alan frost photography

The First Reading on Sunday

As much as I enjoy taking candid photographs of people I haven’t taken many of late but I really couldn’t resist this shot of a vicar reading the Sunday Times prior to breakfast a few weeks ago. I was staying in a very comfortable hotel in Winchester. As I waited in the lounge for the first meal of the day to be served I was joined by a vicar and his wife and they sat down and started to read the newspapers. Not sure why I had taken my camera with me for breakfast but I am glad I did.

First Reading on a Sunday

For most of the summer I have largely concentrated on landscapes. Perhaps in the future I will spend a little more time taking shots like this one.

Experimentation and still time for tea!

Although I still have a number of images to process from my walk along the South Downs Way last month, there is always time for a little photographic experimentation and a cup of tea!

Last weekend my wife and I visited Pallant House Gallery in Chichester. It’s a place we have been to before and having looked at the excellent variety of artwork on display, followed by a visit to the well stocked book shop, there was still time for a cup of tea.

Table and chairs

It was just warm enough to sit outside but the vast majority of tables were empty. Summer over and Autumn just round the corner some leaves were already falling from the trees. I didn’t have a camera with me, other than my iPhone which can of course produce some good results. Many months ago I had downloaded the Flickr App, but never used its camera or choice of effects. I started to have a ‘play’ as I was drawn to the table a chairs close to where we were sitting. The ‘noir’ effect looked good to me as it seemed to capture something about the emptiness of the place and the onset of Autumn.

No other processing has been applied which is in complete contrast to the work I have been doing recently. I quite like the result and will probably take more shots using the Flickr App in the future.

Designing a new home page for my website.

When I first designed my website – alanfrostphotography.co.uk I was very happy with most of the pages but the home page itself didn’t inspire me. I felt it needed a more contemporary look, and something which would more closely depict my black and white approach to photography. I also wanted it to be easier to navigate, so that anyone visiting the site could quickly get to a particular page.

So this past weekend I set about a re-design and here is the result.

20130929-Screen Shot 2013-09-29 at 17.53.54.jpg

It still retains the traditional menu at the top but now each of the titled boxes link directly to the relevant page of the site. The original home page only showed one image unless you waited for the carousel to kick in, but by then my guess is that any visitors had either moved on to another page or left my site altogether, which is much worse!

I am pleased with the result and if offers scope to update the home page when I add new pages to the site itself.

The Cloud – Pre-visualising a minimalist image

The one disadvantage of combining walking the South Downs Way and taking photographs was quite simply the need to press on; complete the required number of miles for that day, so that we could reach our pre-booked overnight stop. So any photographs were taken as the opportunity arose. No stopping and waiting for the light to change. More observation, a quick composition, release the shutter maybe two or three times and then on we would go. I have to say I quite enjoy this more spontaneous type of image making.

The shot which is featured in this entry is almost certainly an image which in the past I would never have seen, let alone taken. But as I learn the so called art of ‘pre-visualisation’ I noticed what I thought were an attractive line of trees on the horizon. It was the middle of the day, the sun shone brightly, it was particularly hot for the time of year and hardly a cloud in the very blue sky. But then I noticed some wispy clouds moving in the light wind above the tree line. Immediately I had an idea as to how the finished image might look.

I grabbed my camera, composed the shot and took a few frames. Of the three, only one was workable, as the cloud in the other two had dispersed and no longer gave me the effect I had foreseen at the time of taking the photograph. In fact I remember that it only took a few minutes before the cloud in this scene had been been burnt away by the warmth of the sun.

The Cloud

It’s a very minimalist composition. A line of trees, a dark sky and a few wispy clouds. The finished result is largely how I imagined it might look when I released the shutter. Again another lesson learned.

I don’t know who first said it, but there is a quote which reads as follows – ‘The more I practice, the luckier I seem to get’. I am sure this could be applied to many situations, but to me it is a very true saying and one which can certainly be applied to my growing interest in photography.

The Gate – processing a digital painting?

Although I have not had much time since I returned from walking the South Downs Way, I have at least made a start on editing and processing some of the catalogue.

Whenever I take a large number of shots, from the moment I press the shutter there are some which stick in my mind. Perhaps instinctively I know that these shots might have the right basic ingredients to make a potentially pleasing image.

One such shot was taken early in the morning as we left the village of Amberley and started the uphill climb to Amberley Mount. The sun had not long risen and there was still some early morning mist in the air. We came across a gate in amongst some trees and hedgerow. The light being cast on the scene was just glorious. I only took the one exposure and here is the result.

The Gate –
on the South Downs Way

I originally started processing the image in Photoshop CS5 a few days ago and made a number of fine adjustments on a daily basis until I felt completely happy with the result. More often than not I will process a photo in one sitting, but on this occasion I took more time and tried to remain patient. This was simply because each time I revisited the image, either later in the day or the following morning, I would look at the picture and see something new, which I thought could be fine tuned to enhance the overall appearance.

This staged approach is of course no different to an artist with a paintbrush in his hand. A painting will often take a number of sessions to finish and as the paint dries so the picture changes. I don’t think the method of processing a photograph should be any different. I accept that some images can be completed in no time at all, but there are others, and this is a good example, when more time and patience brings its reward. You do of course have to decide when to click ‘save’ for the last time and that decision is never an easy one. For now the ‘The Gate’ is finished and I can now enjoy ‘fine tuning’ the next image in this series on the South Downs Way.

There is not a great deal more to say, other than how fortunate I was to be in the right place at the right time to capture this shot. The shaft of light coming from the other side of the gate was a very beautiful sight, as it lit up the path and the foliage of the surrounding trees and hedgerow.