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2013-01-30 09:14:29 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Don't quite get Nikon's new 18-35, seems a tad pricey compared with the 16-35. As for the $18000 800, wow!

2013-01-27 21:34:54 (15 comments, 1 reshares, 68 +1s)

Pacifica Pier

Working though a backlog of images after time away from photography over the past few months. This is another image from a wonderful day spent in the company of +Nathan Wirth  last May. Can hardly believe so much time has passed since then. There was quite a bit of sea mist toward the horizon at the time so not all the images I took have an actual horizon visible, fortunately this one did. 

Interesting how time away from an image changes one's view of. Really thought I'd not managed to get anything too worthwhile from this location because of the mist. In colour, the images tended to look a little washed out (which in terms of the colour they were), however there was still quite a tonal range in there, just had to bring it out with a bit of post-processing in Silver Efex.

2013-01-26 15:28:33 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 18 +1s)

Just received David Wilson's excellent  book "Wales, A photographer's journey" and discovered we've both been documenting the gradual decay of this small abandoned farmhouse in the Preseli Mountains, though my visits are much less frequent. This image is from 2010 and we're planning to return to photograph it again in May of this year. Will be interested to see how much more has disappeared in the intervening 3 years.

#fineartpls   #bwfineart

2013-01-24 16:03:07 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 10 +1s)

Another suggestion: the Essex, Suffolk and possibly Norfolk coast - most of it reachable from Stansted airport. Some very pretty locations e.g. Aldeburgh, Southwold, some more industrial around Felixstowe and Harwich and then the more unusual (and challenging photographically) Norfolk coast. Plenty of options for accommodation from cheap and cheerful chain hotels to B&Bs. Depending on time, the North Norfolk coast might be an added extra as the roads along the coast are not exactly high speed. Example images from Aldeburgh, Southwold, Walberswick and Dovercourt. In autumn, it quietens down quite a bit so even the tourist traps like Aldeburgh are quieter - indeed quiet enough to get some of the best Fish and Chips in England!

2013-01-23 17:13:27 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 12 +1s)

The Menai Bridge

So yesterday I went out looking for snow, jealous of some of the great photos that I've seen taken across the UK.  Sadly living so close to the North Wales coast, we didn't really get any so we (my wife and I) went inland.  After driving around for a bit, we took a wrong turn and ended up going up a steep country lane with nowhere to turn around.  Had it not been for the expert driving of my wife not only would we have returned without any photos but we probably wouldn't have a car either as we started sliding back down.

Anyway after all the fun and games we did find some great snow but unfortunately not any interesting locations so you'll just have to make do with looking elsewhere for your snow images and knowing that my wife and I had a great time walking our dog.

Instead this is an image from last year.  I've got a wholehos... more »

2013-01-22 18:51:10 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 21 +1s)

With all this snow of late, thought I'd look at some images I took last July (yes, this was taken in July!). Been playing with various interpretations I made of the scene, snow and ice in B&W lends to some interesting plays with tonality. To solve the question of where it was taken in July? Answer: Hardangervidda Plateau, Norway - lots of interesting geology up there, which is why I was there but couldn't resist a more artistic look at the landscape at the same time.

2013-01-22 22:27:38 (9 comments, 1 reshares, 54 +1s)

Sense of Place

When I woke up I was changed
The land had recognised me again
  - Warumpi Band

Few places mean more to me than Fife in Scotland and the city of Saint Andrews on it's north-eastern shore. It's where I first picked up a camera in the 1960s, where I was first introduced to geology as a student in the 1970s, where my parents chose as a place to retire in the 1980s and where I've been fortunate enough to spend time making photographs for over 30 years. While much has changed over the years, this ancient Pictish realm continues to draw me to its people, its coast, its hills and its towns. 

Circumstance has meant I've spent time there over the past year, time that has brought home to me how much a sense of place matters. This image is in memory of my father, who introduced me to photography in Saint Andrews in Fife in the 1960s and whop... more »

2012-06-25 20:50:17 (15 comments, 0 reshares, 68 +1s)

Marine Layer Minimalism

Photographing in colour seems to be just about impossible in these situations, other photographers on the beach bemoaning the disappearance of the Sun behind the marine layer (fog to those of us from this side of the pond). Maybe because we don't see the Sun quite so much, but I found the dark, and slightly gloomy nature of the fog bank made an interesting contrast for this shot of the rocks on Garrapata beach, California. The surf by comparison was fairly roaring resulting in a relatively rare, for me, chance to achieve an inverted tonality between the sky and the sea. 

Been a while since I've taken this sort of long exposure, been meaning to for some time but Nature always seem to have a different opinion as to how a scene should be photographed of late! It's not quite as minimal as I'd have liked, had I managed to get 'lower down' and... more »

2012-06-24 16:44:13 (8 comments, 1 reshares, 44 +1s)

Clearing storm over Burnham lower lighthouse

Luck, both good and bad, seems to have played a role in my photography these past couple of days. On the bad luck side: 

- a 2 hour hike to a waterfall in the Brecon Beacons proved fruitless photographically (there's a limit as to how much life and limb I'll risk for a shot). Later read the hike describe as "suitable for officer cadet strenuous training", really must read up more on some locations before trying that again.
- we lost a Hitech 10-stop to the 40 mph wind at Weston-super-Mare. It's in the bottom of the marine pool! 

On the good side:

- we arrived at Burnham-on-Sea after a 2+ hour drive through continuous rain to catch the tail end of the storm that has just dumped large amounts of water across much of the UK.

Well, that's flaming June in the UK for you.

2012-06-21 12:06:37 (9 comments, 1 reshares, 40 +1s)

#longexposurethursday   by +Francesco Gola  and +Le Quoc  
#fineartpls  by +Marina Chen 

One from the archives. Keeping a close eye on the weather today, off to the Brecon Beacons National Park tomorrow in the hope of revisiting some waterfalls I've not photographed for a couple of years - lots of cloud around unfortunately some of it dumping humungous amounts of water. Need the water, but not quite this much!

2012-06-20 19:41:48 (8 comments, 2 reshares, 51 +1s)

Llyn Padarn, Study 2

A different composition and approach to the previous image from this location. Could not resist putting the 'V' of the tree in line with the 'V' of the valley and the "V" of the clouds created by going wide. Not sure whether it works or not as a composition, but as the wind dropped I was able to capture some of the reflection so ha to go with this composition. Taken a few weeks back on my first outing with a D800, have to admit it's an impressive piece of kit and the detail it captures really quite amazing.

Not much to this technically, used a Lee 0.6 soft GND to balance the sky, that's about it. It was shot at f/22, which is probably a little too closed down for the D800's sensor.

2012-06-18 12:58:26 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

I dare you not to laugh at this!

2012-06-17 17:29:00 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 24 +1s)

Covered bridges have a strong romantic image, probably due in no small part to Robert James Waller's book "The Bridges of Madison County" and Clint Eastwood's portrayal of the NG photographer in the movie - I'm told it spurned a boom in collecting Nikon F cameras! Finding a location that didn't place the bridge square on to the scene was a bit of a challenge, in the end  had to exploit the capabilities of a wide angle to get the composition I was after. The Nikon 16-35mm has a pronounced vignetting when at its widest, however, in this case I've chosen not to correct that in post processing, rather liking the effect.

2012-06-12 21:23:55 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 12 +1s)

The square format of 500px can have its disadvantages when it comes to wide-angle images! If I've learned one thing over the past couple of months it's how to make the best of less than ideal lighting and skies. In this case, I was just struck by the natural tonal gradation of the scene. Taken on the southern shore of Neusiedlersee in Austria.

#bwfineartle  by +Joel Tjintjelaar 
#fineartpls  by +Marina Chen 

2012-06-07 21:01:34 (7 comments, 2 reshares, 45 +1s)

San Simeon Pier

The more common perspective on this pier is from the other side, however, this results in a spit of land appearing between the legs of the pier so we visited in late afternoon when the light had swung round to the north of the pier to take this image. Actually we also visited in the morning and got some images as well before heading off for a great lunch, the shrimp in the "Old Stone Station" down the road in Cambria are superb!  San Simeon is a delightful village towards the southern end of California's Big Sur coast, the pier itself being built by the Hearst family, and it is a quiet little corner - just what a photographer needs. Nothing too technical to this image, used a Lee Big Stopper to create the motion in the surf and added a polariser to control the reflections off the water from the afternoon Sun. Processing is in Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 with some increase... more »

2012-06-06 22:04:31 (2 comments, 3 reshares, 19 +1s)

El Capitain Dawn

Not entirely sure about this image - it's a vertical stitch made by shifting my 24mm PC-E then merging in PS so everything is in a nice perspective. However, while that might be technically 'clever' I'm less happy with the overall feel of the image. While made at dawn, the lack of cloud or mist really seems to detract from any emotive feel. Still, not being a morning person, I'm sharing it so I least feel partially satisfied for having had to get up at 4:30am!

2012-06-04 11:06:56 (18 comments, 3 reshares, 54 +1s)

Having previously photographed "Lone Tree and Loch" and "Lone Tree and Lake", the next logical sequence was "Lone Tree and Llyn" and I desperately needed to get out somewhere with some clouds. As it happens we got a few hours of decent cloud on the shores of Llyn Padarn with Snowdon in the distance before a more depressive and wet sky descended. Definitely somewhere to return to in winter. 

#fineartpls  by +Marina Chen
#bwfineartle  by +Joel Tjintjelaar  #monochromemonday 

2012-05-31 20:19:03 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

One of the best interpretations of these wonderfull waterfalls in northern England I've seen.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobdavis/7309137936/

2012-05-31 12:15:53 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 10 +1s)

Our recent trip to California was plagued with clear blue skies making landscape photography quite a challenge and restricting most of our photography to the ends of the day. May 20th, however, was a bit different, with nice low light levels in mid-afternoon. The reason? An annular solar eclipse, so while most folk were observing the eclipse along the Big Sur coast, we took advantage of the lower light levels and pointed our cameras south to get one of the few large scale coastal landscape images of the trip. Also discovered a new use for a Lee Big Stopper, they make excellent eclipse viewers!

This photograph was made just north of Garrapata Beach, a favourite haunt of photographers. Indeed, with the Google+ photographer's conference on in San Francisco the next day, we met quite a few.

2012-05-29 20:45:29 (13 comments, 3 reshares, 51 +1s)

A reposting this time after some minor tweaking to make it suitable as my submission for #plusoneissue1 - just hope I'm not stretching the definition of architecture too far!

2012-05-28 22:22:09 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 9 +1s)

A submission for #minimalmonday curated by +Olivier Du Tré - part of a light installation in the Monterey Bay Aquarium - yes there are fish and things there too but I kept looking at the lights!

2012-05-28 18:30:19 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 20 +1s)

Going Fishing

One of those images that just presents itself. Was setting up to do a view down the pier when two young boys asked if it was OK to walk down. Of course, I said yes hoping they might create an opportunity for an image - it did.

Taken on San Simeon Pier, California. For #FineArtPls curated by +Marina Chen

2012-05-27 17:21:31 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 12 +1s)

Fallen Monarch

An unconventional post from a recent trip to Yosemite National Park but one which I felt was more evocative of the feelings I left with after my first visit to this extraordinary area of natural beauty. Yosemite Valley is undoubtedly one of the most extraordinary manifestations of nature on Earth. The fact that it is inundated with campsites and roads is equally extraordinary and hopefully a reflection of past approaches to conservation. In a brief one week visit I was both struck by the tremendous respect for the place shown by many and the incredible lack of respect for it shown by others as witnessed by the graffiti carved into the bark of this giant sequoia. So, an image that is not quite in the vein of the exquisitely intricate pattern of sequoia roots as photographed by Ansel Adams.

2012-05-07 20:06:17 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 26 +1s)

Been absolutely atrocious weather the last few days so have spent the time going through a few older images. A couple of years ago,I came across the work of Paul Hart and his series of images "Truncated", mainly taken in the Peak District National Park in the UK. This is an image inspired by that series, taken in one of the high altitude forests on the Island of Madeira.

For:
#fineartpls curated by +Marina Chen
#treetuesday curated by +Shannon S. Myers

2012-05-07 17:03:46 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Even for a B&W photographer, the weather can get too depressing! Right now, hail!

2012-05-04 11:26:30 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Just checked the NPS website ahead of our Yosemite trip: "The Tioga Road is scheduled to open on Monday, May 7, at noon." Just in time and hopefully means we can get to a few more interesting places.

2012-05-03 20:14:34 (12 comments, 5 reshares, 47 +1s)

Have photographed this boat so many times over the years, but curiously not many as LEs. For #longexposurethursday curated by +Stefanie Loges

2012-04-30 21:19:45 (8 comments, 3 reshares, 13 +1s)

Taken on the southern shore of Neusiedler See in Austria at the end of a business trip there last week. While the UK was being deluged, central Europe was under a high pressure with clear skies and hardly a breath of wind. Found the conditions quite challenging photographically, but at the same time quite rewarding in having to try and make an image work.

2012-04-28 21:12:03 (8 comments, 2 reshares, 50 +1s)

Don't generally make too may sunset type photographs, but when there's barely a cloud in the sky opportunities for photography of the sort I like to do tend to be thin on the ground, so the end of the day creates one of the few opportunities to make an image. Colour also tends to be a rarity for me, but in this case I think an exception is called for as the lake was mirror like and reflecting the sky's colours. Taken using a 2 stop reverse GND.

2012-04-20 15:59:19 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Can't recommend Metro Imaging enough, the fibre based silver gelatin I ordered has gone missing in the mail, but they apparently made two prints so the spare is on its way!

2012-04-19 20:29:25 (9 comments, 0 reshares, 38 +1s)

Stand on a beach long enough and one thing that really strikes me is the enormous range of textures, particularly on a falling tide. Ripples, water, channels, bits of foam, flotsam and jetsam - you name it and it just seems to materialise before your eyes. Add some evening light and those textures can really stand out. The human element is, at least on the south coast of England, almost always present as well, just to add to the mix. So, this is not a minimal long exposure, rather an attempt to capture some of the interplay of textures at Littlehampton in Sussex.

2012-04-18 19:04:04 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Got a couple of days coming up at the end of a trip that I didn't originally think would have time for photography (a birthday treat!). Got a day and a half in the Burgenland/Neusielder See region of Austria, so frantically doing some location scouting! Any suggestions?

2012-04-17 19:33:12 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

I think I'm going to stop reading DPreview forums, just read a post that said "I'm doing Italy this summer with my D800" - I feel sorry for Italy!

2012-04-17 18:08:06 (37 comments, 19 reshares, 106 +1s)

A contribution to #treetuesday ( +Christina Lawrie and +Shannon S. Myers). Not given this photograph an outing on G+, it was taken on the island of Madeira and is part of a portfolio I've called Nevoa da Agua (Mists and Waters) to reflect the extraordinary range of landscape influenced by water on that remarkable island (http://www.iaingilmour.net/gallery_477593.html)

2012-04-16 20:54:43 (11 comments, 2 reshares, 50 +1s)

Taken in the estuary of the River Wyre in the Northwest of England - definitely the muddiest I've got making a photograph in my life so I've got to give this image an outing to justify the time spent picking my way across the salt marsh.


For:

#fineartpls curated by +Marina Chen
#squaresaresassy +Nathan Wirth
#blackandwhitefineartphotographygallery curated by +Joel Tjintjelaar
#B+WFineArtLe curated by +Joel Tjintjelaar

2012-04-16 12:33:00 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 23 +1s)

I was going round in circles trying to find a workable composition on the beach at Winchelsea this past weekend!

A contribution to +Olivier Du Tré's #minimalmonday

2012-04-15 19:39:21 (37 comments, 17 reshares, 119 +1s)

Asymmetric Congruent Polygons for #blackandwhitefineartphotographygallery

2012-04-15 17:22:29 (4 comments, 3 reshares, 22 +1s)

A series of still lives taken in the Reading Room at Canons Ashby House in Northamptonshire. For years, the National Trust prohibited interior photography at their properties. You would walk round some of these beautiful old houses and see some wonderful still life scenes full of character, but be unable to photograph them. A year or so ago, the rules changed and it is now possible to photograph the interiors of many of the Trust's properties, I suspect we have the cell phone to thank for this change! I'd actually not taken advantage of the opportunity until this weekend, not the best in terms of crowds but did manage to capture a few scenes of the reading room at Canons Ashby.

2012-04-15 17:20:23 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 13 +1s)

2012-04-15 17:00:53 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 10 +1s)

2012-04-15 17:00:31 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 14 +1s)

2012-04-15 16:54:55 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 17 +1s)

2012-04-15 16:54:05 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

2012-04-15 12:17:03 (17 comments, 6 reshares, 55 +1s)

Winchelsea remnants

Have visited Winchelsea a few times but always lucked-out in terms of light or tide. Yesterday evening was a little better, though big white fluffy clouds are not really what you want for a long exposure. On the other hand, it was fun to play with perspective and wide angles. I never really studied art at school, so much of my adult life has been spent catching up or discovering aspects of composition for myself.


For:


#fineartpls curated by +Marina Chen
#blackandwhitefineartphotographygallery curated by +Joel Tjintjelaar

2012-04-14 23:32:35 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

For anyone in London, this is a shameless plug for my future daughter-in-law's upcoming exhibition of some of her illustrations!

2012-04-12 22:11:09 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

A wonderfully original and creative image by Stephen Cairns on Flickr, night, street light, fog and water!

2012-04-12 20:13:55 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 24 +1s)

A few people here on G+ have there own island. +Julia Anna Gospodarou has her secret island and +Athena Carey has her duck infested island. I was thinking that I would like to have my own island too! So I went out in search of an island to call my own! It's not an easy task when you live in the Midwest of the United States. Nothing but corn fields here! But low and behold I found this little gem in the middle of a river not to far from my home! I shot this as a Long Exposure B&W for the theme of "Playing with Light".

This was a 140 second shot at f/14 ISO 100

My submission for the theme of "Playing with light" week 13 of +Project52-2012
+GPLUS::P52::2012 initiated by +Giuseppe Basile Curated by +Kate Church and moderated by +Greg Berdan +Gene Bowker +Gary Munroe +Sue Butler
+Gretchen Chappelle & +Sandra Parlow
... more »

2012-04-12 12:45:53 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Well, if I've got this right, I've created an Edition on Google Currents.

2012-04-11 20:09:46 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 18 +1s)

Took delivery of a new toy today, one large sheet of gloss black acrylic. Been wanting to experiment with reflections for a while but had never managed to get a sheet of acrylic with a really high gloss that did not cost ££$$€€s!

2012-04-11 19:14:00 (31 comments, 26 reshares, 81 +1s)

An alternative composition to the previous photograph I made of the Sparrow at Dungeness. This is actually a long exposure, largely because I wanted to reduce the texture of the sea so as to focus the image on the boat itself. The shingle seems to lend itself to a relatively high contrast post-processing treatment, so have treated this version in a similar way to the previous post. That's about it for this image, other than to say I really don't like the new Google+ interface, definitely in grumpy mode over it!