Tractors and crabs

click photo to enlarge
A few years ago, when I lived near the North Lancashire coast, I took a photograph of old tractors on a beach at Lytham. They were used for catching shrimps and for launching small fishing boats. The tractors are necessary because the estuary of the River Ribble at this point is often almost empty of water, and boats have to be taken to the channel to be launched, and must be dragged above the high tide line to be stored.

Today's photograph shows some more old tractors at Cromer in Norfolk. This fishing port is on an open section of coast with no harbour. Consequently boats have to be launched and retrieved with trailers hauled by vehicles. The boats shown are used for catching the famous Cromer crabs (and lobsters). Each has a one or two man crew, and sets pots on a bank about three miles off shore. The crabs they catch are smaller than many, but afficionados declare them to be the tastiest in Britain. The tractors are two Fordsons (Major models I believe), and the third I can't identify. They must date from the 1950s, and the fact that they are still working fifty or sixty years after they were made is a testament to the durability of the design and materials. Salt water and sea air is a corrosive mixture, and doubtless the tractors have received repairs and regular maintenance down the decades, but I still find it remarkable that they continue in daily use.

I took a few shots of the tractors at work, but this one, I think, is the best. I like it for the composition and the distant dog walker. I cropped the shot to remove excess sand and sky, and have ended up with a shot that looks like it might have been produced by the 16:9 aspect setting on the LX3.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 12mm (24mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/500
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

CRT v LCD

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At the end of last year my CRT monitor died. I'd only had it three or four years and had bought it when it was quite difficult to get hold of anything that wasn't an LCD panel. My purchase raised a few eyebrows amongst people I know, because I'd gone against what was seen as an overwhelming tide placing a better product before us. I wasn't blind to the advantages of LCD monitors - lower power usage, lower emissions, more desk-space released and more screen area for the money were what I was denying myself. So why did I buy a CRT monitor? Quite simply, the image I saw on an "old-style" screen was more like a printed photograph than the image produced by any LCD monitor that I could afford. The slight blurring together of the pixels by a CRT emulated the finish of film and inkjet output very well. And, just as importantly, my eyes saw the same colours all over the screen regardless of how I positioned my head in front of it.

However, you can only hold out so long, and when I came to replace my defunct monitor I had to go for the ubiquitous LCD. I've had it for several months now, and I've got used to the very slight pixellation of images, though I think my purchase is better than many in this respect. But what I haven't got used to, and what drives me nuts sometimes, is the way the colours and contrast change if I position my head slightly lower, higher, to the left or to the right. I have to be much more careful in this respect using my new monitor than I did with the old one, and adjusting colour and contrast is a more fraught task. The other thing I noticed is that the LCD panel is much less forgiving of my processing than the CRT was, revealing sky noise, block pixelation and mask edges that were formerly invisible to my eye. You might think that this is an improvement, and in some ways it is, but most of these things were not visible in the printed output (up to 13in. X 19 in.) so it's less helpful than might be imagined. In all other respects I like my new monitor. But, until designers fix the colour/contrast problem I'm never going to see the LCD as the final display solution for photographers.

Today's photograph is what I call a "bits and pieces" photograph. Any good qualities it has come not from a main subject, but from the several silhouettes and lines spread across the frame. It's a shot for the eye to wander over in much the same way as the people are wandering over Cromer beach. Incidentally, the old tractors (ancient Fordsons) and trailers, that look like sea-creatures that have dragged themselves up onto the beach, are waiting for some of the small inshore fishing boats that work out of this small Norfolk town.

photograph & text T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 113mm (226mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f8
Shutter Speed: 1/2000 seconds
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Black and white filters

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When I got my first camera, way back in the late 1960s, I used to feed it with Agfa film (probably CT18) that I could have developed by the local photographic shop as colour transparency, colour negative or black and white. This was handy for creative purposes, but also because the cost of the final images was different depending on my choice, so I could tailor my photography to the state of my finances.

Later, in the 1970s, when I bought an SLR (a Zenit E followed by an OM1n), I shot all three film formats depending on my mood and the subjects I had in mind to photograph. Interestingly, of all the images I made during those years (and the 1980s and 1990s), it is the black and white prints (Ilford film on Ilford paper) that have stood the test of time best of all. Particularly, I'm proud to say, those that I developed and printed myself. Anyone who hasn't shot, developed and printed black and white film won't understand the special magic associated with that process. Nor will they appreciate the importance of filters in securing forceful images. I had (in fact still have) red, orange yellow and green filters to fit the Zuiko 50mm 1.8, and Cokin equivalents to fit all my lenses. The transformational effect of a red or orange filter on a blue sky with white, fair weather clouds, is sensational: on a stormy sky it is apocalyptic. These simple pieces of coloured glass gave a boost to contrast and added three-dimensional qualities that suited some subjects perfectly.

Every now and again I try the digital equivalent of the red, orange or yellow filter when I do a black and white conversion. I've never yet achieved quite the same effect that you get with glass and film, regardless of whether I use a plug-in or home-brew my own version. Today's image taken on Lincolnshire's Fens is close to what I used to like to achieve: a contrasty finish with black sky, white clouds and enough mid-tones to carry the detail. This tractor and harrow was waiting for the driver of the distant machine. He appeared to be working alone in the empty landscape, using both tractors with different attachments to prepare the soil as he wanted it.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 17mm (34mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/500 seconds
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Working the land

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From the front window of my friends' house on the Lincolnshire Fens it's possible to see Brussels. Which, considering that, as the crow flies, it's about 230 miles away, is remarkable! But when you realise that they can also see cabbages, wheat, broccoli, and a host of other vegetables and cereals, perhaps the sight of sprouts isn't so impressive!

Since I moved to Lincolnshire I've noticed a number of things. The drier weather I expected, but it's been pleasant to experience it after living on the wetter west coast for many years. The quieter roads and the easier parking has been very welcome. I've also been mightily impressed by the way the farmers make the land work. It seems that no sooner has a crop been harvested than the soil is ploughed, prepared, and in go the seedlings or seeds. And in their work the farmers call on, not just migrant labour, but a whole host of weird and wonderful machinery. In Lincolnshire the tractors are bigger than any I've ever seen. So too are the ploughs. The combine harvesters, of course, are large, but they are dwarfed by the beet harvester. Tractors with conveyor belts and mini-veg packers roam the roads and fields all year round, harvesting, to keep the flow of food to the country's tables. This is a landscape that doesn't appear to sleep, and you have to worry about the longer-term consequences of that, for the quality of the soil, and for the wildlife whose home it represents.

These tractors were resting towards the end of the day on an almost fully harvested field of brussel sprouts. I took this shot to see if I could make a picture out of this simple subject, and found a spot where I could make a composition that included a near and distant machine.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 19mm (38mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/1000
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.7 EV
Image Stabilisation: Off