I had to pause before making the photograph in todays post. The sunlight was getting increasingly bright when I found the tree and the contrasts of light and shadow were pretty strong – perhaps too much? But it caught my eye and I felt there was a picture to be had. I think I’d have ignored it if I’d been shooting digital (and definitely if I was using slide film!), but I had HP5+ in the camera back and I thought it would handle the extremes.
It didn’t let me down and, despite the dynamic range of the scene, there is still detail in both highlights and shadows.
Out of the coner These twists of wooden lightning Spark up from the earth
A lone gate leant against a drystone wall. I’m not sure where it came from – I didn’t see an empty gap – so it’s possibly a backup gate, or maybe one that’s gone feral and escaped its bounds…
In spite of a chain This gate has escaped its place And rests in the sun
This photo is a potential competition entry under the theme of “shiny”. The vase is quite shiny so it should fit but there’re still a couple of weeks until the deadline yet, so I’ll wait and see if I find anything better before then.
These plastic flowers In a shiny golden vase Sit in the sunlight
Although I didn’t spot it at the time of making the photo, the concrete post on the left of this image appears to have a somewhat shocked expression, like I’ve caught it in some sort of compromising incident and it’s now aghast at being photographed. It has a vague look of V.I.N.C.E.N.T, the flying robot from Disney’s 1979 movie, The Black Hole about it.
Shocked looking fencepost It seems strangely animate Caught on camera
This is one of the shelves in my shelving unit. It’s not very tidy or well organised. The truth of the matter is that I have too much stuff for the space I have, or at least I need to have a proper think about how it’s all stored. I guess I could alter the height of the shelves so that the books could be ordered differently – while some are grouped together by author / subject, it’s hardly an effective library cataloguing system. I was also somewhat bothered when I saw that the dust-jacket of From Uncertain to Blue was being distorted bt the book above (a copy of Uncommon Places by Stephen Shore, should you be interested). Don’t worry though, I’ve sorted that out now!. 🙂
I have a couple of other shelving-units / cupboards with shelves in them but a lot of the space in those is filled with stuff that could either be chucked, go on eBay to raise a bit of spare cash, or re-arranged and put elsewhere such as in the loft (some of the stuff I’m reluctant to get rid of is also stuff I don’t look at very often).
The photobooks are going nowhere though!
Disorganised shelf But still full of interest Not a bad problem
A few weeks ago (although I would swear it wasn’t that long ago!) I posted a picture of a structure built of sticks. Today I have another couple of photographs of the same twiggy building plus a photo of another, neighbouring edifice.
I’ve still not come across anyone actually building these things – not that I spend that much of my time wandering through the trees – and I’m still curious as to whether their construction is some sort of organised activity, or just groups of kids making dens? Few of the trees around this area are suitable for treehouses, so perhaps these make an alternative?
The other option is that the second of the three little pigs has decided this would be a good place to build a fortress against the Big Bad Wolf. I didn’t see any wolves, just a few dogs being walked. Nor did I make any attempt to see if I could huff and puff and blow the house in.
Mister Wolf is here So little pig, little pig Please let me come in!
In direct continuation from yesterday’s post, the four images today were made while crossing Renishaw golf course. The golf course borders the farmland where yesterday’s photographs were made, the two areas split by the River Rother, and a metal-framed footbridge spans it’s flow.
The golf course was, as you might expect, shrouded in the same fog as the farmland. As golf courses have been closed due to the lockdown, no-one was playing – although fog might not be the best conditions for golf anyway I suppose, pandemic or not – and the course was empty of all but the occasionl individuals and small groups out walking in the murk. If you look carefully, you might be able to see some of them in the trees at the other side of the fairway.
As I followed the footpath through the course I noticed these neat rows of fallen leaves, presumably raked by the groundskeeper.
My final shot beore leaving the golf course was this signpost.
I got up early on the day that I made this photograph as I was hoping that there would be some mist. Across the road that runs in front of this Aldi supermarket (to the right of this scene) there is a meadow. The near half consists of an area where livestock graze sometimes – I’ve seen both cows and sheep in there when I’ve passed by. The fields border Renishaw golf course, and the River Rother forms a second boundary line, beyond which is further farm land where the ground begins to rise out of the valley.
When there is low-lying mist here at sunrise, it can look very beautiful (even if there is a line of pylons in the distance). Alas, on this morning, the hoped-for mist had let me down. Not wanting to return home completely empty-handed, I decided to make a picture of the Aldi. It’s not the most glamourous of scenes, but it has it’s own commercial charm. Plus, the pastel shades in the pre-sunrise sky behind the store were a treat.
I took three shots of the scene, which is unusual for me. I rarely bracket my exposures, preferring to try and maximise the number of unique images I can get from a roll of film. However, given the fussy nature of Velvia 50 when it comes to exposure and my slightly limiting (for this scene) incident meter, I decided to use a few frames to ensure a good chance of a decent result. It was a good decision as the first two images were very underexposed. This third one could have done with a bit more light in the foreground too, but I think it just about gets by with what it has.
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & Fujichrome Velvia 50.
Just a few days ago I said that I was at the end of my autumn colour images for this year. Well. turns out I’m not – I forgot about this roll of Velvia 50 that I shot on a walk along the Chesterfield Canal near Thorpe Salvin a few weeks ago.
The roll was tricky to meter with confidence. Given that I don’t have a spot meter (just a reflective setting that’s has a pretty wide angle and no meand to accurately point it) I almost always use incident readings instead. Incident metering usually serves me very well, but a canal withich has irregular tree cover along it’s banks makes it difficult to match the light falling on the meter with the subject unless it’s pretty close by, or you’re sure it’s in the same levels of light.
As a result, quite a few of the images on this roll are poorly exposed, and the ones here are probably the best from the canal-side walk.
Of the four, the sycamore leaf below is the best I think (even if it did keep attempting to blow away in the light but irregular breeze!).
Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon 75mm f/2.8 PE & Fujichrome Velvia 50.
Steel City Snapper photography 