With the current set of circumstances limiting the amount of time we can spend outdoors, I have been conscious of making the most of that time and taking my camera wherever I go.
However, I know a lot of fellow photographers have been more limited, and, like them, I wanted to focus some attention on using my camera indoors.
I’m not a massive fan of still life photography, it seems too staged for me; I prefer a candid, off-the-cuff style (I guess as much as anything it is what I am more comfortable with).
But in for a penny, in for a pound, and I thought I would give it a go!
I’ve limited the amount of colour I have used (in fact, only one of the shots included any semblance of colour at all) to add an extra limitation to what I was shooting.
(The reality was that I couldn’t find my white backdrop, so was stuck with my black one; this drove me more towards monochrome that I would have originally gone for.)
May’s Mass Observation Project is coming up, so take a photograph based that sums up the theme COLOUR to you, however you want to interpret it.
Email the image to adayinphotographs@outlook.com by Thursday 30th April 2020.
Images should be a maximum of 650 pixels wide.
Include your name, website/blog address and a short note about the image, including where it was taken.
There was a sense of loss, a sense that belonging had been forgotten years back. The shell was there, but the heart had been ripped away and buried deep miles away.
And yet The Watcher kept guard. He knew not who or what he was guarding against, but he was there. The one sense of permanence left, while life crumbled around him.
The worst element was the silence, the complete lack of noise. When the wind blew, and if it was in the right direction, the rotting boards creaked ever so slightly, but even their muffled cries echoed with a sense of obligation rather than any commitment, any passion.
But beyond that there was a deafening silence, that unnerving calm that always came before the storm. But the storm had been anticipated for months, for years, and yet it had still to break. So the silence, the absence, remained.
Another quick reminder about the May’s Mass Observation Project!
Take a photograph based that sums up the theme COLOUR to you, however you want to interpret it.
Email the image to adayinphotographs@outlook.com by Thursday 30th April 2020.
Images should be a maximum of 650 pixels wide.
Include your name, website/blog address and a short note about the image, including where it was taken.
Following yesterday’s post, some more evidence that spring is definitely here. Not from my back garden this time, but from a recent wander.
Amongst the desolation, there was still the vaguest of hints that something new, something big, was coming. She wandered through the ruins and rubble, and stopped beside a pile of stones. The barest glimpse of colour among the greyness had caught her eye and she had to go back and check.
Yes, there it was, a tiny blossom, subtly pink, tiny yellow stamen that reflected the weak sun’s light.
She felt a tear run trickle down her left cheek, clearing a path through the dust and dirt she new she was covered in. For the first time is weeks, no months, the tear was a happy one. This tiny bloom, this tiniest of blossoms represented something she had not encountered in a long, long time.
With everything going on at the moment, it’s easy to forget that this virus and its complications, while bad enough, is only affecting humans. Mother Nature is still keeping the world going (grateful, I am guessing, that us pesky beings are giving the planet a bit of a break from our pollution), and across the Northern Hemisphere spring is, well, springing…
Three shots, then, from my back garden! (Click on an image to see a larger version.)
It was a sunny weekend in Somerset and, while the restrictions in force still allow a daily walk, I thought I would take my camera out for another 9-in-45!
The idea of the project is to set out on a walk with a phone/stopwatch and your camera. Set your stopwatch for five minutes and start walking. When the five minutes is up, stop walking. You have a minute to compose and take a photograph. Set your stopwatch for another five minutes and start walking. When the time is up, stop and, within a minute take and compose your second photo. Keep going until you have walked for 45 minutes and have nine photos.
I’ve undertaken several of these before and now, with the move to the South West, it’s giving me an opportunity to explore new places and seek out new routes!
4th April 2020 – 14:24
I promise not every set of photos is going to include the Tor, but on this occasion made it too good an opportunity to miss!
4th April 2020 – 14:29
A welcome to the Somerset town, but I was walking the other way. There is no “Thank you for visiting” billboard, however, so this will have to do!
4th April 2020 – 14:35
…definitely no more photos of the Tor, I promise…
4th April 2020 – 14:41
Walking along the River Brue, you come to a small weir. This hut, I would imagine, has something to do with water management, though don’t quote me on that.
Graffiti on out of the way huts: good or bad?
4th April 2020 – 14:46
It really was a lovely day for a springtime walk! The sun was shining and it was pleasantly warm…
4th April 2020 – 14:52
Love Actually is all around. Glastonbury is a place of peace, calm and openness and these painted rocks – on the road from Street – stand as testament to that sense of love.
4th April 2020 – 14:58
Heading back homewards now, and a steep climb through a field of cows as I ascended Wearyall Hill. The timer on my phone went off and there was little obvious to photograph (apart from cowpats and hoof prints).
The chimney in the foreground belongs to the old Baily’s Tannery and Glove Factory, disused since the 1980s.
4th April 2020 – 15:04
The top of Wearyall Hill now, and a place to stop and relax. I have sat here and relished the view on a number of occasions, but today I carried on, because I had a ninth photograph to take!
4th April 2020 – 15:09
Never ever be afraid of being the odd one out, the black sheep. Life is made for standing out!
Another nine photographs taken in 45 minutes, then; my seventh attempt! Click on the links below to see the previous results:
I’m currently not under personal quarantine, and am eager to have my daily constitutional for as long as I can.
In addition to this, having not long moved into my new home, the place is still a bit of a tip (although it’s getting there slowly) and with some building work going on (the builders working in isolation), I am paranoid that whatever photo I take will show up the dust!
So, with my once-a-day walks continuing, camera in hand, I am photographing the outdoors quite happily!
We are all of us in limbo at the moment. It seems like someone pressed the Pause button on 2020 back in February, and nobody seems to know how to get it kick started again.
Limbo is a dangerous place; we run the risk of becoming lethargic, or apathy setting in; things we would normally crack on with no longer seem important because, as I alluded to the other day, we can always do it tomorrow.
We run the risk of becoming a society of procrastinators, holding off, pacing ourselves, because if we end up doing something too quickly, we will have nothing to do tomorrow, or the next day or the next.
We are stuck ‘in-between’, a world waiting for something to happen, but not sure when it will, or what it will be.
In this time of restrictions and “one walk per day”, what better use of that time outside than to undertake a “9-in-45”?
The idea of the project is to set out on a walk with a phone/stopwatch and your camera. Set your stopwatch for five minutes and start walking. When the five minutes is up, stop walking. You have a minute to compose and take a photograph. Set your stopwatch for another five minutes and start walking. When the time is up, stop and, within a minute take and compose your second photo. Keep going until you have walked for 45 minutes and have nine photos.
So, the nine photos…
31st March 2020 – 08:58
It was a crisp, bright morning, and I had an idea of where I wanted to go. Living in Glastonbury now, I am fortunate enough to have the Tor virtually on my doorstep (as you will see, 15 minutes or so from the summit!).
Walking up to the main road, I pass the Rural Life Museum – currently closed, as with most other places at the moment. I have seen the bicycle sign on numerous occasions, and it just happened that, when my first five minutes were up, I was close enough to it to include it in my set of nine photos!
31st March 2020 – 09:04
At the base of the Tor are these two stones. There are a lot of pieces of stone in and around Glastonbury – half of the town was built from pieces of the Abbey when it was dissolved in 1539. The thing that has always caught my eye, however, is the symbol on the one on the left. I think it’s military, but I’m not sure…
31st March 2020 – 09:10
I will be honest, I am not as fit as I once was, or as I should be. I may well have not walked continuously between taking the 09:04 photo and the one above… In my defence, however, the Tor is blooming steep, and it’s only fair that I sat down on a handy bench on the way up the climb…
A fair proportion of the planet may be in lock down, but here in the Northern Hemisphere, Spring is continuing unabated… This shot, of some cherry blossom, turned out better than I thought immediately after taking the photo. (I had intended a smaller aperture, but when I had taken the shot, I realised the camera was set to f/8. However, the depth of focus turned out to be pretty much what I was aiming for!)
Right, I’d better continue my climb, then…
31st March 2020 – 09:16
Mr C’s strict rules state that selfies should not be included in the 9-in-45, but halfway up the Tor, my options were limited. I wanted to avoid the bulk standard countryside views, but the sun was still fairly low in the sky and my shadow was too good an opportunity to miss!
31st March 2020 – 09:22
In recent weeks, the summit of the Tor has been distinctly devoid of visitors (a combination of isolation and the weather). However, at other times – at the height of the tourist season or on pagan celebratory days – it can be teeming with people.
I will be honest, I prefer it quiet. With its 360° view of the levels, it is an ideal space for reflection and meditation, as you can see!
31st March 2020 – 09:27
I awarded myself a five minute sit down before moving on, but the 9-in-45 had to continue unabated. The image of perfect calm belies the fact that is was blowing an icy gale and, to be honest, I was more than happy to start moving again!
31st March 2020 – 09:33
Unsurprisingly, while it took nearly 20 minutes to climb the Tor, it only took five to walk back down again!
At the base of the hill, in a sheltered, sunny location, is the Avalon Orchard. Another place for reflection and contemplation, these old fruit trees hold decades of history in their gnarled and twisted branches.
Rather than a wide shot of trees, I thought I would close in tighter, and this fungus caught my eye as soon as the timer on my phone alerted me to the end of the the next five-minute window.
31st March 2020 – 09:39
Time for the money shot, then; I’ve talked a lot about the Tor, but not had a photo of it yet!
31st March 2020 – 09:45
The wind may still be fresh, but the sun has been in full attendance over the last few days, so one final shot to show that spring has definitely sprung!
The photos and the route in more detail:
I have completed the 9-in-45 project a number of times now – click on the links below to see the results:
The Lady Chapel lies at the western end of Glastonbury Abbey and is the most complete of the ruins in the grounds.
Built in the late twelfth century, it is a serene place to wander around, and its solid walls and crypt contrast beautifully with the open greenery of the Great Church.
We have a tendency, when walking around, to only focus on the big picture, and rarely stop to take time and really look at our surroundings. Hundreds of craftsmen spent countless hours to create, carve, paint and mould architectural elements we either take for granted or we do not see at all.
When you’re out and about, stop, take time to look around you and SEE what is there. Find the beauty in the intricate, in the insignificant, in the overlooked.
To take part in the current Mass Observation Project post on ISOLATION:
Take a photograph based on the theme of ISOLATION, however you want to interpret it.
Email the image to adayinphotographs@outlook.com by Wednesday 1st April 2020.
Images should be a maximum of 650 pixels wide.
Include your name, website/blog address and a short note about the image, including where it was taken.
Come back and see the results on Sunday 5th April!
CKPonderingsToo 