The Bigger Picture

I really enjoyed watching The Bigger Picture (BBC iPlayer) which is in part an account of David Hockney's love hate relationship with the camera. After having spent time researching the use of cameras and lenses in art as used during the 15th century and even producing photographic looking paintings, Hockney apparently eschews the camera but is later found to be embracing digital technology. But for me, apart from the philosophical views of Hockney, there was a lot to be learnt about his approach to producing a work of art. In the programme, Hockney had returned to the East Yorkshire Wolds and was exploring the landscape. He developed his understanding of the land by painting details of plants and learning how to work fast by sketches, watercolours and then finally oils. He made studies in all seasons and often of the same subjects under different atmospheric conditions. It was this aspect that struck a chord with me and I understood exactly what he meant when he said "I have learnt an awful lot by just being here and seeing things". It was a lesson in researching, practicing and developing ideas in order to produce a work that illustrates your interpretation of a subject. It was also a lesson in how a work of art needn't have a beginning or an end but that it can tell a story. He talked about the Chinese concept "of moving focus" and how that this embraces both space and time. Western pictures are usually views with a frame that we look into and that was one of his problems with photography along with it's inability to show colour they way he saw it. I think that it's a bit of an esoteric argument and one of the things that has been driving me in my Croft Hill pictures is that I believe that I can depict all of those things. My approach to the task isn't that far different and is a conscious effort to make images quickly in response to what I see rather than by deliberation, I just won't be seeing my work adorning the walls of the Royal Academy any time soon!

For more on the programme see here for a review and here for some enlightening comments.

Spring Greens

Foxglove

You just got to love the common foxglove as there's something about them that speaks summer time. In the winter I like to look out for the first year plants that have become established in the ground, nestling in the shelter of the rocks on the lower slopes of the hill, or in some shady corner of a wall. Then in the summer their bold showy spikes bring colour to what might otherwise be an area of shadowy green and belies their poisonous nature.

OAP Health Club

Hathersage ~ yesterday

Glentrium Memorial

Inscription on gate "Touch Not The Cat But A Glove"

From http://clan-macpherson.ca/Symbols.htm:

The armorial badge which all members of the Clan are entitled to wear embodies the crest of the Chief's Coat of Arms with a wildcat encircled by a strap and buckle bearing the motto:

"Touch not the cat but a glove"

(in Gaelic, "Na bean don chat gun lamhainn".)

The motto's meaning is: Touch not the cat (when it is) without a glove.

The glove of the wildcat is the soft, under part of his paw, and when assuming a war-like attitude, the paw is spread or ungloved revealing very dangerous claws. The motto is a warning to those who would be so imprudent as to engage in battle when the claw of the wildcat is ungloved.

This memorial sits on the minor road between Laggan Bridge and Glentruim from where there is an expansive view over to Creag Meagaidh. The memorial contains several inscribed stones from various quarters of the world where descendants of Clan Macpherson now reside. It is an altogether peaceful place from where to sit and watch nature.

It was quite difficult to find the composition I was looking for in recording this scene. I liked the location because it was another unusual subject for my "gate" series, but I also wanted to include both the monument and landscape too. By keeping my field camera's back vertical, using both front rise, shift and tilt I was able to prevent the mountains receding into the distance, to separate the memorial from the fence and also maintain depth of field. It was then just a case of waiting for a storm over Creag Meagaidh to subside and the sun to hit the clouds. Watching and waiting was a good way to spend a morning following a hard walk the day before.

Rock And The Cloud

Another image from Glen Shirra, this time of a half buried glacial erratic boulder near to the farmstead of Sherrabeg. The rock, a good 2 metres high, caught my eye from the road and I had to photograph it. Again, I used my view camera and 80mm lens but had to wait for the evening light to bring out the textures on the rock. Then I saw a little white cloud, it's shape a mimic of the rock itself (and the rock itself that of the surrounding mountains) and I just had to wait until it had moved into the right position. Whilst this image shows scale in terms of distance, it's quite difficult to see how large this rock actually was, and of course there is probably much more of it buried beneath the ground.  

Glen Shirra Salmon Trap

One evening, a couple of weeks ago, I wandered off up Glen Shirra just past Sherrabeg. A dyke leads from Loch Crunachdan into an un-named reservoir. At the end of the dyke there is this embankment with a railway that leads from a shed to what I can only assume is a salmon trap.

The image was made using my field camera with a small amount of tilt, an 80 Super Symmar XL lens, FP2 film and a yellow filter. The negative was scanned using an Epson 4990 using a home made film holder and converted in Cs4 using the Colourneg plugin.

It has produced a very pleasing print which fits nicely into my growing "human-nature" series.