Take Flight
Take Flight
Take Flight
Wild waves
Visitors to Sandsend in North Yorkshire yesterday enjoyed the fun of the crashing waves at high tide as they risked a good soaking as they walked along the seafront. Whilst others, fishing in the car park, take it all in their stride…
First look @leica
So having just had my pension drop into the bank account after finishing my 22-years with the military and then, just as quickly, watching most of it leave said account to pay off a few things here and there I made the ridiculous and totally inappropriate financial decision to drop a few more pennies on a Leica M9 and a 35mm f2 Summicron lens.
Having recently left full time employment, started my own business and generally living from photo-job to photo-job without the previous financial security of before this was, of course, totally the right thing to do! But sod it. Can’t take it with you!
So after waiting for my memory cards to finally be delivered after the camera sat idly on my desk for two days I took it for a little spin earlier to try and get a feel for what is a very different way of shooting. I always shoot manual for 95% of my work anyway – manual focus, manual exposure etc. I also shoot the majority of my work on prime lenses as it suits my style of shooting so that part of the process wasn’t a problem.
But, just as with a new car, it takes a little time to get familiar with the feel of it. So I found myself wandering around town earlier feeling a little strange at the lack of D3s hanging over my shoulder and was a little ‘fingers and thumbs’ as I tried to get shots that otherwise come naturally and quickly. But it’s a learning curve that I’m looking forward to and a simpler style of shooting that I think, I hope, will suit the way I do business.
As for image quality, file size, pro’s and con’s of a Leica versus a Nikon or whatever and all the other techy stuff well all that bores me to tears to be honest and there are plenty of reviews, forums and blogs out there that are dedicated to the more technical aspects written by far more Leica knowledgeable folk than I so bring up Google and go crazy. Although I have to say the files did ‘pop’ nicely when I took them into the edit!
All I know is, from my first foray into the world of rangefinder shooting, is that I look forward to become faster and slicker with how I operate with it and to fully incorporating it into my workflow and, dare I say it, I really enjoyed shooting pictures with it and at the end of the day, that’s what photography is all about.
So take a look at a few of my dodgy first attempts below as I work out how to buy food this month!
Redcar Sports Relief
Yesterday morning saw hundreds of people descend on Redcar racecourse in Cleveland to take part in the ‘Sports Relief Mile’ charity event to help raise money that is ultimately spent by Comic Relief to help people living incredibly tough lives, both at home in the UK and across the world’s poorest countries.
From transforming the lives of people in the UK’s most disadvantaged communities, or those living with poor mental or physical health, to protecting street children and providing life-saving healthcare abroad the money raised by events like this all over the country at the weekend will hopefully go towards making some difference.
Congratulations must go to all those who took part in the event at Redcar racecourse yesterday.
For further info check out… Sport Relief
Feeling Hip
Okay so I know this isn’t ground breaking news and better photographers than I have taken a few snaps here and there using the Hipstamatic app on their iPhones – but I don’t care. Well, I do of course and I’m working on that! – These were from my dog walk this morning. But there is something very liberating about ‘snapping’ away without over thinking the photographic process. Would I do this all the time? Of course I wouldn’t – I actually enjoy the photographic process. This is why I shoot 90% of my work on old manual AI-S lenses. I enjoy setting the focus myself, or setting the exposure and the shutter speed and the white balance, the ISO etc etc and composing for what I want. I understand it better as a result. Or maybe I’m just a control freak!? I like the challenge it offers and how you are constantly testing yourself even on the most critical of jobs against a deadline. I like the challenge. I like the test. I have a lightmeter!
But if everything was totally automated how can you ever understand it and as a result how would you ever be a better photographer. You can’t. In time you can get very quick and accurate using full manual control. I am now. But I could always be quicker of course and that is part of the individual development of the photographer. Look back 20 or so years or so before the digital photographic age rose up and swamped us with what we need, what we think we need and what we really don’t need and this was how photography used to be done. Call it ‘old school‘, call it ‘back in the day‘, call it whatever, the fact is that photographers used to be all over this because there was no alternative.
Now I’m not a technophobe. Well maybe a little. In certain areas. I hate conversations about Photoshop or Aperture or the latest advantages of this lens or that camera…it bores me to tears to be honest. I’m aware of the latest developments and equipment if it affects me. I actively embrace multimedia and audio gathering by photographers and I believe that this is the way ahead if photographers are to continue to produce work that interests more people and has a wider market. I fully believe that on the right story that lends itself to multimedia great work can still be produced even under a deadline. The photographer can on many occasions successfully shoot video and gather audio at the same time as shooting stills – within certain boundaries and with some practicalities considered and with his or her end market in mind of course.
I still use top end, high spec Nikon Cameras in the D3 and the D3s but I have other considerations in my working photographic life and need what they provide and can achieve and I have no problem with that whatsoever or with using a 70-200 zoom or whatever and rattling away on auto-focus. No problem at all as it is a requirement of the job at the time. It is functionary. It is a tool of work. I even, for the briefest of times, shot on Aperture priority the other day for about half an hour. Then I felt guilty and reverted back to manual exposure! Small steps!
But just occasionally it is good to free yourself from ALL the technology including the manual focus. Including the AF and the auto-whatever. Free from any photographic considerations and choices and just point and shoot! Even if I did still have my D3s and a 50mm 1.4 AI-S hanging over my shoulder. Just in case. But like I said, small steps!
Just because, as a photographer, you can experience something else. It can’t hurt.
Port Mulgrave
Looking at Port Mulgrave today it is hard to imagine that it was once the heart of a thriving local mining industry, a village that bustled with state of the art industrial activity. During the early 19th Century the Staithes Iron Stone company first mined iron ore here in 1855. The company built cottages for the miners and built the now abandoned harbour to ship the ore to Jarrow in Tyne and Wear where it was used in shipbuilding.
In 1854 work began on the first tunnel and work on the harbour was started two years later. In the 1870s a more productive seam was found in Grinkle Park close to Easington Beck and although the Port Mulgrave mine was gradually abandoned the harbour continued to be used until 1917 when they were connected to the Middlesbrough to Whitby railway line. Even though, at this time, the port was still in good condition the Royal Engineers demolished the breakwater in order to prevent any German invasion force effecting a landing during World War Two.
After that, erosion and neglect took their toll and allowed it to revert to nature.
It is famous for being one of the most popular Jurassic sites in the UK with the coastline between neighbouring Staithes and Port Mulgrave having a plentiful supply of fossils, dinosaur species, reptile remains and more. It is a site of special scientific interest and is reputed to be one of the best locations for collecting fossils in the UK.
Today very little evidence survives of the once busy port and the site is now looked after and protected by the National Trust. As with many of the small fishing villages along the coastline here the small inshore fishing community and fleet that used to fish from here, primarily for crab and lobster, whilst always relatively small, has dwindled, and may have now even ended completely.
All that seems to remain of the Port Mulgrave fishing community are the old fisherman’s huts slowly succumbing to the elements and the remnants of boats that, in the main, sit in unhappy disrepair at the bottom of the cliff.
The tsunami effect
TV presenter Ben Fogle was on Saltburn beach in Cleveland today taking part in the filming and production of a new 4-part documentary from Sky TV and National Geographic Channel showcasing the darker side of Mother Nature.
The effects of a Tsunami wave hitting the coast were recreated on Saltburn pier using a tank of water to simulate the wave and the potential damage that could be caused to a vehicle by the power of water was demonstrated by dropping around a tonne of water from a crane onto the vehicle which had been placed on the beach next to the pier.
Filming in the town is expected to take around two days and the four-part ‘Storm City’ series, which will air later in the summer, has been filmed on numerous locations throughout the world including Canada and the UK.
The tale of the three lonely bears
Once upon a time…
The three bears sit quietly at the table sharing their picnic as they have done many times over previous months. Happily enjoying the attention from those who passed by and those who might even stop, smile or occasionally snap a picture. Enjoying the gentle voices of those looking at them and whilst they didn’t fully understand what, ‘Ahhh aren’t they cute’ meant, they were comfortable with the sounds they heard. It soothed them as they ate.
Then came the talk.
Just whispers at first. They thought it might have been a stitch-up? Feint murmurings about a new group who were coming.
Making their way from the darkest corners of the knitting basket.
Moving relentlessly, with the commitment of professional athletes towards their goal.
Towards their final objective….their finish line.
Towards the pier!
As they advanced they were waving banners and flags, some with different coloured rings on them.
Shouting strange words never heard in these parts before. Words like…’London‘ and ‘twenty twelve‘.
Suddenly, out of the darkness, they had appeared.
“Darn it”, said the three bears!
In large numbers and in one busy night they had claimed their prize.
They had pushed beyond the picnic area and made it to the pier and now, sitting back enjoying their spoils and the attention lavished on them by those flocking to see them, they can say with pride that the Olympians had arrived.
But the three bears remain. More watchful now than before. As they sit at their lonely table on the top of the hill in the picnic area and have a good yarn they long for the day when people stop, smile and murmur those familiar phrases once again because they don’t want to be forgotten forever.
The End!
Cleveland Hunt
Earlier today I photographed the start of the Cleveland Hunt as they left Thrushwood Farm and headed out for a long day in the saddle…
Click on the first picture to view and then just click anywhere on the picture to see the next.
Further pictures from the day can be seen… HERE
The Kelp Cutters
Early morning…nice light…decent waves…an empty reef and only Robbie, Gary, Mick and Evan out to get the best of the early morning…
On the right track
Preparations to get the cliff lift at Saltburn are in full swing before the season begins…
All lined up
A nice little swell came through today at Saltburn…
