Typing time

Spent a lot of time at the keyboard over the past couple of weeks. I have been writing up my commentary to Assignment Two, which I have come to a point where I would like to submit it for a report from my tutor. The commentary ran to over 4000 words, which reflects the fact it has taken so long to complete the assignment, but also that I have been doing a lot of other work in the background towards my major project at the same time. Also been busy with a report response to Assignment One, which includes a re-shoot of the images for the Gestalt project after some negative feedback.

I have also been putting together artists statements, biography and commentary for the upcoming exhibition at Bank Street Arts in sheffield which I am taking part in along with 5 other student. I'm very much looking forward to this as it will be my first ever exhibition. I'm also hoping for a solo exhibition of work from my 'Counting Seeds' series so have put together an exhibition proposal ( first time I have done anything like that and it was very difficult from the point of view that I hadn't got a clue where to start or what the finished text should look like). So that is being sent off to various galleries in the Manchester area, and my fingers are firmly crossed.

Work towards my  other future assignments is coming along slowly but steadily in the background. I am recognizing a couple of themes coming out in the shots; one is the presence of barriers such as fences and gates which are everywhere in the edgelands, and the other is of urbanization 'peeping' over the top of things like woodland, hedges and greenery.

Starting to find a 'Look'

Felt like some progress was being made towards the major project, I have done a few images lately which I am reasonably happy with. Some will need to be re-visited and re-shot with slight tweaks to composition or balance of daylight to artificial light ratio before I have anything I am happy to send for assessment, but at least things are going in the right direction and I feel I am close to something concrete on which to base the feel of the project.

The shot below is an example. I really like the general look and atmosphere of the shot. The riverbank at the bottom and towpath put me in mind a little of the Andreas Gursky shot (The Rhine II) which was sold for a few million a couple of years back, though obviously I would expect my shot to fetch quite such a fee.

I'm in two minds about the centrality of the tower block, I may re-shoot with it in a different position within the frame. I don't remember it being so central when I framed the shot, but in a way I like the boldness of it stuck there in the middle. I'm happy with the lighting in the flats, the church and the yellow streak of lights from a passing tram. The aspect of looking over the fields towards the traces of  protruding urbanisation fits into my theme well.

I'm continuing with my reading of 'The Language of Landscape' by Anne Whiston Sprin, though it is turning out to be very different to what I expected. Though there are many interesting philosophical points raised in the book, I haven't found much that could be applied to my own project. Hopefully something more relevant will appear with further reading.

In the meantime, I've been looking at 'Around the M60' by Matthew Hyde, Aidan O'Rourke and Peter Portland; which is very relevant to my project in the sense of providing background info to the areas included in my study. A fascinating book with many historical insights in to the area, it charts the development of the M60 up to the point of the book's publication. Whether it will influence the outcome of my project remains to be seen, but it is certainly providing me with more ideas for locations to check out.

Still no progress on the 'Colour Accent' brief. I have my tail trapped in the door with this one at the moment and I'm feeling very frustrated with it, and seem to be wasting a lot of time trying out ideas which don't work for it. Hopefully I'll get a break though with it soon. Nonetheless, at least my ideas for other projects are progressing.

Film and digital

Slow progress over the last couple of weeks. Have managed to get out with the camera a little over the last couple of weekends, and the ideas for the Major project are starting to form into something more solid with a definite 'look' to the images. I want to pursue the idea of shooting at twilight, using a mix of ambient and artificial light (streetlights, flash, car headlights etc.)

Have started to use the digital camera as a way of shooting test shots in these difficult conditions, a bit like the old 'polariod' method of doing things. It gives the added bonus of providing a 'backup shot' incase there are any disasters with the film shots (which happens more frequently than I would like, especially with the large format camera). What has struck me the most is the difference in the 'look' between the shots done on digital and those on film, the two having a quite different feel and atmosphere. I've also experimented with making the shots more subtle and less 'popped', while trying to avoid them looking dull or lifeless.

Of the two images below, the top one was shot on film, and the bottom one on digital. Both have had some processing done in Photoshop, but retain the key differences in the 'look' of each shot straight from the scanner or RAW file. On balance I prefer the film version, it has an 'edge' to it which I feel is lost on the digital version, which is more 'polished' looking, and somehow looks a little artificial, almost CGI-like. Some may not like the colour cast from the lamp in the film shot, but I feel it adds to the atmosphere (it looks a bit greener for some reason on the original, less yellow than below - maybe the blog software playing a part there).

I've also been getting to grips better with scanning the images, with the discovery the for some reason, certain negs look better scanned as a positive, then inverted and colour balanced later. Im not sure of the science behind this, but I know it works with some negatives.

Still frustrated by my lack of progress on Assignment 2, I seem to be stuck on the Colour Accent brief in finding enough oppertuunities to make images using the principle, there just doesn't seem to be that much around which I can use. I shall endeavour to continue the search.

Took delivery of the book 'The Language of Landscape' by Anne Whiston Spirn, so this will hopefully give me a deeper insight into my subject matter and provide some food for philosophical thought. I shall post my thoughts on the book when I have read through it; it's quite a substantial book, so there is plenty to go at.

Re-shoots and further developing ideas

Further to my concerns about some of the shots for Assignment 2 'ticking the boxes' rather than reflecting the intention of the shot, though with the aims of the brief fulfilled, I have been re-shooting some of the shots and doing some other ones which I think are moving more towards the theme for the Major Project.

Spent a lot of time thinking about this idea of 'the periphery' and how it can be interpreted. I realised that one theme that was coming out was that of intruding into the background or things looking over barriers or divisions: things such as control towers or radar equipment protruding from behind hedges or woods near the airport; moterway signs forming a backdrop for playing fields; tower-blocks behind common green areas etc.

Just waiting for the films to come back from processing to see what the results are like. Included a fair number of long exposures in low light, so may be a bit hit or miss. This is a n area I am hoping to improve my skills at. Had some success shooting that way using didgital, but it is trickier with film due to reciprosity failure nad no immediate feedback of the results.

Mood lifting news and and further thoughts on Assignment 2

After a slight feeling of 'setback' with the feedback from Assignment 1 in relation to the Gastalt project, my mood has been lifted following an email from OCA to say one of my shots will be used on an advert for the college which is set to be included in the January edition of Advanced Photographer and Black and White Photography. A couple of months ago I was also charmed to be told that another of my images would be used on one of the 'Assignment Completion' postcards; so receiving those will be fun little progress markers as I go throught the course.

After mulling through the comments about my Gestalt shots being 'too technically focussed', and aso watching the WeAreOCA video of Jefffrey Martin's eloquent and inspiring work, I think the penny has fully dropped at where I went wrong. Jeffrey's images set out on a visual path which follows his interest, with the images incorporating the requirements of the brief within the images and in so doing creating some great images along the way; rather than setting out to demonstrate the theories and finding a means of visually doing so, as mine did.

I think part of the reason for my stumble here may be with not having worked though the different levels of the photography course and not being used this kind of project. Having been APL'd onto Level 3 and starting with the Advanced course where the student more or less has total control over what they will produce, The Gestalt project was the first one where I had to meet requirments laid down by the couse; hence to some extent, I went about it in the wrong way; kind of back to front. So, henceforth, I shalt be making that mistake again.

Looking through what I have produced for Assignment 2, because the shots are starting to 'build up' to the major project using locations and exploring ideas, I don't feel the images quite fall into the same trap, though with some of them it could be constued in that way so a bit of selective editing of which ones to use, plus a few re-shoots with better variations on the theme will be taking place over the festive holidays.

Assignment Feedback initial response.

Got official feedback on Assignment 1 finally after some communication confusion. Hopefully now the procedure for Assignments will be as it was when I did the Advanced course - I submit work to the tutor, the tutor sends their feed back and I act on the feedback, sending a response and any changes deemed necessary.

I had received most of the comments via email before, but the note on the images for the Gestalt project I hadn't been seen before. The first comment was that In general this project is too technically focused and lacks personal engagement and conceptual thinking. OK. I take this to mean that I've concentrated on making images that demonstrate the theories, rather than creating images an idea or voice behind them, and using the Gestalt principles to help deliver idea or make the images work. I suppose this is fair comment really as I hadn't at the time I took them decided on an idea for the direction of my major project, and was still thinking things through, so the images were I suppose in hindsight demonstrating the principles rather than incorporating them into meaningful images, which I think is what the feedback is getting at.

This has started me wondering a about the shots I have done for Assignment 2, the 'Clear Separation', 'Eliminating Depth Clues', and 'Colour Accent' briefs. I need to take a long hard look at what I have produced for those projects and make sure I haven't fallen into the same trap. The images I have created are meant as build-up to my Major Project, shot in the locations I will be using for that, and a way of starting to work the ideas through to develop a clear train of thought as to how the  major project images will look, while trying to answer the demands of the briefs for Ass. 2. In that way they are relevant and the ideas of the Periphery or Edgelands hopefully are starting to come through, and hopefully these won't be seen as much as a 'box ticking exercise'. I think the difficulty with these kind of projects is marrying the outline of the brief with the idea of the shot, always a chicken and egg situation, and one where the difficulty is in producing something that doesn't look contrives or too self conscious.

I will look at the images again over the next few days and think about changing some of the ones I was going to submit for Assignment 2. I will also have to think about possibly re-shooting for Assignment 1, as I do not want negative feedback to go unaddressed as I feel it would be detrimental come assessment time. Hopefully I will have some time over the upcoming festive holiday period to think things through more clearly.

Assignment 2 at the Mersey and Crowden

Spent the week reading up on Stephen Shore for the Critical Review and making notes of points to include on my thoughts abouot his work. What may be a challenge is putting these thoughts into some kind of logical order whereby different points expand on or are connected to earlier points.I've realised that at the moment it is important just to get the thoughts down in written form, then I can start to order them and tweak with sentence structure and logical sequencing.

Photographically, Saturday saw an early start with a trip out to the banks of the Mersey to add a couple of shots for the 'Colour Accent' brief. I know it is becoming a photographers cliche, but I am genuinely feeling using medium / large format film cameras is slowing down the way I work and making me think a lot more about shots before I take them. This is mostly due to the cost of film and processing as I can ill-afford to waqste many shots, especially in large format.  The large bulky equipment just makes me feel like taking more time and care over what I am doing - of crafting the image rather than just taking it. The way I have been working lately tends to follow the flow of exploring and taking some initial shots with the digital SLR or compact, then returning the following week with one of the 'big cameras' to realise the vision. I think I should start taking back-up shots on the digital camera, as one or two mishaps lately have meant I have ended up with nothing to show for some trips out, and I feel very much tah time is running away at the moment.

Later in the day I headed out into Derbyshire with the intention of taking some shots for the 'Clear Seperation' brief. The areas where I have been exploring for my Major Project haven't lent themselves very well to this paricular brief, so I felt it was time to try something a litle different. I went to the area near Crowden, where there is a trail headoung out towards Black Hill, I tried for some minimalist landscapes. I also though a change of environment might help freshen my approach when it comes to the Major Project shots. As the light faded I took the opportunity to practise for the long exposure shots I have planned, tr get a feel for how things may turn out and develop a shooting methodology.

 I will have to wait until the films are back from the lab later in the week to asses the outcome. One of the great unknowns in this case is the effects of reciprosity failure of the film. With exposure of around 1 minute registered on the meter, I'm pretty sure I will have to expose for a while longer. Just how much longer, I will have to wait and see from the results of the shots.

Weekend wanderings and Hans-Christian Schink

Ventured further into the outlands of Manchester's periphery on Saturday afternoon to check out some locations for the major project. Took some preliminary shots of an area on the edge of a commercial development which can be seen protruding from behind a hedge from in farmland. Also around the same area was a dwelling which warrants inclusion in the part of the project concerned with buildings and residency in the edgelands.

I had planned to get up early to do some pre-sun-up shots, as the forecast had been for clear shies, but exhaustion mixed with insomnia had caused a bad night and saw me eventually sleeping in until mid morning, missing the best art of the day.

Sunday didn't get off to a good start either with me fretting about Assignment 2 'Colour Accent' project and getting into a bit of a quandary as to how to progress with it. I want a variety of shots for this project but seem to keep retuning to quite similar themes. Eventually got out to do some shooting by mid afternoon, by which time the light was bad, and the shots I managed to squeeze weren't really up to much. The silver lining was that I found an interesting location where some coppiced woodland had re-grown in way which made it look like a wicker forest. This probably wont fit in with y major project but may be useful for another type of project in the future.

I was browsing the library at work and came across a book by Hans-Christian Schink titled Verkehrsprojekte   Traffic Projects. This book is comprised largely of a collection of images of the, at that time, newly built road and rail infrastructure in to eastern Germany in the years after reunification of the country. The images feature huge swathes cut through the countryside, cuttings through  hillsides newly landscaped and ready for the road or railtrack to open, newly planted trees on the landscaped verges; grass still not yet grown over. Huge concrete and metal supporting structures grow out of the ground like odd alien plants. Shot in colour, yet having a hard still look, the images have grey monotone skies, minimal landscapes; no humans are present yet the stamp of mankind on the landscape is clearly the subject here.

The feeling I got as a viewer was one of emptyness, stillness; of a land sliced through by concrete, metal and machinery. The surfaces and structures in the images are new, not yet established or having softened with time and the growth of vegetation, brutally unyielding and faceless, without character.

What I really like about this series is the use of lines and space. There is a sense of openness in the images: the sky often occupies a large proportion of the image. The weather in this area of Germany must be very consistent, or Schink is remarkably fast at getting around many locations in the same day. All the images use the soft light of an overcast, still day to great effect, for it is not the 'brave, optimistic face of progress, opportunity and promise for all' we see of blue skies and smiling faces. I'm sure these images will be influential and inspirational for my own major project.

Early rise dawn shoot, research and develompent of ideas

Awoke early for some reason on Saturday morning, and looked out to see the first traces of daylight appearing and a clear sky with frost. Took advantage of my unplanned early rise by heading out to an area near Sale Water Park (one of the areas I have earmarked for my major project) to get some pre-sunrise shots in. lots of pastel colours in the sky and on land before sun-up. Took the opportunity to try out my new 250mm lens for the RZ67. It brings things closer than I expected, and a couple of times I found its field of view a little too narrow for the shot I had in mind, as it was difficult to move further away from the subject (which was quite far away) due to bushes, fences etc. Will have to wait until the film comes back from processing to evaluate the results and sum up what I leaned from the morning.

In the afternoon, headed out to the airport area again to try to get some shots for Assignment 2, 'A clear separation' and 'Colour accent'. I'm getting quite frustrated with the amount of time this assignment is taking. Working full time I can only get out at weekends to shoot, as it is dark when I come out of work, and luck dictates that the atmospheric conditions aren't always ideal for photography on the weekend. I shall, however, persevere in the knowledge that I shall try to catch up once the evenings draw out again after January / February.managed a shot of a building which may be suitable for the Colour Accent brief, but if not, it is good rearch to build on for shots for the MAjor project.

Sunday saw me head to an area near the Trafford Centre to check out some unused land with the Trafford Centre in the background. Althoughtall trees blocked the view I was expecting, I did see some perspectives which included modern flats appearing behind scrubland which may be useful for the major project. Took a short walk along the canal near Barton sing-bridge and took some shots to experiment with perspective and leading lines.

This weekend's progress:

• Slowly developing more ideas and locations for the major project.
• Getting a clear idea of themes which could run through the project.
• Found a couple of new locations which may prove to be useful.

A little disappointed that I still haven't finished Assignment 2, but the background work I have been doing may help me get back on schedule in later assignments.

Assignment 2 reshoot, thoughts on depth clues, experimenting with long exposure

Got the films back of the 5x4 shots I took last weekend. My 'lucky guess' approach to near-darkness photography didn't quite work out, so went back and re-shot in a more scientific way. Also re-shot the images I lost to a computer virus last week, and did some further experimental work.

Finally making feel I am making proper headway with Assignment 2, and have produced some images I am reasonably happy with. What I have learned so far with regard to 'Eliminating Depth Clues' is as follows.

• The longer the telephoto lens, the greater the compression on depth planes, which helps eliminate a sense of distance between them. 
• Eliminating the 'ground' or surfaces between objects further reduces the clues to the distances between things.
• Large depth of field (from small apertures) can help also by not separating objects through the softness associated with narrower depth of field
• Atmospherics play a large part; haziness and its muting of colours gives clues to depth and separation, clear air helps reduce these clues.
• Areas of similar or uniform colour / tone in clear atmosphere give less idea about depth than contrasting colours / tones.
• Looking down towards ground sloping up and away (eg at the other side of a valley) flattens perspective due to it being nearer to a plane parallel to the film plane.

The further experimental work mentioned earlier is connected to finding the optimum balance between ambient daylight at dusk and artificial light from streetlights, floodlights etc. I did quite a bit of this last year during the 'Twilight' series of images, which were shot in the urban environment, but the project I am working on involves lighting further away, so may be a little different.

One thing that can definitely be said is that this is much easier to shoot on digital than film, as the results can be reviewed immediately. As I am getting more and more interested in the use of  medium and large format cameras, I will need to transfer the knowledge and adapt it for use with film. This involves factoring in reciprocity failure into the equation, and also tackling the idea of diminishing returns during very long exposures as dusk turns in to night, and the amount of ambient light falling off during the actual exposure. I predict a lot experimentation is going to be needed to perfect a technique. I will look to two of my favourite photographers, Todd Hido and Bill Jackson, for inspiration.

Tonight I will be reading more on Stephen Shore for my critical review, and making some notes on points I want to make in the review.

Research, Assignment 2, Major project, Salford stadium and 5x4 shots at the Airport

Spent the early afternoon exploring some more 'Edgelands' near Barton Bridge, the new(ish) Salford Rugby stadium and Trafford Park.

A large area which used to be open, unused land is being re-developed. Heavy machinery is shaping the landscape, and what looks like a lagoon is being created. The old 'desire paths' which can be seen on the Google satellite images of the area no longer exist. I was a little disappointed be the extent to which this area had been 'improved', but much of it still fits within the brief for my periphery project.

Took a number of experimental shots to think about composition and subject. Need to return at a time when the light is more in keeping with what I have in mind for the project. It seems strange to be dismissing sunny, clear autumn days as not quite what I am after for the project, but there is a neutrality of mood which I want to get across, and sunny days seem to be beautifying the images somewhat.

Spent the latter part of the afternoon near Manchester Airport. Took the Sinar 5x4 camera along for a specific shot of a river tunnel under the runway which I thought would benefit from camera movements.

Just getting over yet another setback - my laptop got a virus /malware infection yesterday and had to be restored back to the factory settings. As I result I lost the shots I was going to submit for Assignment 2 from the Eliminating Depth Clues project. Although I am able to re-shoot these, it will add extra time on until the submission of this assignment, which has already taken much longer than I intended it to, and with the nights drawing in now, opportunities to get out to take shots are getting scarce - weekend only now as I can't really get out from work before sunset.

Lessons learned:

Back up useable shots on the computer immediately: I'm now having to reshoot some I lost due to computer virus infection -5 minutes of backing up would have saved a day or so of re-shooting. These were recent shots also, so "I'll do it all in a batch later" isn't the way to go.

Get there early if the intention is to shoot after sunset with large format (and medium format) cameras. It is extremely difficult to frame and focus the shot in very low light - best to set up early and wait for the light. Ended up taking an 'educated guess' at the focus for the last shot as I could hardy see anything on the ground glass at all.

Assignment 2, re-shoots, further ideas and research.

Managed to get out to shoot images last weekend and this. Had a bit of a set-back last Saturday; just on the way out to shoot,picked up camera bag off chair to the loud sound of clattering onto the floor: had forgotten to zip up camera bag. My Mamiya RZ 67,  with the 65mm L-A lens which I've only owned a week, landed nose-first on the floor, buckling the filter ring. I'd bought this lens with the idea to do landscapes, and bought a Hi-tech system with ND grad starter kit to go with it. Not happy - the buckle means the system won't go on the lens - exploring repair options at the moment. Wife not pleased about the new gouges in the polished oak flooring either.

Got film back from Peak Imaging at the weekend - looks like my guesstimates on exposure for the near-dark shots I did last week were way off; a few almost-blank framed on the roll, though pleased with a couple of shots of other things to do with my projects. One re-shoot needed due to being over-zealous with the ND grads at a 'jaunty' angle, but it was an experiment and sometimes one learns as much from ones mistakes as ones successes, so another one to chalk up to experience.

Hopefully my run of bad luck / stupidity is nearing an end, with the experiences of the last couple of weeks being a salutary lesson, and I can get on with being more productive.

Trying to stay positive, ventured out on Saturday morning to the open land again between Stretford and the M60 to work on the images for the 'Eliminating Depth Clues' brief, light dull and flat, so helpful in that respect, a bit uninspired and damp but saw possibilities for other projects while there, so will follow those up later.

In the afternoon went to Styal side of Manchester Airport, and did some shots which I felt went towards the 'Eliminating Depth Clues' brief, so stuck prints in my log with notes etc.

Sunday morning was wet, so watched a short Guardian newspaper video on the authors of the 'Edgelands' book which has proved to be quite inspirational towards my major project. Also looked on the internet at the work of painters, Gorge Shaw and Davis Reyson, whose work explores those urban corners and patches we pass everyday, but perhaps don't really see, due to their mundane nature and familiarity. I was left wondering: these are the work of painters, presented in a 'photographic' style (apologies, don't know the correct term for this style), if these were actual photos, rather than paintings, would they hold the same appeal to the viewer? If I present similar images in my project, would the appeal be lost? What is the artist putting into these images (or the viewer drawing from them) which is so appealing?

They are undoubtedly appealing images; the care, craft and skill in producing then is remarkable - maybe it is just that: the realisation that the artist has taken the time to observe and work the image which makes us as a viewer take notice, to look afresh. What is needed is for myself to work on a way of doing the same through the medium of the photographic image, to somehow show that study, thought and consideration of the subject.

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Spent Sunday afternoon around the periphery of the airport again, re-shooting a couple of imaged which hadn't quite worked from previous attempts, and trying to develop skills at shooting with long exposures after sunset but before dark.

Assignment 2 - more woes

Some people never learn, and so for the second time within a week my camera gear is drip-drying on the living room table. Got caught in a thunderstorm out on the open land between the M60 and Stretford. After Sunday's shenanegans I should have known better and taken full waterproofs. I could see the storm behind the subject I wanted to shoot but never imagined it would move over the area I was in. It had been such a nice afternoon the thought of rain seemed remote. In the end I took one shot - not of what I had intended but an incidental shot on the way to the spot I had planned, then had to abandon the shoot due to being soaked and the risk of being struck by lightning.

Last night's outing didn't fare much better. Went to the same place to photo a generating station, or pumping station - not quite sure what it is, but it has lots of graffiti on it in a green setting. Due to dealing with some phone calls I got there late; so late and dark in fact my light meter couldn't read the ambient light. I took a guess at a 2 minute exposure, but the app I was using to count the time (Photo Tools) crashed after about 1 min, so I had to go off  'feel' for how long the exposure was. Will be interesting to see how near my guesswork was when the film comes back, but I'm not holding my breath.

Hopefully my bad luck / bad judgement patch is now behind me and I can do something right this weekend.

On a more positive note, took delivery of a book on Stephen Shore yesterday (whose work I am doing my Critical Review on),  with contributions by Joel Sternfeld,  Michael Friednad Christy Lange. Although I have seen many images in the book before, there are sufficient new ones to me to make it interesting, and I look forward to reading the contributers' text to see what they have to say and if/ how it differs from what I have in my mind.

Assignment 2

Managed to get out as planned to do some work towards Assignment 2. Wanted to build on some exploratory shots I had taken in early summer; the location I felt worked quite well but the shot themselves needed a little extra element-wise. I had decided to do some dusk shots to capture background city lighting and use long exposure o soften the overall effect.- Had been a bit wary of doing one particular shot, as it involved standing on an area of open ground at dusk to get  a shot with a tower block in the background, with the foreground lit by a mixture of fading ambient light and the yellow / orange lights from the nearby motorway junction. It is a bit of an odd area, completely bordered down one side by the M60, with Stretford and Urmston on the other side. The 'graffiti tag' occurrence is an just about any immovable object - usually a trigger to make me not 'totally trust' the area, and keep an eye over my shoulder.   Took bright torches and mad sure my whereabouts and estimated time of return were known as a precaution.

 I have an idea to try and keep some continuation from the 'Twilight' series I did in the advanced module to carry over into this module, hence the shots at dusk. The Twilight series was shot on digital SLR, but I want to push myself and use film as much as possible for this module. Reason for this are primarily because I like the look and 'feel' of film, and I want to technically stretch myself, working with medium and large-format cameras, utilising the maximum image quality, and the 'look' of the image gained by larger formats. I some of the shots I have in mind will make use of the movements available on large format cameras. Disadvantage to film shot is of course that I will have t wait to finish the film and send it off to be developed before I know how the shoot went.

Lesson learned:

• Arrive early for a dusk shot; focussing and framing in very low light is extremely difficult through an optical viewfinder (no 'liveview' on an RZ67 let alone my Sinar 5x4!).
• Get a head-torch - fiddling around with one hand on the camera an holding a torch in the other is very difficult.
• Will need to do some experimentation to see what the reciprocity failure is like with Ektar 100. I has an idea to take a digital camera to get a rough idea of what the exposure should be, but need to also take into account the RF factor.
• The weather is key to the look of the ambient light. Open skies will give a blue / purple backdrop (and more ambient light), overcast skies will reflect the orange city lights. Look forward to seeing what effect moonlight has in the mix.

Moving forward:

Head-torch is on order; nights are drawing-in so must get out of work at a reasonable time in the evening(which is rare these days) otherwise will only be able to go out to shoot at weekends for the next few moths, much slowing down progress with the module. Starting to get a clearer idea where this is all heading and a more definite idea of the shape and form of the major project is forming, though I need to concentrate also on Assignment 2 and the projects within that. Some of the work I have been doing is background and build-up for the major project, but must focus on Assignment 2 also, and use that to feed into the later assignments.

Leading up to the weekend, I had all good intentions of cracking on with Assignment 2 of the course. Unfortunately I was asked to take part in an Open Day at work, which resulted in me being there for most of Saturday.

I headed out with the Mamiya camera late afternoon to explore an area about of 'edgeland' which starts about a mile from home. I had felt the area offered some quirky little spots which may be useful in my project but despite wandering around I saw little which inspired me. Now, I'm not so sure if it was the fact that there was nothing worth shooting there, or whether my unscheduled day at work had meant I was having difficulty in 'getting into the zone' of picture taking - I couldn't seem to settle my mind into seeing photographically. In addition, the camera was loaded with 100 ISO film, and the light dropped off significantly.  Light wag getting too low to hand-hold a large camera like the one I was using, plus I didn't have a tripod with me as I hadn't really panned on having a 'serious' photographic outing, more of a 'let's see what materialises' sort of walk. Maybe this was part of the problem, not having a 'let's get some shots in the can' mentality, no definite plan, no vision of what I wanted to achieve.

The weather was poor for most of Sunday, but as things started to clear a little I thought I would return to the area - took the Pentax camera this time as it is weather-sealed, and I wanted  to work on the 'Eliminating Depth Clues' project, and I have a couple of telephoto lenses for this camera which is required to get the desired effect. Again, I felt unsettled and uninspired, which showed in the images I came home with which were quite frankly shockingly bad; there is such a thing as the snapshot aesthetic, but these were just awful, nothing came together, and I do not know what I was thinking with some of the shots.

Learning points from the weekend:

Take the tripod along. It will slow down the process, set the hands free to have a little wander to explore angles, make fine adjustments, settle into the image-making process.

If it is an 'exploratory' outing, take a pocket camera (not an RZ67), snap a few angles to set the scene and generate ideas, then return with the 'proper' camera with a definite plan and a vision of the type of image I want to walk away with.

Otherwise, have a purpose behind shooting, rather than pointing the camera around, snapping and hoping something useful will result.

Assignment 2

Managed to snatch a couple of hours before sundown to get out and do some work towards the project 'Eliminating depth clues'. Had thought I would have plenty of time to dedicate to this over the weekend but circumstances dictated otherwise. I have an idea to use the prints of Hiroshige as a seed to base the images on, and using a telephoto lens to make landscape shots is something I have little experience of, so the process will be a new challenge and a learning experience.

Went out near Sale Water Park for a stroll along the Mersey, took the Pentax and Takumar 135 lens and tripod, as this combo is relatively lightweight and quick to set up since I had limited time. Everywhere was very busy with people enjoying the outdoors and making the most of the good weather. Found it hard to settle into the right frame of mind to 'see' images and ended up taking many 'snaps' but not much else. Finally got a shot I was reasonably content with looking towards Stretford with buildings of ( I assume) Salford in the extreme background.

Learning gained:

• Not easy to 'grab' time to do work after a busy weekend.
• Should have taken the compact camera instead, and treated it as an 'explore' session, gathering ideas for a variety of parts to the future project, rather than trying to cram something specific into the time.
• Sun-up time is probably better to do this kind of work, things are less likely to get in the way of going and there are less people about - light may be better too.
• Have a definite plan and use it as a starting point to see what develops, rather than a rushed, willy-nilly.

Although the above may seem a little negative, I spotted a good few potential patches to revisit with a view to using them in shots, so from an exploration point of view it was definitely a worthwhile outing.