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Abereiddy – a study of chimneys and skies

The first thing that struck me about Abereiddy was not the beach and the waves lapping against the shore but the interesting cluster of houses that make up this tiny hamlet on the North Pembrokeshire coast.

The hamlet of Abereiddy

The more I looked around, I started to observe and enjoy the chimneys and the way in which they stood out in silhouette against the drama in the skies above. The white rendered walls and the very dark grey roofs, so typical of cottages in this part of Wales, made ideal material for black and white photography.

Chimneys and the rook

Chimney and the sheep on the hill

Grassy bank and chimneys in silhouette

Reminiscing perhaps?

chabce-to-reminisce

There are no prizes for guessing where this shot was taken; as anyone familiar with this iconic location will know that it is the view from Seaford Head towards the chalk cliffs of The Seven Sisters, with Beachy Head just visible in the far distance.

This image is less about the view and more about the story it has to tell. The elderly gentleman with white hair sits on his own, his faithful walking stick at his side. Quite possibly a location he has visited many times before, we can only begin to imagine the thoughts that are passing through his mind as he looks over the coastguard cottages and across the bay to The Seven Sisters. Perhaps he is reminiscing about days gone by and the times when walking the landscape in front of him were a little less challenging than they might be today.

Photographically a key ingredient which makes this shot work for me is the careful placement of his head and the horn handle of his stick, so that both share a dark background. As a result your eye is drawn to this part of the picture, which is of course the main point of interest. The view is stunning, but on this occasion it plays second fiddle to why I pressed the shutter. It’s the story within the picture and not the view itself that I was trying to capture.

After the shower – Looking behind you in Pembrokeshire

after-the-shower

I have just returned home from an excellent few days in North Pembrokeshire in Wales, as one of four participants on an ‘Andy Beel Black and White Photography Tour’. You expect mixed weather when visiting Wales at any time of year and the past five days have been no exception.

I have already downloaded over 800 images and now the fun begins as I go through the frames, select those with promise and give some considered thought to how they should be processed for later inclusion on this blog.

Inevitably a handful of images stay in the memory at the time of pressing the shutter, so I thought I would quickly post one such image. By way of some background it was late afternoon and I was driving the group from Abereiddy to Porthgain. A heavy but fleeting shower came down and as I looked in my rear view mirror I saw this scene. Had I not done so the opportunity would have been missed, but as it was, I pulled over and we all got out of the car and took a handful of frames. The late sun reflecting off the wet road, the tractor and the gate silhouetted against the brightening sky, and last but not least, the rook flying into the shot all go together to complete an atmospheric image so typical of this beautiful part of the country,

More images and words about the workshop will follow in time, but for the moment always remember to look behind you!

In flight – Chichester Harbour

in-flight

Waiting for the vital missing ingredient to appear in a scene is part of the joy of photography, but it can also be very frustrating. This picture is a case in point. Driving home this weekend I spotted the attractive light and cloud formations over Chichester Harbour, near Bosham. As time was on my side, I quickly collected my camera and returned to a parking place near the water which I know well. Fifteen minutes later I was in the right position to take the shot but there was something missing. Various sea birds flew overhead and I soon realised that the water and sky on their own were not sufficient to make the shot. It needed a bird in flight correctly positioned in the frame to complete the scene. The gull ‘In flight’ was the missing ingredient.

I waited patiently and took numerous shots. In some the bird was too far away, or the placement of its wings just wasn’t quite right. In other frames the bird was too high or too low, or flying towards the edge and not towards the centre of the picture. Patience was finally rewarded and I got the picture I wanted.

This month has been quite productive. I have been out taking images virtually every day. This is certainly another frame which will be added to the short list ahead of my exhibition on Chichester Harbour later in the year.

Exhibition – my parameters

Although The Image Circle exhibition does not take place until November, preparing a portfolio of images ready for curation at a later date has to begin now. In fact it started some weeks ago when I decided my theme would concentrate on the landscape and environment of Chichester Harbour. Now, whenever I am out walking in the area, my camera is with me. I am very fortunate, as this is an almost daily occurrence, otherwise our dog complains!

Whilst I have never exhibited my work before, I felt it was important to establish some parameters at an early stage, in order to focus my intentions and concentrate the mind. Over the last week or two these guidelines have become well established and are as follows –

All photographs will be taken in the clearly defined area of Chichester Harbour.
All the images will be taken using just one camera with one prime lens – the Leica M Monochrom and 50mm f1.4 Summilux lens.
I envisage the vast majority will be hand held, as this is my preferred way of working, although I will not rule out using a tripod in certain situations.
I doubt that I will be using filters, although shooting wide open in bright conditions, it is obligatory to use a 3 stop neutral density filter to manage the light reaching the sensor and exposing correctly.
All the images made will be cropped to square format and be in black white. (I have no choice, it’s a black and white only camera!). I have already established a workflow for processing as I need to present a coherent set of printed images.
I have yet to make a final decision but they will almost certainly be toned in Lightroom.
The photographs will be printed on Canson Platine Fibre Rag. A 310 GSM archival paper. Without question it’s my favourite paper for this type of work.
The size of print, mounting and framing considerations are still in the melting pot but I will write about this in a later post, once my thoughts have come together.

So what are my intentions? Chichester Harbour is a beautiful and intriguing place, with a great deal of variety for image making. By walking the many footpaths that cover the area, a more intimate knowledge of the landscape becomes possible. I see the same locations at different times of the day; the weather and the light is constantly changing and in the months ahead Winter will turn to Spring, followed by Summer and Autumn, all of which will give me plenty of opportunity to capture the area as I see it. It will be my personal view of Chichester Harbour; an intimate portrait of a place I know well but will get to know even better as I explore locations which are less familiar.

The images which form part of this post were all taken very recently in and around one specific location – a small pond on the western side of Fishbourne Creek. One or more may or may not be included in the exhibition, but these and the many others I have made in recent weeks will start to make up a body of work from which a final selection can be made. Curation is a topic in its own right and I will doubtless be writing about this in the future.