alan frost photography

‘Fallen’ – photography without expectation

By alan frost on May 30, 2024

There are occasions when a spontaneous outing with minimal photographic equipment can prove to be a rewarding experience. This may also be true if you visit a location with no specific intention of what it is you are going to photograph. You begin with no expectations, so hopes of capturing that pre-visualised image cannot be dashed. You accept the weather and light for what it is. The search for subjects to photograph may be slow but with a little patience compositions may start to reveal themselves. One image can lead to another and then another. Before you know it a theme develops and a small body of work comes together.

This happened to me some weeks ago. I had a couple of hours to spare but the light was flat and I didn’t want to travel very far. I went to an area of forestry and heathland not far from home. I was not that familiar with the landscape and didn’t expect a particularly productive time but I would enjoy the exercise even if the camera didn’t get much use.

However as I wandered around, my eyes honed in on the remains of fallen trees, severed or partially broken trunks and the forest debris of smaller branches and twigs. On finding a suitable subject I tried to find a composition I liked, adjusting the aperture to change the depth of field. The flat light turned out to be just right for the subject matter, it added mood and a feeling of melancholy. Had it been bright sunlight I doubt I would have chosen to photograph the ‘fallen’.

As the title of this post says – ‘ photography without expectation’. There is no way I could have known that I would return from my walk with a set of images which I could edit and that this would be the outcome. I found the whole experience refreshing and rather uplifting. To just head out, explore and let my eye wander was well worthwhile.

This set of twelve images are the result. No one image is particularly noteworthy, but as a set they do have a story to tell. In my view there is a narrative.

To finish I have included a screen grab of the 12 images in Capture One. Whilst not laid out in the same order, this does allow me to readily compare the images, for balanced processing in order to achieve a harmonious appearance. Adopting the same 5×4 crop for each photograph is also key to the end result.

If you have any thoughts your comments are always most welcome.