The Heron

This felt quite like some of the exercises in the previous section and I’m afraid I have to confess I wasn’t very enthusiastic about it. I had decided on what I thought would be a suitable subject but when I got the lake the red lifesaver was no longer on the water. As I was about to leave the Heron arrived so I used that instead. To a certain extent I got the point of the exercise but I wasn’t overly happy with any of the images. The nature of the light and the colours around the Heron seemed to me to make it quite a flat and dull image. I also think I should have got closer to the bird to really make it the main point of focus. I’m not sure I have a preference for any of the points and should probably have re-shot the exercise using a stronger focal point. I have included the shots because it was a useful piece of learning and it seems to me that there is often as much to learn from getting it wrong as there is from getting it spot on first time.

Positioning the Horizon (11^th August):

I had the good fortune to get tickets to the Olympics women’s mountain bike final at Hadleigh Farm in Essex. This gave me the unexpected opportunity to do the horizons exercise as the views across the bike track out towards Canvey Island were really open and had incredible depth. The three images on the exercises page show the horizon as low in the frame, near to the middle and high in the frame.

My preference is for the low horizon, although I would want to remove the irritating lighting gantry in the centre of the shot. I prefer this because I like the way the almost misty effect on the horizon merges into the sky with its gradations of cloud. It was an extremely sunny day so I was pleased to see there was still some detail in the sky. I also like the two pink Olympic flags to the right of the image that just give a hint of something else happening.

As suggested in the course text I feel the mid horizon is the least successful because it is the least dynamic, it just divides the fame and makes the shot seem very flat. There is still some interest in that the pink staging markers perhaps make you wonder what this and where this place might be but overall it is not very interesting.

The high horizon obviously gives more sense of the activity in the foreground and definitely gives a sense of depth across the farm and the houses down to the estuary and across towards Canvey Island. The fact there is less detail in the sky doesn’t seem to matter as there is plenty happening in the foreground. However, I do think the foreground is probably too busy and would warrant some cropping of the out of focus figures bottom left.

The W (20^th July):

It was hard to be anywhere along the harbourside in Barcelona and not notice the incredibly dominant presence of the ‘W’ hotel. I actually found the extent of its impact made me increasingly uncomfortable. In the light of all that is happening economically in Spain at the moment its position almost seemed grotesque. Barcelona is heavily dependent on its tourism yet as with other tourist destinations this is seen as a very mixed blessing by residents. The pollution and noise caused by the constant tour buses, the increased property speculation driving out locals in Barcelonetta and so on. Around the city a number of banners are hung encouraging tourists to go home and not return. One protest group talks about tourism and economic models that are destroying the city. So while this was another technical exercise in terms of experimenting with focal lengths and my zoom lens it also feels like a political commentary for me. I guess this probably does not come across in the image if you don’t know the backstory, but this hideous structure really looms over the city and symbolises for me the very real dilemmas created by the collapsing economic systems.

This prompted me to look more at how tourism might be defined and what it means, this is an interesting post by José Antonio Donaire looking at the subject. Another project for the future maybe?

Sorry I digress, but this really got me curious about the symbolism and iconography around tourism and our cities.

Bike Circles (20th June):

These few days in Birmingham have provided some rich material for my exercises. Although I focussed on a narrative progression at The Public when I arrived I found a series of metal circles designed as a bike stand. It was visually very arresting and I decided to have another go at the focal lengths exercise. This is a set where I was hard pressed to decide on a single shot I preferred. I think the nature of the subject means it works relatively well across the three versions. If pushed for a preference it would probably be the mid focus shot because the bicycle gives some background detail but the shapes of the bike rack provide interest in the foreground.

Return to The Public (20th June):

My work plans in Birmingham changed over the three days giving me time to do some more photography before returning home. I decided I would try the sequence of composition and document my movement from the centre of the city out to The Public in West Bromwich. I had worked with The Public in the past and was aware of some of its troubled history so this felt like a very personal journey, it was the first time I had seen the building open and fully operational. I started with images of the hotel and my coats in the car. I then moved to my first sighting of the building, including the building works that seem to be taking place all around it. I particularly noted their notice that said they had now had 500,000 visitors which I framed behind the building works as for many visitors they are the first thing that can be seen.

Through the doors I then tried to capture some of the quirkiness of the interior, it is a building like no other and trying to convey that is quite difficult. The dominance of the colour pink on and in the building is certainly one of its more unusual features and seeing the red car parked in front of the pink window for some reason really made me laugh it was a shot I had to capture.

I was there first thing in the morning so there were very few people around and I felt quite conscious of taking images of people so tended to steer away from them. I did however, ask at reception if it was alright to take photographs in the building and they seemed more than happy for me to do so. There was a photographic exhibition on the ground floor of local students and I thought there was some really captivating work. One of the students had done some beautiful cityscapes around Birmingham capturing the feel of the canals and walkways.

It was good, after all the controversy, to see the building open and being able to document my visit visually seemed really important. I enjoyed working with the camera in this way and would like to work more on the ‘storytelling’ potential of my images.

Nesting Robin (29^th & 30^th May):

We were lucky to have a pair of Robin’s nesting in our hedge and every morning they would appear with sticks and moss and pause on the support cane before disappearing. I thought this would make an appealing subject for the exercise about exploring positioning within the frame. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t get the exposure and the movement right. The first set were all over exposed so I tried again the following morning, while these were better and served to illustrate the point of the exercise they are still not as strong as I would have liked them to be. I guess I may not be a natural wildlife photographer!

While this was a subject I was interested in and engaged with its choice for this exercise was perhaps not the right one. I needed something more static with a relatively uniform background so that I didn’t have to work with too many variables at once. This has been valuable in helping me think more about what I am trying to achieve and how best to go about it. It has also shown me that I am still ‘consciously incompetent’ about some of the technical aspects of working with a DSLR. It was another useful step in getting me going though.

Barcelona Hotel (12^thJuly):

I had read through to the end of the chapter in the AoP workbook and knew what was required for the first formal assignment in terms of contrasting pairs. I was staying in Barcelona for a conference and had taken my camera so I could carry on with the exercises. My hotel room was long, thin and quite dark but it had an extraordinary bathroom. I was captivated by the arrangement of the toiletries, their colours, shapes and the play of light across the glass washbasin. This is the first image I took in the pairs set as I thought it might serve as the image for two contrasts in one – thick and thin. I think this set the scene for me wanting to create a set of images that are perhaps tongue in cheek and not what might be expected. There was a lot of light reflection so I was pleased to be able to get an image that had some clarity. It also served as a good warm up for thinking about and spotting contrasts in other contexts. I was feeling quite motivated about tackling the assignment.

Urban Flowers and Flight (19^th June):

I was in Birmingham over  a couple of days for work and couldn’t help noticing a number of flowers around my hotel growing out of pavements and behind railings and that were very much part of the urban landscape. As I was staying overnight I decided to take some photos of these urban flowers and then realised I could use it as an opportunity to try the positioning exercise again. I knew I wasn’t happy with the Robin images so this gave me a chance to try again. I found the white flowers set against the brickwork and took the images show on the exercises page. Unlike before both foreground and background were relatively static this time and the results were closer to what I think the exercise intended. In my opinion the flowers in the centre work lest well and I prefer the focal point to one side.

As I was wandering about and finding the flowers I also came across a group of Magpies who were hopping between the warehouses so I decided I would also try the panning exercise. I was highly sceptical that I would be able to do this easily and was pleased to find that I could track the birds as they flew. I need to do more work on getting the right balance of focus, shutter speed and exposure but I do feel more confident in trying it again. At least I know it is possible now.

WordPress Training (21^st May):

I have been looking through the blogs of some of the other AoP students and really like it as a medium for capturing my learning and development. I was also in the process of setting up Infinite Curiosity as a new enterprise and thought this would be a good combination. I had done some blogging as part of a group in the past but had done very little of the admin so thought it was time to build my WordPress understanding. In fact it had got to the point where everything seemed to have stopped until I had the right space to upload the work. I found a course in London and went along for my introductory day.

I found it a really useful grounding and it helped me get a sense of what was possible, as well as how much work is needed to keep generating content. I followed it up by buying the domain name and using the trainers as the host, so what held some trepidation initially was relatively easy. However, I did become somewhat overwhelmed by the time needed to take the images, negotiate WordPress, and utilise Photoshop. Ironically, while on the one hand I felt freed of the domination of technology in terms of the camera, the IT side did begin to take over. As a result I still tend to keep my learning log in the desktop and procrastinate about loading up the work.

I feel the course did give me a useful springboard but I still need further training in terms of using images and finding more flexibility in layout and the look and feel of the site. I am mindful of trying not to let it dominate actually doing the photography though.

Yellow Orbs (3rd May)

This exercise had been playing on my mind and I hadn’t been able to find time to get on with it. While I was out one afternoon the climbing frame really caught my eye from the moment I saw it. There was something in the shape and the colours that were really attractive and I thought it would make an unusual subject.

Unfortunately, all I had on me at the time was my iPhone so my ability to control the shots was limited, I had to physically move toward the climbing frame to change the position in the frame. I intended to go back with the DSLR and see what difference it would make but I that was for another day. Nonetheless, I felt it was still a helpful exercise for thinking about how the subject is framed and the impact different positioning can have. I have a natural inclination to a more abstract framing that keeps you guessing about what the subject is and so my preference is for the close up shot where the yellow orbs really dominate the frame and you are not really sure what it is.