Nocturnal Labyrinth

The Labyrinth or ‘los colorados’ (the colours) is a fascinating part of the Puna landscape in Argentina. I have been promising myself that I should dedicate a week or so to this place alone. And I have made plans to do so several times. But it’s an extremely difficult place to photograph well.

The location does not suit soft light as it really requires shadows to help set out and define the contours of the terrain. When the sun goes down, I often feel that I’m waiting for the light to get better, but once it flattens down to an extremely soft light, the contrasts that are required to set the scene up just aren’t there any more.

From Dusk to Daylight

I’ve just completed work on some new images from the Puna de Atacama. I was a bit surprised to find that the final work has a more nocturnal feel to it. It isn’t what I had imagined (I gave up planning anything long ago).

I’ve been coming to the Puna de Atacama now for just a little under a decade. Not every year but maybe around six or seven times now. It has been a continuing relationship of reveal, wonder, and strengthening of approach.

Our time with a landscape is a relationship. Perhaps this is something that you have not considered, but that is what our time with a landscape is.  

Like all relationships, there is usually a lot of interest and growth at the beginning as things are new. Then as the relationship matures, a sense of established approach and recognition to what it is you’re doing with the place comes into play.

I think the reason why I settled on a more monochromatic feel this time, is probably twofold: having photographed the place so many times, I think I’m over the idea of trying to convey how colourful it is, and I think I would much rather focus on what I think its strengths are: namely that of form.

Secondly, there is just simply the case of ‘where I’m at’ in terms of being an artist. I think I’ve developed a style to my work over the past while that I am incorporating more and more to any place I visit. It’s as though I am looking for what fits my style, rather than photographing good compositions. There is a difference, and perhaps it is routed in a sense of better understanding and confidence as to what it is that I’m doing, and where I need to go with my art.

We all go through phases of trying different themes and styles. We hopefully evolve and mature. I think the longer I make photographs, the more I understand now that I tend to fluctuate.

I go with my moods and feelings more than with any plan. But there is a lot of precedence: of knowing certain things work, and of knowing what it is that I seem to work best with.

I give myself permission to be as fluid as I am. I cannot fight it, because if I did, I would simply get stuck. So, I have resigned myself to acknowledging that I am simply floating down a river of creativity and if I work with the river, then the passage is much easier. If I try to steer or navigate away through preconceptions about what I think the work should be, then the journey becomes more troublesome and harder.

Creativity is always about positive flow. Find your groove and you’re all set. Think too much or try to force the work to be something it doesn’t want to be, and you end up either stuck or in a difficult place.

I think I’m beyond looking for good photographs. I know what works and what doesn’t, but more importantly, I know what works for me, and I trust the inner confidence that I have gained (like all artists should, over many years of making art and finding out who they really are).

The White City (podcast episode 3)

3rd Episode in my podcast series is now live.

I like to let images surface gradually over a shoot. I think there is much to be gained by going with serendipity, rather than trying to plan things too much. See what life brings me, and where it may take me, has often resulted in work that I could not have imagined.

The Weather Disconnect

This past week I ran a workshop on the Isle of Eigg here in Scotland. We had a good variety of conditions to shoot in. My favourite part of the week was when we had very poor visibility (great!), very low light (even better!), and quite difficult to shoot in rain and wind (not so great, but part of the deal if you want to capture atmospheric light).

Image © Philippe Beekmans. This was shot on one of the 'worst' days we had during the week. Socked in with misty rain, I have often found my mood affected so deeply by the conditions that I have never ventured out. This morning turned out to be one of the more favourable ones for atmosphere and resulting work.

It was great to see the group embrace the conditions I took them out in :-) It can be an emotional hurdle to get over, if the weather affects one’s mood.

I think there is a disconnect between ‘how one feels’ while experiencing bad weather and how the images look. As a beginner I put the camera away during ‘bad weather’ and only took it out to shoot in ‘good’ weather. These days, I embrace all kinds of weather (there is no such thing as bad weather - just bad light).

Good light for me is soft, low contrast light. Bad light for me is hard, high contrast light. Weather is something I just have to push through in order to find soft light, which may happen on any kind of day, any kind of season.

Image © David Jarman. I remember David fighting to keep his lens dry to make this shot. It's quite difficult to make long exposures in wet weather, but a good chamois leather cloth is ideal at wiping away the rain drops during a two minute exposure as David did.

As a photographer, ‘bad weather days’ are just another dimension to our palette. If we shoot in different weather conditions, then we open ourselves up to coming home with a variety of images.

If we only shoot when it is dry, then our palette becomes rather limited, one dimensional even.

There are a few thing that stops us from widening our palette. First is perhaps our own comfort level when we are out shooting in ‘bad’ weather. The second one is our perception of bad weather. We tend to find low light levels, dark days and reduced colour affect our mood. It can be very difficult to motivate oneself to go outside if we are feeling low due to the weather.

One of my participants told me this week that he often feels quite miserable in bad weather. This is of course very common to find that the weather can affect how we feel when we are out shooting. I have often thought that there is a massive disconnect between what we perceive whilst on location and how we feel about the images we make. Rarely does one look at a scene of mist, atmospheric, frosty and think ‘I wouldn’t want to be out in that’. Instead we think ‘that looks really ethereal’. We think only of the aesthetic whilst reviewing images. But the ‘going out there to do it’ is an entirely different experience.

This is the hurdle we must get over.

Image © Philippe Beekmans

In a way, it is another level of abstraction we must work on: being able to visualise the potential of an image irrespective of how the weather is affecting our mood.

The first day I took the group out in this bad weather, I could almost sense the feeling that everyone was just wondering if it would be worth it, and as it turned out, it was.

These days I now find myself feeling quite inspired when I am in difficult weather situations. I often find myself thinking ‘I wonder what kind of images this will produce?’. The key is to dress appropriately for the weather. If you are warm enough and dry enough, then it’s much easier to focus on the job at hand.

We are there to capture different moods and textures with our camera. There is an emotional dance that happens each time I try to go outside. Some days the weather wins over me, and I do not go, other days I manage to conquer any depressed feelings that bad weather may be casting upon me. For when I do, I am putting myself in a position to capture something unusual and atmospheric.

Many thanks to: Philippe Beeckmans, Rostislav Gerasimov, Mary desJardins, Andy Coulter and David Jarmin for allowing me to publish a portfolio set of some of the images we worked on this past week on Eigg.

Working the location

Just a short post today about some of the beautiful images made on my recent Eigg workshop.

I’ve enjoyed coming here this past fifteen years because it’s a great learning environment: We are able to repeat locations each day because we only have two.

The weather, as well as changes in tide can transform a landscape, and I have never found this place to be limiting to what one can shoot. I also particularly enjoy the fact that the group get to ‘know’ the place, and go back to work on a particular part of the beach that they find interesting.

Rostislav Gerasimov, Israel

It would be easy to assume that over fifteen years of running a workshop here, that I would have seen everything by now, but this has never been the case.

Rosti’s image above proves this point to me, as does the other two images featured in this post today. Shot on the most northern beach on Eigg, I have often found that this particular beach is either a hit for the group or not. Some weeks I come here, the group either find they can’t see much here, or they wish to return every day because they are finding so much. This week’s group found the beach engaging and I saw different compositions here that I have not seen before.

Philippe Beekmans, Belgium

On the first morning we came down to the beach and it was one of those ‘rain hanging in air’ sort of days. Where there is a fine mist of rain on everything. Hard to stay dry and hard to keep the lens dry as well. But we got plenty of nice images. Philippe had said upon first arriving that he did not feel there was much here to photograph. I think this is a common problem for many: being able to get beyond what they see, or perhaps to overcome how the feel about being in bad weather. Rarely does one look at a photograph of bad weather later on and think ‘how horrible!’. Mostly we tend to enjoy the tones and atmospheres present. The image above is such a case. The quality of the light that morning - particularly at twilight gave off a ‘teal’ colour which I think very beautiful.

Andy Coulter, Northern Ireland

Andy’s photo of Laig bay is interesting. The shot made a few minutes earlier was nowhere near as interesting as this shot is - all because of a shallow tide that came in over the green and red rocks in the foreground. This brought on a less defined, low contrast foreground. It is a subtle minimalist study that I have not seen before on Eigg and which I enjoyed very much.

I think next year may be my last year, certainly doing the workshop twice a year. It is a very long day for me rising at 5am and not finished with the group until 9pm each day. I am now 15 years older, and I’m starting to notice it :-) But it is a wonderful place and if I were not running a workshop here, I would still come back on a personal level.

Last week’s group worked very hard to make good images. It was a joy to review and edit the work for them. Here is the final portfolio we completed by the end of the week. Please note that since I choose which images to edit, and also edit them, they perhaps have a feel of one photographer. It’s purely intentional as I try to show them through the week how to tune a set of images to be a portfolio.

For Everyone

I come here every year and the conditions vary enormously.  But the tree is more or less the same each time.

Painted Maple Tree © 2018.

I placed my camera on the ground, I managed to compress the horizon line to as thin a wedge as I could. I think the image worked because I had set up the camera for a ‘regular shot’, and just before I made the image, the snow subdued the background and simplified what is normally a view towards the mountains of the Mokoto pass. Instead, we have the small island / peninsula of Lake Kussharo, and slight pinkness of the sky because the snow was preventing the sunrise from bursting through.

It is now a well known landmark (nothing to do with me I assure you). It is right next to the road and lake side, easy access. I had no idea that for Japanese and Korean photographers, this lake is a mecca, as it is for anyone who is a keen Michael Kenna fan. So it has been well documented over many years. Anyway, painted maple tree is a beautiful tree, and we should all enjoy photographing her.

Scars on Land (Podcast Episode 2)

Difficult landscapes offer great potential. If we can only embrace their complexity.

The second episode of my podcast is now available to watch on YouTube in 4K, Apple’s podcast platform and Spotify as an audio only variant.

Terra Silva - 'the land of the forest'

‘We all experience the tranquil feeling of being present in a forest”

Writes my good friend Dorin Bofan his second book.

‘It’s an environment familiar to us, which we evolved in.
’The sounds of birds, insects and the wind gently moving the branches,
’the air filled with the scent of plants,
’all indicate the possibility of food and shelter

I first met Dorin in his home country of Romania back in 2018. He struck me as someone who’s passion for the outdoors is just as strong as his passion for photography is.

His new book ‘Terra Silva’, is a book about forests. He says that ‘Terra Silva’ is latin for ‘the land of the forest’. The book has a beautiful collection of naturalist images of forests from arctic Norway, Romania, Patagonia, Switzerland, Portugal, Spain, Scotland and also dare I say it - Iceland! Yes, Iceland has forests!

A keen hiker, and much fitter and younger than I am, Dorin is someone who makes images whilst camping inside the forests he shoots. It’s something I would like to do more of myself. Dorin’s photographic style is closer to realist nature photographer Elliot Porter. More verbatim, closer to an accurate account of what one would feel and see if spending time in and around the forests he has photographed in all seasons. I really enjoyed stepping into his realm, even if it was just for a short time. That’s the beauty of books: you can lose yourself in them, in a way that you don’t whilst browsing websites.

Occasionally we see images with hints of graphic qualities to them which help the collection in general feel more varied. Some images are close ups, others vistas. Regardless of this, the level of intimacy he has with his subject is always present in each image, no matter if the image is of a close up branch or a vista. I always sensed Dorin behind every exposure in the book.

I think it is quite difficult to photograph forests. They are certainly a subject matter that I have personally avoided because it takes a special eye to be able to make sense of their busy and often complex nature. While looking through Dorin’s images I slowly became aware that I was not struggling to enjoy the compositions. There are no awkward views, no untidy, ill-conceived shots where I could feel my belief that shooting forests is always a compromise if not impossible. It’s something most would find difficult to do well - to hide the complexity, and to present such complex subjects in a pleasing way. He does it so well, that I almost didn’t notice that he was doing it.

Being a self employed photographer, Dorin and I share the same aspirations: the need to show others what we saw, but also to be able to keep the economic plates spinning in order to keep on doing it. One of the ways we are able to continue with our imagery is by running workshops and selling books, and this is something I must commend him on: he did all the design work on his book, and also oversaw the project without any help from anyone else. It takes a lot of time and effort to make your own book, and also to work with a printer, to iron out all the issues and to hopefully end up with something that is close to what you envisioned. His book is a modest one. Aproximately A4 in size, ,but conceived to work on so many levels. I wish Dorin all the success with it.

The book has reminded me that I still have unfinished interest in Romania and I would love nothing more when my time permits, to go back out there and spend some more time with Dorin. Until then, I will happily be looking through his book and imagery. I will be dreaming of camping in some far off distant forest, in all kinds of weather, and in all seasons, with my camera just like Dorin has.

You can view, find out more, and buy the book here.

Podcast

This week I announced the start of a new podcast / visual essay series. The first episode you can watch on YouTube below.

if you also prefer to listen to audio-only podcasts, then it is also available on Spotify and Apple’s Podcast platform.

A bit of back story: those that have been following me since before 2010 may know that I used to publish a visual essay on Apple’s iTune service. The videos were very popular. Short in length - approximately five minutes long, I enjoyed using a slideshow of images I’d made on a recent trip somewhere, and collecting thoughts to put to some ambient background I would also compose (I’ve been writing music since I was 12).

I abandoned the podcast around 2012. It was simply because it took me a while to find new material. I had only really been working professionally since 2009, and I had only recently (by 2010) started to incorporate foreign locations into my photographic yearly schedule. In short: I did not have enough material to keep up a regular podcast series.

It had never been put together in the first place to be published on a weekly basis. For the uninitiated, it takes a whopping amount of time to go away, make images, work on them, write a script, record your voice, edit the presentation. Some seemed to expect this would be a weekly occurrence and I even got marked down (?!?!?!?) for not publishing regularly :-) It was free! And yet I still got marked down because it was not a regular occurrence.

I mention this, because I wish to point out that the new podcast series at present has a lot of material shot over the past decade to utilise for the source of the episodes. I’ve recorded quite a few episodes so far, which will keep the podcast busy for six months if I publish two episodes a month. But I am anticipating that due to work commitments else where (running a workshop and tour business) that it may become sporadic.

Besides, I’d prefer to publish only when I feel I have something to say :-)

Right now, I do not wish to put pressure on this. I think many YouTube content providers abandon their channel because it has turned into a chore. Things become a chore when you have set yourself a target to publish every few weeks. It becomes a race for new material and I think the content suffers, and also, whomever is creating the content gets disenchanted after a while.

At the moment, I have a lot of material to use. A decade’s worth of images. Over a decade’s worth of writing on this blog to expand upon. I’ve enjoyed writing the blog, but I do feel that sometimes the nuance is missing in my writing that can be conveyed better in audio and visual formats.

So, I see this as a two year project at the moment. I intend to produce regular content for the first year, and we will see after that. Perhaps it’s just a project in it’s own right, and as with all projects, it will have a start, a middle and an end.

I hope you enjoy the ride with me. Let’s see where this will go.

L-bracket for Contax 645 camera

The Contax 645 system is now a very desirable medium format film camera. Specifically for the beautiful bokeh from its lenses, but also, because it is possible to get some digital backs to work with it also.

But it’s an old system, built in the 90’s, and it’s been pretty difficult to find an L-bracket to fit it since RRS stopped making their one for it a long time ago.

Just this week I noticed that Arca-Swiss have an L-bracket that is compatible with Mamiya 645 and also Phase One. I know that the base plate of the Mamiya 645 is the same as the Contax, so I took a gamble and bought the L-bracket from Arca-Swiss. It has the same two pin holes to make sure the base plate does not swivel, and this is the same dimensions for all 3 manufacturers.

The braket fits the body and does not swivel. There are two small issues: the screw for fixing it onto the body is a larger thread than the Contax. I found that using an RSS allen key screw as an alternative, bolts the clamp to the body without any side effects. Perfectly.

The 2nd issue is not so easy, and that is that the film dark slide is difficult to get out of the film back because the L-bracket overhangs it by about 1 mm.

I took the bracket down to Timpson’s key cutters today, and they shaved 1mm off the bracket to allow me to access the dark slide. Sorted.

So… if you’re one of those very lucky people who have a Contax 645, and always wanted an L-bracket for it, then the Arca-Swiss bracket for the Mamiay 645/Phase One 645 is your best bet. Be prepared to get someone to file off a bit of the plate, as you can see below (the silver part of the bracket was filed down).

Note the silver around the Arca plate : that is where the machinist took a few mm off. He got it wrong the first time and shaved a bit off the top of the plate, but it’s the right hand side bit where the dark slide slots in that needed to be removed a little.