MorseBlog

I made my first photobook back in 2008. It was a memorial to my brother's photographs and was sent to a number of friends and relatives. I made it with Blurb and subsequently did a few more. Now it seems to be all the rage on YouTube and elsewhere. It is trendy to print photos as well as everyone is tired of consuming images on screens and they want to hold something real. Now photobooks seem to be an extension of this. I agree! I think there is something special about holding a physical image. Photobook Cover Spread Here is a video overview of the book with it's content and my commentary on how I put it together and what I thought about the results.  Three Wood Lands Genesis This past year I have been engaged in a project of woodland photography focused primarily on three local woodlands. I have written up my efforts here on this blog and most of the photos hav...

Click Above to go Straight to the Photos on Flickr! The last couple of years I have done what a lot of people do and try and select a limited number of 'best' photos of the year. These are of course by my own judgment though I do factor in likes from Flickr users in my decision.  This year I was very prolific in terms photos taken at about 375 (compared to about 50 last year!). I also have to say the yield of good photos was better. I attribute the increase in numbers mostly to my retirement from full time work this year. Covid-19 has limited travel but also provided a basis for more focus. The number of photos I am happy with went way up I think primarily because I chose to focus on intimate woodland as as subject and my further focus on three local woodlands. I have also been steadily improving technique and looking critically at the results. I ended up with perhaps 30 candidates on my initial long list.  The year divided almost in half betwe...

I was out again last week at Woodwalton Fen in the early morning as there was a forecast of some fog. I wasn’t disappointed as I walked in the pre-dawn darkness. I stopped in the middle of the reserve where a bench is located by a small pond. I sat and sipped coffee and ate my breakfast while I waited for the light to come up. When the light and color saturated I picked up my equipment and walked on.  I headed down a track I last travelled last summer along a line of oak trees. This lead to a little used trail and I found my first photo. Three interesting shaped trees in the mist. I setup first with my 150mm lens but needed the 90mm lens to capture it. This lens does not get much use. It is difficult to see the image on the ground glass because of the way the light disperses.  I was using my SINAR Zoom film back exclusively today and had loaded a roll of Fuji Provia 100. My limited experience with shooting in mist in fog has me favoring Fuji Astia and Provia. I find that Fuji ...

Last year I was watching a Steve O'nions' video where he used a Horsman 6x12 roll filmback on his Intrepid 4x5. I had picked up years ago an old 6x9 MPP filmback that I have used on the Intrepid I have. I am a sucker for the panoramic format (I really enjoy shooting a Fuji G617.) so when I saw the 6x12 I thought that might be something I could use.  With rollfilm backs on a 4x5 the inevitable question why not just crop the 4x5 image? The usual response is economics. 120 film is cheaper than the 4x5 equivalent. Processing is easier to find as well and more affordable.  I researched 6x12 backs and stumbled across the SINAR film backs and the Zoom model in particular. These backs fit like a sheet film holder and so do not require the ground glass to be removed for each image. The Zoom model allows one to shoot a variety of formats on the same roll of film. This means 6x12, 6x9, 6x8, 6x6, and 6x4.5. I am a sucker for versatility and fortunately at the time I found one for sale fo...

I had recently received my developed film from an earlier trip to Monk's Wood. I liked one image a lot but I got sloppy with the focus and so what could have been a really good image is mostly a disappointment. So yesterday evening I thought 'I'll go back for a quick trip and try and re-take that image'. The light looked promising that afternoon but I got of to a late start and by the time I parked the sun was well down. I quickly donned the gear and rushed off.  I arrived and the sun had washed off the meadow grass and was creeping up the trees on the edge of the meadow. They glowed with an intense orange while some clouds picked up the light as well. I rush over to the subject tree and see what I feared had happened. In the intervening week the wind had stripped the leaves of my tree!  Not wanting to get skunked I found an aspen and thought I could catch some of the glow of the setting  sun as well. I worked fast to compose and focus the image. The bright sky meant ei...

I returned again this morning before dawn two weeks from my last visit. Even as I walked the trails by my headlamp I could see the place was radically different. Hardly a leaf left on a tree, though the aspen by the roadside is hanging in there. I had hoped for frost or mist or fog but misread the weather report and had instead a humid morning with light thin clouds and was entirely overdressed for the temperature.  I just bought a box of 48 sheets of expired Ektachrome 100S that the seller says was stored refrigerated so I decided to take the risk. Part of the reason to be out was to ascertain the quality of the film.  I walked a great distance in the dark and ended up on the western edge of one of the lakes. The sun was coming up through clouds and I thought I would try again a lake-side image again. I haven't had too much luck with these as it is difficult to find a place free enough of foliage to get a got composition.  As I set up fo...

It seems I am making regular rounds to my 3 local woodlands. Each has a unique character and rather than being repetitive I find new areas to explore afresh in some and comfort in the familiar places of ones I know better. Of course these woodlands change all the time, with the seasons, the weather. If one looks carefully enough and is sensitive to subtleties there is change all around.  This morning it is Monk’s Wood. Growing up a a hillside on determinedly clay soil it is markedly different from the he two fen woodlands of Holme and Woodwalton. These latter two are pancake flat being in the drained marshes of the fens. They are also relatively new.  The silver birches of Holme would not have turned up until after the draining of the fens as they prefer well drained soil. The nearby area of Whittlesey is the last of the fenlands to be drained so the forest is perhaps 150 years old.  Woodwalton Fen was purchased by Charles Rothschild in 1910 as a nature reserve. I am not ...

I slept in on this Sunday morning and probably missed the best of the fog. By mid-day there was still some fog around the house and I had the chance to venture out for a couple of hours. I drove down to Holme Fen if only because I hadn’t been there the longest.  When I arrived there were lots of parked cars; more than I have ever seen before. The weather was dry so I can hardly blame them. I went out to the eastern-most coverts as I haven’t been to then in a while and the forest opens up in a few areas so I might exploit the fog there better.  By the time I got out the fog seemed to be slacking and didn’t provide as much mood as I had hoped. The autumn was moving on and many of the silver birch leaves were turning from yellow-green to a more orange brown color.  Gone now is the tyranny of green; to such an extent the eye thirsts for fresh green growth amongst the mostly brown bracken and naked tree limbs. The oaks however hold onto their leaves; for now at least. I pass t...

I almost didn't bother getting out of bed when the alarm sounded at 5:30AM. The weather report indicated clouds and some rain. Not promising and I have been through a lot of film this past week. However I thought there won't be much color left soon as I heaved myself out of bed and walked quietly downstairs.  I found the cafetiere washed it out and boiled the kettle. Meanwhile I got into my insulted hiking trousers, found the dry pair of boots and some dry socks. Made the coffee and filled the thermos. I stealthily went out the door with my pack, thermos and boots. I placed these in the boot of the car. It feels unseasonably warm. It is very dark with some light through the partings of the clouds. Venus shines brightly through a gap and the waning sliver of moon glows behind some thin clouds. There is a thin fog but not terribly promising.  I make the drive in silence. I really don't like the radio to break the relative quiet of my mood in...