Leading a horse to water

The ponies of the New Forest, Hampsire, are free to roam anywhere within the confines of the national park, but they are not wild animals. Although numbering around three thousand in all, they are not always to be found in the places where I look. Even when they are where I want them to be it can be tricky to create good compositions.

This afternoon I'm in luck. The area of heathland I visited frequently around 12 years ago produced a fair amount of success from a photographic point of view, and today an oblidging pony ambles across to drink from a pond just as I arrive on the scene. Eyeing-up the opportunity to include the solitary tree and darkening sky in the composition, as I begin to frame the shot a lone rider unexpectedly enters from the right.



24-70mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor. 1/320 second at f/8. Matrix metering. ISO 100



© 2020

St Martin cemetery, Ibsley

It's a rainy day, but instead of sitting at home working at a computer screen I decide to check out a location I have in mind in the New Forest.

I'm travelling by bus to get there. This has two advantages: firstly it's more convienient to just hop off at a nearby stop without the worry of where to park the car; and second, walking the rest of the way allows me to see subjects I would otherwise miss.

The church of St Martin at Ibsley, Hampshire, has a cemetery extension adjacent to the 19th century building. It's largely obscured from the main road by trees, but I've been aware of burials on the site for a while. It is only today that I was able to peer through the wooden gates for the first time.

 

24-70mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor. 1/20 second at f/11. Matrix metering. 0.9 ND lee grad. Mono conversion and selienium toned in Silver Efex Pro 2. ISO 640



© 2020

Book-ending the day

This morning I'm in a bit of a panic. The weather forecast is for thick cloud, yet looking out of the window I see stars. I need to get to the beach before I lose the upcoming light and greyness dominates the day.

The top image was taken three minutes before sunrise, and having got at least something in the can, I retire for breakfast. But as the day wears on I realise that the weather people couldn't have got it more wrong. Cloudless blue sky predominates, and a swift inspection of the Met Office satelite image confirms the skies above southern England are likely to remain so well past sunset.

So it's back to the beach for late afternoon. There is no useable low tide today, but that doesn't matter. I'm there to start shooting after the sun has gone, and begin making exposures the moment the sun drops below Dorset's Purbeck hills. The photograph I end up using was taken thirty-six minutes later.



Lens: 12-24mm f/4 AF-S Nikkor

Top: 0.5 second at f/11. Matrix metering. -⅓ EV compensation. Lee 0.6 ND grad and 81B filters. Tripod and remote release. ISO 50

Below: 8 seconds at f/11. Matrix metering. -⅔ EV compensation. 0.9 Lee ND grad. Tripod and remote release. ISO 50



 © 2020 

All Saints

         All Saints church at Harbridge, seen across fields that have been flooded by the Hampshire Avon river.



24-70mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor. 1/30 second at f/11. Matrix metering. ISO 50. Lee 0.6 ND grad and 81B filters. Tripod and remote release



© 2020

Late arrival

The winter weather is all over the place, with (seemingly) alternating days of high and low pressure systems sweeping the country. Today, it's the latter and I spend most of the day in front of the computer, deleting and editing in unequal measure.

Taken earlier in the month, the above image of Boscombe Spa Village on the Dorset coast is a survivor of the delete key.



12-24mm f/4 AF-S Nikkor. 1/125 second at f/11. Matrix metering. -1 stop EV compensation. ISO 50



© 2020

Incoming

I'm not going to wax lyrical about 'the calm before the storm', but the early morning light is quite fleeting before Storm Brendan sweeps in from the Atlantic.


Olympus OM-D EM Mk III with 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Pancake lens. 1/20 second at f/5.6. -⅔ EV compensation. ISO 400



© 2020

High pressure, low tide

My favourite winter combination on the beach, when high atmospheric pressure and low tide coincide just before sunset on the Dorset coast.


12-24mm f/4 AF-S Nikkor. 1/3 second at f/16. Matrix metering. -⅓ EV compensation. Lee 0.6 ND grey grad and 81B filters. Tripod and remote release. ISO 100



© 2020

Not going to waste

Unless I have a set of images that work as a panel I will frequently only publish one shot from a session on this blog. It's also more often than not that I regret not using some of the better rejects as they will most likely never be seen by anybody.

Taken yesterday, I'm determined not to waste so many in future.



12-24mm f/4 AF-S Nikkor. 1/60 second at f/11. Matrix metering. -⅓ EV compensation. Lee 0.9 ND graduated and 81B filters. ISO 100



© 2020

Groyne #18

Groyne #18 on Boscombe beach has become something of an attraction for me as a photographic subject. It's the jaunty angle of its marker post, no doubt knocked sideways by heavy wave action, that has always caught my eye, and is photographed here an hour or so before sunset.

And the days become, almost impercetably, longer...



12-24mm f/4 AF-S Nikkor. 1/60 second at f/11. Matrix metering. - 1 stop EV compensation. 0.9 Lee ND grad and 81B filters. ISO 100



© 2020

Seascape cliché # 3,256

                                                 Boscombe Beach, looking south west on a winter's afternoon.



12-24mm f/4 AF-S Nikkor. 1/640 second at f/11. -⅔ EV compensation. ISO 100



© 2020

Look up!

In spite of what appeared to be ideal conditions before dawn, the 'blaze of glory' didn't happen at sunrise over the sea on my local beach. Thinking I'd drawn a blank today, I looked up and found this quiet event happening above my head.



Olympus OM-D EM Mk III with 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Pancake lens. 1/80 second at f/8. ISO 200



© 2020

A run of luck

Ignoring weather forecasts altogether (since when are they accurate, anyway?), I set off on a pre-dawn walk along along the beach with my camera. As with yesterday, the cloud cover is thick before sunrise, but once again I get a few minutes of good light that appears from nowhere and vanishes equally as quick.



Olympus OM-S EM MkIII with 14-42mm f/3.5-4.5 Pancake lens. 1/400 second at f/11. -1 stop EV compensation. ISO 200



© 2020

Looking back

In trying to capture the spectacle of a seascape, and hibernal light at its best, it's all too easy to miss what is going on behind you. There is drama in the skies over the sea this morning, just begging to be photographed, but that winter light is so good today I don't want to waste any of it. Shooting from a local pier solves the problem.



Olympus OM-D EM Mk III with 14-42mm f/3.5-4.5 Pancake lens. 1/250 second at f/11. -1 stop EV compensation. ISO 200



© 2020

Fly on the wall

 

 

 

 

It's always nice to start the new year with a shoot, and today I take the opportunity to photograph the Upside Gallery in the local town gardens.

Transforming a once dull area with colour, the works are up to 10 metres tall and painted on the support columns of Wessex Way that runs overhead. Each one is unique for the commission, and the permanent display has been created by street artists that are considered to the best in the UK.

Olympus OM-D EM MkIII. 

Wide shots: 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 Pancake lens. 

Details: 45mm f/1.8 Zuiko

© 2020