Gateway between Leicestershire and Rutland - Launde

Gateway between Leicestershire and Rutland - Launde, originally uploaded by Guthlac.

Yesterday was the start of a very occasional series of walks based on the Leicestershire Round. For those of you who are not aware the Leicestershire Round is a 100 mile long distance walk around the county of Leicestershire. Only it does stray into Rutland for just a mile of so and this gateway leads into England's smallest county. This photograph also appeals to my technical side.

I love boundaries and their influence on people. I have spent many a happy hour trying to retrace ancient boundaries in the land mark. Also it does have just a hint of Narnia. Just what is through this mysterious gate?

One final thing on this part of country. It is so very silent. There are the noises of the countryside, the wind in tress, the rustle of autumn leaves but no human noise at all. However this was shattered by the military. Harrier jets from the nearby airfield on from time to time shattered the peaceful idol. It was so unexpected and at times disconcerting - you find your hearing or to be more precise your brain straining for noises that modern urban life creates. They just weren't there.

What an Idiot...

Brancaster Golf Course from Titchwell - Titchwell, originally uploaded by Guthlac.

Well that is me. I used to be so good with time and dates - always on time - never miss an appointment. However not any more. I seem to be getting worse. this time I missed my good friend David Manley's coffee morning - I thought it was today - instead it was last Friday. What a complete clot I am. If you read this David I am very sorry.

Churchill and Parliament - London

Churchill and Parliament - London, originally uploaded by Guthlac.

I no this getting a bit boring but you have to go through the process to see if they work and what changes you will have to make. Anyway I have changed the template to see if this improves the way the photo and post look. One thing I have noticed is that should I wish to add any hyper links I have to add them afterwards within blogger rather than in Flickr.

Southbank - London

Southbank - London
Originally uploaded by Guthlac

As you may have seen I have set up a direct link between my Flickr account and my blog. This is a test of the whole process. One interesting thing is that the spell check is provided by Google Chrome, my favoured browser which doesn't seem to recognise the word Google. Now that is strange!

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Peter Liepke

I have spent the last week or so salivating over a portfolio of Peter Liepke's work in the latest edition of SilverShotz. Leipke is a successful commercial photographer but the work shown is more of his personal images of his adopted New York city. Well worth checking out. To see the work click here

FlickR....

Titchwell beach

FlickR is a strangely intoxicating service. Every time I decide to reduce my input it keeps coming back with something interesting - interesting enough to keep me uploading photographs. The latest thing is the viewing numbers. Now I am a VERY small fish as far as hits are concerned but I am now up to nearly 6000 hits. Nothing special there but it does give you some feedback as to what is viewed and not from your work. I am fully aware that this is not a scientific survey but it is the widest viewing I am likely to get and this is not to be sniffed at. So perhaps there is some value in flickR afterall. Perhaps...?

One final thing. I have now changed my flickR account name to http://www.flickr.com/photos/guthlac/. It looks a little more professional

Another early start...

Young Swallows being feed - Welney

Another early start but worth it. We spent the day walking along the beach at Titchwell and birdwatching at Welney. I am knackered but the early results are encouraging. I did learn one thing today. When I am in an area where wildlife predominates then I should really concentrate on this - today I tried to make some landscape photographs at Titchwell and only ended up getting myself in a bit of a mess as there was just too much bird photographic opportunities and I just couldn't work on the landscapes. You would have thought I would have worked that one out by now! D'oh!!

High Dynamic Range...Some Thoughts...

Langton Caudle - Stonton Wyville

I keep coming back to this subject and having played around with it for a while I thought it might be useful to try and marshall my thoughts and see if they make sense - to me at least! So High Dynamic Range (HDR) what is there to say? I think the first thing to say is that it can result in some very bizarre and, to my eye at least, unsatisfactory images. (See Google Search) I am not sure why this is. I suspect that many people have been intoxicated by the power of Photomatix. It is all too easy to produce some strange outcomes with Photomatix and many people seem to to do this.

Fosse Way - Sharnford

But what should a HDR photograph look like? This is a ridiculous question but what I mean is why use HDR at all? Well the main reason HDR was developed was to capture a much higher dynamic range than a normal sensor could. There are a whole series of problems with this, not least the problem of producing a true HDR output, either as a print of or on screen.

So the technique is fraught with complications and problems. Over the past few years many software developers have produced software that automates the mixing of images to produce a HDR image. Here we start to enter a problem area. Each of these software packages produces their own outcomes, probably slightly different from the next, and so we have to ask the question exactly who produced the image? Now this an angel on the head of pin argument with no real conclusion apart from leaving a bad taste in your mouth. But it is important when considering HDR images as they are amalgams of two or more images captured at the scene.

In part as a result of concerns over control and, if I am truthful, never really feeling comfortable with the Photomatix software I now blend my own images together to produce a HDR. I also feel this helps me produce the result that I want rather than what the software insists on producing. One example that I feel I have been able to overcome is the problem of movement between images of such things as leaves, people etc. I can now address this problem with much greater certainty by controlling the whole process myself. This is also the case with the control of details within the image as well.

So what is the result of all this? Well, I feel I have moved away from the metallic look and feel of many HDR images. I am now able to produce images that have significant increase in details and tonal range and whilst retaining their original look and feel. The photographs from my current Leicestershire Round series demonstrates what I mean - the later would have been very difficult to produce with Photomatix as the sheep moved quite a bit between the three images.

I am coming to any conclusions or am I just confusing matters even more? Both and neither. I feel that HDR is an important technique that I currently use extensively but it can be a dead end if you let the software control what you are doing - however this is true of all photography - it is the photographer that makes the photograph - the equipment facilitates nothing more.

iPhone - long term reflections...

Well it has been just over 6 months since I bought my first iPhone and I thought it would be useful, if for no one else but myself, to set down some thoughts on the beast. Well the first thing to say is that I am inseparable from the little beastie - well most of the time. In day to day life I cannot now really understand life without the iPhone. It answer so many questions on a daily basis. I find myself surfing the net for answers all the time because the phone is just there - so much easier than logging on to my computer - convenience trumps power anytime.

So much so good. And it does get better. I now have a number of apps on the machine which are so very useful. AroundMe is so useful. When you are out and about and would like a coffee then one click on this app and there you have a whole list of surrounding coffee vendors. Now I know it is far from perfect but it provides you with a easy guide.

The maps app is another useful piece of software that can be very useful. Last week I used this app to navigate around central London. Very Very useful but does have the draw back of only working well in an area with really good 3G coverage - hence it worked so well in London. It is not so hot in country but then that is what the OS maps are for.

I find myself waking up in the morning and using the machine to scroll through my emails before I have taken a shower. Now this is probably a damming indictment of me but I find it so easy to use - again this is made easy by WiFi coverage.

So these are the good point what of the negative ones? Well I am struggling to come up with any. Perhaps the biggest problem I have noticed is that the battery does tend to heat up if you don't keep the thing switched on for a long time. Now to be fair to Apple I had the machine inside a fleece pocket next to my body which no doubt contributed to the battery getting hot but it is a problem that you need to monitor.

There is also a question of reliability. This is the second iPhone, the first lasting only a few months. However, Apple replaced the phone straight away so this didn't cause a huge problem but it is there.

Having looked at these two problems I am now wondering why I find the machine such a wonder but I guess it is just perfect in what it does or perhaps to be more precise it meets my needs. I am not a huge phone user, nor do I text that much so I don't know whether it is any better than many of the other phones on the market. However, I would note that all the major phone manufacturers are making iPhone wannabes but none have the completeness of the iPhone. In the end they tend to be pale copies of the iPhone (I don't include in this Blackberry because it seems to be a robust machine with a clear idea as to what it is trying to achieve. I just love there tactile keyboard - much better than the iPhone touch screen version.)

So 6 months on I now find myself an Apple convert - well as far as phone are concerned. I can no longer envision living my life without the iPhone - even given the problems I have noticed. The iPhone, not perfect but once you own one indispensable.

Nick Brandt's A Shadow Falls

My copy arrived to day and I must say the book is breath taking. I mentioned last week that I found the large scale of the prints in the exhibition off putting and now have received my copy of '...A Shadow Falls...' I feel this even more. The reproduction is first rate and I find the intimacy of the book adds to the power of the work. I guess the very large prints were just too big. I cannot imagine where you would put such prints unless you had a large space to fill - and then you would loose the intimacy of the work. Any way a wonderful book well worth the asking price.

A bit of printing....

Well I have been doing some printing. I keep promising to print more but never seem to find the time to get around to it. I currently use Epson's own paper, I have an epson photo printer, but have been wanting to try different papers. I have just ordered some Hahnemuhle Monet Canvas as a tester set just to see what it is like. In the past I have splashed out on very expensive paper and, well not to put too fine a point on it, got my fingers burnt. this time I am taking things slowly and just trying things out to see what I like. We will see how this develops.

People watching...

One of the great things I love about central London is the freedom you get to take street photographs. These are fascinating subjects and I could spend hours just wondering around capturing the small moments of people. This was even more so as I had spent quite a while just looking at the massive canvases in the National. They were also populated with all sorts of people just milling around. I found a certain connection whilst in the throngs outside - the ordinariness of the people just going about their business is what really attracts me. It is not the individual but rather the collective that makes the photograph. Well that is what I think. Whether others have the same feeling is another matter entirely.

Not quite as planned...

Well I am tired. I walked around 7 1/2 miles around central London and my feet are telling me that they need a rest. Over the next day or so I can reflect on the day and then come up with a more honest assessment. As I predicted yesterday things didn't quite go to plan - isn't always the case??

London baby yeah...

So I am off to London tomorrow for a mooch around the galleries, make a few images and generally have a good time. Originally it was planned to be a training day with the RPS at Kew Gardens. However, this was cancelled and as the train tickets were non refundable I could either take a hit on the train fare or have a day in London. Needless to say I choose the latter.

So what is the plan of action? Well two exhibitions I am definitely going to see are:

The MA Photojournalist show at the University of Westminster;

The second is going to be a real pleasure. Nick Brandt's new exhibition of east African wildlife at the Atlas Gallery. I have been a huge fan of Brandt's work for a while now. He produces sublime wildlife photographs that are master pieces. If ever get the chance to see his work you will know what I mean (click on the link to the Atlas gallery and you will get a wonderful taste of Brandt's work).

After this I intend to go over the National Gallery and spend some time working on my research project about wildlife photography. Now it might seem strange to go to a gallery full of paintings when I am interested in researching a photographic topic. I am interested in seeing how fauna was depicted before the advent of photography. I spent some time doing this at Wolverhampton art gallery last week and the results were fascinating.

After this? Well I hope to get down to Tate Modern. I have never been there and it is somewhere I have really wanted to visit.

Well that seems like a plan. I can guarantee I won't stick to it.

Time Team and the Leicestershire Round...

Langton Caudle - Stonton Wyville

It's a funny thing this Internet. You just don't know where it might lead you. This morning I was doing some photography in the Thorpe Langton area. I decided to walk along the Leicestershire Round to the top of Langton Caudle. It was a wonderful morning - the type that I love, a fresh breeze and the autumn sun warming the air just enough - not hot or warm but just right. As I stood on top of the hill I had a wonderful view of the Welland valley and I just took my time to soak up the view. The way that the hills had been moulded by the glaciers - the ancient landscape stretched out infront of me - I was standing on a suspected bronze age track, next to a mound - also possibly bronze age. Quite intoxicating.

So I finished my photography and walked back to the car. A good day all round. I got back home and started to process the images. As I did I decided to undertake some light historical research into the meaning of the hill name 'Langton Caudle'. To my surprise I discovered the Wessex Archaeological report on the Time Team dig that had taken nearby. Now I am great Time Team fan and I had always wondered what happened after the dig was over. What happened to all the information? How stupid. Of course there would be formal report I just didn't expect this to be on line. Again I suspect I was naive - of course it would be on line. It was fascinating to read the report's sombre recording of the details and then compare this to the Time Team's programme. Talk about spin - the great strength of Time Team is that it makes a really dry subject so accessible.

So the morale of the story? Well I suppose you just don't know what the Internet is going to throw up - the connections that you will make. As for the history of the name Langton Caudle - well I am still working on that!

A bit of a set back...

Bradgate Park

Well I will have to make do with being short listed for the British Wildlife Awards. This in itself is good but it always leaves you with the nagging question - why was I not selected for the exhibition? This is where competitions are really really bad. You have no idea why you were not chosen apart from the usual banal '...very high standard...hard choice...' and so on. Now I know it would be impossible to provide feedback of any value. An example of worthless feedback is the card that Practical Photography sends out with rejected photographs. This card has a number of boxes outlining the reason for rejection -none of which really provides any real feedback and you just get the feeling that some office junior has been given the task of ticking the box.

This is not a complaint about the whole process as I know it would be impossible for the organiser to provide such a service - indeed this is not the purpose of the competition. I am also very aware that the whole process beyond a certain level is pot luck and whether you are selected or not is very much a marginal call. In the end the only feedback that you can get is to compare your photographs to the winning photographs. This again is next to pointless as you end being like the definition of a bad general - always fighting the last war not the next one. Are well back to the drawing board.

Strange Itch....

A strange itch indeed. It is something that has been irritating me for months. You know what it is like - you know you mustn't scratch it but you just have to. Well I have resisted it for months but just recently it has got too itchy. I have just had the scratch it. So I have scratched it and you know what I just have to scratch again.

So what is this nonsense about? At the moment I am not at all sure. Anyway I have had this idea for sometime - to research the history of wildlife photography only I don't know if this is what I am interested in. You see I haven't yet really sorted out what I am interested in. My previous foray into historical research was a lot easier - a history of where I grew up but this is different.

So the story so far. Over the past year or so I seem to be making more photographs of wildlife than anything else. More recently I have started to think more deeply about wildlife or natural history photography, how it developed and its intimate relationship with technology. A relationship that is more profound than probably any other branch of photography. I now have the freedom to research a subject that there is a lot of books on but very few, if any, discussing the history. But is this what I want to do - write a book? No not really but I do want to try and place wildlife photography somewhere other than dismissed as not really art or serious photography.

So how to how to approach the subject? At the moment I am still not sure what the title is going to be. History of wildlife photography? History of Natural History Photography? History of Fauna Photography? I really am not sure. This, though, is not a problem at the moment. In the past I always had a clear idea what I am looking at going in but I am trying to be a little less restrictive this time. Will I finish it? I don't have a good track record over the past few years but I am in the fortunate position where that doesn't matter. This is for me not for anyone else so I can take my time and slowly unravel the story. So I'll just scratch things just a little from time to time.

Wolverhampton...so very sad...

What are we doing wrong in this country? Why are our cities decaying and dying? Two days two cities and both showing significant decay. yesterday it was Leicester and today it is Wolverhampton. Both have real history and yet both appear to be dying very slowly. I spent today at the Wolverhampton city art gallery. A magnificent Victorian pile with a significant amount of lottery money spent on it. The result was a very lively vibrant environment to enjoy art. The exhibitions were interesting and the coffee was almost drinkable. All in all a positive experience. Yet right next to it is a Victorian bank building that had fallen on hard times. It had been turned into one of those huge drinking houses that were all the rage a few years ago. However, like so many of these great ideas it is no longer profitable so has now closed and the dereliction just adds to the air of gloom.

All around the art gallery there are magnificent proud examples of building that spoke volumes of local civic pride. All empty or not really functioning as they should. Too expensive to renovate, unable to be knocked down because they are listed buildings so they just genitally crumble. At least Wolverhampton still has some worth while buildings - which is more than could be said of Leicester. There was an old joke that the city planners in Leicester destroyed more buildings than the combined might of the German air force.

But why are we in such a mess? You just know that if this were continental Europe the city centres would not be allowed to root. Perhaps the main reason behind this lack of local pride is that there is no real control of the local government. We all elect local politicians who then spend most of there time trying to get money out of different central government funds. I know I have been part of this futile exercise. Why should a politician or civil servant in London be interested in the well being of Wolverhampton or Leicester or any other city outside the M25? This is a stark caricature of the reality and there are all soughts of other factors to play. None the less it is only local people with a vested interest who can restore our decaying towns and cities - central government can't.

It is just so very sad and I can't see things changing any time soon.

Poor old Leicester...

I took a walk around the city centre of Leicester today and I have to say I found the whole experience depressing. There has been a lot of government money spent trying to make the place look better but it hasn't worked. I know the city council are trying their hardest but it just has the feel of some place slowly dying.

Take for example the new flag ship of the 'cultural quarter' the Curve. A magnificent building shoe horned into the city centre. From whichever angle you approach the building you get a favourable impression. It sits on Orton Square, which was named after Joe Orton, a nicely proportioned space. However directly opposite the building on the other side of the square is a club called 'G Spot' . The website leaves you with little doubt what this club is. This does nothing for the up market atmosphere that is trying to be engendered.

The rest of the cutural quarter is a mixture of empty premisies waiting to be redeveloped and expensivly renovated shops and offices, many appear to be vacant. I really, really hope that this impression is wrong but I just felt that for something that is supposed to be a vibrant creative place there was no life at all. This is so sad.