Yet another good night on BBC4

Women with Fire Masks, Devonshire Hill, London - Lee Miller

Another treat for any person interested in serious photography - BBC4 on Saturday 27th June 2009 had a wonderful selection of documentaries about female photographers. As usual with these documentaries the styles were different, and some of the producers/directors just don't know who to produce a documentary about an art subject without making the documentary 'arty'. None the less the evening as a whole was a sucesses. Dispite all that is written in the Murdoch owned media the BBC does have a relevence and should be allowed to produce and transmit programmes like this.

The iPhone is dead - long live the iPhone

It had not been well for a few weeks now but finally it has died. My old iPhone is no more. Not bad going - just over 3 months of use and it dies. However, the good people at the Apple store quickly checked the machine out and replaced it straight away. Now that is what I call service.

So as usual the truth is not as straight forward as it seems. The iPhone still worked perfectly well - apart from the fact that the machine, for reasons passing comprehension thought that the head phones were attached and so the speaker for the phone wouldn't work - a bit difficult when trying to take a call.

The iPhone itself had been brilliant on my recent trip to Pembrokeshire. This is way beyond the reaches of 3G but the phone still worked a wonder as an Internet browser. All your really needed to do was set your favs to their low graphic option and away you go. In fact it is interesting that the BBC news website is much better without all the razzmatazz of web 2.0 design and functionality. It just gives you the news reports and really what do you want. Perhaps there is a moral there?

One final thing. Upgrading to v3.0 of the operating system. This works really well apart from those of us on pay as you go. We have to fiddle around with the data network settings. It is not difficult just tedious.

So the king is dead - long live the king.

Digital Manipulation....

No.1 - Original Raw File

What a strange place the digital world is. I was preparing my selection for the British Wildlife Photographic awards before I finalised my selection I let my wife view them. This is always a good idea as it allows me to verify my selections and get feedback. We came to one photograph that, whilst was strong could just be a bit stronger. The photograph had come from a series shot in a few seconds so I had a number of very close variations. Sure enough there was a photograph that filled the brief so much better (No.1). Having checked the brief again I went to work processing the image to make it an acceptable photograph.

At this point it is worth noting the rules on digital manipulation:

"...Digital processing, such as contrast, selective exposure and colour adjustments, removal of dust marks, and sharpening is acceptable. Digital manipulation, including composite images and the addition and/or subtraction of objects is prohibited. Images should retain their naturalism and integrity...." - Entry Restrictions:

No.2 - Content Aware Scaling

A facility within Photoshop CS4 is 'Content Aware Scaling' (CAS) - this is an ability to remove areas of the image that are very similar whilst maintaining the size and integrity of the main items within the image. It is a very meat piece of software but it drives a coach and horse through the digital manipulation - or does it? When you compare No.2 and No.3 you will see what I mean. No.2 has scaling applied

No.3 - Conventional Cropping

What the CAS has done is remove a slither of sea between the two main birds in the photograph. By doing this it has made the photograph far more impactive. (This is very difficult to see on the photographs on the blog but in real life it is noticeable.) However, this is nothing compared to the crop of the original (compare No.1 with No.3) and yet cropping has been part of photography since the first Fox-Talbot negative. Now these two images are subtle and there will no doubt be much more blatant applications of CAS. It does, however, go to the false argument that a photograph never lies. This conceit has been around for as long as there has been photography and it is totally bogus. Photography only records what the photographer wants it to record. he/she makes all the choices and only shows the viewer what he/she wants them to see. Photography is a con - it always has been - it just that now it is so much easier for the '...Average Joe...' to partake in the con.

So what will I do? Well I will submit No.3 but in the knowledge that No.2 is a better photograph (in my view) - I just wonder if other contestants will be as conscious of the dangers?

Puffins Puffins and Puffins...

Best laid plans etc. I didn't expect to get round to working on the Skomer photographs for a day or so. However, the sorting out of the Landscape Photographer of the Year submission was a lot easier than I thought - the reason for this that I broke the short list down into individual shortlists for the categories. Once I did this the selection seemed to fall into place. I am leaving it a day or so to see if I want to change anything.

So back to puffins. They are a wonderful and charming bird - perhaps the most photogenic creature there is? Maybe, maybe not. However if you want to up close and personal then Skomer is one of the best places for this. The birds are so unconcerned by the people they walk quite happily amongst the crowds on their way to feeding their chicks. Click here to see the latest photographs.

I had set myself two aims for the shoot on Skomer. The first was take some really close portrait shots - not difficult given the birds behaviour. However the second proved much more difficult. I wanted to capture the birds in flight. This was proving unsuccessful until I walked back to the landing site on the harbour at South Haven. Here the birds just zip past you but without their nervousness they have at the Wick. Only later did I discover that this too didn't work out. After a lot of head scratching and reading the manual I found that the 1D's focusing only works really well with lenses with an aperture of f2.8 or larger. The 100/400 zoom has an max aperture of f4.5 - this clear contributed to the high failure rate. Big lesson. Fortunately I had sufficient images to satisfy me. However it was a painful lesson.

Whilst on the island there was a camera from the welsh language channel S4C. It was fascinating to hear the Welsh language spoken as a first language. It is strange and very beautiful language to listen to. I latter spoke to the presenters about the welsh language and the fact that there were so many common English nouns. They reassured me that when specking welsh they didn't use the common English noun but rather the welsh. This was rather undercut when a young volunteer spoke to them and very quickly it was clear that she certainly didn't appear to have difficultly using English nouns in the welsh language. Of course this is no scientific sample, and also o reflection on the girl in question, but I still have difficulty believing that common English nouns would be replaced by welsh ones. You only have to examine the development of the french language to see how English creeps in even when officially frowned on. This doesn't get away from the fact that the welsh langauge, when spoken in a relaxed manner, is a beutiful, poetic langauge of rythms and harmonies that english simply cannot approach.

One final thing. I watched the programme they were making the other day and I say my tripod leg on the screen. Fame at last!

I have a plan...

Broad Haven beach

I have a plan. Over the next few weeks there are a number of competitions that I am planning to submit work to. This means I will have to restrict the work I will undertake and I am going to have to make a plan. So here is the plan. I will not work on the bird photography from the Pembroekshire shot until I have completed the submission for the Landscape Photographer of the year. This also means that I will not make any other photographs from the Pembroke shoot than I have already done. To see the whole shot to date click here. This doesn't mean I will be returning to this set of images it just means I have selected what I consider to be the best photographs for the competition. There are only so many sunset photographs you can choose for a submission.

After the Landscape Photographer I am going to work on the British Wildlife awards. This should coninside with the completion of the photographs of bird in Pembrokeshire and my next big shoot in Northumbria. However, the date of the submission for this is very close to when I get back from Northumbria so I am not sure how many photographs from Northumbria will be included.

After this there is the projected image exhibition with the RPS. I can't recall the closing date for this but I think it is some time in August. I am hoping that the work I have done on the first two submissions will help me with this.

After this there is the Portfolio two submission to work on. This is sometime in Sept/October. Again the plan is that there previous work can be rolled up into this - thus reducing my work - afterall I would love to get out and make some new images.

Lindisfarne at Dusk

Well the hard work starts from here. There are only two weeks to go before the closing date of the Landscape Photographer of the Year competition and so I am now working through my selection to try and come up with 15 photographs - that is hard work! Not only have you to select up to 15 but they have to be put into one of four categories. I hate this but at the same time it does provide a certain amount of discipline. Lets just hope it is worth it.

Tired! Tired! ... Tired!

Razorbill - Skomer

I never know when I have over done things until - well I collapse. I almost reached that point this week after coming back from Pembrokeshire. I had spent a week just taking photograph after photograph from dawn until dusk. What I didn't realise was that this was taking a toll on me. Anyway, without trying to make this sound over dramatic I got home exhausted and have to spend the last two days recovering from the week. So this minoring I have started some light editing of the images. I have yet to make any photographs but I thought I would include these three images from Skomer Island. They cheered me up no end just looking at the them. There are a number of things I want to do to the images to create the correct photograph - but that is for another day. Now to go back to sleep.

Puffins - Skomer

Beach and Sunsets - Pembroke

Is it really a week ago already? Where does my life go to? - I have no idea. Well after a uneventful drive out to the far west coast of Wales at Broad Haven I spent what was left of the day wondering around the beach and taking in a wonderful sunset. I don't know why but St Brides Bay seems to specialise in memorable sunsets. I am sure this is something it shares with many other places but in the British Isles I have not found anywhere quite like it.

As for the photographs they are a strange bunch. The sunset set really move me. Not sure whether they move anyone else as they could be seen as cliche - which they may well be - but I love them. The beach shots have a feel of LS Lowry. At the moment I seem to having very small people in large canvasses - I know this is not exactly Lowry's style, especially as there is not one 'dark satanic' chimney in sight but it is how it makes me feel. Anyway if you want to see the full set then click here.

On a personal note I have found this whole week very exhausting. It was supposed to be a break but I found myself working really hard. I know making images is not physically hard, although when you see how much kit I insist to take with me sometimes I am not sure, but emotionally is another matter. Hopefully, the results will be worth the hard work. Only time will tell.

The first photographs...

I'm tired but feel satisfied. I have now been able to produce some photographs from my Pembrokeshire sojourn. To see the three photographs click here. Tomorrow, I will produce my first detailed blog entry.

Back home - now the hard work begins

Well I have just got back from Pembroke and what a wonderful time I had. Much more on this over the next few days. For now I am uploading the 4000 images to my system. Once this is done then battle will commence and no doubt I will publish some of the results of this hard work over the next few weeks.

Maybe the last post for a while???

Newgale beach at Dusk - Pembrokeshire

I know the last post was supposed to be the last post before I'm off to Pembrokeshire but...I was going through lasy year's photographed and found a few more that I liked and hadn't processed so I spent a few hours putting this right. I have added them to the Pembrokeshire set on flickR and if you want to view the rest click here.

Another reason for going through my back catalogue was print out some contact sheets that were representative of last year's efforts. The idea that it should help me with this year's batch.

The final post for a week?

Bull Ring - Birmingham

Just posted the final two photographs from my Birmingham Set. It is unlikely I will post anything again for another week or so as I am off for a weeks photograph, sand, sea and relaxation in Pembrokeshire. Needless to say there is a huge amount to do and prepare. Hopefully I will come back with some interesting photographs.

Emergence Photography Exhibition

Another day another exhibition - well that is how it seems at the moment. Actually this is a very exciting time of the year - you get to see some really interesting photography in such a short amount of time - and the Emergence Photography exhibition doesn't let you down.

The exhibition is the final work of the BTEC, HND and HNC students from Sandwell College in the West Midlands and is at the Custard factory gallery in Digbeth, Birmingham. The space itself lends for a much more enjoyable experience than the Leicester College exhibition I went to earlier this week. Instead of being crammed in there was space to be able to stand back and examine and enjoy the work presented. Whilst I was there the students were undertaking their final assessments which, in itself must be unnerving without members of the public wondering around. Glad I am past such matters.

So the photography -what was it like? Again, as I have mentioned before these type of exhibition are always a bit of a hotch potch of work - after all the goal of the exhibitors is to impress their assessors rather than the passing public i.e. me. This being said I thought the overall standard was very good. The photography was on the whole engaging and worth taking the time to study. As ever, personal choice comes into this so some of the pieces I just didn't get, some were okay in parts and some where just very good. Out of all the photographers exhibiting the following caught my eye:

Ben Turner - Heros. This was a set of photographs that were meant to be a fashion shoot from different angles but I must admit I saw as a 'Free Running' documentary. It was inspired by the tv series Heros. Now I am not really inspired by 'fashion shoots' but this was a strong set of photographs. They captured the energy and freedom of Free Running. You could feel the exhilaration of the gravity defying movements - for a split second you know what a bird feels like. Now I know this was not what Turner was trying to do but I felt they worked much better like this than a fashion shoot;

Susannah Conway - Mirror Image. Susannah's piece explored the similarities and differences of brothers and sisters. It was a series of quite simple portraits of young boys and girls, perhaps no older than mid teens. (Indeed if you visit Conway's website you will get a feel for the work she displayed - infact some of the children are actually on the website) The photographs were arranged in two rows; the top row had 9 photographs and the bottom row 8. This initially threw me for two reasons. Firstly which were the siblings and secondly why a row of 9 and a row of 8? However, it added to the enjoyment of the piece to work out the answers and once you did the whole work made me smile. The simple truth was that the brothers and sisters did look the same and yet you could see they were different. This difference was helped by the simple portraiture style;

Victoria Landon - Cathartic Confessions. This was the most powerful piece in the exhibition. It consisted of a number of photographs based on anonymous online confessions taken from a web site that Victoria had set up. She then used these confessions as inspiration for the photographs. However, her style and control of the photographic medium was such that you didn't really need to understand the motivation for the photographs. They were strong and thoughtful on their own. Out of all the work displayed this was the most coherent and powerful piece;

Maria Reaney - Recycled - This was a series of photographs of models wearing cloths made out of recycled materials. The shots were also supposed to be recycled ideas inspired by other photographers. They were a strong set of photographs, however the one that really stood out for me was what I came to call Eartha Kitt in a new paper (See Below). What really inspired me about this its simplicity and yet complexity of tone and light. It was helped by the beauty of the model whose wonderful skin tones have been picked out again the dark background. Again the choice of the hair band and the news print adds to the understated, yet over powering, tonal range. A simply stunning photograph

There were other individual photographs that were strong in themselves but they didn't form a coherent and strong series as those I have chosen to mention.

One final thing. Photographer's Statements. These are always very tricky but in my view should be about the work being exhibited rather than a short biography of the photographer. I am sure it is important to someone who the photographer became inspired to take up photography but it doesn't really explain the motivation or message that the photographer is trying to communicate. The most successful statements in the exhibition didn't touch on this at all but addressed the photographs - and where much the better for it.

I understand that the MA exhibition at the DMU is going to be this gallery. This will provide an interesting compare and contrast with the work displayed here. Will it be that much better - I hope so.

Yet another utility written

Thank goodness for visual basic. I run a really old copy of visual basic - VB5 which is what In use to right small utilities - yet it still works and is very stable - even in Vista! Today I took delivery of my new 4 compact flash card reader from Delkin. Really useful when I am out doing nature work and have filled up several compact flash cards. However, I needed some software to copy them onto my machine - now this may well have come with the more expensive option - instead I wrote my own and at the moment this seems to work a treat.

The great advantage of writing your own software is that you are able to make it bespoked to your needs - in this case this fits into my digital work flow and should save me a lot of time. The proof will come over the next week when I am out shooting for real. Lets hope my great plans work out - if they don't I can easily tweak the software. This is the beauty of being able to write your own software - it also shows that older versions of programming languages are still very useful for everyday needs - such as utilities.

Birmingham

St Martins Church - Birmingham

Busy old day. Went over to Birmingham to see the Emergence photography exhibition (Will give a full report in another post). Whilst in Birmingham I took the opportunity to get in some city landscapes etc. Had a great time but I do seem to be drawn to the dark sombre image (again I can feel the influence of W Eugene Smith). I don't feel this in other cities - perhaps there is something about Birmingham that brings this out in me. If you want to see more of these photographs click here.

Incite - Photography exhibition

Another day another exhibition - well it is that time of year. Actually I have a connection with this exhibition as it is the final year exhibition of the HNC course at Leicester College that I started but didn't complete - a bit of a pattern forming here I think!

So what was it like? The exhibition itself was at the West End Gallery in Leicester. The room itself was really quite small for the amount of work on display but this was probably the only space available for the price/money available. It became even smaller once all the people turned up and people eventually spilled out into the courtyard next to the gallery.

As usual with these types of exhibitions the work was very variable. This is not a criticism of the work but rather a construct of the programme. There was no one theme, such as say 'Landscape Photography', and so the subject matter was varied. Out of the all the work on display Emma Gould's ' a day at Dingley Races ' was, for me, head and shoulders above anything else exhibited. The piece consisted of a number of photographs mounted in black frames. They were then brought together to form a 1.5 x 1.5 metre square. They were candid black and white portraits of the people and horse racing. The neat arrangement complimented the first rate photographs and you were left with the feeling that you were there.

So an interesting evening and I am sure that all the pepoloe exhibiting would feel proud of the work on display. I know I would have.

Flickr - so time consuming

Victoria Park - Leicester

I'm not sure I'm doing it right but FlickR is taking more and more of my time. I have been getting good feedback and people are asking me to join their grup which I suppose is a good thing - I am just not certain i am doing the thing correctly. Still only time will tell.

Leicestershire Landmarks on FlickR

All Sainst Church - Leicester

I have finally got around to creating a new set on FlickR for my long term project called Leicestershire Landmarks. To see the set click here:

Leicester Society of Art - Art of Sport Exhibition

Art of Sport Exhibition

Perhaps a better title for this might have been '...a question of sport...'.   Of all the subjects that an artists may wish to tackle 'sport' is perhaps one of the most difficult.   Why is this?   Sport as we know it today has a chronology that almost mirrors that of Fox Talbot photography.   They are both the children of Victorian England and have grown up as very easy bed fellows.  We understand modern sports through the medium of photography.   It defines what a sporting image is and even what sports is.   Consider the last time you were exposed to a sporting image - most likely today when reading a news paper/visiting a news web site.  Modern photography is sports to most people.

This posses a number of considerable problems for the non-photographic artist.  Perhaps the greatest being one of originality.  Just how do you create a prospective on 'sport' that is new fresh and not just a pastiche?  This is very difficult.  Of course another approach may well be not to be worried by this restriction and just produce art that is, in fact, a copy or 'homage' to sports photography.  This is a legitimate approach providing the artist is aware of what they are doing.

So how did the exhibition tackle the problem of 'sports photography'?  As usual with any exhibition of this type in mixed way.  Some of the works for me fell into the pastiche category and so didn't really bring anything new to the understanding.  Some works were very reminiscent of Olympic games commemoration stamps of the 1960's.  This, in itself, is not a problem but it does tend to raise the question what is new?   Some works through did bring a fresh perspective to the Art of Sport.

Susan R Sansome - She had three works in the exhibition.  They were acrylics or silk screen prints of sports clothing.  Each had a vibrancy and colour that brought the subject alive.  There freshness made you feel summer was here.  The use of colour was so much more potent than you would ever get in any photograph.  This added to the vivid experience of the works.

Trevor Tanser - He had four acrylics exhibited based around sailing on Rutland Water.  Of these only one caught my eye - an abstract called Sailing.   This was again a powerful use of blue that gave the work a feeling for being out on the water, the rush of the water and spray in your face.  Compared to this I found the other pieces not as successful.

Mikki Langley - Cricket at East Langton.   This was a birds eye view of a cricket match.   Its approach was stylistically different to a simple aerial photograph.  The work contained details of the village itself as well as the cricket match.  Again the vivid green of the cricket pitch dominated and drew the viewer into the oval as the small figures battled out their game.

Jenny Cook - She had four carvings on display but the one that caught my eye was titled ' Dad's team - Preston, 1927.'  This was a carving based on what I assume was a team photograph taken in 1927 - no doubt her father was one of the people in the group.   Whilst this was based on a photograph the carving gave the work a three dimensional life of its own.   Once carved each of the characters were meticulously painted and looking on I felt almost there.

Bryan Organ - Painting of Martin Johnson 2004.   This was a commissioned work for the Leicester Tigers of one of their greatest players.   The painting itself dominated the exhibition in both its scale and content.  Martin Johnson is a charismatic personality and this is well captured by the painting.  The work will eventually have pride of place in the new Tigers stand being completed at the moment.  The thing that drew me though wasn't the painting but the two accompanying pencil and crayon drawings which were studies of Johnson and part of the preliminary work.  They show the detailed skills and approach of the artist, something I always find fascinating as they can say more about the artist's approach than the final work.  

So what is my overall impression of the exhibition having had time to reflect?  Mixed.   However, I do suspect this has more to do with my thoughts on the relationship of Sports to Photography than any reflection on the skills and artist expression of the individuals exhibited.   The exhibition is thought provoking and also inspiring which are all very positive things.  It was just that some of the works, for me, didn't bring anything new to the 'Art of Sport'.

Young Dunnock - will it survive the day?

I know I have been thinking about the ARPS subject to be something to do with the Birds of the British coast or something similar.  However, over the past few days I have spent sometime in my own garden capturing the local birds.   Now this may become a possible subject for two very good reasons:

• First I don't have to travel hundreds of miles to capture the subjects;  
  
• Second, and this is perhaps the more important point, for many people this is the only exposure they have to the wildlife all around them.  
  

Because of this it tends to be overlooked for more exotic settings - such as Bempton (Bempton exotic?  Well maybe not but at least I don't have to get up in the middle of the night to get there)   This does have potential so I will continue.  To see the other birds captured this weeked click here.

Finally got round to updating the web page...

Don't hold your breath - it is not that spectacular but I have done it.  I have upgraded the website.   Now this may sound very grandiose but it is not.  Since I launched my new website I have moved into the world of blogging and FlickR.  As a result of this most of my attention is being driven by this and the web page became something of a side show.   To rectify this I have decided that the web page should be linked to this blog and FlickR.  In short the web page is nothing more than a means of guiding people to ether this blog or FlickR.  Now I know that is missing a huge amount of opportunities but I just don't have the time nor inclination to develop the site. 

Preparing for Pembrokeshire

Newgale beach

Less than a week to go and I'm off.   To the sun sea and sand of Pembrokeshire.  I know it doesn't have the same ring as Miami or Bondi beach but it is in many way better ( all thought that assumes that I have visited both and I haven't - I just haven't got any inclination to do so).  Anyway back to Pembrokeshire - what is so special?  Well for a start going out of season you usually have the place very much to yourself.  The beaches are broad, wide and as can be seen above golden.  Now the downside, it's Wales and so you have to expect rain and cold weather.  None of these things really bother me.

One of the peculiarities of Pembrokeshire is that it is not really wales at all.  I know this is going to get many Welsh men and women up in arms but in their heart of hearts they know this is true.  Even the locals call it little England.  What does this mean?  Well around the coast and much of the western part of the county all the towns and villages have English names.  Whilst I was there last year I undertook a place name survey and the south and west of the country is all English names.  The further north you go the more welsh the place gets.  Even the local accent is different - more west country than west Wales.  So why is this?   Well I think we have to place the blame squarely on the shoulders of Edward the first (always worth blaming for such things!) who suppressed the Welsh principality and planted south west Pembrokeshire.  Now I am sure there is lot more complicated reasons than that but this will do for now.

Photographically Pembrokeshire is a wonderful place.  To see some of the photographs I made last year click here.

So the planning goes on and I can guarantee that all the planning won't make the slightest bit of difference to what I finally produce.  However, there are three projects I really want work whilst I am away.  The first is 'Birds of British Coast', the second is Landscape Photographer of the Year  and finally the 'British wildlife Photograhy Awards'  (in truth the first and last are very much the same thing) I know that there is great potential to add to all of these - lets just hope that things work out alright.

Not feeling too good

I feel disappointed.  I should have been going to the opening night of the Sandwell College photographic students exhibition tonight.  However, I have picked up some bug over the past few days which means I can't make it.  This is a real shame because I like going to these exhibitions as there is always something interesting to see and an idea to pick up and run with.

Hopefully, I will be able to get over to Birmingham next week to catch the show.

Bizzare Euro Election Voting Paper

I know this is somewhat off topic but having voted this evening in the Euro election it was really odd to have a ballot paper that was almost two foot long.  Especially when compared to the local council election ballot paper.  Not sure what that says about the relevance of each election, or the legislatures they are selecting apart from the Euro ballot paper was far more confusing.  However as news keeps breaking from Westminster we might be doing this again in the not too distant future - and this will be an election that really counts.

Browsing the highways and byways

Emley Moor TV Transmitter at Dawn

Ratcliffe Power Station

I have been wondering through my back catalogue today.  I find this to be a wonderful thing to do from time to time as I usually come across photographs I had forgotten about.   In this case I thought I would upload the Ratcliffe Power Station and Emley Moor TV transmitter.  I remember making both sets as if it was yesterday.  They were both made within about a week of each other in the depths of winter in 2007.  Both were shot around dawn and I seem to remember it was cold.  I don't think that is much else I could add at this time.

If you want to see the Ratcliffe set then click here:

If you want to see the Emley Moor set then click here:

Staunton Harold

Well the weather wasn't right to update the photographs I wanted to today Staunton Harold.   However, I had a great time putting the world to right with David Manley.   We made some images and had a light lunch and it was areally pleasant day.   After lunch we went our seperate ways and I was able to make this photograph.   To see the rest of the series click here.

Improving on the past

Staunton Harold Hall and Church

This image was taken in July last year.  It was from a series of images I took in an attempt to master HDR.  I'm sorry to say it was a bit of a disaster as the camera was handheld and the camera only took 1 FPS.  The result of this is that none of the images really lined up.  I tried to run this through Photomatix and the resultant photograph was appalling.  However, at the time I knew no better so settled for it.   I have just reworked the images and have slightly improved on the result - but not by much.  I no longer use photomatix as I find the results to be bordering on awful.  You can so easily get carried away and produce some abominations - search through Flickr for landscapes and you will quickly see what I mean.

So I going to Staunton Harold tomorrow with my good friend David Manley.  I hope to improve on this photograph.  Lets see if I can.

The joy of printing

A sunny morning and an early rise - so what to do?   Printing.  I know this is not what many people would have thought but I do find it very therapeutic.   It is a precise and yet requires a degree of artistic flair to get it about right.  I say about right because you never get a perfect reproduction of what you see on the screen what with converting from 16bit to 8 bit, issues surrounding gamut and so on.   Now I have to wait.  The most important lesson I have learnt is that you cannot really judge whether a print is sucessful until at least 24 hours after it has been printed - this allows the inks to properly dry.  So I have 15 A4 sheets of paper hanging about the place - a nice problem to have althought I am not sure my long suffering wife sees it this way.

Bempton Report

Is the photograph worth the risk?

It was sunny, hot and wonderfully chaotic - by the time I came away it was filling up with a lot of people.   Welcome to Bempton reserve on a hot and sunny Sunday.   Hot tip - avoid the place if you can on Sunday, and I would suspect Saturday as well.   By 10am when I called it a day there was no place at the best spots for photographs.  Fortunately I had got there at 6 am and so had a much better opportunity to capture the birds.

I have to say it was somewhat anti climatic.  This was due in part to the fact that few of the eggs had hatched and so the only opportunity was to take photographs very similar to the week before.   I found the most interesting birds were the tree sparrows and swallows.  I kept chasing after the kestrel but due to a combination of being in the wrong place, i.e. down wind and the mobbing by other birds I wasn't able to get the shots I wanted.  Maybe next time.

I found that the most interesting photographs I made are not of the sea birds but of the birds on the land of the reserve - an example is the tree sparrow and its newly fledged young.  To see more photographs click here.

Tree Sparrow

Now for the crowds.  Perhaps I am somewhat mad, I have noted this already, but the best time of day to get any reasonable photographs is first thing in the morning.  This is not just because of the light but also the crowds.  I can understand bird watchers or the curious member of the public not realising this but not serious photographers.   As I said before by 10am the places was really filling up, and one of the most conspicuous group who arrived at this time was a number of photographs with very long lens.  

Now I am in no position to say anything about this as I have 2 1D's with long lens attached, one on a large tripod.  However, I made the effort to get up early to get the best chance of a shot.  So why did these photographers not do the same?   After all some of the equipment cost as much as mine, so why not turn up early enough to make the most of this equipment?  I'm sure there are a whole range of reasons for this but I suspect that some of the reasons may not be the most charitable to the individual.  This is unfair as it does mean that I have the reserve to mostly to myself so why complain?  

One final thing on this subject.   If you wished to apply a feminist analysis there did seem to be an awful lost of men with very long lenses.  Boys and their toys I suppose.

And finally - fishing.   I was walking back towards the visitor centres when I saw two men with climbing equipment and some large poles.  Now I thought that they were RSPB staff members going down the cliffs for surveying purposes.  Little did I know that they were local fisher men who also are keen rock climbers.   As I stood and watched them decent the 300 foot + cliffs I just couldn't understand the need for this.  Surely the fish are just as good further around the coast where you don't have to climb down some of the biggest cliffs in England.  Each to their own?

So I won't be back at Bempton before the end of the month.   It will be interesting to see how things have progressed.

Flamborough Head

My it was cold.  Perhaps it didn't help that I was wearing shorts and no gloves but handling a heavy metal tripiod at dawn froze my hands.  I am becoming a real whimp!   Anyway the result was that I got some really good images of Flamborough Head at dawn.   To see the full set click here.