The third in  a series of four ‘photographic walks’ has come and gone. We had planned this one to coincide with autumn colours hoped for a decent day.

We were fortunate on both accounts; the colours were stunning and the day was kind with a strong light in the morning and a softer diffuse light in the afternoon. We discussed how to best work with the conditions and what to look for on a walk that took us through some of the finest mature woodland in the Caerphilly area. As with all the other walks we don’t actually get that far! There’s simply so much to photograph and we could have spent the whole day within a few hundred yards of our meeting point. There’s nothing like being on location to teach about photography and show, with examples, the type of images that are possible and how to source them. It was a really good day and hopefully those who came with us have learnt something about how to ’see’ photographically within this type of landscape work.

The second in the retrospective series from Bala, North Wales.

My work with a farming community in Bala, North Wales started some 28 years ago and over the next year I’m aiming to take the work back to the community to properly archive all the images.

As a result I’ve been re-visiting the work and here is the first a number of posts that open the archives and also make me feel old!!

At WWT Llanelli today running the intermediate photography/wildlife course. Wet but not at all cold.

Spent the morning in the centre discussing issues related to wildlife photography and the importance of having a sound knowledge of the technical aspects of the medium so that you are able to concentrate on your subject. Technique becomes something you first have to learn and then continually practice, but it must become second nature if you are to move forward with your photography. The third and last in the series of courses at WWT will run on Sunday 8th November. It’s the advanced course where I concentrate more on how to capture birds in flight. There are still three places left on the course.

The afternoon saw us working the hides and I spent a couple of hours in the Broadwalk. I stay in one hide whilst those on the course move to others if they so wish. It’s just so folk know where I am  if they need any advice. It was a quiet time today and apart from a Heron (this hide has to be the best for Herons) and the normal run of ducks there was nothing to really get to grips with. So, despite hundreds of Herons in my files, you have a go with them again. But as I stated in one of the first posts on this blog they will always have a special place in my birding experiences.

I’ve been out and about to various parts of the country in the last week or so, and as always camera with me, without it you feel somehow undressed.

It’s something I am constantly harping on about to students. It amazes me when they’re asked if they have a camera with them and a good proportion don’t even consider it to be odd that they haven’t. Very strange!

A photographer doesn’t just work when out on specific photographic projects. A photographer is someone who is constantly tuned into their surroundings and passionate about simply looking and that means at all times night and day. It’s also how you get better and better at looking, everything takes a good deal of practice to get it right. No different with photography and unless you are prepared to embrace it in this way your photography and ability to see will never move on.

]]> http://www.timcollierphotography.com/2009/10/10-recent-images/feed/ 4 http://www.timcollierphotography.com/2009/09/what-bird-did-that/ http://www.timcollierphotography.com/2009/09/what-bird-did-that/#comments Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:54:59 +0000 Tim Collier http://www.timcollierphotography.com/?p=2845

On our recent trip to Flat Holm I was talking to the group about the essence of a place and the nature of abstraction within photography. A couple of images I show related to this are of bird shit!

I’ve maintained that they produce some interesting shapes and colours all of their own and could constitute a serious body of work! Alan, who was on the trip, happened to mention a little book he had come across which would be just up my street – all about bird shit – or splays to give them their correct terminology. At Llanelli on the weekend he sought me out and gave me a gift of the aforementioned book. Brilliant! I love the captions under each graphic image. Here’s a couple:

Woodpigeon: This specimen: Near Limpley Stoke, Wilts. Blustery SW gusts. November 21st 1990. 2.45pm. 25mph.

Rook: This specimen: By Fieldsat Pett Levels, near Winchelsea Beach, E Sussex. July 1986. Fine. NE breeze. 5.30pm. 60mph.

An interview with the author is to be found here!

Thanks Alan, much appreciated and lots of laughs!

There are some hidden gems around, and often in your own locality, that for various curious and unfathomable reasons you have never visited before.

One such is Sudley House. It’s in the Aigburth district of Liverpool and is one of very few houses that are decorated in a classic Victorian style, exhibiting many original features. More interestingly it houses the only surviving Victorian merchant art collection still hanging in its original setting, and despite living in Liverpool till my early twenties I never even realised it was there!

It actually houses some wonderful paintings that George Holt began collecting around 1860. Turner, Richard Wilson, John Linnell, Millais, Richard Parkes Bonington, Rossetti, William Holman Hunt, Burne Jones, Gainsborough, Reynolds and Corot are all represented along with a host of others. There are no vast pieces, which would have simply been too big for a private  ‘house’ collection but there is an intimacy that pervades every room.

If I have a favourite it would be Richard Parkes Bonington’s Ships at Anchor painted around 1824. It has a wonderful almost geometric economy of form and a freshness in the colour that evokes beautifully a Northern French port.

On this particular visit there was also a temporary exhibition of fashion in a Liverpool sugar merchant’s family, which provided some interesting opportunities for photography of the manikins that were clothed in some of the dresses of the period between 1910 and 1940. The hands in particular interested me and seemed both theatrical and sinister at the same time.

The really good thing about Sudley is that you’re free to take whatever photographs you want, where ever you want and, as long as they’re not for commercial gain or you’re using a tripod or flash, you can shoot away. So much better than the often stuffy attitude that prevails in many, if not all National Trust properties and many other places besides.  As long as you’re not obstructing or spoiling others enjoyment (and sensible and sensitive photographers would never do that) then where’s the problem. I can understand the ‘for or commercial gain’ aspect but beyond this it seems churlish and very unreasonable. Photographers are being shackled at too many places at the moment and I’m all for freedom to take images where I want and not where I’m told I can or can not.

So it was a delight to wander freely in a ‘real home’ and respond to it in my own way without prying eyes ready to pounce. Sudley is a gem and I’ll be back to savour the atmosphere before too long.

We at last managed to get over to Flat Holm on Saturday. The previous three course having been canceled due to poor weather and for a while it was touch and go as to whether we would make it this time.

An early start saw us on the quay at Channel Reach in Cardiff Bay by 7.00am and on the Island soon after 8.00pm. By working the tides we were able to get a good ten hours on Flat Holm, which enables folk to really begin to engage with many aspects of the Islands fascinating history and natural history. This particular day saw the lowest tide of the year and exposed some further 40 acres of the Island and revealed rocks and the original pier that are rarely seen.

After a light breakfast we  discussed various approaches of how to photograph the Island and began to consider the importance of having a specific direction when building a folio of the day. Following this we embarked on a superb guided tour, with Alan, one of the assistant wardens, giving the group a real sense of what the Island is all about; It’s so important to know your subject before you begin to record it and this tour answered many questions and filled in the gaps.

By 11.30am the rest of the day, till 6.30pm., lay ahead; time enough to soak in the special atmosphere that is unique to Islands and begin to respond to it in a personal way. The group were all enthusiastic and keen to move their photography forward and enjoyed the fine hospitality of the Flat Holm staff. Matt, the warden, could not have been more accommodating and has some exciting ideas of how to move the Island forward and place it on a sound business footing in the future.

On our way back to the mainland we circled the Island, crossing the strong currents that run through the channel at this point, before arriving back at the Bay via the barrage, another interesting subject to photograph. It had been a long day, 7.30pm, before we arrived at the quay, but a really good one with all having had a great experience and hopefully learning a little about how to document a day out!

]]> http://www.timcollierphotography.com/2009/08/photography-course-on-flat-holm/feed/ 3 http://www.timcollierphotography.com/2009/08/quick-tip-9-identifying-images/ http://www.timcollierphotography.com/2009/08/quick-tip-9-identifying-images/#comments Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:23:07 +0000 Tim Collier http://www.timcollierphotography.com/?p=2654

When your out and about a lot with the camera, particularly on a trip of a couple of weeks, and continually taking images day after day it’s easy to forget where they were taken.

At the time you think you’ll never forget, but a couple of years down the line it’s amazing how the days merge and locations become blurred. It’s particularly important if your shooting landscape after landscape.

You can embed this information into digital files either as text or a short recording, but I think the most effective and easiest way to ensure you know where he images were taken is to simply photograph the OS map, or road map , you have with you at the time. Place a pen at the spot you are working and record it as an image.  It then appears within the context of all the images taken around that location. Simple but effective and I wish I’d done it at the beginning of my time with a camera as it would help identify areas that are now virtually impossible to remember deep in contact sheets and digital files. You can also see from the image here areas I have drawn onto the map prior to the trip, identifying places I want to photograph.