Capture the Moment

Escher and photography

When I saw this view of one of the towers in the Central Museum in Utrecht, I thought that a photograph might invoke M.C. Escher and I took it with this in mind.  It seemed to mirror his impossible designs of staircases which are now so well known.

Perhaps Escher himself had been influenced by this scene.  I learned that he was Dutch (I had always thought he was German) and produced many woodcuts, lithographs and linocuts of architectural scenes before he developed his "impossible" graphic style.  He particularly  liked steps and stairs, like the woodcut "Street of Scaano:

 

A woodcut of the tower at Delft Town Hall was made only one year before he made the famous Metamorphosis II series.

There dosn't seem to be any evidence that Escher used photography but his work seems photographic.  The camera is capable of hyper-realism as in Escher's designs as well as being able to bend that reality.  Digitisation has even allowed a few photographers to reproduce his impossible designs photographically using Photoshop - although copying like this is boring.

Some of the puddle reflections I've photographed reference (unconsciously) Escher's "Puddle" woodcut:

 

The desert of Dungeness

Dungeness, a stretch of shingle at the most southerly point in Kent  pointing out in to the channel, is an unusual  place.   Dungeness is a wild, isolated, and constantly shifting lunar landscape and is the only officially-designated area of desert  in the UK. Although on the coast and surrounded by large man-made lakes the climate is very dry and water scarce and what at first glance seem lifeless peddles and shingle dominate the landscape. I have read it described as  the English Seaside redesigned by Tim Burton.

But it isn't lifeless.  Dungeness is an important bird reserve as well as being home to various rare species of plant, insect and animal and is a Designated Special Area of Conservation. Bird species seen in the area include the Smew, Bittern, Slavonian grebe, Wheatear, Marsh Harrier, Stonechart and Cormorant. Hundreds of moth species along with the protected medicinal leech and great crested newt also find home amongst the lakes and shingle. 

Dungeness Point also attracts a certain type of person who chooses to live there . There are around 80 scattered houses, huts and sheds, and these provide their occupants with the isolation and quiet not found anywhere else in the country.  Many of the homes are converted rolling stock from the Southern Railway and contribute to the distinct look of the area. Fishermen, artists, the occasional worker at the Nuclear power station that overshadows much of the area and those looking to escape the pace and stress of modern life live in these unique, eclectic homes. Perhaps the most famous is film maker Derek Jarman's Prospect Cottage, although the Rubber House – a traditional Dungeness Cottage encased entirely in black rubber - and the Mad Max bunker (a boys den built out of drift wood and complete with Union Jack flag) are also well known landmarks. 

I spent a few hours there and enjoyed poking around in the many  abandoned huts.  The shot above came from one of these, where the old fishing nets and other paraphenalia  evoked its former use.  It's an HDR image - normally a grungy technique, but one which I think works well here.

In the middle of a demonstration

"Get in close" is a photographer's maxim.

I went to photograph the pro-Palestine demonstration which took place in London about a week ago.  I was pleased with a lot of the images, particularly those where I had managed to get right alongside the people demonstrating.  I think if you're going to convey the atmosphere of something like this, you do need to get close up.

I used fill-in flash for most of the shots and on a few - like this one - slightly uinderexposed the sky.  I love this effect, but it also helps bring the eye to the demonstrators.

The full gallery of images from the demonstration can be seen here

 

Seeing before the fact

One of the most satisfying things for a photographer is to "see" an image in your mind, take the shot and then find that it works just the way you visualised it.

This happened to me with this shot.  I was standing at a bus stop, sheltering from the rain, watching the traffic pass.  I suddently "saw" a tightly cropped shot of cars and cyclists, quickly took out my camera and made this image.

It would be great if it worked out like this every time!

 

 

Seeing after the fact

Photographers often read significant things in their images after the fact.  It's only when they look at the image that they spot something  they didn't see it at the time.

Many say it is and it proves that photography isn't on the same level as other visual arts; a painter couldn't paint something "by accident".  But I'm not so sure.

When I took this photograph in Clerkenwell, I knew that I wanted the shallowest depth of field I could manage, and I knew I would focus on the tatoo.  I saw afterwards that the gradation of focus from the tatoo, through the girl's face to the defocused background was interesting.

 

Of course I knew what I was doing!

 

Magic green socks

 

A couple of years ago, I was at a workshop run by Eddie Soloway.  Eddie is a great photographer based in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  His creative images, mainly of the natural world, always bring a new perspective and the workshop Eddie runs is called "A Natural Eye".

One of Eddie's maxims is the "meter for the magic".  I thought about what he said and decided that it's not just a case of metering for the magic, but that the whole of an image should constructed around the magic. 

I was telling my daughter, Joanna, this when we saw this guy at a pavement cafe in London.  I asked her what would the magic in a photograph of him and she said immediately "his green socks".  I took the shot and then, as she went in close to do the same, the guy moved away.  She saw the magic but wasn't quick enough to capture it.