Hay Baling (August 2021)

The harvest theme for the late August photography continued in a field off Combs Lane, on a path which is part of the Robin Hood Way. It is a route that I often walk and I am always on the look out for something interesting to photograph.

On this occasion it was the lines and textures of cut grass that caught my eye and in particular the sense of order from chaos. 

The grass, presumably cut for hay, was neatly distributed in rows, rolling with the contours of the land and conforming to the rules of perspective. Yet, each line was a chaotic jumble without any order providing a visual contrast that I tried to capture in the following set of images:

The following day I returned to the same field and this time the rows of cut grasses had been gathered into film covered hay bales…a re-ordering process, but a job not quite finished, as the bales waited patiently for collection:

The final subject from this field was a small series of abstract shots from one of the bales that had been dropped across the path. The tightness of the film wrapping created a reflective surface with stretching textures and overlapping lines: 

Blidworth Bottoms (August 2021)

In the next few posts I will cover the remainder of the August photography which concentrates on the harvest in various local fields. The appeal was the straw bales dotted across the landscape and the sweeping lines of stubble which often converge with a pleasing one point perspective. 

This selection centres on one field near to Blidworth Bottoms which can be accessed from Rigg Lane or from Longdale Lane via the paths through Blidworth Woods. My preference is the latter as I enjoy the contrast between the close environment of the wood and then the wide open landscape of the rolling fields. 

The undulating landscape in this location can be emphasised with a telephoto lens giving the appearance of foreshortening the distance or condensing the perspective. In the these circumstances, care needs to be taken with the point of focus as a lack of depth of field makes it difficult or impossible to capture back to front sharpness. As a generalisation, I tend to focus on a point somewhere between a third to the mid point into the composition. This decision is made easier when there are bales in the field as these become an obvious subject where a least one bale should remain sharp:

Prior to taking the above shots, the walk through the woods generated a few images that started to signal the transition to autumn. These included some: yellowing of the birch leaves; hogweed seed heads with spider webs glistening in the low sunlight; and the odd highlighted autumnal leaf: 

City (August 2021)

Visits to the city centre have been few and far between this year and even as we come out of the Covid restrictions and try to return to normal, the trips are mainly brief and functional. The chances for photography are also limited and with only a half hour to fill I was interested in capturing an aspect of the city that I miss - the hard lines, angles and shapes of city architecture. 

With very few people around I found a subject, the clad walls and striking cerise panels of a University building which combined to make the following set of images: