The Fog Descends On Deal

With a disappointing weekend of weather (and an enforced stay indoors due to a new sofa being delivered…which I can’t complain too much about given the state of the old one…) and a half-term off with the kids to look forward to (no sarcasm!), I fully anticipated a quiet week ahead with very few opportunities for photography. How wrong I was! After eagerly watching the weather forecast, hoping for some late morning fog, it looked promising for Tuesday morning. The forecast was for a pretty much widespread fog, covering the whole of the south east. The only question now: can I get up and get the children ready and out the door in time to catch the fog in Deal?

I’ve had my eye on Deal in the fog for sometime now. I’ve been intrigued by the possibilities around the pier, with the fog enveloping it and giving it that air of a concrete road to nowhere. In recent years, I’ve appreciated just how rare it is for this kind of occurence. Either I’ve just been unlucky in recent years, or the fog has always been something that occurs a handful of times a year and, even then, trying to predict when and where is a fool’s errand. So not only have I been keeping my fingers crossed for fog, I’ve been keeping my fingers crossed for fog in Deal. Given it’s a 40 minute drive from our house, there is always the risk of getting in the car, driving through the fog and finding…nothing on my arrival at this little seaside town. Fortunately, this was not one of those occasions…

After driving through thick fog on the A2 (and counting the number of cars without lights on, despite the visibility being down to a few metres), we arrived in Deal and were presented with the kind of foggy conditions I had hoped for. Armed with only my XT-3, no tripod, no zoom lenses, just a 23mm and 33mm prime, I set off to see what I could capture. With my children in tow too of course.

After belatedly realising I had knocked the focus mode switch on the front of the camera (thank god I noticed that before too long), I started wondering around the beach to see what I could capture. This was one of my first shots:

View fullsize

23mm, f5.6, 1/250, ISO160

Of course, the obvious shots were the first shots I took, but this is the kind of shot I had envisioned when I imagined the fog descending onto Deal. In terms of the post-processing, I like my fog images to be tinted slightly green as I think it gives it more of a mysterious vibe to the image, like it’s something out of a horror movie. Otherwise, I keep the editing fairly light and just accentute the softness (so low contrast, minus clarity and very slightly minus on the dehaze).

After pottering around under the pier for a bit, I headed up (with the children, honestly, I didn’t forget them!) onto the pier itself and took a walk along to the pier head. At thist time of the morning, there were a few people milling around, but not so many it was crowded. This really helped in terms of picking out individuals or couples walking along the pier, and of course the fog helped to simplify the background and obscure any others that were in shot.

View fullsize

23mm, f8, 1/500, ISO500

View fullsize

23mm, f8, 1/500, ISO160

View fullsize

23mm, f8, 1/500, ISO400

As I got to the end of the pier walking back, the fog started to lift and we took a walk along the beach towards the fishing boats moored near the road. I kinda figured that was it for the foggy conditions and that the sun was going to start breaking through and it’ll be a typical bright sunny day.

However, just when I figured the day was done and we’d wonder off and grab some snacks and disappear, the fog came in again, much to the annoyance of the kids who I think, by this stage, were heartily sick of me continuing to drag them back to the pier to get yet more shots of it obscured by the fog. Nevertheless, I persisted. Of course, I wasn’t the only one…

View fullsize

33mm, f8, 1/500, ISO160

View fullsize

33mm, f8, 1/500, ISO160

Much as I enjoyed hanging around the pier, the kids were obviously getting bored so we took a walk along the promenade, and I’m glad we did as I think some of the best shots of the day were taken as we walked away from the pier and looked back on the people walking through the fog. With the sun behind them (albeit also obscured by the fog) the people suddenly became nothing but a series of silhouettes, ambling towards us. Like something out of a horror movie, these shadowy forms ambled towards us, through the fog, making for some really interesting opportunities. Whilst I was happy with the shots I got on the pier, the shots along the promenade were, I think, better and really had a lot of atmosphere to them. Given the silhouette effects and the nature of the light, many of them I switched up into black and white, there was little in the way of colour anyway, so it seemed like a natural switch.

View fullsize

33mm, f8, 1/500, ISO160

View fullsize

33mm, f8, 1/500, ISO160

View fullsize

33mm, f8, 1/500, ISO160

After our walk along the promenade, we headed into the town centre to have a browse around. By this stage the fog was starting to lift and the sun was now shining through, leaving a beautiful morning, but taking all that lovely fog away. Regardless, it was a pretty spectacular morning on the seafront, with plenty of compositions to work with (I think I took around 370 photos in the end!). The scenary that morning certainly made up for a disappointing weekend and that half-term week of entertaining the children did present some photography opportunities after all. So everyone was happy…well, maybe not the kids. I think they’ve forgiven me now…but we’ve still got a few days of school holidays left yet, so jury is out I guess…

A few more photos from the day are in the gallery below, I’ve managed to cull my shots in Lightroom down to around 190, but I still need some work to do to cut that down a bit. I’ve tried to limit the gallery below to the best bits. Let me know what you think!

ian

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

Winter came...

After a hot summer and a pretty mild autumn, it came as quite a shock when winter hit last week. Of course, we didn’t get snow in this part of the country, but we did have freezing conditions, fog and some good hard frost across the county. Fortunately for me, this cold snap hit on a week where I had a weekday off work - huzzah! A rarity for the conditions to suit my diary, so of course I grasped the opportunity with both hands.

Between Thursday and Sunday I managed to squeeze in four locations and a couple of evening street photography walks too. All in all, a pretty great week. And it all started, where else, but in Fairfield.

Fairfield

Now, I’ve not been to Fairfield since that epic day earlier in the year that had me giddy as a school child. It’s one of those locations that is easily overdone, and so I like to space out my visits (helped somewhat by the long drive to get there from our neck of the woods). Taking the opportunity of a weekday off, I checked the weather forecast, got excited about the potential for thick frost, packed my camera bag and prepared myself for an epic trip.

After a swift detour to pick up Aga McPherson (the famous girl in a yellow jacket), we headed down to Fairfield, wrapped up warm and eager to capture the wintery scene we had pictured in our minds the night before. And we weren’t disappointed. Sheep roamed the fields, the water was frozen, the grass thick with frost…you couldn’t ask for better conditions (well, I guess you could ask for fog…but then, you know, there’s always something isn’t there?). I tried to get a few different compositions, some worked, some didn’t. But then there’s no point driving all that way only to get the exact same composition as before, right?

View fullsize

Of course, the photo above isn’t really a new composition, but there are a few in the gallery below. Just in case you doubted me!

Fairfield was great, it was freezing cold (as you’d expect in a relatively remote location this time of year), but it was fantastic. Sheep roamed around the church (which resulted in some very careful tripod placement!), and we were the only two photographers to enjoy the scene as the moon went down, the sun came up and the light caught the frozen grass. All in all, well worth the trip. And a brief nap awaited me on my return home before setting out into Canterbury and onwards to Folkestone for some street photography. Then it was all about planning for the weekend and considering where would be best to make the most of the freezing conditions.

Hothfield Common

On Saturday I had planned to go to Wye. But the roads were all closed, it looked like a horrorshow to get to the top of the Downs, and so I changed my plans and instead headed towards Hothfield Common. It’s only relatively recently I’ve “discovered” Hothfield. I had never been before last year, but there’s something about the place that’s quite captivating. Whether it’s the Highland Cows, the Konik ponies, the heather or just the unusual nature of the landscape, there’s something about it that makes you feel you are not in Kent at all, that you’ve been transported to another place altogether (at least until the dog walkers arrive and you hear the familiar East Kent accent).

Anyway, I’d not yet been in the winter time, and I’d had a few shots in mind if there was ever the opportunity to go in ice cold condtions. And…well, I wasn’t disappointed.

View fullsize

This was pretty much the compostion I had in mind. I’ve been returning to this tree a few times ever since my first trip to Hothfield, and been fascinated by the potential given it was surrounded by ferns and heather. As always, I had hoped for something slightly different. I felt like a bit of fog in the background would have helped simplify the scene, and it would have been nice for none of the branches to overlap with the background (I could get no lower than this) but nonetheless, I was pleased with this shot. I felt like it really captured the conditions that morning. And, fortunately for me, it was a scene that I had pretty much to myself.

Seasalter and Whitstable

Finally, Sunday saw a trip to Seasalter and Whitstable. The conditions once more were epic, with the added bonus of some fog (finally!) thrown into the mix. Although this time the problem was too much the other way…perhaps a little too much fog! Yes, I’m never satisfied. Seasalter was particularly pleasing though. The long grasses were frozen solid, the water in front of the beach huts was a sheet of ice, robins danced in amongst the grasses around me…you couldn’t really ask for more.

View fullsize

Not quite satisfied with my lot, I decided to head down the road to Whitstable and see what was on offer there. I’ve been wanting to capture a foggy view of the harbour for some time, and this seemed a good opportunity. And so it turned out. Thick fog enveloped the harbour. To the extent that, once more, you wished it was just a little less thick. But, again, one could hardly complain. These conditions don’t come along very often and expecting perfection is asking a bit too much. You just have to seize the opportunity and get what you can get.

View fullsize

And so that was a pretty hectic week. Freezing cold, but wonderful epic conditions the likes of which we rarely get the opportunity to shoot. And even now, a week later, it’s not quite done yet. Milder conditions are not forecast to hit for another 24-48hrs, so there might still be some time left to grab some epic wintery conditions before we head into Christmas. Fingers crossed there’s more to come, and maybe some snow at some point…just not around Christmas itself (we’re flying to Spain). If it can just time itself as well as the conditions did this time, I’ll be happy.

Why photograph?

Why do we photograph? Is it for the clout? For the attention? For the money? For the prestige? For pleasure? Is it for the love of the subject? Is it because we want to shine a light on something that’s important to us? To send a message? Is it purely for memory? Do we even understand our own reasons for taking photos?

These questions have been rolling around in my mind a lot recently. Why do I take photos? I guess the easy (if somewhat circular) answer to that question is: “I take photographs because I enjoy taking photographs”. But what does that really mean? If I didn’t enjoy it, I wouldn’t do it. There’s got to be a deeper reason behind that drive to charge up some batteries, load up some empty SD cards, pack a small bag, and head out to the coast, the city centre, the woods, come what may with the weather. There’s lots of things I enjoy, but I rarely do. I enjoy playing football. I enjoy watching films. I enjoy writing (although that may not always be apparent!). And yet, I either rarely have the time, the energy or the inclination for any of those things. And yet, no matter what, every weekend, I pack my camera gear and go out.

One of the things that has got me thinking a lot about this recently is stumbling across some photographers and their…non-photographic interests. Now, I don’t expect every photographer to wear their politics on their sleeves, and I certainly don’t expect everyone to share my political views (in many respects, I’d be very disappointed if they did…after all, our society is nothing like the society I want to live in). Whilst I was disappointed in the views that I stumbled upon (completely at odds with everything I subscribe to), it was the contrast between their views and their art that I was most puzzled by (I’m long past the stage where I am puzzled by unpalatable views - I live in Kent after all).

For me, I find landscape photography and a scepticism about climate change, or climate activisim, a jarring juxtopostion. Equally, I find subscribing to cynical views about “identity politics” and street photography, a tricky concept to wrap my head around. If we are taking pictures of landscapes aren’t we, in the nature of the act, seeking to highlight the beauty of the natural world? Are we not, in our own small way, contributing to the discourse around nature and the environment? Do we not, when out photographing these scenes, seek to help preserve the landscapes before us for future generations? When taking pictures of people in the street, aren’t we attempting to show the humanity of the people we live alongside? Aren’t we attempting to capture what it is to be human and help to break down the boundaries between us? And if not, what are we trying to achieve?

For the past couple of years, I’ve been taking photos in my local woodland during bluebell season. It’s a spectacular sight at that time of year. A carpet of bluebells as far as the eye can see. Delicate flowers sprouting up from the woodland floor, adding a splash of colour after the long, colourless winter. But every year I am distressed. Distressed because I see photographers trampling (literally) through the bluebells to get that “banger” shot. To get the photo that no-one else will get (largely because most people are respectful of the delicate, wild flowers). But here’s the thing, trampled bluebells are a depressing sight. Why? As the Woodland Trust puts it:

“Bluebells can take years to recover from the damage caused by trampling, and if their leaves are crushed they can be weakened (as they can no longer photosynthesise).”

It destroys them not just for that season, for the people to enjoy that springtime, but potentially for years to come. If you love nature, if your love of nature is at the heart of your photography, why would you inflict such vandalism?

You might be pondering why I’ve sat on that particular complaint for several months before venting about it, but it’s illustrative of my wider confusion about the rationale behind the photography of others. We know capitalism can have a corrupting influence on human behaviour (you don’t have to be a Marxist to see this…though it helps of course), so is it about the financial aspect? Do people see the landscape, or even people, as a way to leverage income? Do the pound signs light up as the sun illuminates the landscape? Is it that, rather than celebrating the environment, in whatever form that takes, that motivates some photographers? Or is it clout? In many respects, clout can be linked to income generation, but also plays into ego and self-esteem. We’ve heard plenty over the years about the dopamine hit from social media clout. Is that, superifical as it is, the motivation? Getting that banger? Pushing up those likes in order to be seen as a “popular” photographer, rather than a respected one?

It’s for this reason, I struggle to rationalise people who reject the well-documented, indisputable (unless you’re in receipt of funds from oil companies of course…) impact that humans have on the climate, who dismiss climate change campaigners and any efforts to green our economy, and yet make landscape photography their “thing”. Equally, I cannot rationalise people who are racist, homophobic, transphobic, misogynistic or ableist also being street photographers, particularly street photography where the human is the subject. What is the message they want to convey when photographing the landscape or people on the streets? Is it one they even understand or truly subscribe to?

As for me, I don’t know what my motivations are really. I don’t know what makes me want to pick up a camera. I consider myself an environmentalist, and I believe in respecting nature when out taking photographs. I like to share the drama and the beauty of nature. I respect it, its power and its beauty. And I want to share this beauty, I think, to show how amazing the world is and, as a result, try to play a small role in helping to preserve it.

When it comes to the streets, I (half-)jokingly refer to myself as a misanthrope. In truth, it’s not people I hate. It’s what people can be that I hate. Hateful, prejudicial, disrespectful, ignorant…Human beings can be this way, but we don’t need to be. We can (we must) seek to be empathetic to the lived experience of others. We must not only show empathy, but stand in solidarity, to protect or to enhance the lives of those around us whose lived experience differs from our own. How can we engage in the act of photography, whatever the subject, if we do not respect that subject?

If we are to engage in the act of photography in a pure and uncynical way, if we are creating art rather than just “content”, then photography surely must convey respect for the environment and for humanity¹. And if it is a celebration, then it is surely a subject that we love, we respect, and that we wish to protect. And, if not, why photograph?

---

¹ I use "humanity" here rather than "human" to acknowledge that some photography portrays inhumane acts, not because of the inhumanity of the photographer, or to celebrate those inhumane acts, but conversely because of the humanity of the photographer and their repudiation of inhumane acts (in which case the human in the subject may be captured in disgust, or with a lack of respect for the perpetrators). Of course, this also depends on how the photograph is shot, but I would argue that a photo that portrays inhumane acts cannot be considered art - but that's a whole other discussion.

Following the drafting of this post, I watched the recent video by Adam Karnacz. Towards the end of the video, Adam talks very movingly about what photography means to him as a creative outlet. I’ve embedded the video below from the point at which he talks about his experiences and his photography. It felt a good fit for some of the things I was thinking about in the post above.

Thank you, Fairfield. It was epic.

Decisions, decisions. Trying to work out where to shoot on a particular day seems to take up almost double the amount of time the actual shoot lasts. Not just the trying to decide where to go, but the planning. Checking weather conditions. Looking up tide times for various locations. Checking the weather conditions again. Thinking about potential compositions. Checking the weather conditions again. And so on and so on. Before you know it, hours have passed and you still don’t know where to go.

Sometimes, even after all the planning, I still can’t decide where to go. To the extent I wake up, pack my stuff, jump in the car and decide while I am on the road. Which has its drawbacks. No point driving west only to decide that you want to shoot somewhere east. But, you know, sometimes you just go with the flow and see where it takes you. Yes, sometimes I can be spontaneous. Sometimes.

And so it was that I packed my bag, grabbed my winter coat, jumped in the car and headed off…somewhere. All I knew was there was going to be fog. Question was…where should I go? Wye? Folkestone? Somewhere else…? Hmm, tricky.

Left for Folkestone, right for Wye. I’ll take a right I think.

Fog looks promising…could be a great morning if things pan out as I hope…

It’s looking good in Wye and around Ashford…left turn to the Devil’s Kneading Trough or straight on?

Hmm…straight on.

Where am I going? It looks like it’ll be epic in Wye, why would I not stick with Wye? No, let’s chance it…let’s head to…FAIRFIELD.

Fairfield. That magical Kent location that every photographer visits looking to capture this unique church on the Romney Marshes. I’ve been a couple of times before and got some decent shots, but never anything quite as good as I would have hoped for. Largely because the conditions have never really been that epic. Someday that has to change, surely?

And so on I drove to Fairfield…through the thick fog in Ashford to…er…no fog at all. At least, I could see for a fair distance without any difficulty. Where had that fog gone to? I…I think I may have made a mistake. Why not Wye? Oh well, too late now…let’s just get there, get some shots, get home, have a cup of tea and pretend I made a good decision on the A28. No point dwelling on what might have beens…not whilst I’m driving on a national speed limit road at this time of the morning.

But wait…it’s picking up again…it looks like it might be promising…just take this right and follow the road and just maybe…oh bloody hell…I can’t see a damn thing in the field…the church is definitely there somewhere, but…this could be interesting. I’ll just pull over into the laybay…oh dammit…someone else is here. Ah well, I guess it’s too much to ask for me to have all of this to myself. Just grab my bag and let’s go have a look…

Ok, this looks like fun….let’s head around this way…there should be a good composition from this angle…it’s a bit creepy walking around here, but I’m sure I’ll be ok…ok, maybe I probably should have told my wife where I was…I can’t see more than 5yds, what if I fall over and have an accident…I could be here on my own for hours…ah, here we go, just around here and…oh shit, I can’t get there. There’s a fence in the way. The light is changing. Oh crap the sun is coming through and the light is looking epic. Shit. Run. No wait….climb over the fence…now run…Christ I’m so unfit…I can’t run all the way down to the main gate again. Dammit, I’ll climb back over the fence…one leg over, now…crap, my foot is stuck…down I go….I’m ok. I think i’ve got everything, nothing has fallen out, has it? No, still got my inhaler, car keys…right…QUICKLY!! GET THE COMPOSITION FOR GOD’S SAKE BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE.

Got it, right, set up…I think I need the wide angle lens for this one…let’s go for f8, ok, check the light meter, set the shutter speed…got it. I BLOODY GOT IT! YES! I’m knackered, my knees hurt, my shoes are wet, but I bloody got it! Now…let’s check the focus…it’s looking good. Hopefully not disappointed when I open it in Lightroom, but it looks like it should be ok.

The fog is shifting again….it’s getting denser…it looked like it was lifting, now it’s getting denser again…I need to move to change the composition to make the most of it…where should I go? Maybe get the sun behind the church? Yeah, that might work…at least I don’t have to climb any fences! Ok…this looks good. I think the focus is ok…can’t really tell with the light shining in my DAMN EYES. But i think it’s good. Ok, let’s take the shot…

Bloody hell, the fog and light are shifting around again. Where to now? I guess over the other side? Yes, over the other side…OF COURSE OVER THE OTHER SIDE, WHY WOULDN’T I HAVE TO NOW CHASE TO THE OTHER SIDE OF WHERE I AM SHOOTING NOW, IT MAKES PERFECT SENSE.

Damn, this is the best workout I’ve had in ages. I mean, it would be nice to stay in one spot, but I am suffering from a bit of a post-Christmas energy lull so maybe this is doing me some good. And besides, LOOK AT THIS AMAZING LIGHT EVERYWHERE.

I don’t think I’ve seen anyone yet. Have I seen anyone yet? No, I don’t think so. I can’t believe it. Have I got Fairfield all to myself? I must have. I HAVE THESE EPIC CONDITIONS ALL TO MYSELF?!? The photography gods have shone their light on me today…I can’t believe my luck.

Ok, this is good, let’s shoot it this way…get the framing right, this looks like quite a creepy shot with the fog around the church, the stillness of the water…I think it’s frozen…I don’t want to test it, but I think it is frozen…wow, what’s that noise? Ah yeah, it’s definitely frozen…sounds like the ice is cracking. Good job I didn’t put my tripod on it after all…

Ok last shot…was that a gate opening and closing? Yeah, there’s a figure there in the fog…doesn’t look like a photographer. Looks like he’s running. Seems it must have been his car in the laybay. Dude, you’re missing the most epic view! Don’t run away…well, not until I’ve got you in at least one shot anyway…

What’s the time? Man, I’ve been here 2 1/2 hrs. I need to go. But I can’t. I want to stay here all day. But what about your wife and children? They’ll understand, right? I mean…LOOK AT IT. No, I better go. Ahhhh. What a morning. What an unbelievable morning. I took a chance and it was quite the reward. Thank you, Fairfield. It was EPIC.

How I take seascape photos

One of the benefits living in my part of the country (and god knows there are a lot of negatives…) is that I have got easy access to the coast. From my house it’s relatively easy to head to coastland to the north, the east and the south, giving me plenty of options for some seascape photography. Given we are not blessed with many spectacular land features, the coast provides a wealth of options for interesting photography. Given the coastline is ever changing, subject to the flows of nature, it also has the benefit of never being dull. No matter how many times you go to the same location, the seasons and the currents always seem to offer up something new.

Having spent this morning on the east Kent coast (in Folkestone), I thought maybe the first blog as part of my renewed commitment to blogging, should be something on how I do seascape photos. What follows shouldn’t be considered the advice of an expert, just a rundown of the things I do. If you have any tips, please chuck them in the comments at the end! Right, let’s go…

Tide Times - This is crucial. Checking tides is fundamental to your safety and cannot be underestimated. As I can’t swim, this is doubly important for me. I don’t want to find myself stranded due to the tides. When planning a trip to the coast I always ensure I do a quick check on tidetimes.org.uk. It’s a pretty basic website, but at a glance you can see the tides for up to seven days, which is all I need really.

Scouting The Scene - By and large it takes me several trips to get shots I am happy with. On my initial trip I like to get an idea of what the scene would look like at high and low tides. I then plan future trips according to what I think will work. Sometimes a low tide will give me the best composition, sometimes a high tide. Scouting the area is crucial to determining what will work.

Items Of Interest - I always try to look for foreground and background interest in a seascape to try to ensure the image holds the viewer’s gaze. It could be a pier or some distance building for the background, ideally finding some curve in the coastline to lead the eye. For the foreground it could be rocks or sea defences. I think seascapes work well if there are a couple of items of interest in the image leading the eye around the scene.

Sunsets And Sunrises - I use PhotoPills to check sunsets and sunrises and see how they will suit the compositions I’ve identified. In Kent, some locations are great at sunrise (Dover, Folkestone for example) and some are great for both (Herne Bay, Reculver and Whitstable spring to mind). Given the geography of Kent, I’m not sure there is somewhere great for sunsets only in the county and not sunrises, but I may be missing something. Also, I try to match the tides with the sunrise/sunset. For example, sometimes a low-tide at sunrise can help with a composition to the east with an item of interest on the horizon (see the photo of Reculver below for example).

Sunrise in Reculver at low tide. Only at low tide is it possible to get a clear shot of the towers looking east.

Going Long But Not Too Long - Long exposures are always an obvious thing to go for when water comes into the composition, but I find it works best not to go too long. The photo at the top of this post, for example, was shot at 0.6 or 1/6. For me this seems to work best in capturing the sea without smoothing it out too much that it loses that sense of motion and interaction between land and sea.

Timing The Shot - I really like to capture the moment when the wave loses momentum and starts to retreat back out to sea. That movement really captures the shape of items on the beach and, for me, makes an image really work (especially with an interesting foreground subject). I tend to fire the shutter at this precise moment and I find the lines of the water as it recedes really helps add interest to the image.

Tripod Maintenance - Ok, not really related to composition etc, but I always make sure I clean my tripod after a trip to the beach. What with the salt water and sand, there’s a lot of damage that can be done. So I always make sure I wash my tripod down afterwards to get rid of any unwanted stuff doing damage to it.

What about you? Do you take seascapes? What are your top tips? I’d love to hear them in the comments!

Photography and mental health

2018 has been a difficult year. Back in February, my mother passed away following years of decline. She was diagnosed with a rare condition known as Multiple System Atrophy (MSA). Once MSA sets in, the body rapidly declines. Within six years my mother went from relatively healthy to being unable to move virtually a single muscle in her body. She went from difficulties walking, to being incapable of getting out of bed unaided to being unable to feed herself to barely being able to speak. My sister and I saw her the weekend before she passed away and it was a very distressing sight. We knew that she didn't have long left.

Our mother passed on to both of us a love of photography. Both my sister and I have a long had an interest in it. I've had cameras for long as I can remember. Mainly point and click auto focus cameras, I have particular fond memories of an Olympus Mju II that I fell in love with many years ago. I was never a "serious" photographer, but I was always interested in experimenting with different composures, trying to get photos that are a little different than the usual. Eventually, after dipping my toes in the water with a couple of digital compact cameras (an Olympus digital followed by a Lumix with a Leica lens), I decided to get an entry level DSLR (which I still use now) - a Nikon D3200

It took me a little while to take full control, sticking rigidly to taking photos in automatic mode, always intending to learn, but never quite finding the time. Then, eventually, a free online course cropped up, a signed up and here I am, still learning, but also confidently taking images in full manual mode. I got there.

I used to play football on a regular basis until I was no longer able to due to change in jobs making it too difficult to get from work to home to football on a week night. Football was a great stress reliever for me. It helped to keep me balanced, to provide an outlet for my frustrations. Since putting the football shoes away, I've lacked that certain something. I threw myself into a lot of things, got involved in way too many things, and didn't have an outlet to release the building pressure. Photography has given me an excuse to go out and about, forcing me to put on a pair of shoes and go out into the countryside for some relaxation and quiet reflection. Never has this been more important than during the past seven months.

These last two weeks I've been signed off from work due to my mental health. And over those two weeks I honestly don't know what I would have done without my camera. There were days I stayed in bed all morning, unable to get up. But there were days where I resolved to get up earlier, go out and enjoy nature at sunrise. In a way the camera gave me the motivation to do something. To go out. To get fresh air. Even to talk to people. Funnily enough, as I was mulling over writing this post, I watched this video by Simon Baxter which really, for me, encapsulates the impact photography has on me (although I'm a long way off going professional - if that's ever even something I'd be interested in doing).

So yeah, photography has been a massive help in terms of my mental health. Regardless of the quality of the photos I take, I certainly feel that going out with my camera, getting out in nature and spending some time alone to reflect, has made a big difference in terms of my mental wellbeing. I just wish it hadn't taken me so long to realise how important that is.

A New Stuff Post

I'm not habit of spending lots of money all the time on photography stuff (we have two children so disposable income is often nothing more than a pipe dream). But from time to time I manage to have a little splurge. This week was one of those (rare) weeks. And today was one of those even rarer days where two things arrive on the same day, one obviously photohgraphy related, one less so (yet something I've come to realise I really needed - you know, as much as you need 'stuff').

Just before we went away to Spain (and I thought I'd blogged about this but it seems not!), I bought some Cokin gradual nd filters and a filter system. I had some money burning in my pocket from my birthday and, after chatting to the folks in my local camera shop, decided that that money was best invested in a filter system. Money burnt, I excitedly packed them for our trip to Spain, looking forward to trialling them out. One thing I recognised early on is that the packaging wasn't great for protecting the filters. Each filter was in a plastic sleeve, but the box it came in wasn't the most secure. So I decided to stump up for a proper carry case for them, which fortunately Cokin also make. At least now the filters should be kept in good shape and hopefully won't get damaged when out and about.

The other thing I stumped up for was something I never thought I'd be getting with photography in mind: hiking boots. I've been spending most of my time concentrating on landscape photography this past year and it became clear last winter that I didn't really have the footwear for traipsing around the country in the snow and mud. So it seemed that, as summer makes its way out the door (can't believe I am writing that in August), it maybe might be a good idea to invest in some proper boots.

I'm particularly pleased with the ones I got as they also seem to be perfect for the snow. Although down in the south east we don't tend to get too much snow, my little corner is pretty high up and can get hit fairly bad when the snow does hit (we've had several occasions where driving was out of the question). So these boots should be perfect. And better than trying to stomp through the snow with a trainers on.

That's probably my lot for a while (although I have my eye on a big stopper for my Cokin system), right now I'm mainly looking forward to autumn colours and great sunsets. Not long to go now... (must stop wishing the summer away!)

Dungeness and Rye

A couple of weeks back I took myself off to Dungeness and Rye with my camera gear for a birthday meander around the “only desert in the UK” (spoiler: this is disputed!) and then onto one of my favourite summer destinations. Well, the family were working or at school/nursery so I figured a little jaunt with my camera gear was in order.

I’ve been to Dungeness a couple of times over the years. The first time as part of a small trip that myself and a couple of friends had to organise for ourselves as part of our BTEC course (a fun trip that involved riding on the back of a stranger’s pickup truck on the way to Dungeness power station…). The second time was more recently, following a trip to the local nature reserve with the family. On the second occasion, I had packed my camera gear and intended to take a few shots of the scenery on the beach. I managed to fire a few off, but I was conscious my wife and kids were in the car patiently waiting for me to finish so we could head home. As a result, I wasn’t overly happy with the results so resolved to head back at some point and do a “proper photography trip”.

I’m sure by now you’ve heard or read many stories about Dungeness being a weird place with a strange and unique feel. It’s become almost a cliché about the landscape. However, no matter how cynical you are (trust me, I am very cynical), this sense of strangeness really does ring true when you visit. There is no denying it has a weird feel about it. Perhaps this was helped by my visit being during school term so I was virtually the only person on the beach. The lack of people and the eerie apocalyptic landscape came together to form a strange, other-worldly feel to the place. Well, it was either that or the nuclear power station…

A familiar sight at Dungeness...

I’d packed a few lenses with me, but mainly resolved to mainly rely on my recently purchased Sigma 10-20mm ultra wide angle lens. I’ve been quite happy with the results of this lens over the past few months, although I have found the auto-focus a little bit iffy at times – to the extent that I have almost permanently switched to manual focus. With Dungeness’ wide-open expanse filled with interesting objects, wide-angle seemed to be the best option to capture that sense of space punctured by decay and abandonment.

I think many of the photos I took on the trip are pretty standard Dungeness scenes. There weren’t any new or alternative takes on the landscape, however my main aim on this occasion was simply to compose some good shots and capture the scene as it is. Yes, this has been done many times before by many enthusiastic photographers across Kent, but I was really unhappy with the shots from my last trip so I wanted to “do it properly” this time around.

I was fortunate in that, as I mentioned above, there were few people around and I managed to get some shots of scenery without people in shot so it really helped to emphasise that apocalyptic landscape. I was also lucky in that although it was a hot and sunny day, the sky was broken up with cloud which really helped add texture and interest to the images. Clear blue skies, or flat grey skies really wouldn’t have helped. The sky needed some drama too to help with the composition.

I did have one minor annoyance on the trip to Dungeness. Whilst wandering around between scenes, I heard some movement in the shingle off in the distance. I looked, and a ridiculously large hare suddenly appeared and sat up, surveying the landscape. I had my wide-angle lens attached so reached to get the zoom lens from my bag. No sooner had I put my hands on it, than the hare decided it was time to explore. The moment had passed. I can see now why people take a “spare” camera (although I don’t see any sign of me adding a second camera any time soon).

After a couple of hours in Dungeness, I made my way to picturesque Rye. I’ve been going to Rye for some time now for short day trips. I’m not a collector of antiques (or tat to be honest) but Rye has so many little shops selling all kinds of interesting items, you easily get sucked into checking your wallet and seeing if you could maybe buy that weird item sitting on the glass cabinet. Then there are the cobbled streets lined with Tudor-framed buildings, Rye is the very definition of a charming little town.

And so off I pottered, wandering the streets, taking a few shots. Typically, as it’s Rye, there were plenty of people meandering around the little art and craft shops around the main centre. Unfortunately, one of the main streets of interest (Mermaid Street) was also spoilt by scaffolding around one of the beautiful old buildings that line the street. It’s hard to be too grumpy, the buildings aren’t merely there to look nice in photos after all, but it was a little bit disappointing that I wasn’t quite able to get the shots I wanted. Nonetheless, I got a few shots I was quite happy with before pottering off home.

I really enjoyed and valued the time alone to wander around with my camera and think a bit more about the shots I was taking. I still feel like I crammed in a bit too much (Dungeness alone would have been fine), but I felt that the time alone was valuable in terms of thinking about composition a bit more. One thing I am increasingly conscious of is that now I have a wide-angle lens, there is a tendency to shoot all landscapes using it to capture the full scene. What I need to think more about is capturing specific parts of the scenery to make for more unique takes on the landscape. After all, anyone can capture a whole scene, picking particular elements of interest is far more subjective and, potentially, far more unique.