The combination of being in lockdown and a month of sunny weather lead to me trying out one of the oldest photographic processes, cyanotype printing. This involves coating watercolour paper with the two part cyanotype solution. The chemistry of this means the coated paper reacts with UV light. Prints are made by putting objects or negatives in front of the coated paper and exposing to sun light. I will go into more details about the process and how to play around with the set up in my next post.
The Long View
We normally take photographic images in a fraction of second when recording our lives, these images are captured over many months using one of the oldest and most basic photographic tools the pin-hole camera. These multi-day images track the sun’s path across the constant visual elements in the landscape. Our standard time frame slows to that of the landscape.
45 year old trees, 137 day exposure
30 year old trees, 128 day exposure
600 year old oak tree, 90 day exposure
PIXS
I have started publishing a pdf of images called PIXS. This publication will include series of images on a selection of themes, and general chat on the creative process. First edition out today.
Oilifants
Just returned from a trip to South Africa. We stayed at Gomo Gomo Lodge in the Klaserie Reserve and Skukuza and Oilifants camps in the Kruger National Park. Lots of great game viewing at both parks hopefully some interesting photos. A few shots of elephant details below.
Fog & smog Marloes
On a recent trip to Marloes, Pembrokeshire a sea fog produced some great light on the refinery at Milford.
Fog & smog 1
Skomer Island
A few shots from a trip to Skomer Island.
Waterfalls in Wales
Earlier this week I found myself working in South Wales and decided to make a sort detour on the way home to the Brecon Beacon to take some images in the waterfalls area. I picked the Blaen y Glyn Waterfalls as I had not been there before. The area has series of beautiful waterfalls on the River Caerfanell near Talybont Reservoir. I could only spend an hour on this visit so plan a return to take some better thought out images.
Another place
These two photos were taken at Crosby beach near Liverpool. My plan on going there was to take long exposure shotsof the wide open beach and sky offsetting the small figures of the Another Place installation by Antony Gormley. When I arrived at the beach after working near by I struggled to get out of the cardue to the 40 mile an hour winds, after making my way down to the beach I soon realised that any work involving long exposures and tripods was not going to work out well, so a change of plan was needed.
After walking on the beach to get ideas for compositions I noticed the light coloured sand started to be blown around by the wind, this left a vail of sand hovering about half a metre above the beach. The moving sands looked like aseries of low-level clouds around the figures so I decided to exploit the conditions and go for some shots that made the figures look like they werefloating in clouds or maybe just have their feet stuck in the bottom clouds. So after a couple of hours trying various locations, combination of figures, focal lengths and shutter speeds I left the beach red faced from wind/sand burn but pleased with a couple of shots.
Most of the shots taken were a 50-230mm lens on a fuji XE2 body. The figures are a long way apart from each other so a longish lens is needed to compress the distances. I had to take most shots at around 1/750 s to avoid camera shake due the high winds.
Early morning & low sun
Croatia - Abandoned Hotels at Kupari Resort
Just returned from a great week in Croatia, we stayed at the lovely village of Cavat that's just a short boat trip from Dubrovnik. On the coast between Cavat and Dubrovnik is the abandoned resort of Kupari. The resort was built by the Yugoslav People's Army as a grand resort for military personnel and their families. The entire resort complex came under heavy bombardment by the Yugoslav navy during 1991 Croatian war, this resulted in damage to all the buildings and the resort being abandoned after the war. Post the war all the buildings have been stripped of any thing of value.
Long exposure
A couple of long exposure shots, taken at New Brighton. Fuji XE2, big stopper, 30s at f8.
Skomer Island Trip
Had a great trip to Skomer Island over the bank holiday weekend. We were lucky with the weather as a storm front moved out of the way just in time for the boot trip out to the Island.
Storm waters at Marloes Sands.
Puffin. Shot taken at Sunset.
The old farm building on Skomer.
Liverpool night time shots
A few images from a recent trip to Liverpool.
Hot dog
My dog hogging the fire.
Brimham Rocks
Amazing light and sky at Brimham Rocks.
Autumn Colours at Calke
All shots two exposure in camera. All taken during dogs walks in the grounds of Calke.
Liverpool
I just bought a Fuji XE2 with a 18-55 XF lens. I have always love my Fuji X100 but wanted the scope to change lens. I had a business trip to Liverpool and took the Fuji to see how will it performed. The Fuji handle low light very well, with shoots taken at ISO 1250 handheld at low shutter speeds coming out sharp and very useable noise wise.
ISO 1250, f4.5, 1/4 S
Water front, Liverpool. The last bit to be redeveloped.
MPS Trip to Nottingham.
A number of members had a trip into Nottingham. I could not make the evening, but guess how many members did.
A few pics from last weeks trip to Ireland.
Waterfall.Claim & rushing waters.
Waterfall
End of the road. Black valley. Infrared.
Long Exposure.
White foam and clouds
White foam and clouds black and white
Solar Eclipse
Solar eclipse today. Great weather with no clouds. Pics taken with a 400mm lens, at f11, iso 100 and shutter speeds of 1/500 to 1/8000.