Dogs, frogs and other stuff

There are times when I wonder what I'm doing. Taking photographs for one's own pleasure seems to me to be a strange sort of thing to do. I'd feel a lot more confident about it if I had an end use for the pictures I take. As I don't I often don't bother taking any because it feels silly. Then again there are times when I can't stop myself taking a photograph. Although I was looking for pictures to fit my Dog Town project I still took the one below. I think it works as a standalone image. Amazingly the two main figures and dog are in focus. Quite an achievement for me with the Fuji and wide angle lens.

I even managed a couple of pictures in the two hours I wandered around which do fit my Dog Town style. The way the dog has lain in the shade makes this one for me.

All this bright sunshine and hot weather makes being outdoors taking pictures both tiring and testing. Harsh shadows are a pain in the bum. It also makes shooting backlit subjects hard work. This was all brought home to me at a vintage tractor auction. Who's a thunk such things would not only exist but be well attended? There was all sorts on offer, from boxes of what looked like junk, through the rusting skeletal remains of tractors, to gleaming fully refurbished models.

I had a semi-plan in mind to make a series of pictures in portrait orientation. It almost came off. I also entertained the idea of using (shock, horror) black and white to suit the vintage theme. That didn't last long because colour seemed important for a lot of subjects. Making abstractions worked quite well. Even if it is a cop out when there are people about, but I wasn't in a people-picture mood for some reason.

There are some people pictures in the gallery I've put together.

Leaving the auction early it was into the forest to photograph a hogg hole I had found earlier in the year but not managed to get close to because the ground was so wet. I photographed it from both sides, but the harsh light wasn't helping either way I tried.

I also photographed some sheep along the way. Just for the sake of it really. This one nearly works as a sheepscape. If only the sun hadn't been quite so bright. Or the sheep would have looked to the right of the frame...

Later, when I stopped to photograph another string of dead moles (I see them everywhere now I have them on my radar!) I tried my hand at a landscape picture. The light on the tree's twisted form was what caught my eye. In fact that was what I photographed first.

I'm not so sure that the early and late light favoured by so many landscape photographers would work for this tree. It's the way the light dapples from above through the leaves on the bark that makes it what it is. Looking back down the road I saw the potential for framing a broader vista. If I could have been bothered to move my car (just out of frame camera right) I might have made a better picture. But as it's only for my pleasure that doesn't matter!

I almost forgot. Yesterday I was so down on photography that I took some pictures of a frog in my pond. Why? Because it was there and it was easy. A technical challenge to get the blasted thing in focus and no more. The composition was a piece of cake. Oh yeah. I used flash as well. Froggy is now my computer desktop picture. For the time being.

---

Timing is everything

Once more the lure of poultry proved impossible to resist. Today's show was primarily an egg show, with a junior poultry section, which didn't fill me with confidence of getting anything new. But you have to be in it to won it as the cliché goes. Besides, the sausage and bacon barms are good, as is the tea. With there only being a few birds entered the show room was pretty much as it is when not in use. That allowed a couple of sort of behind the scenes shots of stuff in storage and some cleaning equipment.

Not expecting to have much new to photograph I was in trial mode. The intention was to use the Fujis to see how they coped. Or maybe to see how I coped with them. I had a real camera as back up, along with the dreaded 85mm lens. Not trusting that lens I had my faithful 100mm macro with me too.It proved to be a swings and roundabouts affair. Making a selection of 21 frames from the day 13 of them were shot on the small cameras. That's not really to say that they were the best tool for the job, or that I preferred using them. It was simply that all but one of those 13 frames was made using the 28mm equivalent lens. No surprise there!

As far as the big camera went the 85mm failed miserably. It simply won't focus close enough for my liking. Time to get rid. All bar one selected frame shot with the DSLR was at 100mm. The odd one out being taken with the 20mm lens I'd taken along for the ride.

With it being an egg show there was the usual contents judging, providing an opportunity for some 'cracking' shots. Why I insist on trying to time my action shots rather than setting the camera to burst mode, I don't know. It's nothing to do with believing that timing things to one frame is a more worthy approach, relying on skill. It's more like forgetfulness that there is the option for shooting a burst. I started out doing it the old school way and got lucky. I'd never seen a wooden egg cracking device before. How to show what it's for? I think having the egg a milimitre away from the pointy bit might do it. Pure luck that I managed the picture below.

After a couple of attempts at nailing an egg cracking picture I turned the dial to high speed. After one out of focus burst I tried again. Ten frames later I had a sequence which was in focus, and one picture that worked on its own. I even got the egg cracker in the shot.

I still don't find the X100T as fluid to use as a DSLR. This may be because of a familiarity difference. Probably the most annoying feature is how tired it gets. That's the inherent problem with cameras that use an electronic display. They have to go to sleep to save battery power. The drawback is that they don't like waking up. A DSLR, on the other hand, can be left switched on all day without much drain on the power source. I've missed a few shots now because of this.

On the plus side these new-fangled cameras are discreet. They can be operated completely silently, which means that up close with a wide-ish angle lens you can photograph very unobtrusively.

The files seem to lack something in the colour department to me, and I was finding exposure to be less sure than the DSLR. For stationary subjects this in't a big deal, it's easy to chimp and correct. But when timing is important it can be a let down.

Once again I paid for my cups of tea by photographing the prize winning birds. Well, three of them. The 'studio' had been enlarged and was much better. The lighting still isn't ideal, but it's improved. I also got spotted by the organiser of the poultry show at a local-ish agricultural show. Soft lad has agreed to go and take some photos for them... I would most likely have been going anyway. So no great hardship.

---

Pastures new

In the spirit of research I went for a look at a sheepdog auction today. Not being sure what to expect I packed light with the Fuji and its two 'lenses'. This proved to be both good and bad. I'd been in two minds about making an early start to beat the rush hour traffic or setting off late. I knew parking might be difficult if I took the latter option but not the extent of the difficulty!

I don' think I've seen so many 4x4s in one place before. I saw number plates from Belgium and Finland, and heard accents from all of the home nations. Even at my age there are surprises to be had about what goes on in this country. The divide between the urban culture which the media promote as that of the nation and rural culture is a large one.

It took me a while to ease myself into taking photographs. I wanted to get a feel for the place and the event first. One of the early shots, among many which were quickly deleted, provided the crop below. Another happy accident which I find I like despite all it's technical and compositional 'flaws'.

Once in the mood it was a case of trying to find the sort of pictures I like making which tell part of the story and require careful perusal to see all that is going on. This is the challenge which fascinates me at the moment. I found some pictures by a well knows street photographer taken at country shows the other night. They were the regular fare of tightly cropped or uncluttered pictures. Good, but sort of what are expected.  Not that I''m saying my photos are better. Most of the time I miss the target.

Trying to time the release of the shutter so that three elements make visual senses at once is nigh on impossible for me. I wanted the auctioneer in the young dog ring to be making a visually interesting gesture, the young dog to be in the frame running round the penned sheep, and also the sheep and dog being exhibited at work on the field behind. I'm not 100% sure but I think a DSLR would have made that easier. There was a definite shutter lag with the Fuji, even when pre-focussed on where I expected the young dog to appear. I ended up putting the camera in burst mode and trying to predict when it would come round the pen. The chap consulting the catalogue was a nice framing bonus. If I had nailed this shot I'd have been overjoyed. Close but no cigar this time.

There were lots of dogs about,and lots of people. Sniping character shots with a long lens would have been a doddle. They always lack that all important context to me. Whether a small, silent camera really is an advantage when working close to people is still something I'm unconvinced about. I do think having a small lens on a big camera helps. Maybe that just helps my self-consciousness though? Probably the biggest help is having an air of purposefulness about you, and not looking shifty!

Another thing that frustrated me was having to keep swapping 'lenses'. It wasn't that I missed having the crutch of a zoom lens. Using just two focal lengths works well enough for me. Two cameras is the (expensive) answer...

Overall my haul of pictures was pretty thin. To be expected on an exploratory visit for someone as slow to learn as me. However, learning the limitations of a camera is valuable. I also learned something about setting the thing up. Reviewing pictures on the back screen I was convinced they were all over exposed, even though the histogram (something I never usually look at) was telling me otherwise. There was also a strange icon on the screen when shooting. I had no idea what it was.Lacking the manual a deep dive into the menu was called for. It turned out that switching off the automatic brightness control for the back screen made the pictures look perfectly exposed!

---