Whilst travelling on foot during the morning, I opt to ride my mountain bike later in the day, and make my way along the seafront of Poole Bay towards Sandbanks for the last of the light. On my way I catch sight of a number of unfurled sails on the horizon; gamble that the boat is heading to port, and decide to intercept it at the harbour entrance.
I was right, but unfortunately for me the sails had been furled by the time it neared the shore, and sailing in on its engine. A shame, really, since the light was getting good as it entered the harbour, but all was not lost. I had already planned to shoot directly into the light as the vessel passed by, just to add a bit of variation to the standard pictures.
I know this technique will produce high contrast images, with little detail in the main subject, but it is not until I open the files on my computer that have the idea to sepia tone the photograph. At one time that process could only be applied to a monochrome print, by bleaching it until only the darkest tones remained, and then transferring the print to a second bath of toner and leaving it there until the desired effect was achieved. Photoshop simplifies things greatly, and no need to faff-about with chemicals. I still occasionally come across a photographer that is determined to shoot film until the last roll in existence has been exposed, but for the life of me I can't see why they would want to continue to make things so difficult from themselves. It beats me.
70-200mm f/2.8D Apo EX Sigma lens. 1/5000 second at f/5.6. + 0.67 EV compensation. ISO 400
© 2012
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