thoughts | alan frost photography

Posts from the ‘thoughts’ category

‘Just waiting’ in Sherborne Abbey

My last two posts have both been about Sherborne Abbey in Dorset. As we left I noticed an elderly lady sitting in the South Porch. It was late afternoon and the sun was still shining; it had been a very hot day.

‘Just Waiting’
An elderly lady in the South Porch of Sherborne Abbey

She looked out through the gated entrance and the title for the image ‘Just waiting’ came into my mind. Waiting for what I don’t know, nor will I ever know. She may not have been waiting at all, just taking the weight off her feet and enjoying some shade before she walked to her next destination. Perhaps she had been shopping and her wicker basket was full of delicious items from the local delicatessen, or her daily pills from the pharmacy. In all likelihood a mixture of the two.

What thoughts come to your mind when looking at this image? That’s the great thing about people in photographs. They conjure up a story which will have a different interpretation for all that stop to look, wait and see what thoughts come to mind.

Alternative views of the Dorset landscape

The great appeal of landscape photography is the vast variety of subject matter and how just a few steps and a change in viewpoint, can yield two entirely different images.

This is well illustrated by the two pictures in this post. The first, is I guess, a fairly classical treatment of the rolling Dorset hills and fields of barley, taken towards the end of the day on the longest day of the year. It was the shot I had wanted to capture when I returned to this particular location just south of the village of Cheselbourne. The view is of Warren Hill as the road snakes southwards on its way to Puddletown. I used a 3 stop ND filter to slow the shutter speed down to 1/6th of a second to blur the movement in the foreground. The camera was mounted on a tripod.

Fields of barley at Warren Hill

The light was constantly changing as the clouds circled around me. There was a period when I didn’t think the sun would break through. As I waited I walked across to the other side of the road, turned to look the other way, only to see the sun on the grasses, the telegraph pole and the grey clouds behind. So very different to the first shot, but for me it still has a story to tell about the Dorset landscape. For me the telegraph pole with its insulators at the top could be trying to mimic the stems and flower heads of the cowslips below.

Telegraph pole

Two very different views of Dorset from virtually the same position and both taken within an hour of each other. It has made me think more about the type of photographs I wish to take. Both styles have their merits and personally I enjoy both of them for different reasons. The main lesson is ‘look around’ there may always be an alternative picture to be taken just over the shoulder.

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A fleeting glimpse and an instinct to return

Something has changed since I started to take my photography more seriously. Quite simply I look at everything around me and consider whether or not it offers an opportunity for me to get out my camera. Inevitably some of these occasions arise when I am out and about, in the car and driving from one place to another. I will fleetingly see a possible composition but without time to stop. I then think to myself whether or not the ‘opportunity’ is worth a return visit. I also try and pre-visualise the light and more importantly the direction of the light at a particular time of day.

Three chimneys and a field of barley

This happened to me the other day when I was returning home from a rather long and tiring day at work. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a field of barley and a house on the horizon. It wasn’t the house itself that grabbed my attention but its three chimneys silhouetted against the sky.

The next day I knew that I would be passing the same location, so armed with my camera I returned to see whether or not my fleeting initial glimpse could turn into something worthwhile. I took a number of shots from different positions but I was unsure whether or not I was going to be happy with any of the results.

I returned home only to decide that I would like to go back later in the evening when the light might be better. I explored the location for a second time and felt no more inspired by the composition I was after, so I walked a little further and noticed how the late evening light was shining through the field of barley.

It wasn’t until the following morning that I downloaded the files from the memory card to the computer. To my surprise the earlier shots of the ‘three chimneys’ were the most promising and the best of the bunch is shown above. The light on barley field which was catching one particular ear in the foreground is below.

Barley in light

Having now had the chance to look more closely at these two images I really am pleased I made the effort to return to this location, following what I had seen out of the corner of my eye. I guess my eyes are learning to see – it’s such an important part of photography, perhaps the most important part in fact. You can possess the best equipment, have been trained in all the technical skills but unless your eye can truly see, then your ability to take a good image will be severely restricted. That’s not to say these are great shots but the fleeting view, combined with my instincts and a desire to return, then I would never have taken these images in the first place.

Both shots were taken hand held, with the Olympus EM5 and Panasonic 35 to 100mm f2.8 lens.

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills….

St Olaf Church is situated in Wasdale Head, a tiny hamlet at the northern end of Wastwater in The Lake District. A wild and remote place, it is surrounded by hills and mountains including Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England.

In one of the leaded light windows of the Church there is an inscription and etching of Napes Needle on Great Gable. The words are from the first verse of Psalm 121, and for various reasons this Psalm holds a special place in my heart.

Inscription and etching in St Olaf Church, Wasdale Head

I first visited Wasdale Head and this Church thirty years ago. It was on the occasion of our first family holiday following the death of my father from Motor Neurone Disease in 1983.

Twenty two years ago I returned with my future wife. It was during our stay in The Lake District that I proposed and we married a year later. Again we made a point of visiting this Church and we bought a postcard of the window and the inscription. To this day this postcard still hangs on the wall of our cloakroom with other mementos of our visit.

Just three years ago my mother passed away and I read Psalm 121 at her funeral service.

Today we celebrated and gave thanks for the life of my sister who died at the end of March from cancer. She was just 59 years of age. Again I read Psalm 121.

I know this particular post is very personal and poignant and arguably has little to do with photography. To the contrary, my visit to the Lake District thirty years ago, inspired me and instilled in me a love of the countryside and the great outdoors – wild places, where the ever changing light offers so much drama and splendour.

This entry would not be complete without including the full text of Psalm 121 – A Song of Ascents. This is the Revised Standard version and so some of the words used do vary from the inscription.

I lift up my eyes to the hills

From where will my help come?

My help comes from the Lord

who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved;

he who keeps you will not slumber.

He who keeps Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper;

the Lord is your shade at your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day,

nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil;

he will keep your life.

The Lord will keep

your going out and your coming in

from this time on and for evermore.

‘I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills’ and try and and do justice through my photography to the beauty that surrounds us.

When mono doesn’t always work

Although I largely take black and white photographs there are occasions when I will convert a colour RAW file to mono, only to think that the image looks much better in colour. Stripping out colour can eliminate unwanted distractions in a picture, but equally the colours and harmony of these tones can be at the very heart of the image, so why remove them? As I always shoot in RAW I have a digital negative which contains all the colour data, so it gives me the option of a straight mono conversion or working in colour, whichever I think is the best treatment for the image.

During my recent trip to the Lake District there were two shots I really liked and whilst one is fine in black and white, I much prefer the colour version.

Here are both versions by way of comparison –

and now for the colour version –

Trees at Elterwater in Langdale

I didn’t even consider converting the next shot to monochrome….the colours in the image are just too important in my opinion and make the shot. The warm tones of the foreground contrasting well with the cooler tones in the middle and far distance. These would be lost in a black and white conversion.

Looking towards Watson’s Dodd
taken near to the road from Keswick to Thirlemere

This has though made me think. Am I too restrictive in my choice of shot? Should I consider taking more colour images and not be trying to see the world in shades of grey? Surely there is room for both mediums. There can only be a handful of black and white photographers who never shoot in colour. Similarly most photographers who predominately shoot in colour will occasionally take a black and white picture. At the end of the day this is purely a hobby for me, and therefore it’s all about the ‘taking and making’ of images which give me pleasure but hopefully might please others as well. Whether they are black and white or colour doesn’t really matter. After all it’s simply a matter of personal preference and interpretation.