Let's talk about Autumn
Autumn is my favourite season, as the nights draw in, and the air chills, we start to think of bonfire night, and dare I say it, Christmas. As a photographer, I love autumns arrival. It's quite remarkable how long the season takes to get really going, as I write this, there is still plenty of colour to be found in the countryside, although this is diminishing rather quickly.
Capturing the colour of the season is all about timing, and of course the weather plays a huge role in this. Early winds can take the leaves off really quickly. A few days of a strong wind can leave you with nothing to admire. We've been quite lucky this year. The colour has remained for quite awhile, this combined with a few frosty mornings, has given me some great opportunities to capture the season at its best.
Some of the images in my blog, were captured after visiting the location on several occasions. Your always competing with the weather, and many times the light is just not there. It's never the case that you just turn up and the picture is just begging to be taken. All the images taken below were captured with the Pentax 645z with a variety of lenses; 35mm, 45-80, and the 80-160mm. Generally I will use an ND grad combined with a polarizer filter, this allows for a more balanced exposure, and deeper colour saturation.
Lone tree and a stormy sky.Autumn colour in the Derbyshire dales
Frost and Autumn colourAutumn colour at Osmaston Derbyshire
Early morning sunlight at Osmoston ParkOsmaston park near Ashbourne and autumn colour
A frosty start to the dayA frosty morning in the Derbyshire dales
Autumn sunset Derbyshire dalesSpectacluar skies herald a cold night ahead
Landscape 1-1 days
One thing I always hope for when taking out a client into the Peak, is moderatly good weather. This gives us both an opportunity to work out the best composition, the best exposure to suit the mood. However when the weather gods go against you. it's always a tough call to sack it off and find a warm spot for a coffee, or persevere and hope the weather improves. Fortunately for us it did perk up a bit, and made for a challenging, but enjoyable day out. Pete my pupil for the day, was very affable and took things in his stride, and I hope learnt a fair bit along the way. A few images from the day. All the images taken with the Mamiya 645DF using a Phase One P21+ digital back.
Autumn at Padley GorgeLeaf carpet
River of GoldPadley Groge
River BurbagePadley Gorge
Owler TorA break in the weather
Natural balanceGritstone boulder finely balanced at Owler Tor
Moorland under breaking skyOwler Tor
Landscape Photographer of the Year 2017
I was very pleased to learn that 2 of my images from my submission this year, went through to the final round of judging, with one being commended to be in this years winners gallery and the LPOTY 2017 book. The book is a must buy for any landscape photographer, and when I look through it, I am always in awe of the photographers images, they are sublime. Sometimes controversial but by en large you can understand why the judges have picked them.
To judge this competition must be quite hard work, as some 250 thousand images are submitted, it's a nice feeling to know that one or two of your images has hit the right spot and caught the judges eye. When i submit a panel of images, I am very brutal in my choice, and spend quite a few hours looking at the merits of each image before sending my best.
I don't think there is a winning formula, but as long as you feel you've submitted your best work, no one can ask anymore of you. The rest lies with the judges. I personally think it's good to submit, as long as you don't get disappointed with the Dear John email you may get. Remember too that judging is purely what an individual feels about the subject matter, what makes the image standout among the thousands that they have looked at.
This is now the second time in 3 years that I have had an image commended, so I am pleased to think that my photography is going in the right direction, but I shoot for myself first and foremost, I don't shoot for the competition.
My 2 shortlisted entries were 2 very different images, one captured with the drone, and one with my phase one 645 back, 2 very different techniologies, the image of the tractor and the fields was very much a planned image, the other was a fluke. The image of the fields being mowed was the one that made it through to the final round. The fields had been mowed that morning I was lucky enough to drive past as they were doing it, so I figured the best way to try and capture it, would be when the sun was low enough in the sky to produce the shadows and texture. Fortunately for me the weather held and didn't cloud over, without the low sun the image would not have worked.
The second image was taken during a really cold morning with large amounts of mist surrounding our part of Derbyshire, it was one of those mornings when just driving around to various locations I had in my mind was the only thing to do. Lucky for me I caught this image by chance really. It remains on of my favourites, the soft light and the pastel pink rendition along with the mist isolated the small beech copse, combined with a telephoto lens to compress the foreground really made this image standout for me.
Evening Mowing Drone image captured with the Dji Inspire pro with zuiko 12mm
Beech copse The pastel light of a cold and misty dawn
Peak District Year 2018 Calendar
My calendar has just been printed, featuring some of my favourite images of the nations favourite national park. It also includes free delivery. and would make a great Christmas present.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B075LY2W44
Confusion or Abstract
Photo abstracts take the viewer away from knowing or recognizing the subject. Instead they invite the viewer to almost ‘feel’ the textures, forms and other elements of the subject.
Often abstract photography makes the object unrecognisable as an object in its own right. Instead it directs attention to the look and feel – the essence of the object.
Very often my work includes an abstraction of a greater view, where the subject matter is not intstantly recogonised, it may include a hard shadow or high contrast scene, or the way a shadow falls, I see it in my eye as a pleasing pattern or shape, sometimes formed by the colour itself. It has to have some harmony for me.
Often as photographers we concentrate all our efforts into the Grand View, when something much more simplistic can be equally as rewarding. I find myself thinking about shooting things more in an abstract fashion. I find buildings Architecture make great abstracts, its easier to see a shape or pattern. With nature the task becomes more confused, trying to find the composition, and the harmony.
Sometimes it can hit you right away, more often than not though it takes some time to figure it out. Whatever the subject abstracts can be a great talking point, the term Marmite can be used often when viewing an Abstract image. I guess alot of viewers just won't get it, but that's not really the point, your not meant to, as it will mean different things to different people. I often just go out to shoot this type of image, it's a great way of spending a few hours with a single subject.
II sometimes find that creating an abstract is actually created due to an image reference that I carry around in my head, the above image is one that I have been wanting to find for many years, quite a few people have commented that I made this up in Photoshop, in truth it was shot as i saw it, the only photoshop element was creating the uber staright line of the horizon. The image was inspired by Mondrain blocks of colour.
This long exsposure seascape with the bands of clouds was taken after a long day out in Wales, shot off the Conwy coast. I was reminded of the Rathko works.
River Burbage a riot of colour
I found myself in Padley Gorge near Grindleford with some really bright light searing through the tree canopy, the River Burbage tumbles dow a steep ravine and is often the place to shoot long exposures. I wanted to shoot something different capturing the power of the river, the reds and oranges are leaves that were trapped underwater and looked like layers of jelly in a trifle. Make of it what you will.
The above images were taking during a late March outing to a Slate quarry in the lake District. I could have spent the whole day there, it was wonderful, amazed by the patterns and colour in the rock. The chance to get some pictures out of this space was compelling. Hard work to find the right images amongst the quarried walls.
A london photographic workshop I took in the winter, let me concentrate on the abstract nature of architecture, the above images were taken with a telephoto lens, which gives you so many options in picking out subjects, the other aspect about using the telephoto is the compression effect of the lens on the subject.
Thanks for taking time to read my blog.