Simplification

click photo to enlarge
Since my translocation from a coastal area with a conurbation to a rural area with fields and villages I've found it harder to simplify my photographs. Perhaps it's because in my present setting I see fewer opportunities for images that emphasise these qualities. Yes there are uniform areas of grass and sky, but there is little open water or sea, no expanses of beach, large buildings with plain walls are few as are expanses of concrete and tarmac. So, simple backdrops are harder to find. And, the range of subjects that I could call upon in the vicinityof  my former home was wider. Consequently, as I go about my photographic business I'm constantly on the look out for any image that exhibits the simple force of just two or three elements. Sometimes I find it by going in close either by physical proximity or using a zoom lens. But opportunities for wider shots that feature this quality are harder to find and see.

However, the other day as we walked across the field of winter wheat around which is the village of Tetford on the Lincolnshire Wolds, one of these simple images presented itself to me. My wife was walking ahead, bum-bag bouncing, map in hand, as we came towards the end of a long morning walk. As she strode along the uniform greenness of the wheat, the long and sinuous path, and her figure suggested a shot. So, I stepped to the side to make the line of the foorpath fill the right of the frame, placed my wife on the left, and took a couple of photographs. This is best one.


For more thoughts on simplifying photographic compositions see here, here, and here. Examples are spread throughout (mainly) the years 2005-2007 of the blog!

photograph and text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 271mm
F No: f8
Shutter Speed: 1/320
ISO: 320
Exposure Compensation:  0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Lines in the landscape

click photo to enlarge

This year I've made quite a few images of tractor lines in cereal fields. I've posted a couple of examples here and here, but I've taken many more. I'm not absolutely sure why this interest has arisen. I think it's something to do with the temporary superimposition of the marks of man on the perfect surface of the field. The fact that the lines are parallel, and that each pair of tracks is, except for those near the field boundaries, the same distance from the next pair, gives them an interesting regularity.

Another reason for my fascination is to do with how you can see the world through a camera. The narrower field of view of a longer focal length lens allows the photographer to isolate part of what is seen. This presents a number of opportunities. It can be a device to concentrate the viewer's attention on to something. It also allows, by the exclusion of surrounding distractions, the composition of a simplified image. And it enables you to create odd looking images from familiar scenes and objects. The lines in the landscape in today's image combines the last two of these.

Thinking further about the photograph, I probably wouldn't have taken the shot if the lines didn't appear to start in the middle of the field, and if they hadn't begun with that small wiggle! So here's a "thank you" to the tractor driver on the rolling hills of Lincolnshire whose slightly wandering attention produced these slightly wandering lines!

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 43mm (86mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f11
Shutter Speed: 1/250
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On