Pine tree bark

click photo to enlarge
With a "normal" length lens mounted on your camera - say 35mm or 50mm - or a zoom that covers the normal range a photographer wanders along looking around in much the same way that you do when you're not carrying a camera. However, putting a macro lens on a camera immediately alters the photographer's focal distance and field of view. You immediately start to look more closely at the objects nearby, and you home in narrowly on them, searching for interest in detail. At least that's what generally happens to me.

In the past I've likened seeing the world through the macro lens to returning to one's childhood, a time when small, nearby details, for example the ground, holes, tree roots, the texture of a wall or the reflection in a door handle, invited extended study and offered endless fascination. A while ago I was doing a little communal work with a group of villagers, cutting suckers and low branches from some roadside trees. As we went about our task I found myself at the base of one of a group of tall pine trees (Scot's pines, I think). The pattern and colour of the bark immediately caught my eye. Tree bark has been one of my recurring photographic subjects (see, for example, the bark of this silver birch, this Tibetan cherry and this plane tree), and I made a mental note to return with my camera and get a couple of shots of the fine texture.

When I did so, on a rather dull morning, I ended up with bark photographs that have a quality that in the past has caused me to reject such shots. Namely, the fine granularity of the bark can make the photograph appear to be out of focus when in fact it is perfectly sharp. That has happened, to an extent, here. However, in this instance I quite like how it offers a contrast to the sharp lines. Incidentally, and thinking once more about our childhood eyes and interests, the patterns in bark are rather like wallpaper, curtains and clouds in being very good at suggesting hidden faces, animals etc. I can see a vulture's head in this example, but again, that's probably just me!

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 100mm macro
F No: f5
Shutter Speed: 1/100 sec
ISO: 200
Exposure Compensation:  0.33
Image Stabilisation: On

Bark and business ethics

click photo to enlarge

"Business ethics" sometimes sounds like an oxymoron. Yesterday's post shows one example of how, in the pursuit of profit, business can ignore good manners. And, unfortunately, further examples large and small are not difficult to find. Today I came across another instance. It's not one of the big, basic, glaring examples, such as believing that pricing according to what the market will pay is "right" by definition, and that further ethical consideration of what to charge is therefore unneccessary. No, it's another small detail that is representative of the deep malaise that underpins so-called business ethics.

Today my computer invited me to update a piece of software that is widely used by Windows. I clicked the necessary box to set the process in motion and was presented with a further page requiring me to click another box in order to proceed. However, in the middle of that page was a block of text, and within that writing was the invitation to add a Yahoo toolbar to my browser. Nothing wrong with that you might think: it's free and it might give the user increased functionality. But there was something wrong, something that I call unethical, and it was this. The box indicating my desire to download this toolbar was ready ticked. In other words, if I'd simply clicked the "continue" box for the piece of software I was updating I'd have had this toolbar installed by default, whether I wanted it or not. Somewher behind this, I imagine, there must be deal that benefits the software company: payments perhaps, for accepting the "piggy-backing" of the Yahoo toolbar. Why is it unethical? Because the box is already ticked and the probable intention is that the user doesn't notice this and downloads the toolbar unwittingly. Like the "witheld" phone number, these "pre-populated" boxes are becoming very common. It's very likely that the big companies that boast about their ethical, environmental and other policies are the ones who are most guilty of this unethical practice.

I was pondering this as I took an afternoon stroll with my wife during which I took this photograph of silver birch bark. I have a fondness for the bark of this particular tree, and I was pleased to find this lovely section on the trunk of one that was growing in a garden next to the footpath. The soft colours, folds, unfurling strips of paper-thin covering, and the detailed horizontal markings all invited my camera.

Another examples of my silver birch bark photographs can be seen here.

photograph and text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Lumix LX3
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 5.1mm (24mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/160
ISO: 80
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Tibetan Cherry bark

click photo to enlarge
Recently I noted my liking for the bark of the London Plane Tree, a subject I've photographed on three occasions (1, 2, 3). But it's not just the bark of this particular species that fascinates me; I'm drawn to any that is attractively figured. Other varieties that I've posted in the past are silver birch and eucalyptus.

A couple of days ago I came across a tree that I've wanted to photograph for a while - the Tibetan Cherry (Prunus serrula) - a species with red bark that looks like polished mahogany. Often it is very lightly figured with very few of the raised strips that resemble more "normal" bark. However, the example that I found had quite a few regularly spaced around its trunk, giving it a striated, semi-abstract appearance that appealed to me enormously.

This tree also goes under the names Birch Bark Cherry and Paper Bark Cherry, so the Latin name is useful for pinning down the particular species. Its habit of casting strips of bark as it ages is presumaby one of the reasons these names arose. This is a tree that positively cries out for you to touch it and feel its smooth, highly polished surface, and consequently I was surprised to find it planted in the centre of a flower bed out of reach. I think if I had one it would be grown next to a path so that everyone who passed by could indulge their desire!

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 102mm (204mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/160
ISO: 200
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Bark pictures

click photo to enlarge
I'm starting to think that I have a thing for the London Plane - the tree that is (Platanus hispanica), not some BA or Virgin aircraft. I've taken more than a few images of its bark, and posted two of them before, here and here. What I like about it is the patterns that you find, as well as the interesting colours and almost infinite variations on its basic theme. I find that I'm unable to pass one of these trees without inspecting the trunk to see if I can capture another example of this attractive surface.

Several days ago, when I was in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, I came across this tree. Its bark was flaking off in rounded pieces. The surfaces that were revealed seemed to get darker the longer they had been exposed to light and air. I took a few shots around the trunk with my pocket compact camera, but then concentrated on this area of bark. Why this piece? Well, framing it in the camera it occurred to me that the shapes looked like a one-eyed cat looking back at me - and that seemed a good enough reason for a photograph. I've no doubt that the patterns of plane tree bark are a little like some wallpapers, and different people will see different things in them. But, for me, with this example, all I see is the cat!

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Lumix LX3
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 5.1mm (24mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f5
Shutter Speed: 1/1000
ISO: 80
Exposure Compensation: -0.66 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Yellow wagtails and eucalyptus trees

click photo to enlarge
At the age of eleven I developed an interest in birds that continues to this day. I don't remember too much about my first year's birdwatching apart from what I now call the "yellow wagtail effect". I must have seen this species before I took a deeper interest in birds, but I hadn't known it for what it was. However, after I'd recognised my first bird I seemed to see them everywhere. That initial proper sighting seemed to lift a filter from my eyes and the bird was revealed as fairly common alongside the Yorkshire Dales river and its nearby pastures. Sadly, the species is much less common today. A while ago I had an experience that reminded me of the yellow wagtail effect.

In the garden of a nearby house are a couple of very tall, broad-leaved evergreen trees. They carry their leaves quite distinctively on clusters of branches at the end of sturdy limbs. Ever since I moved to my present home I've admired them, but haven't known what they are. Then, the other day, I saw the tree in today's photograph with its lower bark hanging in strips and loops, looking quite forlorn. On closer inspection it was clear that the tree was deliberately shedding the bark, and the new wood underneath was quite healthy. I was attracted by the purple and bluish tinges that accompanied the new green wood, and took a few shots.

It was only after I'd done this that I looked higher up the tree and realised it was another example of the species that I'd been admiring. So, back at my study I did some research in my books and on the web. After a bit of digging I discovered that the tree was a variety of eucalyptus. Now I've seen eucalyptus many times before, but usually they've been younger and smaller, and perhaps not this variety. But, ever since I've taken an interest in this tree I've seen more and more examples as I've travelled about. Once more a filter has been lifted from my eyes. It seems that the rich Lincolnshire soil, and the climate that's relatively warm in summer, and colder in winter, suits the eucalyptus so it is reasonably commonly grown for ornamental purposes.

Prior to my research I knew as much about the eucalyptus as the average person. That is to say I knew only two things: that the leaves are the main food of the koala (you don't see many of those in Lincolnshire!), and eucalyptus oil is added to a number of sore throat remedies. My research increased my knowledge of the tree, but didn't tell me why it seems to be fairly popular in this part of England, but less so (at least to my untrained eye) farther north and west. Perhaps when I next venture into those areas I'll now see what was previously hidden from me.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 22mm (44mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/50
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.7 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Silver birch bark

click photo to enlarge
There are times when we see words as if for the first time. You know the occasions: you're writing something and you include a word, but it doesn't look right. You stare at it, and think, "I'm sure I've spelt it correctly", but the more you look the more wrong it seems. Then, instead of seeing the form of the whole word you start to see parts and individual letters, and you have to check with a source to see if, in fact, you have spelt the word properly because it looks like a word you've never seen before. This happens with me periodically, and apparently it's a widely experienced phenomenon.

The ability to see things as if for the first time, is a wonderful gift - though not necessarily with words when writing! But, to rediscover the magic of a person's face, an object or a place, and experience the sensations of that first look, can be wonderful. People report this feeling after a near-death experience, after coming through major surgery, or when facing a death sentence. But for some it can happen in the normal course of events. Many artists seem to be able to summon up the experience, and perhaps it can be taught or acquired. I find that it comes upon me in much the same way as I described with words; reasonably regularly, but of its own volition.

The other day I was looking at the bark of a silver birch tree before taking a photograph. The more I looked for a section that offered an interesting composition, the more the bark looked strange, odd, new and fascinating. I've looked at silver birches many times, so there was no good reason for these feelings, but I certainly enjoyed them. I chose the part above because I "saw" three-dimensional structures in the thin, papery bark - stepped, sedimentary cliffs, fractured stone, plains with outcropping rock; and running up to these angular zig-zags that looked like the leading points of an advancing army passing across a desert, seen from high above. Fanciful? Certainly. Fun? Undoubtedly. A bit weird? Probably!!

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 35mm macro (70mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/200
ISO: 200
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Plane tree bark

click photo to enlarge

I remember reading a while ago that the reason antelopes have light coloured hair on the lower sides and underneath of their bodies is to better camouflage them by counteracting the effect of the shadow thrown by light coming from above. Thus, to a lion the antelope's body is less three-dimensional and therefore less visible. The writer noted that this kind of colouration is common across many mammal species, birds and fish. Whether evolution has caused these animals to develop like this to protect them from predators, or whether another reason is responsible for the phenomenon, I don't know, but the theory certainly sounds plausible.

And yet, if it were effective, wouldn't we see the principle being used in the camouflage paint schemes that are applied to tanks and other military vehicles? Military aircraft are often darker above and lighter below, but I imagine that is more to do with making them harder to see from above and below rather than from the side.

In fact, camouflage is an interesting science that has evolved over time. Take the battledress of infantry soldiers. It wasn't until the mid-nineteenth century that bright colours, designed to distinguish armies from each other stopped being used, and were replaced by "earth" colours intended to make the individuals less conspicuous. And not until the mid-twentieth century were khaki, lovat, green, field grey, white (in snow), etc. replaced by multicoloured patterns that sought to break up the outline of the wearer even more effectively. Today the early two-tone green and brown have given way to mottled effects of three or more "earth" colours whose shades and pattern are changed with the latitude and landscape in which an army is deployed.

I was reflecting on this as I photographed the bark of this plane tree (Platanus hispanica). The colours and shapes reminded me very much of modern battle-dress camouflage, and I wondered if the designers had been inspired by this tree that is found in many of our urban and suburban areas. The attractiveness of the bark is obvious, but military camouflage is quite seductive too otherwise it wouldn't have found its way into high street fashions! Incidentally, this is the second shot of plane tree bark that I have taken this year, though the previous tree was in another town altogether, and quite different.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 35mm macro (70mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/40
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.7 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

400th blog post

click photo to enlarge

As I prepared this post I noticed it is the 400th* since I began the blog on December 23rd 2005.

I started PhotoReflect to give my photography a focus and to try and improve the quality of my images. I think it has done that, and the comments and emails I receive seem to suggest it's so too. The short pieces that have accompanied each post were also designed to challenge me. In the early days of the blog I found coming up with subjects fairly easy. Lately it's been harder! The quality of my writing seemed to improve as the months passed, but then levelled off. Lately, it's maybe slipped back a touch!

The interruptions that there have been due to work and moving house proved to be useful in that I came back to posting re-energised, with a backlog of photographs to work through, and some fresh topics to discuss. At the moment I'm finding the time for photography and "reflecting", but the time will surely come when I'll take another break. I've had a several emails asking me why the facility to comment has been removed. The one word answer is "Spam". I may return the feature at some point in the future, but it will probably be moderated i.e. I'll have to read and approve each one before it's posted. In the meantime I've been happy to get emails from regular correspondents and the occasional new reader, and I hope you'll continue to send me your feedback. I'm currently revising my "Best of PhotoReflect", and I'll let you know when that's ready to view.

I can't let this milestone pass without saying that the feedback I've had through this blog, and on the photography forums where I post, has invariably been positive, insightful and helpful, and has played a big part in helping me to improve my photography and keep finding the images. Thank you everyone!

Today's photograph is some tree bark I came across in a busy town centre. I think it's a plane tree (Platanus hispanica), but I'd be happy to be corrected if anyone knows otherwise.

* Some of you may have added up each year's total, arrived at 396, and are now wondering about my facility with mathematics. The fact is, for very specific reasons, I've recently removed 4 of the older posts.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 68mm macro (136mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/40
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On