Observation and noticing

inspiration from a day without my camera.

Hello, I’m Gill and I write a photography blog inspired by the landscapes of Suffolk and beyond. Please subscribe to read more of my writing and visit my website to view my images.

Shingle shapes on the River Ore - 30 second exposure at F16.

The predawn colours of deep blue, magenta, orange and yellow light up the sky as I follow the creekside path to the mouth of the River Ore. There is not a breath of wind and the world around me is still but not completely silent. I hear a tawny owl call from a distant tree and a few small birds dart along the path in front of me in a flurry of feathers and wings. I can also hear less welcome sounds that invade the natural silence; cars on a distant road and a tractor working in a nearby field. The world is waking as I walk.

I have come out for no other reason than to watch the sunrise and spend some time in nature. I don’t have my camera with me because I no longer have my camera. My lovely new Nikon Z8 has developed a fault and has had to be returned for repair after only 3 months of use. It was my only camera body and I feel lost without the means to make images. So after being made to feel stupid by the man in the camera shop (who couldn’t understand how anyone could be a professional photographer with only one camera body, and who had 3 when he was a pro) I have invested in an additional camera. I guess he was right, it pays to have a back up when things inevitably go wrong.

So while I am waiting for my new camera to arrive, I am out walking, observing and reconnecting with my local area in my first trip to the river for months. I used to come here every day with my dog, and my life was richer for it, but now I no longer have my faithful friend by my side and it is too easy to put off walking in favour of more pressing jobs.

I wander slowly savouring the frosty stillness, listening to the rhythmic sounds of my footsteps as they crunch over the frozen ground. I reach the river just in time to see the sun rise from its watery horizon, a red orb glimmering through the distant mist. Reaching the pill box that stands on the river wall I sit and watch the world around me.

I have been here so many times before, it is a place I love, but it is a place I have neglected. Not that it minds, it will get on fine without me, but will I be fine without it?

As I watch, I notice how the early morning light bounce off the swirling eddies at the mouth of the creek. The water gurgles and chatters as it rushes over the shingle, the tide on the ebb and in a hurry. Ahead I can see the islands at the mouth of the Ore alive with cormorants who stand in quiet contemplation and gulls who squabble noisily, while in the river a couple of grey plover feed with a gathering of godwit.

My senses are tuned into every sight and sound and it is not long before I hear my favourite; the soft bubbling call of a curlew. To me this is the sound of the salt marsh, one I have grown up with and one that is synonymous with the rivers of the east coast. Sadly it is a sound in danger of disappearing from these shores and if that were to happen I feel this landscape would lose a little of its identity and a lot of its soul.

As I sit and soak up the essence of the river I realise how much I have missed this place and how good it is to be here now. I rarely come out without my camera, or walk just for pleasure and I almost never take time to just sit and notice.

I think we all need times like this, times when we aren’t doing, but are just being.

Noticing is an essential skill for a photographer and it is something we should all practice from time to time. My morning on the river was not only valuable for my well being it was also a huge source of inspiration. For once, I had the luxury of spending time in nature without any pressure, without the need to take a picture or the stress of having to be somewhere else. I had the luxury of noticing and the joy of realising that I was feeling creative.

So a few days later, when my new camera arrived, I returned to the river and experimented with the things I had noticed. I photographed the curves in the shingle, the frost on the plants and the light on the water and I enjoyed every minute. I also quite liked some of the images I took.

My second version of the image at the top of this post. I don’t like this shot as much as the first but I think it was a useful exercise to make the comparison.

I spent a while playing with the shapes of the shingle working out which angles gave me the most interesting patterns. The image above is an alternative version of the image at the top of this post. Personally I like the first image best but I feel it is always worth taking several versions of the same shot because it is much easier to compare and contrast when looking at a big computer screen.

The river from a little further along the sea wall.

Before the light got too harsh I spent some time looking at the plants along the edge of the beach. There were some wonderful dried seed heads covered in frost which I photographed with my macro lens.

Frosted seed heads on the beach. A macro shot taken with a 105mm macros lens at F5.6 shooting towards the light.

By shooting through the foliage and pointing the camera at the wet beach I created a lovely sketch effect with plenty of bokeh in the background. This gave me a whole new way of seeing this plant and I really enjoyed photographing it.

Seedhead triptych

I also spent some time playing with light and shadow. I wanted to photograph the frost on the grass and the colours that were created when the warm light of the sun contrasted with the cold light of shadow. However I found the pattern and clarity of the frosted grass to be distracting so I chose to defocus my images and this triptych is the result.

Light and shadow on frosted grass

I know this won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but it shows the value in experimenting. I noticed something and I worked with it until I had distilled the subject down to the elements that initially caught my attention - the colours. Maybe these images will inspire another creative process in the future or maybe they will be consigned to the bin, but whatever the outcome the process was worth exploring.

I know most of us are time poor these days but I can’t over emphasis how important it is to spend some time out in the landscape perfecting the arts of noticing and experimentation. Tuning in with all our senses, observing colours, shapes, light and shade, textures and all the multitude of contrasts that make up the world around us is so valuable. But it is just as important to give ourselves time to experiment with these observations. This allows us the freedom to grow and develop our creativity and ultimately that makes us better photographers.

The one thing more than anything else, is learning to pay attention.

—ROBERT IRWIN”

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Have you ever spent time out and about without the camera just noticing the world around you? How are your observational skills? Do you have any techniques that you practice to perfect the art of noticing. I would love to hear your thoughts on how you stay inspired and grow your creativity so please leave a comment below.

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Thank you very much for reading and until next week enjoy your photography.

Gill