monochrome | alan frost photography

Posts from the ‘monochrome’ category

‘People and Places’ – Littlehampton Seafront

This is the second post which relates to Jacqui Hurst’s ‘People and Places’ course I attended at West Dean College earlier this summer. In complete contrast to our visit to Glorious Goodwood we spent a day at Littlehampton; a typical and relatively small seaside resort on the south coast.

Whilst a colourful location I stuck to the brief I had imposed on myself at the begining of the course, i.e. choosing monochrome for all of my images. I tried to concentrate on textures, tones and good composition whilst trying to capture the ‘feeling and atmosphere’ of the seafront. Fortunately the weather was dry and bright so there were a fair number of people around. At times though it was overcast, but this helped from a photographic point of view as I did not have extremes of contrast to worry about.

Some of the group felt uncomfortable photographing people. I very enjoyed the experience and the Olympus EM5 certainly allowed me to be a little more discreet. Had I been using a substantial DSLR with a large zoom lens and I am sure I would have felt very different as I went looking for suitable subjects.

Once again the kit lens stayed in the bag and I switched between three primes lenses. 12mm, 20mm and 45mm which equate to 24mm, 40mm and 90mm if using a full frame 35mm sensor.

All the photographs were taken in RAW with an Olympus OMD EM5, imported into Lightroom and converted into black and white using Silver Efex Pro2. I have to say that Silver Efex Pro is a joy to use when converting images to monchrome. The contrast and structure adjustments can really bring the image to life, increasing tonal range and texture. I am still very much learning about black and white but for me there is a certain something about the results which pleases me.

Unusual bench seating along the promenade
Olympus EM5 12mm 1/160 f11 ISO 200

Well wrapped up, to see what’s on and where to go
Olympus EM5 45mm 1/400 f8 ISO 200

Simple pleasures
Olympus EM5 45mm 1/640 f8 ISO 200

Cycling along the promenade
Olympus EM5 20mm 1/500 f8 ISO 200

An extraordinary piece of design – it is in fact the East Beach Cafe
Olympus EM5 12mm 1/320 f8 ISO 200

I think the image says it all really.
Olympus EM5 12mm 1/640 f7.1 ISO 200

Littlehampton pier – but where are the people?
Olympus EM5 12mm 1/320 f11 ISO 200

“If we hurry I’m sure we’ll catch the train!”
Olympus EM5 45mm 1/400 f7.1 ISO 200

If we hurry I'm sure we can catch the train

Ready and waiting……..
Olympus EM5 20mm 1/320 f8 ISO 200

Scooting along the seafront
Olympus EM5 45mm 1/640 f8 ISO 200

All the fun of the fair
Olympus EM5 12mm 1/100 f22 ISO 200

Quite simply … a buggy on the beach
Olympus EM5 20mm 1/640 f8 ISO 200

‘People and Places’ at Glorious Goodwood

The end of July/beginning of August is traditionally the time for one of the most famous race meetings in the country – Glorious Goodwood. Situated on The South Downs the race course enjoys wonderful views of the countryside to the north and to the south, distant views of the sea and even the Isle of Wight on a clear day. I am not a seasoned race goer and definitely not a gambler buts its hard to resist the allure of Glorious Goodwood which attracts the famous, the not so famous and those that are simply there to win some money or have a good day out.

My reason for going this year was as part of a ‘People and Places’ photography course I was attending at West Dean College which is just down the road from Goodwood. I would thoroughly recommend West Dean College to anyone interested in an arts or crafts course held in a beautiful house set in quite superb grounds. The course was being run by Jacqui Hurst and in addition to myself there were five other participants. I will say more about Jacqui and the course in a forthcoming post.

At the outset of the week I set myself the objective of ‘seeing’ in black and white. We had to produce a portfolio of work by the end of the course, so however good some of the images might appear in colour the final selection would all have to be in monochrome. At Glorious Goodwood I wanted to capture the atmosphere of the place and its people, and whilst we were not in the ‘posh’ Richmond or Gordon Enclosures, the Lennox Enclosure would provide just as many photo opportunities.

I should just mention that a couple of weeks before attending the course I made the decision to buy the Olympus OMD EM5 with the 12mm to 50mm kit lens. The body and lens are weather sealed and having enjoyed the E-PL3 so much together with the three prime lens (12mm, 20mm and 45mm) I couldn’t wait to see how this new camera performed. Being on a photography course for a week was the ideal opportunity to find out. I can tell you now, I was not disappointed, to the contrary the results are quite fantastic and I am now wondering when the Nikon D90 DSLR will get its next airing?

Here are a selection of the images taken at Goodwood. They were all taken with the OMD and one of the prime lenses. Shot in RAW, imported into Lightroom with minor adjustments before converting to black and white in Silver Efex Pro2; a dedicated B&W plugin by Nik Software.

Racing to the line
Olympus OMD 20mm f8 1/500 ISO 200

Required reading for the day – The Racing Post

Olympus OMD 45mm f1.8 1/2000 ISO200

Watching the race

Olympus OMD 45mm f1.8 1/1600 ISO200

A family day out……could that be the winner of the next race?

Olympus OMD 45mm f3.2 1/2500 ISO400

Lining up to place a bet…..I’m happy with those odds

Olympus OMD 45 f3.2 1/640 ISO200

Typical headgear at Goodwood

Olympus OMD 45mm f3.2 1/1600 ISO200

Losing her shoe and losing her balance

Olympus OMD 45mm f4.5 1/200 ISO200

Fingers or fork?

Olympus OMD 45mm f1.8 1/2000 ISO200

Candid portrait
Olympus OMD 45mm f1.8 at f1.8 1/160 ISO 400

A day out at the races – fun for all the family!

Olympus OMD 45mm f4.5 1/800 ISO200

Entertainment from a steel band

Olympus OMD 20mm f8 1/125 ISO200

A band called Squinty McGinty play feet tapping music in the beer tent

Olympus OMD 45mm f1.8 1/160 ISO400

……and Goodwood wouldn’t be the same without a Rolls Royce in the car park.

Olympus OMD 45mm f7.1 1/200 ISO400

First exhibition

Its sounds rather grand, it wasn’t at all really, but on Saturday 11th August I staged my first and modest exhibition of photographs at the Bizarre Bazaar in the grounds of Fishbourne Church, near Chichester. Any profits (I should be so lucky) would be donated to The St Peter Project (A new church hall for Fishbourne and the wider community – www.stpeterproject.org). I gave a lot of thought to the images I wanted to include. I felt the work should have a broad appeal but also showcase my eclectic tastes. The only thing I did want to do was major on black and white, as this is my preferred style at the moment. The only two prints which were in colour were deliberately chosen as these directly related to Fishbourne Church, so were more likely to appeal to those attending the event.

Prior to the event I built a large stand or easel which would display eleven 20″ x 16″ framed prints, in landscape and portrait format. On the evening before I was still cuttings mounts and framing. I shouldn’t have left it until the last minute but having only recently returned from a week’s photography course at West Dean, time was limited.

As well as receiving a number of favourable comments, I was delighted to sell five prints which was five times as many as I had expected. Its strange to think that people have now parted with their hard earned money to display my work on their wall at home. As and when opportunities arise it has certainly given me the confidence to stage other exhibitions of my work…..particularly if the profits can go to a good cause. It has also made me realise that I need to press on with my own website which will incorporate this blog.

Below are the images I displayed.

Firstly four landscapes.

Sand Waves on the Isle of Eigg
Nikon D90 10-24mm @ 10mm f11 6 seconds ISO 100

Ploughed Field – Fishbourne Meadows
Olympus E PL3 20mm f1.7 @ f10 1/200 ISO 200

Sea Swirl on the Isle of Eigg

Nikon D90 16 – 85mm @ 28mm f8 1.6 seconds ISO 100

Welsh track
Lumix LX3 12.8mm f5.6 1/800 ISO 100

Secondly a couple of people shots

Gardener at West Dean Gardens
Olympus EM5 450mm f1.8 at f10 1/400 ISO 200

Candid portrait
Olympus EM5 45mm f1.8 at f1.8 1/160 ISO 400

Thirdly a couple of motor sport shots

Lotus JPS 72 forming part of sculpture at Goodwood Festival of speed
Olympus E PL3 20mm f1.7 at f7.1 1/1600 ISO 200

Ferrari 250 GTO – Goodwood Revival
Nikon D90 70 – 300mm @ 300mm f10 1/640 ISO 640

……..and finally three shots associated with Fishbourne Church

Fishbourne Church in the snow
Nikon D90 16 – 85mm @16mm f4 1/30 ISO 400

Still life taken inside Fishbourne Church
Nikon D90 16 – 85mm @ 28mm f22 8 seconds ISO 200

Stained glass window in Fishbourne Church
Nikon D90 16 – 85mm @ 72mm f5.6 1/160 ISO 400

Now that I have included the exif data for each image, I realise that this selection has at least one or more photographs taken using every camera I have used in the past three years since my interest in photography really started. This was not deliberate and it does of course confirm that a good photograph can be taken with any camera. They are not great images but they give me pleasure as I hope they did when people visited my stand.

Chichester Harbour – Dell Quay in June

Chalk writing on the blackboard outside the pub said quite simply ‘Coming soon – the Summer’. Sadly this was a rather optimistic statement or just wishful thinking by the landlord, as a number of camera club members gathered to try and capture this superb location. It was grey, not that warm for June and the light was poor. So often Chichester Harbour is bathed in glorious evening light – the golden hour – at least thats what we had hoped for, but not today.

Instead it became clear that a different approach was necessary so I thought about monochrome or black and white. The old boat yard should be a place to find some interesting relics and compositions. This was an evening when normally I would have said the light is too poor for photography, but forced into a situation where the camera had to go to work, it was a surprise to me what I could find. Not my normal approach to a subject but an interesting lesson in observation, tonal contrast and depth of field. I didn’t want to keep changing lenses so I stuck with the 45mm for all the shots with the exception of the last image when I used the 12mm.

I hope I have captured something of the atmosphere of the location particularly the boat yard itself. Yes, some of the subjects are rather typical of this type location but I think the black and white treatment brings out the texture and tonal values of the subjects.

All images were taken hand held with the E-PL3, shot in RAW and then converted into B&W in Lightroom. Some cropping, sharpening and levels adjustments to improve contrast and tonal range.