Different light and the Royal Albert Hall...

The warm conditions currently sitting across the British Isles, whilst very welcome - it has been a poor spring up until now - can have its drawbacks for the landscape photographer. The high pressure has brought with it a good deal of atmospheric haze - at least along the coast of Dorset - and visibility is somewhat reduced.

But as us photographers say: there is no such thing as bad light; just different light - and it's true. I'm shooting this evening at Sandbanks, Poole harbour, and the setting sun is being diffused nicely, with warm hues reflecting off the surface of the water as the tide comes in. I make the obligatory series of images of boats against the evening light (photos I already know will not get used - ever), but it's the appearance of the Oystercatcher that makes the difference, and I manage just five frames before it flies off - presumably to catch oysters elsewhere.

As I write, my best friend Nic, (photographer, artist and musician), has contacted me and told me she has just been onstage with Elvis Costello at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Wonderful!


300mm f/4 AF-S Nikkor. 1/1000 second at f/5.6. + 0.67 EV compensation. ISO 400


© 2012

Busking swan...

I have spent a lot of time walking and shooting over the past few weeks, so this afternoon's session results at the end of a bike ride. The glorious weather continues and I cycle to Poole Park, Dorset, with a super-telephoto lens. I was last at the location two weeks ago, photographing Greylag goslings, and I am amazed to see how much they have grown in that time.

But it is the Mute Swans that I have come to see and photograph on this occasion, and in particular, their young. Of the three nests that I am aware of, two have produced young, whilst the third still has five unhatched eggs. I spend a while photographing the recently hatched cygnets, but photogenic as they are I instinctively know that none of the shots are working. Instead, I turn my lens to one of the proud parents, seen here displaying with wings half raised - known as busking - to mark its territory and warn off any would-be threats.


300mm f/2.8 AF-S VR Nikkor. 1/2500 second at f/5.6. - 0.67 EV compensation. ISO 200


© 2012

The smaller picture...

The sun has come out! Not only that, but the thermometer touched 25ºC today, so the wind was nice and warm, and the trend is to continue for the rest of the week. Let's hope it doesn't get any hotter, though, as 25º is about my upper limit of tolerance when working. Above that and I start to visibly lose interest.

I have acquired the taste of travelling very light of late - no macho camera bodies or arm-wrenching lenses - and it makes a significant difference to the way I approach shooting for the pleasure of it. I'm out looking for the smaller picture (as opposed to the bigger one), and it's the diagonal sunlight cutting across the painted door of a beach hut that draws me in. A simple composition, but effective - made stronger by the shadow; the contrast of the red and white paint -  whilst the door hinge becomes the focal point.


50mm f/1.8 AF Nikkor. 1/2500 second at f/8. - 0.67 EV compensation. ISI 400.


© 2012

A matter of survival...

I'll say one thing: the weather has improved somewhat over recent weeks here, in Dorset, but temperatures haven't followed suit. It is still remarkably cool for the time of year, and I do wish summer - or something at least resembling it - would hurry up and get here.

Having said that, it is quite warm once I get moving, as I find when I go for a morning walk along the cliff tops and beaches of Poole Bay. Of course, I have a camera with me, and stop occasionally to shoot things that fascinate, or simply cry out to be photographed, as with the Sea Thrift (Armeria) at Southbourne this morning (right). I have made several attempts over recent visits to produce a satisfying image of the pink and white flowers that adorn the local coastline, but I felt there was alway something lacking. I think I was lacking the right light. Maybe I still am.

The other thing that caught my interest on my casual stroll was the whelk egg case (left), that had been washed up along the shore - a common sight at the best of times - but in this instance set against a pleasing background of marbled sand. Often referred to as Mermaid's Purse, there can be up to a hundred eggs in the clump, and the little rascals that hatch out before the rest are cannibalistic; eating the remaining unhatched siblings as a means to survival.


24-70mm f/2.8G AF-S Nikkor.
Top: 1/400 second at f/5.6. + 0.33 EV compensation. ISO 200
Below: 1/320 second at f/8. ISO 400


© 2012

Domesticated wildlife...

I have touched on the subject occasionally on this blog - and one day I may do a feature on it - but successful wildlife images can be taken in your back garden (or a local park if you are not blessed with such a space).

I also learnt a very long time ago, from professional shooters, that a lot can be learnt from simply watching the behaviour of domestic animals that have bigger and often more elusive (or potentially dangerous) relatives that live in the wild. They then applied that knowledge in the field to help predict the moment when they would get the desired action - or not.

Animal photography can be both rewarding and frustrating at the same time, so I am always pleased when I get something that works, as in the shot of my cat, Mojo. It took two sessions during the afternoon to get any useable images; he just wasn't interested in being photographed, and although he looks quite fierce here it is, in fact, just a yawn - probably through boredom and wondering when he would be left alone to get back to more important business - sleeping, for example.


300mm f/2.8 AF-S VR Nikkor (VR on). 1/250 second at f/3.5. - 0.33 EV compensation. ISO 400. Monopod

Pigface and Seafox...

The weather has turned again and today could be easily mistaken for an early summer's day, so once more unto the beach with my camera. I'm a little bit more sophisticated today, as I am using a wide angle zoom instead of a prime, but I'm keeping with the recent trend of using a greatly reduced photographic kit.

I wander through a local wood, snapping here and there as the whim takes me; at one point sprawled on the ground, photographing bluebells, but it is the flower (right) that draws me, on a nearby cliff face.

I have long been familiar with this plant, but have never seen it in flower; nor know its name. Swift research (where would we be without Google?) tells me that is a Pigface (Carpobrotus rossii) - I looked that up, too. Usually found growing around Pacific, South African or Australian coasts, it bears testimony to the mild climate of England's south coast.

An unusual object hove into view on Poole Bay, Dorset, this week, in the shape of what I would describe as a drilling rig (left). I have seen nothing on the local news as to its purpose, but since Wednesday Seafox 7  has been sat roughy a mile off shore with two support vessels in attendance. Oil beneath the bay, perhaps? That would be interesting.

Update: According to the owner's web site "The unit is also very suitable for supporting installation activities in the offshore windfarm market." Even more interesting...


Top: 12-24mm f/4 Nikkor. 1/125 second at f/11. - 0.33 EV compensation. ISO 200
Below. 300mm f/2.8 AF-S VR Nikkor with TC-14EII converter. 1/1250 second at f/5.6. - 0.67 EV compensation. ISO 200


© 2012

Keep it simple...

There's a lot that can be said about the title of this post when it comes down to shooting for the fun of it, so today I set out on an exercise to do just that. As the saying goes in America: KISS - Keep It Simple (Stupid). Again, I am using the absolute minimum of gear, as I find it liberating to operate without all that bulk and weight. I'll have to keep an eye on it, though, as it could lead to me getting lazy and missing opportunities where bigger lenses are de rigueur.

Just before I leave home it starts to rain (again), but undeterred I set off and let whatever catches my eye be my subject. Adopting this approach can produce a wide variety of images from a shoot, and I start photographing as soon as I reach a local park. The overhanging leaves of a beech tree are my first subject, and I shoot with a medium-wide aperture and get in close. This has the effect of throwing the background into a pleasing blur; or bokeh, as the Japanese call it.

Later, the rain accumulating on a seafront bench provides another point of interest, and my looming over the scene to get the shot creates the dark edges to all the droplets.


50mm f/1.8 AF Nikkor.

Top: 1/200 second at f/4. - 0.33 EV compensation. ISO 400
Right: 1/80 second at f/4.5. - 0.33 EV compensation. ISO 400


© 2012

Weight loss...

Yesterday's blip in the weather has been suppressed by a return of the British early summer: overcast and occasional light rain. Nevertheless, I am determined to get my photography back on track, and go for a stroll along the seafront of Poole Bay, Dorset.

I'm travelling light; very light. In fact, I don't think it is possible to take less gear on a shoot and produce successful images, to the point of just one lens and a stripped down camera body. In fact, the reduced bulk and weight is something of a delight to use. Maybe I should try it more often.

Today's image is of man-made patterns on the beach, produced by rake attachments on a tractor, and those of nature, as water later flowed over the top and smoothed out the textures.


50mm f/1.8 AF Nikkor. 1/125 second at f/8. + 0.33 EV compensation. ISO 400


© 2012

Greylag...

At last, the weather is something like it should be at this time of year, with blue skies and temperatures touching 17º C; time to get out with a camera. It has been quite a while since I did any serious shooting, so I head to Poole Park, Dorset to see what is growing, bird wise, on the lake.

At this time of year the resident Greylag geese are usually tending young, and I was not disappointed. It is difficult to count accurately the number of goslings in each family, but I gauge that there are approximately 26 little un's between two families.

I have photographed at this location two years running, and posts relating to the shoots can be found here and here, but this time I am blessed with an abundance of daisies to add to the feel of the photographs; something that was lacking in the past.


300mm f/2.8 AF-S VR Nikkor.

Top: 1/6400 second at f/2.8. - 0.33 EV compensation. ISO 200
Right: 1/6400 second at f/3.2. - 0.67 EV compensation. ISO 200


© 2012