Due South

I set out for Portsmouth last weekend on a short road trip. I was with my Brother and we were visiting our childhood home and extended family. A trip that wasn’t just years overdue but decades. In the days running up to the visit I knew that I really wanted to use the opportunity to do some photography there. But in my heart I knew that there just would not be the time to do it in the way that I wanted.

Not for the first time it brought  into focus the fact that, for me, two of the greatest assets for any  Photographer are independence and freedom. Being able to choose what you photograph, when and how and having the time to fully engage with your subject matter is at the heart of making great images.

I find it so difficult to integrate the kind of photography I want to do into other activities, especially when I am doing them with other people. Don’t misunderstand. I neither begrudge or wish that I wasn’t spending the time the way I did in Portsmouth. It was a Fantastic Trip and I had a Great Time. But the Photographer in me had to be put firmly away in a box like a ventriloquists dummy. Occasionally I heard his muffled cries of “let me out” and had to ignore him. But it did  set a strong thought process going and strengthen my resolve to find a way to return solely to take photographs.

If it was simply taking photographs it would be easy  I could make a shot list and get it all done in under 2 hours

Really what I should be saying is “I want to return to explore and discover”. Find out what it is that I want to represent through photography .

‘Being There and Being Present’  is the most fundamental part of being a photographer. An artist can be inspired and go into the studio to create their work if required. If they need to they can go to spaces that don’t exist and they can go back in time. They can go almost anywhere. Photographers actually have to be there.

It’s not that we don’t have poetic license as photographers it’s just that people spot it when we cross a line and distort reality beyond what the eye and the mind will allow. As a general rule Photographers are concerned with presenting aspects of reality through the medium that the camera offers. And I think that to do it as well as you can takes time.

So if you are setting out and constrained by time and people  there’s a good chance that it is going to impact on your picture taking.  Being a Photographer when I am with non photographers really tests their patience. They don’t get it. They can take a picture in just a few seconds with their phone. So why does it take me so long.

Finding time for yourself  doesn’t mean  you have to have a half day or a full day. 10 minutes or half an hour can work just as well. Just make sure it is only for time for yourself and Photography. Not walking the dog or going down the shop. Just simply for being in a bit of the world you have chosen and that interests you. And leave your camera in the bag until you get to the point of picture taking. just having it in your hand can stop you thinking about where you are.

You can do this close to home. It doesn’t have to be anywhere exotic.  The benefit here is that you can come back again and again. Day after Day. You can start a walk and if you only make a few hundred metres and spend the rest of the time taking pictures in one spot then no problem. You don’t need to finish the walk. If time is all used up  then all you can do is turn around and head home. A further benefit is that by taking this very mindful approach you will be in much better shape as a Photographer when you arrive somewhere different and unfamiliar.

Of course sometimes the opportunity can present itself at the end of the time window you allowed yourself. If you haven’t found a picture that you liked up till that point you are going to be tempted to either be late or settle for a quick shot. This will happen whether you had half an hour or half a day. I sometimes think that this is the effect that not getting a picture can have on the mind. You focus harder or construct a picture opportunity where there really wasn’t one.  Given the endless subject matter available to us and our sense of not wanting to miss a thing ( bursting into Steve Tyler in my head as I type ) this is almost always inevitable.

As far as Portsmouth goes I don’t yet know how I’m going to see it. After all you don’t know what you don’t know. Theres always a chance that I was wrong and there was nothing there for me.  The upside  is that I will be happy trying.

The seeds were already in my mind about turning this location into a project. The idea hadn’t germinated. I’d discounted it because of the time and distance involved in the journey. At three and a half hours each way a single day is not enough. But on this trip I saw and felt enough to decide that this has to be part of my Photography Work going forward. I’ve figured out some of the Logistics so that I can consider doing a series of 2 or 3 day trips dedicated entirely to photography.

Historically My Coastal Photography has been about locations known to me through family holidays. There was already a strong  familiarity and attachment to these places. Now I want to try and invest time in a place with a connection but almost no familiarity.

What also excited me about the idea of Portsmouth was the combination of the coast and a much more metropolitan vibe. I’ve been drawn to elements of street photography in some my Cambridge Pictures and I feel that this cross over might have more legs in a place like this.

I did manage to take some pictures in Portsmouth on this trip. Not many. It took longer to wrangle my M50 in and out of my pocket than take the pictures. But I’m adding a couple here. Now Lets see if I get back to Portsmouth and how things turn out.

Spinnaker Tower and the Naval Dock Yards. Portsmouth. Canon M50 MKii

Bro at the Waters Edge. Langstone Harbour. Canon M50 Mkii

Sun Breaking Through the low Cloud onto Langstone Harbour. Canon M50 Mkii

Resolution

I need to revive my photography. 2024 started well but, for very good reasons, I lost my focus and ultimately, I lost my way. The progress I had made and the goals I had set for my photography vanished along with my motivation.

Now the end of 2024 is not too far away. It’s this time of year when you can’t help but take stock and think about the future. I stopped believing that everything changes just because it’s January 1st a long time ago but over the last few months I have reached a point where my minor and intermediate goals haven’t had any attention. This has created a void which I now have the opportunity to fill. Whilst I wont be starting completely from scratch it’s a chance to change the old pattern and focus on some bigger ideas.

So from a dead stop I need to restart and go forward without returning to my old routines.

So these are my thoughts. My social media needs to be streamlined. I peaked at four Instagram accounts all of which are still active. I did this when I believed (wrongly) that each account needed to be niche specific. All that happened was that it was very hard work. It made no difference whatsoever to my following.

I started to close them earlier this year but stalled as I withdrew. Then had a change of heart in amongst everything else. But now I need to get back to 2 and make a giant leap by bringing my Wedding output onto my main page. Then I need to get it all on one feed. Combined with my lack of engagement over the last 12 months or so and the shape of instagram now I think it’s the right thing to do. I’d quite like to be better and Facebook as well and I need to grasp that nettle. I don’t much like the tone of Facebook. I find so much negativity but thats probably because I am in all the wrong places.

I then need to do the opposite with my website which I have made very specific to my Wedding Work and which I now want to encompass all of my Photographic goals.

These are outputs though and Its the Inputs where I have the biggest challenge. I really want to embrace You Tube and create content there. I want to create the sort of content that I cant find for myself. Hard to explain that and not sure if it’s within by ability but I won’t know unless I try. The thing is I want it to complement my Photography and not become an output in its own right and distract me from Taking Pictures. Given the steep learning curve this is likely and was what I experienced when I had a little dabble. Nevertheless I believe I can do it so thats a biggy. And I want to combine that with writing more Blog Posts. “Yeah Right” goes this little voice in my head. “You’ve wanted to do that forever”

And I desperately need some new projects to work on. This is arguably the hardest one to sort out. I’m not going to stop photographing the subjects that interest and exciting to me. So I need to figure out how I can have a different approach while still engaging with the things I love.

At the very start of 2024. I had an opportunity to exhibit some prints of my work for the first time. This was very exciting and the feedback that I got was amazing. Soon after this life events began impacting my time and affecting my mood and my desire to get out and create. That hasn’t entirely gone away. Quite the Contrary. You cannot undo Loss. But The loss of my love of photography does not have to be permanent. Now it’s time to regain the momentum I had . Let’s see what happens.

Photo:

Cambridge. 7 January 2024. Shot on iphone 12

Post Script December 2023

This Picture Taken in Cambridge at the end of Autumn. It’s a simple capture from one side of Saint Andrews Street to the other. The colour of the leaves got my attention and so I stopped to Look. I realised that I needed something or someone set against the wall . I was able to break up the the block a bit by including the more of the gate. So I framed a shot and waited for someone to enter the frame. A few people passed but none of them brought anything to the scene. I waiting patiently.

On my side of the street it was very crowded and it wasn’t easy to hold my position.

This is where my little M50 comes into its own. Its my first camera with a flip out screen and I have found that I like using it instead of the viewfinder. It means I can watch outside of my frame and whats going on around me as well.

I’d no idea exactly what I was waiting for. I Never do when I do this. More often, nothing happens, or what does has no pictorial or narrative value. But Sometimes I get Lucky and today was one of those days.

This Lady appeared and she was walking at a nice soft pace.

I didn’t consciously connect the colour of the bag to the leaves at first I just went about trying to get a clear, reasonably well focused shot while buses cars and cycles were passing between us. It was when I reviewed it on the camera that I saw it.

Later when I got it onto the big screen I was really happy. The colours of the leaves and the bag almost matched but these two elements were conflicting in an environmental sense. Zoomed in I could read the word on the bag ‘Today’ which I felt added to this narrative.

The Lady seemed to be of the generation that has been framed as being responsible for the environmental and climate crisis. Deliberate use of the word ‘framed’ here and she is facing the opposite direction to a stationary bicycle which, for me, in the picture is representing the drive to net zero but its going nowhere and no ones on it.

Theres a nice geometry to the picture and the purple/ pink coat seems to work nicely with the other colours. No trickery with the camera just point and shoot with the settings the camera gave me.

I usually shoot Aperture value or Manual. This was AV. Nothing too bright in the frame so it was pretty much bang on.

I find photographers talk a lot about settings. But Cameras are really good. I could have probably been a stop out in either direction and still told a story about the picture. The settings can’t do this for you

I’ve given the picture a title. ‘Bio and Non Bio’ referring to the degradable aspects of the leaves and the shopping bag which are the same colour. I don’t always title my pictures though I wish I would.

For me the picture quickly became about the environment, the plastic bag that the lady was carrying could remain on the planet in that form For an eternity. While eventually the Lady and the leaves on the tree will sooner or later, break down and return to the soil.

Rather than end on that slightly grim thought let me remind you that it started simply with trying to get a pleasing shot. I applied the Narrative later.

Post.Script.

A Summary of my Posts onto Instagram This Past week

I Posted twice this week, both onto Tempsford Diary. Each Image taken on the same damp overcast walk on the woodland trail in my village. 

Taking Flight.

The first post  ‘Taking Flight’  is this simple composition of fresh growth on a low growing tree with some flowering buds. The angle of the stem and the blossom leaves reminded me of birds rising in the wild. 

The second called Symbiosis also of a detail. This time of ivy growing on a tree. It was really the way the colours work together in this one I liked the brown of the tree bark and the shades of green and the Ivy, and this was the point of the title symbiosis, which roughly speaking refers to the idea that there is a parasite and a host, and they benefit from each other, and I’m referring to the visual benefits if you like. I liked the patterns within patterns. The topographyof the bark, the the vines of the ivy and then the leaves of various sizes with the variegation on each. so very simple image, but one which in my mind was more complex than it might first appear.

Symbiosis

Both of these were shot on my iPhone 12. I used the Portrait Mode for ‘Taking Flight’ It took a little bit of work to get the right position to throw the background out of focus enough to isolate the stem. If anyone  had been nearby they’d have heard some bad words. Typically it’s easier on bigger subjects the system designed, as its name suggests, for photographing humans and pets.

I was  pleased with the result and the fact that the background was largely neutral, allowing the pink of the blossom to be as prominent as it was.

Canada Part 1 - Getting There and Getting Coffee

My First Trip Across the Atlantic came late in life.  So late that I’d pretty much  given up on the idea that It was a journey I’d ever make.  In 2022  I  restored contact with someone important to me who emigrated across the Pond over 40 Years ago. 

So in November I boarded an AirCanada Flight  and headed  off across the ocean. I had  the arm rests firmly gripped and my pods playing the most calming and distracting sounds I could find.  I’m not the most relaxed of flyers .

First stop Montreal. Then a connecting flight on a  much smaller plane to Prince Edward Island.  I squeezed into my seat next to the largest man on the plane and possibly in Canada itself. The plane had two propellors and could turn on a sixpence. We pretty much Rally’d  out to the end of the runway rather than a gentle Taxi. The other passengers were thrown side to side as we twisted our way across the airfield.  Not me tho. I was wedged in. Then as soon as we’re airborne  The Landing Gear retracted right past my window with all the noise and clanking that makes a nervous  flyer feel as  if the aircraft is coming apart.

20 hours after leaving home  the Landing gear broke open the wings again and came back past my window. We touched  down in Charlottetown and disembarked into an airport terminal so quiet and empty I thought I  was in a GP’s Waiting room.

And there I was finally reunited with my Father.This was the purpose of the trip. Not Sightseeing but 10 days spending time with a man who had been absent most of my life but who had always remained important to me. 

Kensington. Nothing Like its West End Namesake

So as exciting as it was to be in Canada it really wasn’t the main attraction on this trip and I settled  into 10 days of  everyday life in the smallest, but most densely populated Canadian Province.  

Straight away this fact alone speaks of the wilderness that is Canada.  The island is almost exactly the same size as the County of Norfolk in the UK.  But whereas Norfolk has a population somewhere over  850,000, Prince Edward Island has a population of approximately 150,000. Let me remind you again.  It is Canadas most densely populated province.

There are a few hotspots. For example the Capital City. Charlottetown. Population 32,000.  To make the comparison with Norfolk again, the population of Norwich is 213,000.  

So by UK Standards its a pretty quiet place. Every Shopping Mall felt as though it were 10 minutes after opening on a Monday Morning. Almost no one.  The busiest I saw it anywhere was at an Ice Hockey Game in Credit Union Place  in the town of Summerside. And here there was another surprise. The Summerside  population is not quite 15000.  The Ice Hockey Arena seats about 5000. Maybe.

Consolidated Credit Union Place. Home of the Western Capitals Ice Hockey Team

When it's not being an Ice Hockey Stadium its a Concert Hall. Who's played there? Let's see. Bryan Adams ( Well he is Canadian ) Chicago, ZZ Top,  The Beach Boys, Kenny Rogers, The Steve Miller Band, James Taylor and Elton John.  There were  loads of others but these are the ones most easily recognised in the UK

I thought to myself . Look again, surely these are tribute acts. Nope. The real deal. And maybe that also Tells you what kind of a place PEI is. I found it incredibly friendly,  a brilliant welcome everywhere and from everyone. These Rock Stars seem to love coming. Bryan Adams has been more than once, more than twice. As far as I can  tell he has been half a dozen times.   Either he loves it or someone sold him a Timeshare.

The economy here is largely made up of Agriculture, Fishing and Tourism but there are also sizeable BioScience, Aerospace and Renewable Energy industries as well as  a host of recycling  and environmental initiatives

Kinkora. This was the only place open on Veterans Day. Friday 11th November. Veterans Day is Strictly Observed on the Island and Throughout Canada.

So you get the idea. it's quiet but the people are forward thinking and think big.  Away from the bright-lights, it’s incredibly peaceful. Travelling on the roads is a dream. Heavy traffic is 2 cars ahead of you at the lights .  The biggest queue’s I saw were at the Tim Hortons Drive Thru. 

Tim Hortons almost has  Cult Following in Canada. Its Like McDonalds  and its nothing like McDonalds. I have to confess I liked them. It felt very much like a Working Mans Cafe.  ( Its an expression I don't mean anything by it ) . Everyone was getting on with their day.  No pushchairs, parties or Teenagers. A word of Advice though. Don't ask for a Cappuccino. I did and at first they just stared at each other. I pointed to it on the board and then they just stared back at me.  then there was a huddle and eventually they let me pay.  20 minutes later I got a Cappucino or at least what they thought was a Cappucino.  While I waited I could almost hear other customers  watching me and saying to each other. " he ordered a Cappuccino." "Nobody orders a Cappuccino in Tim Hortons"   Groundbreaking stuff  from me then. I felt like I'd shown the Canadians what the Great British Pioneering Spirit was. For Clarity there is  little or no irony intended in that last statement.

So with my Boots firmly planted in the Islands Red soil I tried to weave in a bit of Photography here and there. I did get some done and it's coming up in my next post

Rostico. I was Humming “Holidays are Coming” All Day after I saw This

A few notes on travelling.  I flew AirCanada in November 2022. It was an 11 day Trip departing Heathrow Monday  Lunchtime and Returning Thursday Night Landing back at  Heathrow Friday Mid Morning. There was quite a saving avoiding Weekend Departures Though there were 4 hour stopovers on each for the connecting flights to and from PEI. Montreal was nice, friendly. Toronto Less So though the views over the City inbound were awesome.   I traveled with Cabin luggage only carrying a Large DSLR Camera and a 15” Laptop I packed carefully to make sure I met the rules but I saw plenty of people take liberties with the size of their bags and then forcing them into over head lockers. quite funny watching them trying to get them out the other end.  There were no checks on sizes on any of the 4 flights I took.

I flew on a basic economy fare and paid extra to book my seat on the transatlantic flights. but didn't bother on the internal flights and that seemed to work well. Flew Airbus out to Montreal and Boeing Back from Toronto.  I preferred the Airbus.   Seemed much Quieter. Just enough Room on the Airbus for a 6 foot 4 inch Man to survive a 7 hour plus flight out. The Boeing was the same and much quicker back even though it was a greater distance. Service on all flights was Faultless.  Hope that might be helpful for anyone like me who does not travel  routinely.

TFR

Gary