I really don't photograph birds...

click photo to enlarge
...except when I do! Today's photograph refers back to a post I made in 2008 which itself referred to a couple of posts entitled "I don't photograph birds" and "I DO photograph birds"(my best bird photograph). The latter pair are on a short-lived blog, PhotoQuoto, that I published during a break from PhotoReflect.

The fact is I'm not a bird photographer even though I have an interest in birds. But, as I explain in the posts referred to above, if a bird presents itself to me, in a way I can't ignore, or in a manner I find interesting, then I'll photograph it. This happened on a walk near Sleaford a few days ago. The semi-albino blackbird has more albinism than I've ever personally seen in this species, and that made it sufficiently noteworthy for me to take the shot. The heron is probably the bird I've photographed more than any other. Its large size, I suppose, compensates for my lack of long lenses. It also has the happy knack of presenting itself in photographically appealing ways. Here the bird was on the opposite bank of the river in a patch of sunlight, looking like it was the star in the spotlight. They're not great photographs. In fact, every other photograph of a heron I've taken is better than this one. But, they are interesting to me, and are further evidence that my photographic ouvre extends to more than inanimate objects!

photographs and text © Tony Boughen



Photo 1
Camera: Nikon D5300
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 140mm (210mm - 35mm equiv.) - cropped
F No: f8
Shutter Speed: 1/250 sec
ISO:100
Exposure Compensation: -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Form, function and the SR-71

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"Modern machines are built on purely functional lines, with the purpose of achieving a given performance with the most economical - which means the most perfect - means. The more consciously and methodically this aim is pursued, the more practically and functionally the construction of the machine will be conceived and the more satisfying will be its aesthetic effect - and no wonder, for the more clearly will the beholder appreciate the intentions of those who conceived and created the machine."
from Kurt Ewald, "The Beauty of Machines" (1925-6) translated and quoted in "Form and Function: A Source Book for the History of Architecture and Design 1890-1939"

Walking round the American Air Museum at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, I started to photograph the stiletto form of the Lockheed SR-71 "Blackbird". This strategic reconnaissance aircraft was designed in the early 1960s and saw service from 1966 until 1998. Its purpose was to fly very high and very fast to secure photographs and other data about actual and potential enemies. The SR-71 still holds a number of speed records including the "recognised course record", New York to London time of 1 hour 54 minutes and 56.4 seconds. The average speed here (including slowing for re-fuelling) was Mach 2.68 (2,040 mph) and the maximum speed is likely to have been in the region of Mach 3.2 (2,435mph). Speed by itself is not enough for a strategic reconnaissance aircraft; stealth is also a required attribute, so the design of the SR-71 features early ventures into that area of aircraft design and construction, the need to avoid being recognised by radar partly contributing to its unusual curved shape and, particularly, the "chines" that give it the flattened elliptical appearance from the front.

During my photography, and in discussion with my companions, I reflected on how the shape of the aircraft looks like a logical consequence of the design brief and the technology available to the engineers of the time: an example of, to use the short-hand phrase, "form following function". And that mis-quotation of the architect, Louis Sullivan, triggered a memory of a similar observation that I read many years ago from the 1920s, a period when architects and designers, especially those associated with the Bauhaus in Germany, were much absorbed with the link between the form of objects and their function. With a bit of digging in my library I found it (quoted above).

The interesting and strong silhouette of the aircraft, something that I wanted to stress in my photograph, wasn't shown to its best in the colour version of this shot. The floor, airfield grass and sky detracted from these qualities. Consequently I converted it to a black and white image which I think works better.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length:36mm
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/10
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation:  -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Snow, headlines and blackbirds

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Some British journalists are bone idle and write their stories before the event that they describe has happened. "Exam joy" appears every summer accompanied by a photograph of incredulous, laughing students reading their results from the papers distributed by their schools, accompanied by text that records yet another increase in grades. Similarly, when a fall of the white stuff happens, out comes the headline "Arctic weather causes chaos", though to be fair, journalists sometimes revert to the less pithy (but essentially similar), "Country grinds to halt under blanket of snow." Then follows the inevitable article about how Britain can't cope with a fall of snow that is regarded as minor or routine in other places. Such pieces involve an unedifying mixture of sloth and ignorance.

If these journalists had the slightest familiarity with geography, meteorology or even general knowledge they would know that the snow that falls on the heavily populated areas of Britain doesn't come every year, doesn't come in the same amounts, and is of varying consistencies. Consequently it is not cost effective, nor is it good sense, to have in place the measures that are appropriate in Canada, Norway or Arctic Siberia. Furthermore, the writers of these articles don't appear to have noticed that our island is one of the most densely populated areas of Europe, and that a road blocked by a vehicle mishap involving snow has bigger repercussions than elsewhere. Nor have they realised that our relatively mild, maritime climate invariably results in freeze-thaw conditions around snowfalls, which bring a particularly troublesome set of circumstances that don't apply where snow lays long-term. I can just about forgive the ignorance of the Canadian tourist I heard bemoaning the disruption to flights at Heathrow and disparagingly comparing the snow clearing measures there with those in her country. However, I find it hard to take from people who live here and should be aware of the facts - probably the same people who'd be writing articles about the waste of public money on snowclearing equipment that would lay idle for years on end if our authorities followed the advice of these benighted commentators.

The disruption that the snow caused to the blackbirds in my garden appears to be fairly minimal. This "tame" cock bird found it harder than usual to stand on my kitchen window cill provoking me to feed it some scraps, but otherwise they just got on with the daily grind of foraging. It's clearly harder for the birds when snow is laying, so I've increased the amount of seed, nuts and titbits that we usually offer in winter to help them through this "Arctic Hell" (irony alert).

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 150mm (300mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/125
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.7 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Sunshine of Your Love

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When it comes to Eric Clapton I'm one of those who feel that he peaked in the four albums he made with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker in the band, Cream. In my view very little of his earlier work with John Mayall or the Yardbirds, or his subsequent solo and guest work, approaches the sublime qualities found in songs like "White Room", "Strange Brew", "Sitting on Top of the World", or "Badge". Maybe I'm influenced by the total sound of that band, that comprised the very individual driving bass of Bruce, the virtuoso drumming of Baker, and Pete Brown's lyrics, as well as that stinging guitar of Eric Clapton. There are those who feel that there still isn't a better rock and blues guitarist, and I certainly admire the man's technical virtuosity. But for me, there is no longer the excitement, sound, and sheer "rightness" in his playing. Maybe it needs songs of the calibre of "Sunshine of Your Love" to make that happen again, and they don't come along very often.

That particular song came into my mind yesterday as I was out in the garden. Last year, I moved to a new house. I'd only been here a few weeks when I started to notice a male blackbird that sang a phrase identical to the first five notes of "Sunshine of Your Love". Really! I know it sounds unlikely but it's true! It was in the wrong key, but there was no mistaking it. When I pointed it out to my wife she recognised it immediately. Now I don't know if this bird was a Cream fan, or whether it had been listening at the window as someone played "Disraeli Gears", but it continued with the same riff for several weeks as we sat in the sun, pruned the shrubs or picked the fruit. Then I heard it no more. Maybe, I thought, a cat that's a fan of Jimmy Page's Led Zeppelin period got it. But probably the breeding season ended and the need or desire to sing passed. Well, the other day, as I was taking photographs of tulips in the garden I thought I heard it again. In fact I'm sure I did. Now, every time I go out into the garden I listen, hoping that the avian version of "It's getting near dawn..." will spiral down to me from the top of the cherry tree!

Today's photograph is one of the shots I took when I heard that "blast from the past". I placed my camera low down and took a shot upwards, towards the sun. I knew I'd get the tulips and the trees, and I wanted the sun as well, but it was a shot in hope rather than expectation. However, the composition, colour and sunburst came out better than I expected, so I post the result here today.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 18mm (36mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f16
Shutter Speed: 1/640
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
Image Stabilisation: Off