After weeks of endless sunshine, the weather finally broke today and I popped down to the sea at West Kirby. At the Marine Lake there were loads of windsurfers whilst out on the estuary a number of kite surfers were taking advantage of the wind. I used a lens I’ve not used for a while, my EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM and took a few shots of the kite surfers but there was nothing to write home about so I got the old super stopper out and reverted to type with some long exposures facing Hilbre Island… This time I was able to use my new very hard 2-stop ND grad filter from LEE as well. I remembered to take an umbrella this time to shield the camera from the wind too and it seemed to do the trick. Plus it gave me some welcome shelter as well!
Last Sunday I did something I haven’t done in a while and attended a photography workshop. This was organised by Cambrian Photography Limited in Colwyn Bay and run by Paul Sanders. It was actually called a Fujifilm X-Series and GFX workshop but the initial blurb I saw on Facebook suggested that (a) you don’t need to own a Fuji camera and (b) you need to arrive with an open mind and a liking of cake. Two ticks for me!
The night before I was umming and ahhing over what to take and decided to persevere with my lightweight travel kit. I haven’t used the 5D Mk1 at all since getting the M6 back in August but I still have use of all my lenses thanks to the adaptor.
After a decent bacon and sausage buttie at Blod’s Cafe I wandered over to Cambrian and met some of the other attendees outside the shop. We were soon ushered inside to where others were waiting and after a brief introduction by Paul we set out.
The plan was for long exposures on the beach in the morning and macro at Aber Falls in the afternoon. We ended up at Penrhyn Bay for the long exposures which was fine until I realised I’d forgotten my tripod adaptor! Duh! Fortunately I was able to borrow a tripod so eventually took a few shots. Finally after trying for months I managed to make good use of my mist filter. Normally the effect ends up looking forced and unnatural but I think this time it helped things. Speaking of filters I decided that I really did need to equip myself with a hard ND grad filter rather than my soft grad for use in such scenarios where the horizon is pronounced.
After a couple of hours we headed to a local cafe, The Loaf for lunch. Another attendee, Jonathan (a fellow Lenswork subscriber), and I sat with Denis and Fre Hocking over an enjoyable long lunch.
Suitably fed and watered we headed out to Aber Falls. I don’t particularly enjoy macro but there were more opportunities for long exposures in a little stream or of course at the waterfall itself. I chose not to trek to the falls but to potter around by the stream near the car park.
The day was well organised, and very relaxed. We overrun by a hour or so, likely due to the extended lunch break but no-one was complaining. It was a great day with lots of assistance being offered by Paul and the whole Cambrian Photography team. Being Wales it obviously rained during part of the day but it was at the very tail end and didn’t spoil anything.
Something a little bit different this time. My daily commute involves Merseyrail’s Wirral Line into central Liverpool. The trains normally travel with such frequency that I’ve never bothered learning the timetable so I quite often have a few minutes kicking around on the platform whilst the right train turns up… Recently I’ve been using that time to play with an app on my phone called Circular or Circular Tiny Planet Editor to give it its full name. This is great little app by Brain Fever Media that allows you to apply a number of weird and wonder effects to a photo. Some of the results are pretty psychedelic and until the image is saved, completely reversible. It’s great fun, but a word of warning – the effect on portraits can be less than flattering!
On the Liverpool waterfront at Pier Head is a statue of a quite remarkable man, Captain Frederic John Walker DB DSO *** Royal Navy (1896 – 1944). Walker was responsible for sinking more German U-Boats during the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II than anyone else, and had this statue unveiled in 1998 by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. The statue is in memory of Walker, the men of his 36th Escort and 2nd Support Groups and all those who fought in the Battle of the Atlantic 1939-45.
I have taken a few pictures of this statue but I wanted to try something different, inspired by the words and attitude of Paul Sanders during a talk he gave at Digital Splash last week. I decided to try massively overexposing on a bright day. Instead of the correctly metered 1/50 s, I chose to use 1/4 s, completely blowing the sky out and rendering the statue in a way I think looks similar to a pencil drawing, the close crop enhancing Walker’s determined look.
Other than desaturation and sharpening the picture shown is as taken.
