sea | alan frost photography

Posts tagged ‘sea’

A New Year, new plans and new ideas

At the beginning of any New Year, most of us will reflect on the year just gone and think about the year ahead. If you are fortunate you might be able to find some space to yourself in this crowded world in which to contemplate the past and consider the future. I for one have been giving some thought as to how my photography will evolve in 2017, but I will leave those ideas for another day.

This morning my wife and I, together with our cocker spaniel, took a walk along the beach at Wittering. It was a lovely sunny morning, cold but very refreshing. Although there were a number of people out and about I happened to spot this lone figure walking along the wet sand, head down, as he put one foot in front of the other – What does 2017 hold in store for this individual? What was going through his mind? I will never know but I hope he found the space and solitude to consider times past and is able to look forward to the future.

Wishing you all a Healthy, Happy and Peaceful New Year

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“Sharpness is a bourgeois concept” – Henri Cartier-Bresson

There are many quotes attributed to Henri Cartier-Bresson, one of them being that – “Sharpness is a bourgeois concept”. With this image I have taken his saying quite literally. To an extreme in fact because there is absolutely nothing sharp or in focus anywhere in the frame. As a consequence this picture is sure to divide opinion.

When I took the shot I quite deliberatly adjusted the focus ring to give me an out of focus image. It was also shot with a wide aperture opening to minimise the depth of field, further ensuring a blurred image. The light was reasonably good and with a maximum shutter speed on my camera of 1/4000th of a second, I had to use a 3 stop ND filter to avoid blown highlights. In processing I added grain, a vignette and split toned the image.

Ignoring the complete lack of any sharpness the viewer can still discern a man, virtually a silhouette, standing on the beach watching his dog standing in the water. The ripples of the sea along the foreshore and the distant land mass on the horizon provide a sense of depth, and the placement of the man and his dog on the intersection of the thirds gives balance to the overall composition. There is also a triangle which is formed from the man’s head, out to the dog and back to the man’s feet.

I know this is what might be described as a ‘marmite’ shot – you either love it or hate it. Or perhaps you simply can’t understand why the photographer couldn’t at the very least focus his camera properly!

So does this image appeal to the viewer or is it quickly rejected for being technically poor because nothing is sharp, even though that was my intention at the outset? Does this very soft image portray a mood or feeling which would be non existent if the image had been sharp from front to back? There are so many questions and in my view there are no right or wrong answers. It’s my creative vision of a simple scene – one man and his dog, alone on the shoreline…..and the rest is down to your interpretation and imagination.

As always your comments and thoughts on this post would be most welcome.

Bognor Rocks – a departure from black and white

Bognor Rocks

As regular visitors to my blog will know my first love is black and white, but sometimes mono will not suffice and colour is an essential ingredient of the scene being photographed.

I don’t usually head out with the express intention of taking colour images. I normally only reach for for my Olympus EM1 when taking portraits of people who work for my firm. These images will then appear on our website or be used for PR purposes in a printed publication or on social media.

And so it was earlier this week. I had taken a few shots of a new member of staff in the morning, and as I headed home that evening the low tide and beautiful sky combined to provide me with a classical sunset seascape opportunity. I had to pull over, swap work shoes for wellies and walk out towards the shoreline. The light was fading fast so I didn’t have time to search for the best position nor did I have a tripod. A dozen quick fire shots was all I could manage before the best of the light disappeared below the horizon.

Do I want to do more colour work? Probably yes, and I have some ideas for this year which will lend themselves to colour and not black and white – so watch this space!

Thanks as always for dropping by.

Rocks in reflection

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.

Sandymouth Sands

Sandymouth Rocks

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Sandymouth Bay

Sailing in the Solent

Sailing in the Solent

Because I live near the south coast, I have lost count of the number of people who over the years have asked – “Do you sail?” To which I reply – “No, I don’t”. I prefer to look at the sea and not be either in it or floating in a boat on it. Having said that, if a sailing friend offers a trip on the water then subject to the weather being reasonably calm, I will more than likely take up the invitation.

My wife and I accompanied some friends last year and we sailed from Chichester Harbour across the Solent towards Bembridge on the Isle of Wight. We anchored in the bay just off Bembridge to enjoy a very pleasant lunch before setting sail for the return journey. I know I like it to be calm when on the water but on this occasion there was hardly a breath of wind and what liitle wind there was to be had, was apparently blowing in the wrong direction. So the engine was fired up and eventually we arrived back in the sheltered waters of Chichester Harbour. The calming influence of sailing was rather spoilt by the constant thrum coming from the outboard motor not to mention the smell from the fumes of the diesel engine. Nevertheless it was a very pleasant way to spend the day and we kept dry, which is always a blessing.

It was late September and the light was beginning to fade. There were clouds gathering but the late afternoon sun danced on the water as I looked back towards the Isle of Wight and took this shot. A reminder of a very good day out and I can understand why sailing appeals to so many people, but I think I will stick with my hobby – photography.