Blidworth Woods (May 2020)

One of the best places to avoid crowds of people in this post virus lockdown phase is the local woodlands. After leaving the parking area it is unusual to meet many other people other than a few dog walkers. It is also easy to keep a distance and make stops to take photographs.

The only issue I have encountered is a difficulty adjusting to the complexity of woodland photography after a break of a couple of months. I have been surprised by how quickly the eye for a composition fades. For the first few walks all I could really see was a mass of green and I wasn’t convinced that I liked many of the results.

Now, a month later, having processed all the images from May, I can see a selection from several visits to Blidworth Woods that suggests that I am gradually returning to normal which includes setting myself a short term creative objective for spring and summer.

Over the next couple of months I would like to focus more on black and white photography to counteract the predominance of green in the woodlands, using the seasonal highlights and shadows as a compositional aid. This is the image that has sparked the interest in black and white:

The next step is to look for more compositions that lend themselves to a black and white conversion.
In the meantime, these are a selection of the colour images taken on several walks in Blidworth Woods during the latter part of May:

Seilebost (Isle of Harris 2013)

The lockdown review of my trip Scotland in 2013 has delivered much pleasure at a time when  normal photographic activity has not been possible. As we start to get back to normal, I am still processing the images, finding scenes that I passed over first time around. I am also appreciating more the fabulous landscape of Luskentyre on the Isle of Harris.

The following selection starts with the first early morning photography of the visit, looking across from Seilebost to the Harris Hills, Taransay and dunes at Luskentyre. The first image is a surprise rediscovered panorama.

Similar to some of the photography at Scarista (see my previous post), I had taken multiple overlapping images in 2013 without completing the merged version when I return home. The light on houses at Luskentyre together with the reflection makes this one of my favourite ‘new’ images from trip. It is then followed by a single image of the same scene with a slightly different fall of the light:

This next image is one that I had identified and processed in 2013. I think this one stood out due the strong foreground and warming sunlight:

After the early start, the rest of the morning was spent on the beach at Seilebost. The light was more variable and I turned my attention mainly to the patterns and reflection in the sand:

Finally, an early evening shot looking across to the dunes at Luskentyre - another rediscovered scene:

Scarista (Scotland 2013)

I don’t remember too many details of the visits to Scarista beach beyond the heavy rain showers and a driving wind whipping the top off the breaking waves. I can see, however, from the photographs, moments of light sculpting the landscape and funnels of rain falling in front of the Harris Hills making for some dramatic landscapes that I had largely forgotten about.

It was therefore a pleasure during the virus lockdown to rediscover some of these images including a few that I merged together in a panoramic format. Clearly that must have be intention at the capture stage, but years latter it was not so obvious. I particularly enjoyed the moment of satisfaction when Lightroom completed the merge and the extended scenes were revealed.

These days I rarely think about multiple image panoramas and prefer to compose in one image, thinking more about what to leave out of the image rather than trying to fit more in. This includes cropping to a 16:9 letterbox format if it helps. That said, I think the panoramas from Scarista do work:

Whilst waiting for the light to change and the weather to pass, I took some record shots of the sea and the breaking waves: 

 

Abandoned (Scotland 2013)

The theme for this selection of photographs from the Scotland trip in 2013 is abandoned homes, or crofts, on the Isle of Harris. It was not subject I would have pursued myself but other photographers on the trip were keen, so I joined in, albeit a little halfheartedly.

It appeared, particularly in one croft, that the last residents had left suddenly leaving behind some furniture and a few possessions. I guess, I didn’t feel totally comfortable with this at the time and subsequently I did nothing with the photographic results when I returned home.

On reflection, I am surprised how much of the photography from this Scotland trip went unprocessed with only a few landscapes cherry-picked for competitions or display online. Revisiting the Scotland trip has allowed me to take a fresh perspective on my photography in 2013, something I have enjoyed doing, including re-looking at the abandoned homes images.

Although I would not have been able to articulate this in 2013, I do see an attempt at describing a sense of place, going beyond representational landscapes, and saying something more about the Isle of Harris. Of course the results are not coherent in this respect, and even today I would identify the development of a refined sense of place as my biggest photographic challenge...