As the saying goes - ‘variety is the spice of life’ and this has definitely been my photographic experience this week. I’ve done very little traditional landscape photography but I have had fun pointing my camera at other things.
On Tuesday I ran a 1-2-1 tuition session on the coast, on Wednesday I photographed an electric launch on the river Alde for a magazine article, on Friday I taught observation and iPhone photography to young people on Sizewell beach and on Saturday I ran a workshop on Ipswich Waterfront.
I love the freedom that photography gives me and the opportunities for learning new things that come my way. Working with young people is not something I do very often but I loved the enthusiasm I was presented with on Friday and seeing the world through the eyes of the young was refreshing.
In a week where the environmental news has been overwhelmingly bad spending time on the water was therapeutic and the fact that I was photographing an electric boat seemed appropriate. Marine photography is something I used to do often but it is part of my work that I have moved away from in favour of landscapes and the natural world. So this week it was good to re visit something I still enjoy doing. (The electric launch is the one on the left, the motor boat wasn’t part of the shoot but I felt it added a good contrast - maybe the future and the past!?)
Whist waiting for my workshop client on Tuesday I spent some time exploring the flowers at Shingle Street with the only lens I had on me at the time - my Nikon 24-70mm F2.8. This is not the lens I would normally use for this type of photography so I was interested to see what I could produce.
From a purely practical point of view the 24-70mm lens allowed me to get physically closer to my subjects than the 70-200mm would have done but the background blurring effect I achieved wasn’t as great even wide open at F2.8. I was able to create some interesting effects by shooting through some of the foliage and holding some of the flowers directly in front of my lens to create out of focus blocks of colour. I also liked the way I could retain some definition in the background scenery giving greater context and sense of place to the flowers. This definitely wouldn’t have been possible with the 70 - 200mm or the macro lens.
Whilst I wouldn’t choose to use my 24-70mm for flower photography this exercise was a useful reminder that the best lens for the job is the one you have with you at the time. Don’t pass up an opportunity to take pictures because you think you don’t have the right equipment with you. If you experiment you may be pleasantly surprised by the results
Whilst we are on the subject of experimenting, I ran a workshop on Ipswich waterfront on Saturday morning which was all about experimentation. The aim of the workshop was to produce a small body of work (6 images) which showed a personal representation of the area. The workshop was part of my Capture and Create workshops and you can read more about these here. I have two more workshops in the series, one at Landguard Point which is sold out and one at Pin Mill which still has spaces. All the images from these workshops are going to be combined into a zine about the River Orwell which I will be putting together in the Autumn.
I don’t usually take images whilst I am running a workshop but I managed to grab a few shots that I hope show my interpretation of the area.
Shooting in built landscapes is something I don’t usually do and I find it much harder to find images and convey a mood - probably because I find man made landscapes more difficult to connect with.
For my images I thought it would be interesting to explore the relationship between reflections in the windows of the buildings and those in the water around the buildings. I have used colour as my theme to combine the images into pairs.
My aim was to try and capture the mood of the waterfront without actually taking a traditional landscape photograph. I tried to use people in my images (which I usually avoid) caught as reflections in the windows - life passing by with the buildings as a backdrop.
The reflections in the water are really abstract but I like the colours and shapes and I had a lot of fun combining them with the window shots to make colour matched pairs.
Overall I think some of the pairings work better than others but combined I think they make an interesting interpretation of the area. I admit that these images are not my usual style but I think it is good to experiment and try new things. Experimentation won’t always work but it will help you grow as a photographer.
Really interesting read Gilly. I'm relatively new to photography but I do love to have a go at everything and anything.
Just love the way that you are able to switch genres and come up with pleasing images! Much to take in from you post, just a touch of envy here!