Dead leaf

Dead leaf, originally uploaded by foto-art.

Dead leaf at St.Paul's church, Burton on Trent, Staffordshire.

I find it interesting that having spent a whole day in Burton on Trent with the aim of taking some photos, the only one I came back with that I liked was this one, which could be anywhere. Actually it ended up being a dull, cold, windy day so some of the shots that I might have taken were just not bright and colourful enough. Burton, like many industrial towns in England is clearly suffering from decline through the loss of industry and manufacturing, though it does remain a large centre for brewing ale. Add to all this the fact that I was coming down with a flu-like virus and well, let's say that what creative leaning I have was somewhat dulled. But I saw this shot immediately, and just got right down on the floor and in quite close. I liked the contrast between the formality and greyness of the architecture on the one hand, the the colour, naturalness and curvature of the leaf on the other. Yet the whole thing retains that element of death and decay that seemed to capture for me both the feel of the weather and the town on that day.

Portrait of a child drawing

Drawing, originally uploaded by foto-art.

Portrait of a child drawing. I have often said on this blog that I do not take portraits and this of course is the exception to the rule. On a recent family get-together, one of our grandchildren became totally absorbed by the drawing and crayoning book that she had been given. The warm afternoon sun streamed through the window and caught her as she crayoned away. On seeing the photographic potential I quietly got my camera and turned the flash setting to 'off'. I did that for two reasons: Firstly, the flash would have immediately distracted her and I would only have had one chance at the shot. Secondly though, part of the attractiveness of this scene was the back lighting of the sun and the flash would have ruined that by losing the shadows, flattening the image and making her face pale. She sat about seven or eight feet from me and I set the lens to a moderate telephoto setting, and without any fuss or drawing attention to myself, I started clicking away. If someone stood in the way, I just kept quiet and hoped for the best. I took about a dozen photos in all, zooming in and out, some landscape and some portrait. This is one of three or four that I was very pleased with.

Valle Crucis Monastery 1

Valle Crucis Abbey 1, originally uploaded by foto-art.

Valle Crucis Monastery, near Llangollen in Wales. This is a typical architecture type of shot for me, making use of doorways and windows as elements and shapes composed in the frame. The sun was fairly well to the side on this shot, which helped to enhance the texture of the stonework. If I was going to do any more to this I might square it up a little in Photoshop using Image/Rotate/Arbitrary and perhaps rotate it clockwise one or two degrees. I might also go into Image/Adjust/Variations and make the image a bit warmer by adding red and yellow. This is one of the few shots i took in colour and it was the warmth of the colour of the stone that struck me.

Valle Crucis Monastery 2

Valle Crucus Abbey 2, originally uploaded by foto-art.

Valle Crucis Monastery, near Llangollen in North Wales. This is the Latin name for 'Vale of the Cross' and the Monastery, founded in 1200/1201 by Madoc ap Gruffydd for the Cistercian order, is considered to be the best preserved of the North Wales monasteries. It is situated near the base of the Horseshoe Pass. This shot was taken in black and white mode using a combination of red and polarising filters. I liked the way the sunlight caught the building against the dark hills in the background. If I were to do anything more to this shot, it would be to remove the car on the extreme left using pixel cloning.

Valle Crucis Monastery 3 Texture and shape

Valle Crucis Abbey 3, originally uploaded by foto-art.

Valle Crucis Abbey, near Llangollen, North Wales. When I arrived here the light was virtually side-on to the Monastery, so I was able to get a shot like this which highlights the texture of the stonework. I liked this complementary relationship between the rough texture and shape of the stonework, the natural shape and texture of the tree, and the smooth texture of the sky. After about half an hour, I left and took a trip up the nearby Horseshoe Pass, and returned to the Monastery about two hours later to take some more shots now that the sun had moved around in the sky to light up the building in a different way, enabling some different compositions.

Valle Crucis Abbey 4 - Light and shade

Valle Crucis Abbey 4, originally uploaded by foto-art.

Valle Crucis Monastery. I quite like this composition. The bases of the pillars and the wall on the extreme left, lead the eye to the doorway, and from there, the eye wanders to the windowed wall at the back of the ruin. The wall on the right also leads to this wall at the back of the ruin. I also like the balance of light and shade.

Stile and sky - A look at minimalism

Stile and sky, originally uploaded by foto-art.

Stile and sky near near Rode Heath, South Cheshire. Another minimalist shot. This was taken with a red filter to enhance contrast. Many of my photographs are what might be called ‘Minimalist’. This is a term that was coined in the mid 20th century to apply to a movement of abstract artists and sculptures. It is an approach that makes use of uncluttered images and formal composition of elements which may even constitute near geometric shapes in a formal, impersonal arrangement. A person in a minimalist photograph is not portrayed as a personality, but as a formal element that makes up part of the composition. It advocates a severe simplicity of style which is achieved by using a few, very simple elements to maximum effect.

Lone tree - Photoshop auto contrast turorial

Lone tree, originally uploaded by foto-art.

Lone tree near Rode Heath, South Cheshire, England. This was taken with a red filter to enhance contrast. Sometimes the images come out a little flat - lacking in contrast. With almost every picture I do I go into Photoshop/Image/Image adjust/AutoContrast. Doing that with this image certainly brought out the vitality and contrast of the tonal range. It does not always make the image look better, but it can soon be undone in Edit/StepBackward.

Dead tree - Landscape as self-portrait of the photographer

Dead tree, originally uploaded by foto-art.

Dead tree near Rode Heath, South Cheshire, England. What does that mean? ‘A landscape as a self-portrait of the photographer’. I indicated earlier that you could save yourself hundreds of pounds or dollars by realizing that photography is not about how expensive you camera is, but rather is about a way of seeing the world: it is about perception and perspective. Ultimately, the photographer is selecting a particular aspect of reality, viewing it from a particular vantage point, framing it with the viewfinder at a particular time and in doing so is saying to others ‘Out of lots of shapes, vantage points and colours in reality, this one is worth looking at’. In making that decision to photograph this and not that, the photographer brings their own personality and perspective to the jumble of reality that is out there: they impose on reality their own perspective of it, their own ideals and preferences concerning it: they order it, frame it, look at it and arrange it in a certain way. I have already said elsewhere that I often take on a minimalist approach to my images and this says a lot about me. I hate clutter, busyness and closed in spaces preferring a sense of space, with things clearly defined and seen. I have a dislike for randomness or untidiness, preferring structure and formality: I like things ordered, structured, in harmony and balance. I do not particularly enjoy meeting people: I do not understand them very well, or trust them, so in my images, people are often reduced to impersonal formal elements in a composition. I do not take many portraits. It is in this kind of way that the photograph begins to reveal the character of the person who takes it.

This is why there may be a dilemma for the photographer who wants to earn money from his work. Lucky indeed is the person who can make a living from photographing what they like. Instead, they have to take on commissions, do portraits or weddings or work in photo-journalism or in advertising and design. As soon as I start thinking about making money from my images, I begin to think about what other people would like, what they would buy and so on, or I am doing a job for someone else, doing things they way they want them. I have to compromise my artistic integrity, even who I am, so that I have to see things the way other people want me to see them. For me, my photography is not about that. I want complete creative freedom in what I do, so that I take what I want, when I want, how I want, and if others like it, then that is a bonus. My photography is a totally selfish act; an expression of personal creative integrity, it is not about being told what to do and how to do it, it is not a job or a business, but a creative outlet and an expression of myself.

Old tree

Old tree, originally uploaded by foto-art.

Tree and fence near Rode Heath, South Cheshire, England. Once again a red filter was used for this shot.