Digley Reservoir - Holme, W. Yorkshire '16

A postcard from Digley...

Paul Abbott said:

A postcard from Digley...

Digley Reservoir - Holme, W. Yorkshire '16 - Paul Abbott​

Click to expand...

Paul,

Allow me to correct you: this is no postcard. Cutting away lower 1/5th to 1/3 of the picture would have made the perfect postcard; pretty and sentimental. You however include the major hook of the beach of sand curving around the lower left quadrant and upsetting the usual prettiness we expect in such scenes.

When I first looked at the picture, I hadn't, as yet, even noticed the text above it, mentioning "postcard". Still, I thought, wouldn't it be a perfect holiday card to send home if the serious hook at the base was removed.

Commercial headshots, like postcards, are not meant to be serious, just pleasant and have no serious undertones. They are both meant to be casual and enjoyable but with no thought-racking motifs built in. A commercial headshot can't show the actor to be opinionated or complex, as it is an accompanying product to be pitched. Likewise a holiday postcard is no more than a pretty flower with which to introduce the greeting on the other side. One is not meant to invest more than one glance at the prettiness and then treasure the written message, however brief: it's the thought that counts.

Here, however, your picture is complex and deserves some attention as the lack of cropping indicates that you might have had more thoughts beyond the merely the usual sentimental and transient nostalgia such postcard prettiness provides.

The pictures makes me pay attention and wonder why you dos as you did and what secret references your brain was making. For me, this composition is unsettling, interesting, handsome more than beautiful and certainly unforgettable and worth my attention.

Thanks for sharing!

Asher

Hey Asher, thanks for your view and comment, I appreciate it.
To tell the truth, with my 'postcard' line I was using it to say something as an introduction really.

This is the full frame shot and no cropping has been made to the image, I very rarely have to crop an image these days, especially with landscapes. I just like to get things right in the viewfinder. And so, I chose the rocky lines in the banking as a lead in for the eye, and to bring it back with the reflections, maybe. The still waters of the reservoir offered up a nice effect with the reflected sky and vapour trail too. Other than that, I liked the symmetry within the scene...

Paul,

A few photographers can actually frame what they need and exclude the rest. In my current studio, I mostly work with one 50 mm lens and am pressed against my giant parabolic umbrella to be able to somehow fully cover my subject, ever since I was booted out of my favorite long hallway!

More often than not, there's a reflector or some other equipment somewhere in the field, so I end up adding black space and cleaning up unwanted mess or torn paper.

In the street, again I am with just one lens and from the start know I will overlap adjacent fields to build the full composition later, at home.

Ideally, with a fabulous zoom lens, I would shoot as I would print and save myself a lot of time. I do admire that you prepare so well!

You would be great at shooting direct positives. A lot more disciplined and honest!

Asher

Hi, Paul,

Paul Abbott said:

A postcard from Digley...

Digley Reservoir - Holme, W. Yorkshire '16 - Paul Abbott​

Click to expand...

Marvelous image, so many wonderful ingredients.

Best regards,

Doug

Asher, it sounds like you may be doing a bit of cloning there too. no?
I think any photographer can afford to be more circumspect in the field of landscape photography, without resorting to have to crop in post-processing. Although I do still use a thick piece of card with the required sized aperture cut-out of it, to peer through. I used to use my smartphone to recce a scene but it's not as fast as a piece of card...
Lately, I have been wanting to shoot the landscape in a more documentary way, eschewing the tyranny of an idealised landscape. Basically studying and attempting (although, not with this image), what those master photographers Lewis Baltz, Joe Deal and Frank Gohlke (especially this guy), did back in the 70's. They were part of that 'New Topographics' movement kicking against the likes of Ansel Adams etc. Gohlke for me is yet another very inspiring figure...
In regard to you mentioning 'direct positives', i'm thinking you mean colour reversal or 'slides' or 'transparencies', no. I used to shoot a lot of them back in the film era, Fuji Velvia mainly. I used to project all my slide images too.

Thanks for your feedback, Doug.

Direct positives? I meant Polaroids or Cibachrome!

Asher

Oh yeah, I remember that word 'Cibachrome', but we called it 'Ilfochrome on these shores. I have never done anything like this though.
Always thought about shooting Polaroids and at one point was intent on buying a Polaroid camera but never did. The only reason being that back in the 90's I got inspired by 'No Code', Pearl Jam's album cover art which was adorned with Polaroid images. Having said that, I never shot much of anything in the mid to late 90's, I was all grunge rocked out.

Lovely image, Paul. Missing the stamp though!