Morning Walk Shots 4
I decided to take a route we normally don’t take at night just to see what it had to offer. I guess the image of the shadows on the wall from the previous outing got me looking at shadows on surfaces because I quickly saw one that made a lot of sense. I took several different images, but settled on one that gave prominence to the tree and to the shadow it cast.
I made my way back past where I photographed the dog in the road (he wasn’t there this time) and although I made a better image than the previous one, I settled on another image just a bit further up the road. It’s another take on the confluences of roads and drives one finds on the hillside, with a sign added for extra interest.
I turned uphill on a street with houses tightly packed with each other and the street front. It was there where the shadows from a gated entrance caught my eye.
A bit further up the road I noticed a cat in the alley and figured I had better photograph it lest I get jinxed.
At the end of the road I came across another one of those images that I can’t decide whether it’s oddly interesting or just plain stupid. I don’t know, something said to photograph it so I did. I’m supposed to understand it too?
Looping my away around and then starting my downhill trek I came across another one of my complex intersection - bus stop with sign images that seem to be a running theme with these night shots.
I made a few more images on the way back home, but I’ve decided I need to start being a bit more discerning in the images I post.
The next morning was a strange one. I didn’t plan on getting out on my walk so I slept in a bit. When I got up, I saw there was a bit of fog out (not enough apparently) so I headed on out . . . only to be mostly disappointed with the images I made. It’s like that sometimes. Especially early in a new process. You feel like you make three steps forward, only to suddenly feel like you’ve just taken two steps back. Still, it doesn’t mean you can’t learn from the images, even if it’s hard lessons. If I set aside the idea that the misty overcast was going to be a subject, it became a very good opportunity to experiment a bit
While the fog was not really engulfing, it did cast a soft light that I tried to take advantage of. There is an enclosed property that is populated with sheep and goats (and the periodic cow), so it’s pretty wild looking. Spring has arrived and everything is shooting up, to include the ferns. So I stuck my camera through the open-wire fence and made an image. I wish I’d had a green filter, but alas, it’s still with Ann in the US (I couldn’t find one here to order!). It was black and white chaos, but with a bit of heavy, very heavy burning, I was able to bring out the fern that looked so obvious in the viewfinder.
I’d though the fog would be settled into every nook and cranny, but it only looked like that from a distance. As you walked into it you barely perceived it. Still, it helped obscure distracting backgrounds (read: modern buildings and construction cranes), so I headed down a walkway we take sometimes to see what could be done.
It was another lesson in the fact that I really need to re-learn black and white image making. Again, with a little burning and dodging I was able to make something of the image, but really it was nothing compared to what I was thinking it would be like. Yet another step backwards.
Several more images I tried on this walk were . . . disappointing. Though the morning was saved by a strange thought I had as I was passing the sheep/goat pasture on the way back to the house. The open-wire fence just seemed to jump out and for once I understood the image in black and white (and what I would need to do to make it work) before I made the exposure.
It’s not much, but it’s what I saw and to be able to bring that out once I downloaded the chip (yes, it needed work too - but I knew it did when I made it) at least made me feel that the morning’s lessons were worth it.