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- Name
- Dave
- Edit My Images
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I've been walking this short stretch of my local river for some years on and off, taking photos because I'm convinced there's something to be done with it. But what, and how?
I've tried photographing 'stuff'.
At some point I thought I'd concentrate on where houses back on to the footpath. I even went along with my tripod to do it 'properly' one day.
Nothing worked.
Going downstream it had been very muddy in winter, the ground poached by cattle. I got stuck in an ankle deep pool of slurry one time, and another the path was closed for a few months when the river bank collapsed.
Then, two years ago, work started to gentrify the footpath and eventually make it part of a long distance path. The cattle are fenced off, the path has been stoned (although a top coat of sand turns to slutch when it rains), there are signs and new benches - and lots more people walking the river.
Over the years I've tried the landscape approach. that not being my thing it was another failure. However, the new path made for more graphic options. And while I don't like black and white for documentary I can't deny that it has a place for graphic 'art' type photographs. That's pretty much how I started out in photography. In black and white it really is much easier to make compositions that work. I also have a theory that if you put a white border round almost any photograph, colour or black and white but especially the latter, it automatically looks like 'art'! Sadly the white borders don't show up for me on TP. Not without some fiddling about.
Sans border it's just a snap.
It's starting to look that this might be a way forward. One thing's for sure it's got me thinking about making pictures. One thing I have started doing is shooting everything at f8. I might even restrict myself to a 28mm lens.
Is it documentary or is it art? My thinking so far is that if I keep people out of the frame it's art. If I people start to feature it'll be documentary - and that would have to be colour for me.
As that's the photo limit used up I'll put some more (borderless) eforts in the next post and await abarage of indifference or mockery!
I've tried photographing 'stuff'.
At some point I thought I'd concentrate on where houses back on to the footpath. I even went along with my tripod to do it 'properly' one day.
Nothing worked.
Going downstream it had been very muddy in winter, the ground poached by cattle. I got stuck in an ankle deep pool of slurry one time, and another the path was closed for a few months when the river bank collapsed.
Then, two years ago, work started to gentrify the footpath and eventually make it part of a long distance path. The cattle are fenced off, the path has been stoned (although a top coat of sand turns to slutch when it rains), there are signs and new benches - and lots more people walking the river.
Over the years I've tried the landscape approach. that not being my thing it was another failure. However, the new path made for more graphic options. And while I don't like black and white for documentary I can't deny that it has a place for graphic 'art' type photographs. That's pretty much how I started out in photography. In black and white it really is much easier to make compositions that work. I also have a theory that if you put a white border round almost any photograph, colour or black and white but especially the latter, it automatically looks like 'art'! Sadly the white borders don't show up for me on TP. Not without some fiddling about.
Sans border it's just a snap.
It's starting to look that this might be a way forward. One thing's for sure it's got me thinking about making pictures. One thing I have started doing is shooting everything at f8. I might even restrict myself to a 28mm lens.
Is it documentary or is it art? My thinking so far is that if I keep people out of the frame it's art. If I people start to feature it'll be documentary - and that would have to be colour for me.
As that's the photo limit used up I'll put some more (borderless) eforts in the next post and await abarage of indifference or mockery!