Our five days in the Lake District had to be cut short to just two. Sometimes, life gets in the way, plus the weather wasn’t kind.
I didn’t really get any photo’s I would print, or put in a portfolio. But, I had time with my wife and my dogs, and right now, or always, that is the most important thing. Whatever you love in life, squeeze it for every bit of love and joy you can, while you can.
September. The start of my favourite months of the year when there are mornings like this, and I don’t have to be out of the house earlier than 6am to see them.
I absolutely love this image. The only editing I did was to crop it (I’m going through a widescreen phase). These fields are 250 meters from home. I pass them most days, and rarely do they look like this.
Who doesn’t love cows? It’s amazing how mist and light can completely change how a place looks. It’s actual magic.
Since our trip to Northumberland I’ve really enjoyed having man made elements in my images. I love the way the telephone mast and lines frame the tress here.
My favourite image from today. The light. The mist. Magic.
One camera, one lens. Not a big fan to be honest. It was an interesting challenge, but I didn’t like the restriction in focal length. And, while the GX80 is fairly flexible, there were times when my G9 or GM1 would have been more suitable for the situation I was in. I’m not saying I won’t do it again, but definitely not for a whole month. I don’t think I got any decent photos for the whole of August, but it wasn’t a great month and I haven’t been out of my village.
We’re coming into Autumn now. Less daylight, interesting light. Colours in the trees. A trip to the Lakes and Anglesey coming up. Can’t wait.
What a stunning place Northumbria is. It’s my family home on both sides, and I always love going back to the coast up there. We’ve had a fantastic week in Seahouses and Bamburgh and visits to Holy Island, Alnwick and Berwick. I’m going to let the photo’s speak for themselves. I’m holding a couple back for next years Landscape Photographer of the Year entries.
As I write this I find myself seriously considering selling some of my cameras and some lenses. There are a couple of reasons; firstly, it would make deciding what cameras to take on a trip a lot easier. Secondly, and more surprisingly – I found my iPhone actually did a great job on the times I was just out and about rather than intentionally going out to take photos. It actually had me considering if I actually needs all of this camera gear. Do I need to be carrying all of this stuff around when I can just use my phone? Is it easy to tell which of these photos are taken on an iPhone and what are taken on a camera? I genuinely can’t tell (it’s the one on the left).
As photography trips go, this was a bit disappointing. Here in my part of Yorkshire everything has regrown and the tress are covered in leaves, the flowers are out in bloom with lots of colour back in the landscape. A mere 60 miles away it still looks like winter in most parts. Not great conditions for landscape photography. But, we still had an amazing time with our friends which is what we really went for.
We’re only a month away from our next trip, which is up in Northumberland. Maybe I’ll just take my iPhone…
Only a few days until we head to the Dales for our first break of the year and I can’t decide what camera gear to take with me. I can’t even decide which bag to take. The first thing this tells me is that I probably have too much gear to start with.
Maybe if I write this all out it will help me come to a decision.
I like to travel light, but practical. Some things you can get by without, but are nice to have, some things are must haves. Let’s start with those. It makes sense to take my best camera body and lens. So, my G9 and Leica 12-60 are definitely going. The 45-150 is a no brainer. It’s small, stabilised, and a decent zoom – so, a practical choice. Tripod, has to be the Peak Design Tripod, again small, practical, and very good. I could probably manage with just those. These are all the things I want to use for actual landscape photography though, and not things I would want to carry around all day. So, do I take a smaller camera?
My GM1 (I now own two…) is a great camera unless you’re outside, then it’s hard to see the screen in bright conditions. Also, it isn’t weather sealed and there’s no stabilisation.
The G100 (right) has the same sensor as my G9, it also has the viewfinder the GM1 is missing, and a flip screen. It’s smaller and lighter than my G9, but it unlike the G9 it isn’t weather sealed. Not a problem if it’s dry. Also, no stabilisation, but if I use a 12-32 that’s stabilised. Problems solved?
So, we’re at two cameras and four lenses. Easy, right?
Not, if you’re me…
So, we have a G9 body, a G100 body. Four lenses, and a tripod. What about lights? ‘Lights for landscape photography’ I hear you say. Well, I’m thinking of maybe doing a bit of astro stuff if the weather is right. I thought the lights my be good if there’s an interesting subject such as a tree… over thinking? Me? Maybe just one. And, a gorillapod to stand it on.
I’m already thinking this getting out of hand….I’m not even half way through.
MacBook Pro? Can’t decide. Handy for other stuff, but am I actually going to have time for editing, or the other stuff? Is it dead weight?
Video cameras. I’ve never tried the Insta360 One-R’s star lapse mode, I’d like to, and it’s handy for other things too. I think that’s in. The Insta360 Go2 is so small art may as well go, and it’s fun to use and discrete.
The more I type, the less I want to take. That’s good thing right?
That just leaves, cables, filters. batteries – can’t do it without them – and last of all a bag. This is a nightmare.
During the day we’ll be hiking, and we’ll have the dogs, so a hiking backpack will take car of that. The G100 can go in a case in that bag through the day. Early morning I will be going our with the big camera, tripod etc. Makes sense to take a camera backpack, right? Or, do I go lighter and take a sling bag?
See, it’s too hard. Too many choices.
Maybe I will decide tomorrow….
It finally feels like Winter is back properly. Frosty, cold, dry – and no sign of rain for the next week! So, the weekend is looking good.
In the mean time, I took a couple of photos on our dog walk last night. Nothing exciting and I won’t even add them to my portfolio page, but it’s just nice to take some photos at last!
Once again, the weather absolutely sucks. Not that I could have gone out recently anyway, as I have a kidney infection. So, I’ve kept myself busy by rearranging my office. A roof leak meant I had to get a new monitor stand, a new Mac mini, and some new bookshelves. I decided to clear my shelves of junk and put some of my photos’ up instead. Similarly, I put some of my work on the walls. No point taking them if I never see them.
Photography wise – as I haven’t taken any in over a month I decided to go through some of my recent rejects and give them a second viewing. Most of them were still crap. Three of them got a second chance though.
There’s nothing spectacular about this one. In fact, it bugs me – it’s the wrong way around. The line leads to the left, and it doesn’t sit right with me. But, the edited version compared to the unedited version is much more representative of what I saw on the day.
Again, nothing outstanding. But, it’s not awful either. And, again also better after editing. The left hand side of it is messy with branches and the random sign on the fence. I think this would have worked a lot better if I’d stood two meters to the left.
This is the open moor near where I live. There is a good photograph somewhere in this vast space, but I’ve not found it yet. This is the best I’ve got so far. I don’t know why I disregarded this one, I actually quite like it. I think it needs more height so more of the wetlands are visible, and maybe a step or three back so show the exposed peat and give it more contrast in the foreground? What do I know?
So, three photos’ – none of them particularly good, and none of them absolutely awful either. What I’ve learned is it’s good to be self critical. To go back and revisit photos’ is a useful exercise as it’s allowed me to realise where I went wrong and that these spots do have a good photo in them somewhere. And, that maybe I shouldn’t be so hasty when choosing what photos’ to keep and which ones to go in the bin.
It seems a bit vain to choose what I think is my best photo of 2022. So, I’ve chosen this based on the number of likes my photos have gotten on Social Media platforms that are generally used by other photographers (Vero, Flickr, the M43 Reddit Sub), and this one was miles in front of the others.
The fact that it’s one of my most recent photos’ is pleasing, as I feel it shows that I’m getting better. It also shows that getting up early and a bit of planning really does pay off. I really took my time with this one and waited until the mist had cleared enough that the foreground was clear, but there was enough remaining in the distance to add another texture and mystery to where the line leads the eye. Well, in my mind anyway. I also worked to get into a position where the sun was behind one of the trees so that it didn’t over expose the top left of the image. I actually took two versions of this. One was a five stop bracket, and the other just a single exposure. This version is just the single exposure. The G9 did did a great job of keeping the contrast in the whole image, and the detail is amazing. One for printing and framing I think.
That’s it for this year. I’m really looking forward to 2023 and all of the trips we have planned. It’s going to be an exciting one.
I finally got to take my new G9 this week. I had to wait longer than I’d like after having steroid injections in my eyes, but it paid off as winter has finally arrived.
An afternoon where the temperature didn’t get above -4oC meant the frost was around all day, and a clear sky meant I could see if the G9 stabilisation was as good as I hoped. It didn’t disappoint, as I didn’t need to get my tripod out until sunset (except to try the high resolution mode). I am loving the G9. What a great camera Panasonic have made, except for the flipping shutter button. Why did they make it so sensitive? If nothing else it’s forced me to finally get used to back button focusing.
Bracketing – I need to do less of this and just focus on one photo.
Peak Design Tripod – I need to use this more. It weighs more than my other tripods, but it works better and the ball head can’t be beaten.
Going to the same place repeatedly- is worth it. I’m still finding new compositions and obviously places change with seasons.
The value of backing up – my Mac Mini died this week. Thankfully everything was backed up onto an external drive, Creative Cloud and iCloud. New one us coming on Monday!
Winter has been good for photography so far. It’s important to go out prepared though. Always take tea!
I didn’t have to go far for this one. Just the landing window, my little G100, a 45-150 lens, and a Gorillapod. Really pleased with this one.
This version is a low res j-peg, but the original is a massive 140mg high res from my G9. Taken from about 500m away at 300mm. Not a great composition, but an amazing exam of what the camera can do.
Shaun Madill Photography 