It was a bit of a mixed bag weather wise yesterday, but Ray, Roger, Nigel and Anthony came for a wonder about the bay area. The weather started with hazy blue skies, then clouded over to clear again about 3.00pm – 4.00pm. The clouds came backafter 4.oopm so not giving the best of light to photograph the front of the millenium centre. Due to the haze I think my detail images worked best as the sky seems a bit weak in the wider images. The day was very enjoyable and I hope the others enjoyed it too. We managed 8 hours of photography with the odd pit stop for food and drink, and went from one end of the bay by the docks to the nature reserve next to the St. David’s Hotel. I hope to do a similar event next year, so keep any eye out on the blog, website and via Twitter.
After returning from my 1-2-1 tuition with Tom at Worm’s Head yesterday, I saw these Hay bales on the horizon as I headed into Scurlage. I haven’t seen many of these around Gower before as Gower is mainly livestock and dairy farming. The conditions were still a bit bright, but with the blue sky it was an opportunity to try a few images. Due to the location of the sun and the layout of the bales, the best position for competition was fairly limited so I tried to introduce some variation using different lenses. I think I prefer the image above at the moment, but the image below was a wider view with a 12mm lens. Where I think it fails slightly is in how the bales split the horizon. Ideally any object crossing the horizon should either be well above or below the horizon. In the image they are a bit middling, perhaps I needed to get lower even though it was taken with the camera 1 foot above the ground.
And finally an image of me in action.
You didn’t think I would show a straight image did you? There is a point to this image. In the low light it is very easy to get part of your shadow or that of your equipment in the image with very wide angle lenses so luckily with digital you can check on the spot. So as the sun starts to drop lower in the sky, take care.
I needed to escape the office the other day so I set on a road trip with no planned destination. After a few false starts I ended up at Broad Pool, hoping to get a good sunset as the clouds were looking good on the horizon with space for the sun to get through. As can happen with a lot of days that look promising, at the last stage the light just dies. Low cloud on the horizon completely blocked the sun, flattening the light totally. At this point it is common to believe that the days photographing is over, but quite often the light after sundown is great with bizarrelythe light levels increasing momentarily. The above image has a wide contrast range which needed controlling with both a 3 & 2 stop ND graduated filter. I tried both hard and soft graduations, finding that the harder edge was better even though the trees became a silhouette above the horizon. I later lightened them in Adobe Lightroom.
The recent warm, damp weather has been perfect for fungi and a few were found around Broad Pool. The hay cap shown above were found next to an animal track and looked fairly recent. They are poisonous and cause hallucinations if eaten, so not very good for breakfast!
I haven’t noticed this fungi before when out and about, but this is the classic presentation of the Egg Shell Toadstool. It grows on horse or cow dung and due to this is deemed not suitable for eating. I don’t think anybody wants to try it to see if it is suitable!
Although around all year, the next few months will be the most active time for fungi, so I will be looking forward to finding more. They also give me something to photograph on windy days as the don’t move much compared to flowers!
I spent the weekend with friends near Hitchen in Hertfordshire. They have a Lavender farm close to where they live, so we paid a visit on Sunday. The sight of lavender in rows is quite stunning, but also difficult to get some original images. I wouldn’t claim that any of my images are original and for composition, only use the diagonal leading line as a composition tool. The repeating lines help to strengthen the image further, plus the use of figures in one image gives a sense of scale as well. These were only snaps, so it would be nice to go back fully geared up and in better light conditions, even though the overcast light on Sunday helped reduced contrast.
The farm also had a strip of sunflowers which were past their prime, but were also interesting to photograph.
I originally went to Welsh Moor to photograph the varied and plentiful grasshoppers and crickets on Welsh Moor. The ideal weather for this is high cloud with good light levels; this helps reduce the contrast and gives better details. As usual my plans went astray due to the cloud clearing on my arrival and producing some interesting cloud patterns. As most of you know I’m quite partial to the odd cloud photo, so suitably distracted I wondered off in search of clouds.
I did manage to get back to my original subjects, but most of the images were too contrasty to be of any use. This little Froghopper is only about 5mm long so it was quite a challenge to get it in focus, plus get an interesting composition. At this level of magnification any slight breeze looks like a hurricane in the view finder and as a result only 2 of about 30 images were sharp. It didn’t help either that I was trying to do this hand held as well.
Although the light is quite contrasty in the spider image, I still like the “feel” of it produced by a shallow depth of field, close magnification and a burst of fill in flash. Most of the time we are used to seeing the top of spiders as they scuttle around, so I like the different view point showing some of their different colours and details. I’m not sure what spider this is as I wasn’t able to get to see the other side and none of my guide books show the underneath of the spiders.
I have been visiting the Kittiwakes at Mumbles Pier quite a lot. I am trying to get a complete record of the development of the young. There are plans to redevelop the pier, so I am not too sure how many more times the Kittiwakes will be able to nest on it in the future.
The birds are very tolerant, probably due to the presence of so many fishermen and women. The gulls occasionally chase the bait that the fishermen are using to try and catch fish. Unfortunately at my last visit on Monday one of the fishermen managed to hook an adult bird through the leg. I haven’t seen so many grown men poncing about before, they all seemed to be afraid of the bird which was getting quite distressed. Luckily with the help of one of the more calm fishermen I managed to get hold of the gull while he removed to hook from the leg. Amazingly the bird did not seem to show any pain as the hook was removed, and once released it flew back to one of the roosting sites on the pier. There was a nasty wound still on its leg, so I hope it survives, but it seemed quite okay as I watched it for a while afterwards.
Apart from the straight photographic record shots, the challenge has been to try and find different viewpoints and get a bit more “art” into the images. This is proving to be quite challenging and results are still varied at the moment. As there are only a few places to stand to see the Kittiwakes from so repetition is a problem. Using different light has helped, but overall there tends to be a “sameness” to some of the images. What has been working well is the combination of teleconverters, extension tubes and my longest lens combined to allow extreme close up portraits of the adult birds without having to get too close. Even with this set up giving a focal length of roughly 1680mm it is still quite surprising how close you need to be, not withstanding the focus, depth of field and sharpness issues. I’m still trying to get an image of a wide open mouth of one of the adult birds to show the magnificent red and yellow colouration present.
This extra reach has also helped me get more intimate images of the chicks as they develop. Most chicks seem to be surviving and developing well and are now being left alone by some parents so I can get clearer views of them.
There are still some days to go before they fledge, so I will get in a few more visits before then and see what turns up. A male grey seal was swimming around at my last visit totally oblivious to the fishermen and kayaks around it.
I don’t know if I have been thinking too much recently, but I have started to question the photographs I make. Some examples are:
Are my images different to those of anybody else?
Is it still possible to make images of popular subjects that haven’t been done before?
Does the world need more photographs, hasn’t every thing been photographed already?
My answers so far:
No, yes and not enough.
Maybe, but I’m not sure how.
Probably, apart from very rare subjects.
So where does this leave me? Confused is probably an accurate description at the moment. Lack of focus, short attention span and apathy are all present as well. I’m calling this my “Can’t be a***d” period. I’m in a funk. I’m glad to say I’m not the only one who feels this way at times. American photographer Zack Arias summed it up in his video statement below.
So what am I doing about it? Nothing and everything. I’m stepping back from holding the camera, but planing things to do with the camera. I’m making images but not trying to find images. I plan, I research, I do nothing. Everything seems to help in its way. I need to rest.
Are you now more confused than me? Probably. It is amazing how in a few hours doing all of the above has helped. So what is the outcome and what am I going to do? Let’s look at my answers to the questions now.
For the majority, the answer is no. There are some that are different. I need to study these and find out why. Does this mean I stop taking ordinary images? No, because it is through making these images that the vision improves and the different approach forms and develops to produce the new work.
Possibly, I need to work on it. I have a few ideas, but they need testing first. This will be the hardest thing to develop.
No it doesn’t need more images and yes probably everything has been photographed, but the world demands more images, there is a need for more images. I can give it some of my images.
The Kittiwakes are doing well at Mumbles Pier despite the heat. Check out the photos of fellow Gower blogger, Adam Tilt HERE to see how they coped in the higher temperatures. I revisited last Sunday as it had become a bit cloudier which helps with the contrast in the images. By the time I got to the pier and with an opening time of 9am, the clouds had cleared and the sun was out. Luckily where some of the birds nest is in the shade so I was able to make some images. I was trying to get some images of the chicks, but as they don’t do too much at the moment, plus a lot of the adults are still brooding them, I had limited success. I tried a few variations, some of which worked, but I also decided to make a quick video for those of you who are not able to get to the pier.
A few comments on the video. The audio makes it sound that it is quite noisy in the colony. It is actually relatively quiet for a gull colony, compared to those I have spent some time around on Skomer & Skokholm Islands off the Pembrokeshire coast. The editing just seemed to make it appear as if birds are calling all the time when they are not usually. For those of you who think they can detect the sound of a pressure washer at some stage, you will be correct. The crew of the RNLI lifeboat, which is stationed off the same pier as the Kittiwakes, were cleaning the lifeboat down while I was trying to make the video. It didn’t seem to matter if I stopped filming and started again later. The pressure washer always seemed to come on when I pressed record. I now appreciate after trying sound recording on my course with Wildeye last year how difficult it is to get a clean sound recording like we are used to hearing on TV etc.
The Little Owls on Skomer are well suited for the terrain with superb camouflage. You only really picked them up if they moved and even their bright yellow eyes didn’t give them away. The image above and below were taken to demonstrate their ability to blend in with their surroundings. I was amazed at how many people just walked past them, even though I was pointing a huge photographic lens at them!
After a while of spending some time with them, I got to learn their habits and could identify the male and female, which look the same, from their behaviour. The female stayed closest to the young with the male bringing in food and passing it off to the female. The female would also hunt herself, but when the male arrived at his favourite perch he would squawk, and the female would fly to him to collect the food. I stayed for a few hours and it was great just to be able to watch their interactions. They also got used to my presence and the male decided he wanted a closer look at me, so he came within 10 feet of me. No picture I’m afraid because at the time I was looking in the opposite direction taking a photo of an oil tanker moored in the sound! Even though I turned really slowly, I knew he would fly off before I managed to train my camera on him. That will teach me not to pay him my full attention. They still came relatively close so I managed a few different images.
I decided to leave the Owls in peace in the afternoon and wandered down to the landing area. Normally everybody is in a rush to get round the island that they rarely spend time here. Once all the boats have landed for the day and before the first boat leaves in the afternoon, it is usually very quiet with plenty of birds to see and photograph. If you don’t have long telephoto lens for your camera this is the place to go as the birds are very close with usually a choice of Razorbills, Puffin and Guillemot to choose from. The favourite perching place has been nicknamed “Kodak Rock” by Kenny who works on the Dale Princess as everybody usually stops here to take a photograph on their arrival.
Razorbills have great markings, but it is only when you see them close up can you appreciate that there is quite a lot of brown in their colouring. The same goes for Guillemots as well. From a distance it all looks black. They all seemed to be taking it in turns to pose for me. One would have it picture taken, then fly off ready for another to take its place.
It started to rain as I waited for the boat and the rest of the passengers to arrive, but all the birds were posing so well I carried on, keeping the camera dry under a waterproof cover. The Puffins nest all around here, so they are quite close and very used to human presence. The background gives a different look to those you get up at the Wick where the main colony is.
While photographing the Whitethroat at Welsh Moor I saw a small area that was covered with Ragged-Robin flowers. I have only now managed to get back and photograph them. Earlier in the day I had been at Mumbles Pier photographing the Kittiwakes. The cloud cover that was present had burnt off, so the conditions were much sunnier and contrasty as a result. Normally I like to photograph flowers in less contrasty, cloudy conditions as the colour saturation tends to be better and more accurate. This year I set myself a challenge to photograph in sunnier conditions with a few more blue skies showing in the photographs. I have found it quite challenging actually, but thought these flowers would be a great chance to try it out. In the end I still prefer the images made when the sun was hidden by a passing cloud!
I took everything including the kitchen sink with me to make the photographs. I am trying at the moment to find a subject and cover it from all angle and with all lenses possible. The top image was taken with a 500mm lens, with the image above using my 12-24mm wide-angle lens. Each gives a different perspective and look to the image. Variation in the results is the desired outcome, and using different focal length lenses makes it easy to vary the look of the images.
The above image finally shows some blue sky! Notice though that there is no direct sun on the flowers themselves. I waited until the sun went behind a cloud so the flowers were in shade, but still had some blue sky behind. The best of both worlds! A breeze was present so it made subject movement a problem with the longer exposure times required. It just turns into a numbers game with a bit of patience thrown in as well. On my return home and while downloading my files from the day, I was being serenaded by this great singer. Time for a few more photos!
Trying something a little bit different – thinking too hard
I don’t know if I have been thinking too much recently, but I have started to question the photographs I make. Some examples are:
My answers so far:
So where does this leave me? Confused is probably an accurate description at the moment. Lack of focus, short attention span and apathy are all present as well. I’m calling this my “Can’t be a***d” period. I’m in a funk. I’m glad to say I’m not the only one who feels this way at times. American photographer Zack Arias summed it up in his video statement below.
So what am I doing about it? Nothing and everything. I’m stepping back from holding the camera, but planing things to do with the camera. I’m making images but not trying to find images. I plan, I research, I do nothing. Everything seems to help in its way. I need to rest.
Are you now more confused than me? Probably. It is amazing how in a few hours doing all of the above has helped. So what is the outcome and what am I going to do? Let’s look at my answers to the questions now.