black and white | alan frost photography

Eigg revisted

In September 2011 I went on my first photographic workshop with Bruce Percy to the Isle of Eigg which is just off the West Coast of Scotland. Ever since I first visited this beautiful part of the world some thirty years ago, its always been a place I have wanted to return to, and to this very day, still do. So the opportunity some fifteen months ago to combine my relatively new interest in photography with a trip to the Isle of Eigg was greatly anticipated. It was a wonderful few days despite the fact that it was cut short by one day, because the weather closed in and the group feared that the Cal Mac ferry back to the mainland might not sail when scheduled. Despite this I still came home with several memory cards full of images.

Bruce was a great tutor and fun to be with. I love his work, which has now been published in two books – ‘The Art of Adventure’ and ‘Iceland – A Journal of Nocturnes’. But for his teaching and his inspiration I am not sure my photography would be where it is today. Thanks Bruce!

Although the title of this post might suggest that I have been back to Eigg, sadly this is not the case. One day I would love to return but for the moment I thought I would look back on some of the images I took whilst on the island and reprocess a few of them. I would like to think that my photography has come a long way since the workshop. At the time of my visit, I was almost exclusively taking colour images and not converting them to black and white. My knowledge of post processing in Lightroom and Photoshop was also quite basic and I had never heard of Silver Efex Pro which I now use all the time.

The fact that I am now looking at the world in monochrome is perhaps down to a black and white conversion of one of the photographs I took on the workshop. This image is ‘Sand Waves’ and can be seen by clicking on the link. I shall not feature it here because its already appeared in a number of earlier posts. Looking back I guess the way I chose to process this photo was really the start of my love affair with black and white, and this has grown and grown in the intervening period.

So here are a few of the photographs I took on Eigg. They have all been processed in the past few days from the original RAW file. Its very interesting for me to compare these results with how I tackled the question of post processing over a year ago. I was pleased with the results then but in my view the latest set of images help me to understand the direction in which my photography is taking me. It’s exciting to learn and develop new skills which I hope and intend to build upon in the year ahead.

Reflections in the Sand

Fading light over Rum

Solitary Shell – looking towards Rum

Clouds over Rum

In total I took over 600 images when I was on the Isle of Eigg. From this number the four photos above and two others, namely ‘Sand Waves’ and ‘Sea Swirl’ are the six shots I am most pleased with. A return of 1 in 100 shutter releases. What this has taught me is that I need to try and pre-visualise the shot I am taking before releasing the shutter. Asking myself how it is composed, how do I deal with the exposure, do I need to use filters and lastly how will I post process the image? I therefore need to take more time before taking a shot. I would have to adopt this approach if using a film camera – in many ways the digital age has made us lazy…….we can click and click and click to our hearts content but that won’t necessarily produce a good image.

It reminds me of the saying and I quote –

‘Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take,

but by the moments that take our breath away’

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Reflections on Salisbury

At the end of last week the preview evening for the annual Southern Photographic Federation Exhibition took place in the Wiltshire county town of Salisbury and I thought it woud be a good idea to attend. It’s about 60 miles from home so it made sense to me to go there for the day and take a look at the City and its Cathedral. Although I had passed through Salisbury, I had never actually stopped, so I can’t say I knew the place at all.

The River Avon passes through the centre of Salisbury and the Cathedral which dates back to 1220, has water meadows to the south and west. In 2012 the UK experienced its second highest rainfall total and it was particularly bad towards the end of the year. As a consequence the river was badly swollen and parts of the water meadows which are normally dry, were flooded. The photo below was taken from, believe it or not, playing fields which adjoin the meadows. You can just about make out three benches in the middle distance which were inaccessible but for a pair of wellington boots or waders.

‘Reflection of a Spire’

Once inside the Cathedral I was very taken by the four cornered font which was designed by William Pye and installed in 2008 to commemmorate the 750th Anniversay of the Cathedral. Consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury the font is used for baptisms, but it also serves as a wonderful reflective surface as you will see below.

‘Arches in Reflection’

I am delighted with this image. Out of necessisty it was hand held with the camera just above the surface of the water. I doubt a tripod with its head could have been placed in this position. I also doubt that an amatuer photographer would have been allowed to use one anyway. I did ramp up the ISO to 2500 on the EM5, but using the Olympus 12mm @ f2, I still managed a shutter speed of 1/60th sec. On my return from Salisbury I processed the above image and uploaded it to Flickr. It was the second consecutive image of mine to be chosen for ‘Explore’ and as a result it quickly became my most popular image, nearly 3,000 views and over 300 ‘favourites’ in a 48 hour period. Does this make it a good photograph for a club competition or future exhibition? In this case I think it does and I will look forward to entering ‘Arches in Reflection’ in the near future.

The Cloisters of Salisbury Cathedral are the largest in the UK so had to be photographed. The theme of this entry is ‘Reflections’ and this image still has a place but this time the reflections are of a different nature – Reflections of the Spirit. I could just imagine monks or countless numbers of worshippers over the centuries seeking peace and quiet in this special place. I deliberately kept the bench seat small in the composition as I didn’t want it to detract from the wonderful arches of the building.

‘Reflections of the Spirit’

As I walked around the ‘water meadows’ I came across a man sitting on a park bench and eating his lunch. A normal event but on this occasion he was ankle deep in the flood waters. It makes for a rather amusing scene.

‘I always sit here!’

And lastly the same individual but having changed the composition there is a greater feeling of isolation and I am left wondering what thoughts are going through his mind.

‘A moment to reflect’

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Swanage Pier – a photo opportunity

Swanage is a small seaside town on the Purbeck coastline of Dorset. Although I had been to the town before I had not seen the pier, so a quick detour to our journey seemed like a good idea, despite the fact that we would arrive mid afternoon and the light would be fading fast. There wouldn’t be a great deal of time for photography but in many ways the short stop was to see whether or not another visit would be worthwhile when I had more time. As we parked the car I noticed a ‘Trompe L’oiel’ on a derelict building opposite the pier. In the bottom right hand corner was this inscription. An omen perhaps?

All the photos were taken using the Olympus OMD EM5 and Olympus 45mm f1.8 prime lens.

There are in fact two piers at Swanage. The remains of the original pier which was built in 1859 and the ‘new’ pier, which was built in 1895, the latter having undergone considerable restoration in recent years.

The original pier

As I walked along the pier I noticed that the vast majority of the wooden planks included a small brass plate with an inscription. In one or two cases a floral tribute had been left, probably on Christmas Day which only adds to the poignancy of the next two images.

Another floral tribute

There are many benches along the promenade looking out to the sea. On this particular bench was a pair of shoes and a single sock. I only hope the owner returned from his paddle, together with the missing sock, on what was a particularly cold day.

The magnificent trompe l’oiel I referred to at the beginning of this entry. The ‘photo opportunity’ inscription can be seen in the bottom right hand corner.

Trompe l'oeil on derelict building in Swanage

Another trompe l’oiel which has been painted on a shutter board in a window

As the light faded the full moon joined the sea gulls in the sky

Swanage Pier is definitely a ‘photo opportunity’ and one I hope to return to in the not too distant future.

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Stop, look, wait and observe….

This entry is all about one image, which I have called ‘Walking Stick’.

The photograph was taken in the middle of the day just a few days ago. In December the sun is very low in the sky and the pavements are often wet from an early morning shower, but then never dry out as it’s too cold and damp. In strong sunlight this combination can result in a lot of contrast and reflection. Surrounded by Christmas shoppers I looked around me and saw the different textures in the paving stones and back lit people in silhouette. The shot just needed someone to come into the frame. I took three or four shots by way of an experiment to make sure I had the correct exposure. With such extremes of light and dark, it would be very easy to have blown highlights by over exposing the photograph.

I waited a few minutes when a man with a walking stick came into my field of view. The camera was set to ‘single shot’ even though the Olympus EM5 can take 9 shots per second. I released the shutter at what I thought would be the best moment and the camera with its really fast autofocus did the rest.

The rather intriguing and perhaps mysterious result is shown below.

I quickly looked at the screen on the back of my camera……reviewed the shot and frankly couldn’t wait to get home to download the image and find out whether or not the camera was capable of capturing such a wide dynamic range. I used my usual workflow of Lightroom 4 and then Silver Efex Pro2 for the black and white conversion.

I was delighted with the result and it reminded me of the famous and much repeated saying by Henri Cartier-Bresson – ‘the decisive moment’. On this occasion I believe I have captured that moment. A few minutes later the sun went behind a cloud and the lighting effect was lost.

It also embraces a saying which I have adopted for my photography –

“Stop, look, wait and observe….then capture the world in a different light”

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Bognor Regis – just being there.

Through my work and therefore out of necessity, I visit the seaside town of Bognor Regis on a regular basis. Situated on the Sussex Coast I have to say its not the most glamorous of resorts. Nevertheless the very fact that I find myself frequently in the town or driving along its seafront, it does provide some excellent opportunities for photography.

The three images which make up this entry were all taken on different days and at different times of the day.

The first image was an early evening shot taken in September of this year with the Olympus OMD EM5. I had just acquired the Panasonic 45 – 200 zoom lens (second hand from a fellow camera club member) and as I had not used it before, I was keen to see how well it paired with the camera and to see the results it produced. Its not every day that the such a beautiful cloudscape will appear in the sky, so I was fortunate to have chosen a great evening for its first outing.

The second image is what I might call a ‘grab shot’. Taken around the middle of the day I had been driving along the seafront when I noticed a rainbow to the north. If I was quick I thought, I could park the car, hurry down to the seafront and take a shot of the beach huts in the foreground with the dark clouds and the rainbow as a backdrop. Unfortunately rainbows go as quickly as they come, so by the time I got to where I wanted to be the rainbow had lost all its intensity, and seconds later was no more. Mildly disappointed at the missed opportunity I turned around and composed the shot below, which in my view was more than adequate compensation. The couple walking along was a bonus, as it takes your eye right into the image. The Olympus E-PL3 with 14 – 42 kit lens worked a treat.

The third and final shot was taken early in the morning just a few days ago. Again the cloudscape was the reason for stopping the car and getting out, but I knew some foreground interest was required. I walked down to the foreshore and captured the image below, again with the E-PL3 and kit lens.

A famous quote attributed to the photographer called Arthur Fellig, better known as Weegee, is ‘f8 and be there’. None of these shots were taken at f8, but the second element is certainly true!

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