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Nature’s Canvas

Feb17
2017
Written by Stephen Street

It was a gift that kept on giving.  I was captivated by its endless variety and unpredictability, and the fact that I can remember it decades later shows what an impression it had made on me.  Simply designed, it was no more than three differently coloured sands trapped between two sheets of A5 sized Perspex.  By turning the whole thing upside down and back again, the sands moved and created a new random arrangement of colour and shape.  I found it to be utterly fascinating.

Sometimes the result would be exceptionally appealing and I would leave it alone for weeks, not wanting to lose the masterpiece that I had created.  That is just the way I am.  When I get something I like, I tend to stick with it (I would find it very difficult to do what Andy Goldsworthy sometimes does and create a work that is only going to last a matter of hours, regardless of how good it is).

With that in mind, imagine how I felt when I walked on to Talisker Bay beach on the Isle of Skye and realised that I was now standing on an enormous version of my gift from long ago.  This amazing beach mostly consists of grains of black volcanic rock topped with a thin layer smashed up and weathered seashells.  Wind and waves continuously move the sands around, creating an infinite series of intricate patterns.  This is best described as one of nature’s wonderful gifts to the creative and abstract-loving photographer.

Each new pattern is as fresh and wonderful as the previous one, unlike my gift which eventually lost its charm as the coloured sands became a homogenous mix.  It is fair to say that every beach that I have visited has provided its own unique patterns to photograph, but of all the beaches in all the world, Talisker Bay has to be up there with the very best.

Posted in Out & About - Tagged abstract, beach, close up, coast, creative photography, Isle of Skye, marine, patterns, personal approach, sand, texture

First Snow

Nov14
2016
Written by Stephen Street

I look forward to the first snowfall of winter as much as a man lost in the desert looks forward to his next drink of water.  Yet when it arrives, I am always disappointed.

To would be great to have an app that allowed me to be instantly surrounded by deep, crisp snow and enjoying alpine-quality winter days.  Instead, I am left to ‘enjoy’ wet claggy snow and overcast days.  This is the thin end of winter’s wedge, a transitional phase that we have to go through, but all is not lost as I can still enjoy some form of winter photography.

It is surprising how quickly and deeply wet snow can cover ground and stick to trees.  It can also disappear quickly too, so it is important to dress to keep warm and dry and get out there fast.  Under overcast skies, I look for subjects that offer me good shapes or textures to work with.  Additionally, I usually have a black and white result in mind when selecting and composing my subject.

Monochromatic winter photographs are also good for messing around with.  Sometimes I will end up with several variations from a single source image.  Occasionally I will keep them all, but usually it is only ones I really like that avoid being crushed into oblivion by the Delete key.

Winter may be knocking at the door but autumn isn’t quite ready to move on yet, so now that this early fall of snow has come and gone, I can look forward to it all over again as winter’s wedge pushes ever forward and steadily thickens.

Posted in Out & About - Tagged app, b+w, bad weather, creative photography, patterns, personal approach, snow, tree, winter, woodland

Rowan Love

Oct17
2016
Written by Stephen Street

Not far from where I live is a small copse of trees that stand out from their surroundings.  I often look at them as they help me track the changing seasons, from leaf burst through to leaf fall and on into the dormancy of winter.  Driving by recently my wife was wowed by the fulsome berry crop on some rowans.  “It looks like it’s going to be a hard winter”, she said.

I particularly like rowan trees.  I like the way their leaves change from lush green to golden yellow and on to a deep red before heading ground ward.  I also like the way these hardy trees can twist and turn as the wind prunes them into natural sculptures.

I particularly like the bunches of lush red berries that appear each autumn.  They grab my eye, as any patch of red does, and become an almost default focal point in a photograph.  In fact, so significant is even a small dose of bright red in a photograph that rowan berries can even survive my creative endeavours and still make a significant focal point.

Autumn is such a wonderful season for photographers.  It is colourful, it is glorious, it’s ever-changing and its berry harvest makes it the all-round juiciest of the seasons.  As for whether an above average berry crop actually indicates that a colder than average winter is coming – I wouldn’t like to say.

Posted in Out & About - Tagged abstract, autumn, berries, colour, creative photography, technique, tree, woodland

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© Peter CairnsThis occasional blog is a tasty serving of nature and wildlife photography, with a side dish of my experiences out in the field and lightly seasoned with any random thoughts that occur to me along the way.

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