My evaluation of “Seeing the World”
In my opinion art, particularly in the genre of photography should be sustaining and influencing. It should say something about today and maybe every day after that, whenever the image is viewed.
The viewer should immediately be able to look at the image an enjoy and appreciate it and see straight away what the artist was trying to say. It shouldn’t have hidden meanings or symbolisms that only a select or elite few can decipher, unless that is what the artist intended. When I produce an image, it is just that, a moment in time as seen by me and no one else, and wouldn’t be the same take a moment before or a moment after. There may be nothing else going through my mind at the time of exposure than what a beautiful or peaceful scene. It was these thoughts that eventually drew me to documenting Bransholme Nature Reserve.
This wasn’t my first choice, because I originally wanted to document the working day of a bus driver. Because of external problems, that wasn’t possible so I took the second choice which was the nature reserve. If I had known at the beginning of the brief what I know now from working there then it would have been the first choice from the outset.
Nature cannot be gulled into a photographers’ criteria, rather the photographer must let nature set the schedule or agenda and then work with it. This was my first lesson and had to adapt my thoughts. At the reserve, I learned a great deal about location shooting, that no amount of research can impart to the reader. If I decided to go back the next day to shoot something because I envisaged a particular shot, then nature didn’t always agree. I became a team player with nature and decided to go with the flow and shoot whatever nature suggested might be good. Nature seemed to always win. I was inspired in part by reading extracts from one of David Hockney’s books. Although Hockney is a world-famous artist, he is also a photographer. It is this combination of the two disciplines that drew me to him. He was once asked why he would go out and paint the same landscape many times, and he replied that scenes change with nature and can afford different views dependent on the time of year. It’s this sentiment that gave validity to my train of thought when photographing the nature reserve.
It’s all very well deciding to go to a location and photograph something like a waterfall or some rocky outcrop, they will be there anytime the photographer visits. On the other hand, I wanted to document how nature or the seasons can give a different view of a chosen place. The reserve is a large acreage in terms of a city site and to shoot all of it in the time l had left would have in my opinion watered down any effect my photos would have. I decided to keep to a small area and document what was happening within that.
I have found many things to photograph, even within a small-time frame. I have been able to look at the scene from late autumn with the splendour that the autumnal colours give us right up to Christmas and beyond when winter has set in and the colours are just about gone.
In conclusion, what I can say is that now the brief is at a close, it isn’t. After hand in and time permitting, I may well continue with the work at the nature reserve because I think it will develop my documenting skill further. I have found this brief excellent for developing my thought processes, imagination and problem solving skills. It has also taught me about my equipment and what I might expect from it. I have often thought about how do you know when to upgrade your camera or lens’s. When photographing birds, it became clear to me that one can only push the limits of one’s lenses so far before chromatic aberration sets in or the image starts to degrade. I feel that I can now recognise were my development and progression lie.
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My research other than reading articles on the web has been rereading back issues of “Practical Photography“, Michael Langford’s “Advanced Photography“, Ansel Adams “The Negative” and Ansel Adams “The Print“.
When in the first year of my course, we were recommended to read Michael Langford’s books and I also purchased the trilogy of Ansel Adams, The Camera, The Negative and The Print. These books have never failed to help me in my understanding of a photographic topic and I constantly refer to them even now researching a subject. Ansel Adams is one of the founding fathers of photography and although he is from the wet film ere his advice still stands. I have found his invention of the zone system is still valid today, maybe more so for the digital photographer. If it wasn’t for his early observations we might not today have the understanding of dynamic range and its effects on the final image.
Here are some more images from today of some of the birds that feed here.
This is a first time for me I have never seen a cookoo in the wild before. I used a 300mm lens for this which obviously wasn’t long enough but its the longest I have. However I think it still merited trying anyway.
I have been out today at the reserve and there is a definite seasonal change in the light so I have taken some more images of the same areas to document how much a scene can change in only a few days. Below are some of the images I shot, again with only minimal post production.
The above shot has prompted me to explore long exposures further, so I will be returning with some grad filters and also earlier in the day to see what can be achieved.
The image on the left is 3.2sec f/6.3 iso 100 50mm. Top right 3.2sec f/5.6 iso 100 55mm. Bottom right 3.2sec. f/36 iso 100 55mm. All the above images were done with tripod because I wanted to keep the iso at 100 and keep the shutter open long enough at the setting to achieve a good exposure.
What I think the images above show is that even on a less than perfect day nature can still throw up some lovely colouring, as in the leaves at ground level. I will be returning again in the next few days to see what nature has given me to document.
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This week I have been photographing the nature reserve again and this time I was able to photograph an angler. Below are some of the images I took. The Bransholme nature reserve is one of Hulls best kept secrets so my project is to document the things to see over the winter period and also the staff who care for the area. It is also interesting to see who uses the facility this close to Christmas now the chilled mornings and days are here.
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After talking to my tutor I have changed my seeing the world project to documenting the Bransholme Nature Reserve over the next few weeks. After having a walk around today I found the autumnal colours absolutely striking. It was mid to late afternoon when I walked around and was pleasantly surprised to find no one else about. Above are three of the images I took today, the top one being a panorama stitched from three overlapping images. This was the first time I have done a panorama in the raw format and in Lightroom and I am totally converted to using this method in the future. Its difficult to determine in advance how the rest of the shoots will pan out but I expect to be doing them at different times of the day to be able to document the varied scenes and faces that this location has to offer. I would expect by the end of the project to demonstrate the beauty of the location and hopefully show some kind of narrative. If it is difficult to attach a narrative I would then expect the images to speak for themselves and demonstrate what can be seen only a stones throw from ones front door. A word of caution thought, even though you think you know the location its still worth doing a risk assessment of it. Each time I visit this area I will be doing one because things change. With this location there is a chance of slips or falls and therefore good footwear is essential. Also its a good idea to have a phone for emergencies and also to let some one know where you are, what your doing and time to expect you home.
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Unfortunately I have not yet received final approval from the company so I have put into place a secondary proposal for fall back. With this proposal I am going to do several shoot around the Bransholme nature reserve. This time of year I feel the area has a narrative waiting to be told.
For my Seeing the world project I would like to do a documentary about transport. Particularly the local bus company Stage Coach. I am planning on it being a narrative from the point of view of what it takes to get the bus to the bus stop were the people are waiting. I think when passengers grumble about a bus being late they don’t appreciate what it takes to actually get the bus there.
I am still waiting for a reply from Stage Coach and am hoping they will allow me access to the areas of interest which for me including drivers getting reading for their first journey in the morning, the garage were the repairs are done and maybe also the driving school were the drivers begin their initial training.
I would expect to do several shoots over a few days at varying times to document the above points.
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I had a call from Stagecoach inviting me down to chat with them which I did on Friday. My request has been forwarded for final approval by the area manager which I am now awaiting.
LawriePhoto 