bright. As we've moved into February so the sun has moved higher in the sky. Once more I arrived after lunch. This time to a busy beach.

There was a chap flying a kite, one of the subjects on my list. Getting a meaningful action shot of a kite flyer is difficult. Thinking about it later I reckon using a longer lens from further away to compress the distance between flyer and kite might be the answer. Getting the wind and sun to align is always going to be a problem. So a bit annoying that it was just right yesterday.

It turned out that the kite flyer was one of around 500 bikers holding a weekend rally at Pontins. I discovered this after his kite attacked one of his friends, two more of which helped relaunch it after the untangling process.

Heading back I stopped off for a mosey around the pier area. Every day is a schoolday, they say. Recently I've noticed people riding bikes with fat tyres on the beach. Googling 'sand bike' (which seemed like a possible name for the things) I discovered that they are sometimes known as 'fat bikes'. I wonder if I should get one? It would make getting out to the water's edge quicker when the tide is out!

I have an idea in mind for a portrait of a bike rider. The difficulty is getting one to stop for a chat. They're either too far away when I spot them, and/or heading in the wrong direction. Always on the move no matter what.

I rarely let a chance to show the pier as it really is slip by. The tourist office never show this side (literally this side) of the pier in their publicity material. It won't be long before the marsh reaches the pier itself.

Sunday saw me up and out bright and early, by my standards. The beach looked almost deserted at first glance, but it wasn't. I've seen boat trailers parked up in the past but never been around when boats have been launched or retrieved. It was a pleasant surprise to see there was a chap readying his boat for launching. Unfortunately the tide was on its way out and had been for some time. However I had a chat with him, learning a bit about the process along the way.

When his two friends arrived with another boat I almost made a hash of the portraits. The first frame was pin sharp, but I had caught one of them mid blink. The second frame missed the blink but for some reason was soft. The third frame, which I took vertically as an afterthought, was better. It must be a lot easier taking portrait type pictures with some pre-planning. Doing things my way I never know what I'm going to be photographing, and so never have much idea how I'd like to arrange things. Lesson, thing ahead...

With everything ready, off they went into the distance. And another unaccountably not-quite-sharp picture.

There was a 10K run on during the morning, meaning the coast road would be closed. I drove in that direction and parked up thinking there might be something to look at. It turned out that there was bugger all. No runners, and because the roads were shut nobody much about on the beach.  I went home and did some work, had lunch and thought I'd chance my arm back at the launch site.

Although it wasn't as sunny as Saturday there were lots of folk about. Four horseboxes were parked up and the horse being put back in them Another opportunity missed by bad timing. I wandered out towards the water and spotted a women with two little kids watching the sea demolish a sandcastle they'd built. So engrossed in this, and the taking of phone camera pictures, that they hadn't realised the were on a sand bar that was being surrounded by the incoming tide. After I shouted out to them they paddled back through water deeper than their wellies. A few more minutes and it would have been deeper still. I've been glad of my chestwaders in the past when I've been photographing windsurfers. Some of the gullies are surprisingly deep.

With there being little wind I heard the boat approaching before I spotted it flying across the water. I might have missed out on getting launching pictures but I managed a few or the retrieval. Only one boat had come back. The other had engine trouble and had been forced to land down the coast. His trailer would be taken to meet him.

I'd almost decided to go home about an hour earlier, but watching the sun and the clouds I thought there might be a sunset worth wasting a few million pixels on. Standing on the tops of a dune it was intriguing to see the sky changing. The Welsh mountains and Cumbrian fells appearing and disappearing as the light and clouds changed. Looking south to the Mersey and out to the Welsh coast there's an uncounatble number of wind turbines. The closest ones standing proud of the horizon, the blades of those in the far distance cutting it. The seascape is changing.

One technical lesson learned over the last few days has been that when it comes to photographs which include the horizon my favourite multi-purpose lens is not so useful. It distorts the horizon a great deal. While this can be corrected on the computer it's a faff. using a 'better' lens pretty much eliminates this niggle. In future I'll be sticking with the less troublesome lens on the beach, I think. Although when the horizon isn't a major element in the picture it doesn't seem to matter if it curves a bit. Not to me at any rate. It's just that out very often it can be.

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