Bills Posts

I’ve been reading B&W photography, the latest issue.  There was an article that really made me pause and think about photography.  In particular, my style of photography, and what I take pictures of.  You see, one major problem I have (and I am sure that I have mentioned this somewhere in my blog) is that I really don’t have an artistic eye.  Even when, very occasionally I do take a picture that I like that is even slightly artistic it is almost invariably a fluke, a lucky chance.

For the most part then, I take pictures of what I see, when I see it.  There’s nothing wrong with that, even if I sometimes feel frustrated at my lack of artistic talent, taking pictures of what I see is fine..  So, what was it about the article that sparked this post? Let’s get specific;  B&W Photography, issue 303, Page 26 American Connections by Robin Bailey.  Now, please don’t get me wrong; I am most certainly not claiming my pictures are anywhere as near as good as his, exposure, composition, lighting, subject matter are all spot on, and they are lovely pictures.  If I had been in the same place, at the same time, would my pictures have been as good as his.  I very much doubt it, there is something about them that makes them really good.  But, the subject matter is the same as the kind of photo I would like to take.

The thing about my pictures is that they are easy, minimal thought about composition, mostly exposure left to the phone or the camera, lighting is when I take it – I do get up early, buts mainly to suite me, rather than it being specifically good for the picture.

What then can I do to add quality to the type of picture I like to take?  Well, how about doing all of the things I don’t do?  I need to think about that. 

We went to the Chairmakers today. It’s a pub just outside Waterlooville. They do a Sunday carvery, and it is a really nice one. Always delicious.

Every time I have a carvery, it reminds me of a time in 2011, was working on a contract. It meant being away from home. The hotel I stayed in didn’t have a restaurant, but it was right next to a Toby Carvery.

I was on the contract for about 15 months, actually, I really enjoyed the job, and was sorry when it came to an end. In between times, I worked out that I had somewhere around 240 carveries. That’s quite a lot, and I enjoyed every one of them. The staff at the Toby got to know me quite well. Who knows what they thought of me.

I have a map of the Browndown area at the waterfront in Stokes Bay. It has a lot of ley lines drawn over it. One problem I have is that it looks like it is a very old map and I am having difficulty relating the old map to today’s terrain.

Now, I know it sounds a bit bonkers, but I have set of dowsing rods that I have not yet put to the test, so it seems reasonable to take them to Browndown and put them through their paces.

I could film myself doing and give everybody a right laugh, unless of course…I find something. That’d be a turn up for the books wouldn’t it?

It’s like I’ve been saying, I know it’s bunkum, but wouldn’t it be fun if it were real?

A picture from yesterday morning. I’m off work on Friday, and I would quite like to get into town for a quick look around during normal hours. I’m not at all confident that I will be able to do that.

There are a couple of areas that I would quite like to look atin preparation for the camera club walk that I am supposed to be preparing. I’m looking for an opportunity to talk to some shop holders about photographing some aspects of the building as Architecture is one of the main topics for next years season.

We are also going to explore some of the back streets, alleys and passages, of there are a number in town. If it works, it should hopefully be very interesting.

I do like a nice dramatic sky, and there it was this morning. I should have done a facebook post for it, but I ran out of time. Hopefully I’ll be able to do one tomorrow although, Alexa gave us a rain warning from 0500 tomorrow, so whilst my intention is to walk, it does depend on the weather.

I’m only slightly sorry for going on about McDonalds, it’s only because they haven’t started demolishing the bus station yet, I’ve nothing big to get my teeth in to. There it is though, the covers are still off, and the wooded panel above the glass is prime for branding to be put in place, I wonder if they will delay that until the last minute.

There was a rough sleeper at the ticket office. The other side of the ticket machines to the ticket window. I couldn’t see if it was someone I had spoken to before, they were well down into their sleeping bag.

I had a chat with a fisherman on the Haslar Marina Pier Wall. He hadn’t caught much, but at one point he’d had quite a large bite, that had made his rod jump. I asked if he was ever bothered about the fishing rod being pulled into the water – he didn’t seem to be. He was the only person I spoke to, except to say good morning to a dog-walking lady.

Once you know the context, then the picture tells its own story. For weeks now I have been burbling on about the McDonalds on The High Street. Up until yesterday morning, for a lot of the time, the frontage of the new restaurant has been covered in a high quality screen shielding activity from prying eyes.

Sometime between yesterday and this morning, the covers came off literally. And now we start to get a glimpse of the new eatery. I’ve already said that on the first morning it is open when I walk past, I will partake of a breakfast wrap.

But it’s not that I’m writing about, it’s the fact that this unveiling was going to be the subject of one of my vlogs. I really wasn’t expecting this to happen, possibly for several weeks. So I am a bit shocked at the speed of events. Have I missed the boat, so to speak? Well, in fairness, it was always going to be a look back.

If it isn’t raining in the morning, I am going to record some video.

I watched a YouTube a few days ago, it talked something called “Meta-Information”, it’s a bit like meta-data, When you take a photograph with a digital camera, you don’t just get the picture, you get lots of other stuff, the exposure, the details of the camera & the lens, geo-tagging & possibly more. That’s the meta-data.

I put a picture on facebook, and write, it’s a lovely day, the bus station is still there. All this is blatantly obvious, why am I repeating what you can clearly see, the meta-information is something you can’t see for example, “demolition of the bus station is due to start in two days” (I don’t know if it is, that’s just an example), that’s meta-information, detail you can’t get directly from the picture.

When I write my daily posts, I sometimes feel that there’s something missing, a lot of the time I feel I am stating the obvious. I really do feel I need to get a little bit more creative with my writing. How can I do that? Practice, I guess.

It was another Camera Club walk today. We returned to Swannick Lakes. The last time we were here was late October, conditions then were very different, being autumnal.

Thew whole area was very green. Admittedly, not much wildlife. But what there was, was lovely to see. It was a gentle walk, and really enjoyable.

After, we returned to the Elm Tree Inn, where we enjoyed an excellent Sunday Roast followed by Sticky Toffee Pudding and custard. Probably an over-indulgence but well worth it.

I’m sorry for the short post this evening, I’ve had a long day and am just really tired. This is just to keep the count going.