Saddles and such

I’m wondering if I’m stuck in this groove forever now. That is the square format. I had forgotten about it and that my camera was set to that mode from the last session. Looking at the photos taken today, I’m not disappointed. It’s an experiment gone right. I couldn’t identify the objects hanging from the ceiling here but they complement the old saddles nicely. I’m also enjoying the red and yellow highlights in the background. This display of goods belongs to the iron horse man. Some more photos to come with background story.

Putting black where it doesn't belong

Here’s the original

The original image shows very little contrast. I mean minimal. You may not even consider taking this shot due to it’s invisibility. When converting to b&w image I like to experiment a little. Increasing the contrast significantly (adding black) brings out the details. This image had an extraordinary amount of texture hidden in the original exposure.. I have to see that to some extent and for which reason I went ahead and took this photo. Bizarre looking tentacles are simply water tracks in the sand. And because the image has become unrecognisable for what it is, scale is also difficult to work out making us think a lot more about what we are seeing.

Inside the square

Continuing with the square conversation… or, following up on the self imposed moratorium on non-square formats…I reminded myself to keep to this. I lived in a house many years ago that had a very big front window. We always enjoyed the wide view of the world looking out. You could watch the comings and goings of the neighbourhood. So, the question arises why we like looking at the world through smaller ‘windows’? Is it the intimacy of the viewpoint? Like spying through a keyhole? The challenge is to fill the view with significance. Or, to use the shape to highlight a patters or some other geometry or interplay of lines. After all the square format is powerful with both dimensions getting equal weight or importance. Let’s see how we can take advantage of it. I’m going to stick to it for a while.

Exploring other formats

I took this photo in the Flinders Ranges 20 years ago. It’s one of my favourites from the trip. I didn’t take many in this square format which I really like. It may be a format more suited to other types of photography than landscape. Since having the Fuji GFX I’m happy to shoot in 4x3 as I prefer the more compact format as compared to the standard 3x2. Square though is another level of restriction. I’d like to produce a series, not necessarily landscape using this. It’s not that daring since the Fuji has the ‘safety’ feature of keeping the full-size image and not just the crop version. Still a good exercise I think.

mouthful of grass

Petrified Orang utan with a mouthful of grass. ; ) There was an episode of the Simpson’s that featured ‘People who look like things’. There’s a lot of that in nature. Except this is things that look like people… or maybe animals.

Local Xpan

Modified Fuji Pro 400H

Standard RAW conversion

Fuji Pro 400H simulation

I was so close to buying a medium format film camera like the Shen Hao 4x5 or similar a few years back. A romantic idea combined with a desire to work with the film process and enjoy the slower method of producing images. I also like Portra film stock and used it extensively with a film camera previously. To cut a long story short - it didn’t happen. Plan B was to get some of Leica’s new film stock and put it through a 35mm film camera. I borrowed a Contax G2 Rangefinder camera for that purpose then thought why use a 35mm camera and get lesser results than from MF? You can see a mixture of thoughts here basically all revolving around film. So, I approached it from all angles to try to make it work but in the end I have an amazing MF Fujifilm camera more than capable of producing stellar results without the need for further expenditure. Colour grading has infinite options if you don’t like the stock standard results from either RAW or other simulations. I began with Fuji Pro 400H sim and modified it to suit my taste. Above is a selection of conversion options.

two scenes

One thing wide angles lenses allow you to accomplish well is to place two scenes adjacent to each other. That can be quite impactful. By the same token you have to work a bit harder at it. The reason being you have to be more discerning about what you leave in and what you leave out. Are you weakening the image by including certain elements. The brain has to work at seeing the how the two go together. Stimulating the brain’s activities is what we should be attempting to achieve with our photography (others and our own). In composing an image that’s pretty much what we work at. Refining the vision is another way of expressing it. Looking at a scene is a bit like solving a puzzle. What does one element have to do with another? It may be complementary or it may be there to create tension or intrigue. That’s the creative choice of the artist.

I also wanted to mention that in this case it’s not just wide angle but cropped wide angle. Cropped so that you don’t have to worry about filling the foreground with meaningful ‘content’. 16x9 or Xpan has it’s own appeal (or in this case 22x10). It’s not the right format for every image but can be used to great effect. PS. This image has a LOT more punch than is rendered on this website.

retouching

I have a preset which I have mentioned previously. It basically makes the image lean more towards greens than magenta. Other than that I don’t find much need to adjust an image colourwise. Having said that, it could be tweaked for use in different situations, for example street photography or portraiture. It doesn’t seem to have a negative effect on skin tones I’ve noticed. Film stocks like Portra are used equally well for portraits as well as nature.

The Fuji GFX renders images so well that very little adjustments really need to made to produce a very pleasing image, in my opinion at least. Of course personal taste varies for all of us. I do prefer a more subtle expression of colours rather than make everything ‘stand out’ by applying high levels of saturation. To this end, the Fuji does a great job. In doing post editing I ask myself whether this action will improve the image or not. I don’t use Instagram or any photo web sites so I’m not really influenced by those - latest trends in looks etc. If the image doesn’t appeal to me naturally then no amount of colouring will make it more so. Black and white processing is another matter.

The Sunbaker

When I acquired the Fujifilm GFX 100S, I got it with three lenses. Shortly after I thought to sell the 23mm lens as I wasn’t really doing that much serious wide angle photography. I may have even had it on -Bay for sometime but - no bites. Anyway, I kept for that odd occasion I might be able to make use of it. In particular using it combined with the Fuji’s options to do 16x9 and Xpan images in camera. Anyone doing regular wide angle shooting will know the foreground can be an issue - not filling it sufficiently with meaning subject matter will ruin the shot. I was happy to see this chap enjoying a bit of afternoon sun and listening to music. I thought I was pretty safe sitting next to him and taking this shot. I’ll post some more Xpans after editing. I guess it’s kind of a humorous ode to Max Dupain’s ‘The Sunbaker’.

River scene

I visited this nearby river today after a severe thunderstorm and pretty serious rainfall episode. Often this river overflows the crossing in a dramatic fashion after such an event making for an interesting photo. However, not today. So, I was content taking this image. Very subdued lighting giving a more even look to all the elements.

Making use of the B&W conversions available today. When I took this photo, I looked at the scene as a B&W image. The darkness of the river which split the two sides of the bank, the brightness of the sandy shore adjacent plus the highlighted plants either side of the river. In addition, I’m a bit of a sucker for detail, so I don’t want to do a conversion that makes the detail disappear.. The plants on the left also don’t appear quite as clearly as they did seeing them - they kind of merge. So, there are some compromises you need to accept. One thing I avoid in the conversion process is to use the same conversion style for all B&W images. There are sufficient angles in the scene though to give it some life - and mainly diagonals.

Choosing a subject

You can see the bigger picture here. I made a choice to narrow down the wide angle views. You can see the two main rocks in each image. The third image is the final one which I printed (titled The Scream, after Edvard Munck’s famous painting). Although Tasmania may not have the same big vistas that say NZ has, there are many many smaller intimate areas to explore and many out of the way beach areas. In fact this sandstone alcove would have been difficult to access had the tide been further in. It was right on the shoreline but you had to make an effort to walk around and explore. The final image in this sequence was taken looking across the bay. None of this is visible just walking along the beach. You have to climb around the rocks a little.

Sandstone cave - north end of Randall’s Bay, Tasmania

Final image: The Scream.

Across the other side of the bay. You can only walk so far but there are many angles to explore.

View looking away from sandstone caves

Bush art trail

Its been around 12 years since I did this walk and now I’m not finding much mention of it online. Fleurtys - seemed to be the host of artworks displayed in the forest in a location called Flowerpot. Charles Fleurty, a convict who was shipped to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) in the early 1800s for various crimes and misdemeanours had this place named after him. Tasmania, like NSW hosted plenty of convicts who were given hard labour and often died of sickness and the rigours of the convict ‘lifestyle’.

Rustic bench on the bushwalk

'Goodbye' grafitti

I discovered this grafitti on the side of a water tank ,in the course of a bushwalk somewhere in Tasmania.. Quite a sensitive message to a couple of friends. Looks like they suffered an unavoidable fate due to alcohol perhaps. Apart from that, I like the naive artwork/style and colours. Some thought was put into it.

sunken shack

Not far from the fallen tree. It’s difficult at times to get access to interesting subjects that are far from the road. You are restricted by narrow possibility of angles. You also might need a tele lens to get close enough. There are fences around big properties which limit access. Still, this old shack has a lot of character.