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Posts from the ‘black and white’ category

“You see, but you do not observe ” – a quote from Sherlock Holmes

I rather like this quote by Sherlock Holmes taken from the novel – ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’. It is just as relevant to Holmes as he tries to decipher the clues to a crime, as it is to a photographer trying to decide what to photograph and why.

We so often arrive at a destination and in haste the camera comes out of the bag, a lens is chosen and a moment later the shutter has been released and we move on to the next shot. Or at least that’s what I am inclined to do, particularly when time is limited. Have I just seen and not observed? If I gave myself more time and slowed the whole process down, would I start to observe and not just see. There is an important difference. Would it just be better to leave the camera in the bag and resist the temptation to take the first photograph until your eyes have truly observed what it is your mind wants to capture?

Do you appreciate something more if it has been observed, experienced and enjoyed as opposed to just seen and captured?

This question brings me rather nicely onto something I heard on Radio Four earlier this month. As I was getting myself ready for work I listened to ‘Thought for the Day’ by The Rev. Dr. Sam Wells.

In the broadcast he recites the story of being in The Alps waiting for the cyclists in the Tour de France to pass him by. He deliberated as to whether or not to take a photograph on his smartphone and capture the moment as they raced by, or simply watch as they came towards him, cycle past, then away into the distance and out of sight. He chose to take the photograph but he admits he missed the race. He goes on to say that Benedict Cumberbatch is playing Hamlet at The Barbican in London and coincidentally the same actor also plays Sherlock Holmes in the recent BBC TV series. In Hamlet his adoring fans are trying to capture him on their smartphones, but are they missing the play, the superb acting and the wonderful words of Shakespeare?

Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes in the BBC series Sherlock. Photograph: Robert Viglasky/PA

(I urge you to listen to the short broadcast – it lasts under three minutes and in my view, is well worth hearing.)

Thought for the Day on Radio 4 by Rev. Dr. Sam Wells, the Vicar of St Martin in the Fields. First broadcast on 12th August 2015.

As a photographer I often wonder if I am missing the experience of just being in a certain location, enjoying the surroundings in which I find myself, as opposed to concentrating on the point of focus, composition and exposure settings. Or in other words ‘living the moment’.

Perhaps by keeping the camera switched off for a little longer, not only will we enjoy the experience even more but it will also teach us to observe and not just see. It may enhance our lives and through closer observation and appreciation of the subject, improve our photography as well.

Thanks as always for looking, reading and perhaps listening as well.

Do click on the image to view a larger version.

South Downs – a new gallery page

In September 2013 my nephew and I walked the length of the South Downs Way from Winchester in Hampshire to Eastbourne in East Sussex. A National Trail in the South Downs National Park, the Way is some 100 miles long, and is popular with both walkers and cyclists, and of course photographers!

Towards Cocking

I have now created a new gallery page for the South Downs which includes 42 monochrome photographs, the vast majority of which were taken during the walk itself. Please click here to see the entire gallery. I have included a few images in this post but I hope you will click through to the gallery and view the others as well.

Ashcombe Mill

Looking back at a selection of photographs is likely to trigger important memories and the challenge of walking the South Downs Way will always live long in my mind. From a photographic point of view these same images also define a style or processing technique which I felt comfortable with at that particular time. Two years on I am still very happy with this collection and although the camera equipment I now use has changed, I think my overall approach today would largely be the same as it was then.

I may well repeat the walk in the future and should I do so, I would walk the trail in the opposite direction by starting in Eastbourne and finishing in Winchester. I would also choose a another time of year, as the landscape would look very different to the conditions I enjoyed in late summer.

Firle Beacon

To read more about the walk here are the links to earlier entries.

Last leg first – Walking the South Downs Way

Windmills on the Way

Less is more when capturing the South Downs

100 miles along the South Downs Way and the 100th Blog Entry!

Field of curves

South Downs Gallery Page

The tale of the missing watering can!

My wife and I do not profess to be gardeners, although we have spent the summer trying to make our back garden less of a wilderness of weeds and more one of pots, plants and climbers – in other words a place not to be ashamed of but to enjoy.

Having bought a few new plants we of course needed to keep them well watered. Our old watering can was required but unfortunately we could not find the rose which is normally attached to the stem of the can. Without the rose, the water comes out at a furious rate drowning the new plant and rendering the watering can a rather poor piece of gardening equipment.

We decided to see if we could buy a new metal rose and not a plastic one, which might work perfectly well but to our eyes would look rather odd. We even went so far as to take the can to a number of garden centres to ensure that we bought a rose which would fit. We couldn’t find a metal rose anywhere, so we resigned ourselves to buy a new plastic watering can. Not great but it did the job and was quite cheap.

A week or so later we were back in the garden and my wife found the old metal rose behind a small pile of bricks. Frustrated and delighted to have found it we went looking for the old watering can. We hunted around the garden, which isn’t very big, in the garage and the shed. It was nowhere to be found. We could be forgiven for losing the rose but losing a watering can, well that’s not quite so easy! We soon came to the conclusion that we must have left it at one of the garden centres when we were searching for a replacement rose. How embarrassing! However that didn’t stop my tenacious wife ringing the places we had been just in case someone had stumbled upon our missing watering can. No such luck but it was worth a try.

This weekend we went shopping for a few more plants and as we walked around we had half an eye out for our watering can. No such luck, but before we left I said to my wife, lets just take a look at the watering can section inside the garden centre. It had been moved to a new area but undeterred we found it. Much to our surprise, there on one of the shelves was our old metal watering can! Unlike any of the others for sale, it certainly didn’t look new (because it wasn’t), it had no price tag, but along with all the other cans it had been diligently moved by if not one, then possibly by two or more members of staff to a new display.

Much to our delight we picked it up and having paid for our plants and a few more pots at the checkout, we returned home and reunited the rose and the watering can.

It has a valued purpose in life; looks so much better than the plastic version, and thanks to this little tale, now has a character all of its own.

To see the watering can in all its glory do click on the image to view a larger version which will open in an new window.

Churches Project no.4 – St Botolph’s, Hardham, West Sussex

St Botolph’s Church in the hamlet of Hardham, near Pulborough, West Sussex is a true gem in the Arun Valley. As regular readers of this blog will know I visited this church a few weeks ago and I was thwarted by the flower arrangers. You can read about this earlier visit here.

I made a point of returning as I knew this 11th Century Church offered some rich photographic pickings. The church has some of the finest wall paintings in the county and they are worthy of a separate post in their own right but for this entry I wanted to capture the feeling of history in a building which can hardly of changed for many, many generations. This for me is the very essence of a beautiful church. Not grand but simple and unspoilt. Not shouting to the world, look at me in all my glory, but quietly saying I can offer you a place of quiet serenity in a very humble way. For those who would like to read more about the history of St Botolphs, do click here.

For me the images speak a thousand words, so I shall say no more and let the photographs speak for themselves.

The Pulpit

Book of Lamentations, III

Font and candle

The Bishop’s chair

The Lectern

Christ on the Cross

Hardham Church Interior

St Botolphs, Hardham

Do click on any of the images to view a larger version in a new window or visit the West Sussex Gallery page for other churches in the county.

For more information about my ongoing Churches Project do click here.

Sandymouth Bay – a broader view

In a recent post ‘Coastal abstractions at Sandymouth Bay’, I showed a series of images which were simply abstracts of the granite rocks to be found at this picturesque bay along the coastline of North Cornwall. In this post I am showing a broader view, all taken at low tide. The cliffs and rock formations are a great sight and stretch for many miles to the north and to the south. In fact the South West Coast Path is a National Trail covering some 630 miles, taking in the four counties of Dorset, Devon, Cornwall and Somerset. It starts in Poole Harbour in Dorset and finishes in Minehead in Somerset. For more information about this Trail click here.