Open to the Unexpected

I have just bought the book ‘Adventures in Seeing’ by one of my favourite photography tutors Kim Manley Ort. I have taken several of her e-courses and found them inspirational. The book suggests a series of challenges or ‘Calls to Adventure’ which can be shared through social media (there is a private Facebook group) or one’s blog. This challenge, which is adventure number three seems to call for a blog post. the challenge was to notice what surprises you and let the photographs come to you (of course there is a lot more about this in the book but for the purposes of this blog this captures the essence of it)

The photographs below were taken during the course of a weekend on the Isle of Wight, following paths I had followed many times before but with what you might call enhanced noticing.

The two images above are of water seen through holes in the wooden floor of a bird watchers hide on the Newtown River (we didn't see much in the way of interesting birds!). To me they look rather like planets.

the magpie and periwinkle I came upon the following day while walking on Headon Warren

These final two are from an evening stroll along the beach. A boat trailer half buried in the sand beginning to rust and early evening colours on sand still wet from the receding tide.

Wishing you all a week of 'enhanced noticing'!

A Walk Round Yarmouth

At the beginning of the month we had a week on the Isle of Wight. With hindsight and considering what it has been like since, the weather was very good. Indeed we had two near perfect days. On one of these we had a lovely walk round Yarmouth, one of my favourite places on the Island.

We headed off past the old station that has recently been reimagined as a cafe

through Rofford Marsh

and down to the sea where we saw a couple of cormorants fishing together, and a man walking his dogs along the shore at what was one of the lowest tides of the year (usually no beach visible here)

Back through the town, the cottage gardens were looking pretty,

then on to the pier, reputedly the longest wooden pier int he UK.

From the pier we spotted children taking advantage of the low tide and glorious evening to go crabbing

All this in a gentle stroll lasting around an hour - we are blessed!

Come walk with me to Shalfleet Quay

Sorry couldn't resist a bit of of rhyme! We were back on the Isle of Wight last weekend for the bank holiday and I have to say the weather wasn't great. On Sunday there was a sea mist which lingered all day but produced a beautiful soft light that complemented the emerging greens along the river

If I'm really honest though, I have to say I would have preferred blue skies and sunshine - still as the saying goes 'every cloud has a silver lining" and here you could also 'ride a white swan'

Further on there were hundreds of dandelion heads which when you look closely at them are amazing works of art whether viewed in colour

or black and white

As we neared the quay there was the odd splash of colour - a bright boat hull

and some coloured mooring floats reflected in the water

Then there is the little garden, virtually unchanged from when I was a child with a dilapidated shed

and some old caravans, which despite their unpromising exteriors are definitely in use in the summer

On the way back more colour was provided by this bright yellow litchen

and additional interest by a number of oyster catchers at the waters edge

“Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems”

— Rainer Maria Rilke

Of Sea and Ships

“Darwin may have been quite correct in his theory that man descended from the apes of the forest, but surely woman rose from the frothy sea, as resplendent as Aphrodite on her scalloped chariot”

— Margot Datz

We were at the Isle of Wight this weekend, still engaged in doing stuff for the move, switching furniture around between houses etc. Still I found time to take a few pictures in between all of the above.

We had to visit Newport to go to the DIY store and took a few moments to walk round the harbour to admire the birds

and the boats

I have recently joined some friends on a new Facebook group 'the Monochrome Explorers' so have been experimenting with all things back and white. This is one of my favourites

I like these ones of birds too, particularly the light patterns on the water

But when all's said and done my first love is colour - I've taken a picture of this particular hull before but I still love the rich colours and textures and couldn't resist trying again

Back home there was just time for a quick trip down to the beach before sunset. It was cold but worth it to see the kite surfer swooping and jumping

and the sunset reflecting on the beach cabin

All in all it was a good day for connecting with beauty

Into the Light + a Surprise

“The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever”

— Jacques Yves Cousteau

I think I feel more acutely aware of the light when I am by the sea. It sparkles, it reflects, it picks up colour from the sky, the sun, the clouds, it's constantly changing.

Driving along the esplanade at Cowes on Friday evening on our way out to supper I was struck by how the light was catching the sails of the large racing yachts that were milling about. Of course we had to stop!

The sails just shimmered in the brightness of the evening sun.

Look towards the west however and you get a totally different impression of the light. The sun is beginning to sink, the light is a hazy gold rather than bright, it's hard to imagine you are in the same time and space. This picture is natural colour but it almost looks as if I have put a sepia filter on it.

It's Saturday mid-afternoon and we are walking round the Rofford Marshes at Yarmouth. The tide is out and the waders are feeding, the sun gleams on the mud, the weed looks almost a florescent green

The light is such that we are unable to identify the birds from our reference book,

the colours blend and merge together, the bird seeming to take on the colour of its surroundings.

Looking across the estuary where the glare and gleam of the light is strong, the colour is washed out, so that the difference between a colour and monochrome picture seems almost insignificant.

As we continued our walk we came upon something very unexpected. Our route took us down the old Newport - Freshwater railway track. Closed in 1953 even before Beeching wielded his axe, I have no memory of it other than as a bridleway. Some of the stations have been turned into private houses, others have been demolished and Yarmouth station was a Community Centre. Over the past few months we had noticed building work and renovation going on but couldn't work out what the final result would be. At last we were to discover!

To our great surprise the station had been recreated, painted in the Southern Railways' colours familiar from my childhood, and turned into a tearoom and restaurant. I was not able to take any pictures of the interior on this occasion but it was reminiscent of a 1950 railway carriage.

They have even built a faux signal box which doubles as a bird hide with a wonderful view over the marshes. We can't wait to go there for supper on our next visit to the Island!

The Golden Hour

“Once in a golden hour,
I cast to earth a seed,
And up there grew a flower,
That others called a weed.”

— Alfred Lord Tennyson

Photographers make much of the golden hour and with good reason. You just need to look out of your window shortly after sunrise or coming up to sunset to see the marked difference in the light. Often it is not convenient to grab your camera and go outside (work getting in the way is often the problem here) and I have to confess I'm really not a morning person!

This week however we are on holiday on our beloved Isle of Wight with the opportunity to breathe, relax, and, of course, get out with the camera.

Monday evening we headed off to Newtown, one of my favourite places on the Island. One of my best friends lived here when I was a child and we spent a lot of time round the quay and the creeks, wallowing in the very stinky mud when the tide was low and swimming off the quay at high tide.

I was really surprised as I got older to discover that herons are grey, and it was only coming back to the island that I realised that what I thought were herons as a child were, in fact, egrets.

and of course there were the ubiquitous black headed gulls looking dapper with their bright red legs and matching bills!

We crossed over the footbridge to access the quay where a pair of swans were catching the light

then walked back passed the disused oyster beds

Where I noticed the sun illuminating these marsh plants

I have taken numerous picture of Newtown over the years but none at the is time of day - the difference the light makes is amazing! Have a good week, and see you soon!

I have taken numerous picture of Newtown over the years but none at the is time of day - the difference the light makes is amazing! Have a good week, and see you soon!

If its spring again, birds sing again ..........

I suddenly got this tune from my childhood into my head - it's Tulips from Amsterdam sung, if I recall correctly, by Max Bygraves ( just checked it was Max Bygraves). And it led me to reflect on what spring means to me. I think it's the flowers first and foremost, to begin with the aconites and snowdrops, followed by the daffodils and all the flowering trees that have burst on to the scene in the last week.

Even the wild flowers have got going

The second big thing that heralds spring for us is the opening of our tiny place on the Isle of Wight. The first trip of the season is always exciting, checking if there have been any cliff falls and if our favourite shops (especially the fishmonger) are still there. The cliff falls were fairly minor (given the weather we've had) although they were rebuilding some of the beach huts that had been damaged by the storms.

After doing all the chores we went for a drive round - first stop Freshwater Bay where there was a stiff breeze with spray catching the sun over the sea wall

and there was a family having fun laughing at grandpa who was jumping in and out of the waves in his dhoti

Next it was off to Totland where we noticed that this sky above the land was much bluer than the sky above the sea, which was still a bit misty

and there was a fabulous view of the evening sun on the old lifeboat house with the gulls wheeling around it

It was good to be back and breathe in the spring sea air! And just in case you are way too young to have heard this

The Isle of Wight Pulls it Off

Last weekend we went off to the Isle of Wight not expecting anything special or unusual to be going on in Mid-September. Wrong! We walked into the inaugural year of Festival of the Sea, which appeared to be pretty low key except for the Classic cars event where cars had come from all over Europe to take part. Sensing some photo opportunities we decide to go along.

When we arrived at Newport Quay there were literally hundreds of fascinating cars and bikes - many with gleaming engines and shining wheels

Looking at some of the emblems I was reminded of figureheads on old schooners - perhaps that was the connection between the cars and the Festival of the Sea?

And of course I couldn't resist having a go with the grunge techniques

I was really taken with some of the old motor bikes

This bus came in to service just before we left the Island in 1966 - it had an exciting new feature - doors! the conductor's uniform is the one I remember from childhood.

All of this doesn't really give a flavour of the event and the number of cars and people there - nor of the various curiosities and as true to form I didn't take any panoramic shots. I did shoot some video with my phone however, and have combined it with some of the stills to make a Treasure Chest. I haven't captioned it but the very last car you see is a Delorean - very rare and something we haven't seen before. As usual the Island lived up to it reputation of pulling rabbits out of hats with fun, interesting (and free) events!

Classic Cars from Barbara Evans on Vimeo.

Digital Enhancement - The Root of All Evil?

Yesterday we visited a small local craft fayre. There was a variety of goods on offer, including some very attractive pottery, some wonderful coastal paintings and some photography.

I was drawn to a stall selling cards of flower and wildlife images, with close ups of flowers very similar to ones I have taken. On the stall there was a notice saying that none of the pictures had been digitally enhanced, no Photoshop had been used in the making of these pictures. I checked with the photographer if this included Lightroom and it did, the photos were, he said, straight out of the camera. There was an implied inference of moral high ground here.

I suppose it all comes down to why you are taking pictures in the first place. To capture the moment? To preserve the beauty of the scene? To record the facts as they are? Or to make art? I'm not suggesting any of these are mutually exclusive, rather that they are a variety of lenses through which we can view our photographic images.

This is a photograph I took of a deckchair at Shanklin earlier in the week. I took it because it epitomised the seaside of my childhood - I haven't seen a deckchair with a canopy in years - yet unenhanced it doesn't quite capture what I felt to be the vibrancy of the scene.

I feel this second version is a far truer capture of what I was experiencing when I took the photograph. I was experiencing a vibrant seaside resort in full swing on a sunny day in August not a faded out of season vibe. So I cropped the photo a little, bumped up the contrast, clarity and vibrance and enhanced the blue in the picture. I have chosen this example as it is easy to spot the difference between the two pictures. Often the digital enhancements I make are much more subtle, barely visible at all.

For me there is something about honesty here. If I am viewing a photograph in a guidebook or botanical guide, I want to be able to identify the plant or see the view as pictured. I don't want the removal of unsightly pylons to make the scene seem other than it really is. If, however, I am looking to hang a picture on my wall or buy it on a card I want it to look as good as it can, whilst preserving the essence of the subject. I don't for example see anything very wrong in bumping up the vibrancy of the blue on a sea scape, especially if you have seen the sea just that colour blue on a previous occasion. Nor do it see enhancing the colour of a flower to highlight its vibrancy an unforgivable sin, merely exaggerating its jewel-like appearance to give increased pleasure.

This is a photograph of a waterlily straight from the camera. Below is the digitally enhanced version. In addition to the usual adjustments to clarity and contrast etc I have taken down the exposure a little, cropped the image to give greater focus on the lily, and removed a small insect from a petal and a distracting blemish from a leaf - is this version less 'essence of lily' than the other? Not to my mind.

The old adage 'the camera doesn't lie' is of course the biggest lie of all. As a photographer you select the angle and perspective from which you take the photographs, you chose what to include and exclude. In post-processing you enter your digital darkroom to develop your photograph in the way which most resonates with your experience of the view or object that you have taken. It has always been thus.

The advent of Photoshop has however allowed the possibility of new dimensions to our photograpy by adding textures and blending photographs together. I have recently started a new Photoshop course called Fine-Art Grunge which takes photography to a whole new level. This is not about capturing the reality of what we see but rather using individual photographs as tools or matter to create art. I am still very much at the beginning of this journey but am loving it!

I took these photos in the silversmith's in Newport on Friday, they make the most amazing silver spoons. I used the photos I took to play with some of my techniques from the new course - here are the results.

This is a fairly minor adjustment with only a couple of layers - I got braver!

And the final one where I went a bit OTT with the number of layers and textures

Lots to learn on this course so watch this space!

In conclusion I believe that all forms of photography are valid and that none has moral superiority over another. We all have our individual realities and if several of us were asked to write a description of the same photograph we would all write something slightly different, highlighting the different features that spoke to us as individuals. The truth is perhaps that we all see life, pictures, and anything else you care to mention, through the lens of our own interests and experiences so that the viewing of the picture is a dynamic experience. Long live diversity!

I would love to hear your views on this topic so do leave a comment and get the debate going.

Shalfleet Revisited

On Sunday I visited the house we lived in from when I was ten until when I was thirteen. We were able to do this because the current owners had opened it under the National Garden Scheme.

When we moved to the house it was a dream come true for my mother whose passion was gardening. At last a huge garden to do just as she wanted with, and what a challenge! While the back garden had been kept under some sort of cultivation by the previous owner, the bulk of the garden had been allowed to run wild so that a the point at which we moved in it it was six foot tall with nettles and grass. The first task was to clear it and keep the lawns mowed. Practically a full time job for my mother who didn't work outside the home.

It looks a little different now!

The house, a Georgian cottage, has been extended: a walled courtyard turned into an additional room and an orangery and new garage put in the place of the old sheds and pig sties. I am pleased to be able to say this has been very well done and looks very much in keeping with the original building. There have been pains to preserve original features and the sash windows on the front of the building look as if they were the ones that were there when we lived there.

The front gate appears to be the same too

The back garden has changed from the vegetable patch we had

into a series of charming garden rooms

The front garden too has been landscaped

Sadly we were only able to live in this beautiful spot for three years before work took my father back to the mainland after 30 years on the Isle of Wight. Leaving the garden nearly broke my mother's heart and I'm sure if her spirit is anywhere to be found on earth it would be here.

I wil leave you with a mix of past and present and hope that your week has had many sparkling moments.

Gentians on the Isle of Wight?

Last weekend we went for a walk up on Tennyson Down which is one of my favourite places in the world. You walk along an ever narrowing chalk escarpment until you reach the end of the world (or rather the Isle of Wight) at the Needles rocks and lighthouse.

The Wikipedia entry on the Needles Lighthouse tell us the following:

The Needles Lighthouse was built by Trinity House in 1859 on the outermost of the chalk rocks near sea level. Designed by James Walker, it cost £20,000. Constructed from granite, it stands 33.25 metres (109.1 ft) high and is a circular tower with straight sides.

It replaced a light tower on top of a cliff overhanging Scratchell's Bay, which was first lit on 29 September 1786. Its height of 144m above sea level meant it was often obscured by fog and sea mists.[1]

In 1987 a helipad was added to the top of the lighthouse, and it became fully automated when the last keepers left on 8 December 1994.[1] One of the last three remaining manned rock lighthouses in England and Wales, before automation it was staffed by a three man crew operating a 24 hour watch, serving one month on / one month off, living in rudimentary conditions in three levels below the light.[2]

When I was a child this was a manned lighthouse without the helicopter landing pad on the top. Early each December there would be a picture in the local paper of the Christmas food going out by boat with the men on the Christmas shift. It must have been a very tough life!

In the middle of the down, on the highest point, lies Tennyson Cross, a memorial to the great Victorian poet who lived in the lee of the downs towards Freshwater Bay. He was apparently often to be seen striding across the downs in his trademark cloak and hat and is rumoured to have composed some of his greatest work up here

At the bottom of the track that leads from Highdown pit up on to the down there is a visitor information board detailing some of the plants and wildlife one might expect to see. I was astonished to see that one of the plants listed was the gentian which I previously associated solely with alpine regions.

Up on the downs the flora mostly consisted of some small harebells and some kind of thistles, then I spotted them, the English gentians, perhaps not such a brilliant blue as their alpine counterparts but gentian shaped all the same, and just like the picture on the information board !

Continuing our walk towards the Needles we had a wonderful view of my other favourite walk on West Wight, Headon Warren, where the heather was just beginning to turn purple across the cornfields

The shadows on the top picture are of the clouds scudding quickly above the sky and I admit to using a bit of artistic licence (AKA photoshop) on the bottom picture.

The habitat over on the warren is very different, perhaps because the land is slightly less exposed. Instead of the large swathes of springy turf there are tangles of gorse, heather and brambles interlaced with honeysuckle.

The view of the needles is different too, classic but less iconic than when viewed from above.

This walk was one of my sparkling moments last week - I'd love to hear about yours