Aspect ratios and old stations

click photo to enlarge
When I used 35mm film cameras I never thought twice about the aspect ratio of the format: the fact that 36mm X 24mm is a ratio of 3:2 was something I just didn't consider. Processing my own black and white photographs I would sometimes crop the image (with a guillotine) to make a better composition, but doing this was very much the exception.

When I started to use a digital camera in 2000 it also had an aspect ratio of 3:2, and once again I thought little of it, perhaps because it was familiar to me. However, processing the images on a computer led me to crop many more images than I did when I used negatives and an enlarger. This may have been because it was so much easier. But, when I acquired an Olympus DSLR and found the aspect ratio was 3:4 then I did start to think more about these things. I find that I have a strong preference for 3:4 over 3:2 in landscape format, but occasionally prefer the latter in portrait format. It's purely a personal thing, and I don't believe there are any objective reasons (golden section included) to choose one over the other. The Panasonic LX3 offers an embarrassment of riches in this regard - 3:4, 3:2, 16:9 and 1:1 - all of which can be used at the time of composition. Looking back over my images made using this camera I find that I use 4:3 for about 75% of my shots, 16:9 for about 15%, 1:1 for almost all the others, and 3:2 rarely. I think I use 4:3 as the default because it is a rectangle that I prefer more than 3:2, and it suits many shots. 1:1 is a format I like to compose in (though I know many hate it), and I think it is perfect for some subjects. My reasonably heavy use of 16:9 is the one that surprises me. When I first got the camera I ignored it, but gradually I've come to use it quite a bit, especially for landscapes, but also for shots such as today's.

This image, taken at the preserved railway at Sheringham in Norfolk, reminds me of one of those Victorian paintings that shows an urban scene peopled by a group of contrasting characters: the sort of piece that the eye lingers over, searching out details. I looked at this scene with 3:4 selected, but immediately switched to 16:9 because it just seemed the obvious choice for filling the frame with interest.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Lumix LX3
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 8.8mm (41mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f4.5
Shutter Speed: 1/1000
ISO: 80
Exposure Compensation: -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Cherishing the past

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It's interesting how the "futurologists" get it wrong isn't it. As a callow youth I remember being told that when I was a man my working day would be shorter as machines removed the drudgery, that we'd all have flying cars, that colonies of people would be living on the moon and nearby planets, that my clothing would be a sort of all-in-one jump-suit, and my food would be a manufactured gloop that contained all the calories and nutrients essential for health. At the dawn of the computer age a sage was heard to pronounce that the UK would never need more than 3 of the machines. Then, when computers were becoming common we were told that offices would become "paperless". It's predictions of this sort that make me think I could be a futurologist.

One of the predictions that I never saw made was that the more we travelled into our future, the more we would cherish what was left of our past. This seems to be a fairly widely held view, at least in the UK. It's also a view that has positive and negative consequences. Let's start with a negative. Ask most people what kind of house they would really like and they'll tell you about some old, romantic looking building, wearing a patina of age, set in a rural idyll. The idea of an energy efficient, modern structure that effectively meets the needs of modern living is the dream of few. On the positive side, this affection for our past means that enough of it is preserved and remains for us to place ourselves in time, and so better understand where we are by where we've come from.

I was thinking about this when I visited the North Norfolk Railway at Sheringham recently. The Victorian station of this preserved railway has been restored and fitted out with original signs, advertisements, luggage, trolleys, weighing scales, etc. The volunteer staff wear old-style uniforms, and all this makes the perfect setting for the steam trains and early diesels that travel over its tracks. Standing on a platform I took this shot of the opposite platform and its adjoining buildings. The overhead glass and metal canopy was filtering the light that fell on the lovingly restored and preserved artefact and people. You'll notice that the two prominent, original, enamel advertisements are for cigarettes. Another thing I never saw predicted about my future was that cigarette smoking would be banned in public buildings, and that's a development that has pleased me mightily.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 48mm (96mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/320 seconds
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.7 EV
Image Stabilisation: On