A West Pennine Night

October is a funny month. It's that part of autumn where things really begin to change. Leaves crunching under feet as they drop from the trees, the beautiful colours of September already forgotten; the first cold snap and waking to winter's jewles as the frost turns the morning dew in to green-white sticks of frozen blades of grass.

Not this year though.

October the first had come with almost every leaf still remaining on the tree.  The first frost still weeks away.  The September storms only now arriving in November.  Instead we were treat with unseasonably settled warm weather. Some nice clear cloudless skies meant that it was great time to get out with the camera.

At this point I should sort of explain something.

This night I was planning to head out to Hollinshead Hall to shoot some scary pictures of the Well House.  Normally, I'm really happy with being in the woods or on the moorlands at night on my own.   If truth be known I am more at home in the wilderness at night on my own than I am in the towns and cities.   However, this night was different.  You see, Hollinshead Hall has a a bit of a reputation for all things paranormal and the ghost stories were quietly running round my head as I was walking down the hall.  Being honest, I freaked myself out.  I really freaked myself out and aborted.  Chicken has nothing in it.

So I returned to where I had parked and noticed something really cool.  Over here in the UK we have light reflective units set in to the road known as cats' eyes.  The cool thing with the ones that were set in to this road is that they are LED lights.  They are permanently lit.  So I quickly came up with an idea.  Cats' eyes, car light trails and stars.  What more could a photographer playing with light painting ask for.  I took a few shots and quickly got bored.

So I decided I would move on.   I've had an idea of shooting Darwen Tower at night for a while.  However, on my own it would be impossible to get the shot that I want.  That being said a nice starry, clear night is something of a rarity at this time of year in Lancashire so I thought it would be a good opportunity to a few test shots.  I have to admit I love the results. It has spurred me on to create the shot that I actually want.  I just need the weather to play a bit now!!!

And then came the snow!

January had been quite warm and dry but then came the snow; and did it.  For once we had quite a decent coverage but not too much to cause havoc as it quite often does here.

I have an interest in images that are quite minimal.  I like dead space and of course I like monochrome photography.  So it was the perfect time to go out with my camera.

I drove around a bit looking for an image and couldn’t find anything I really liked.  Eventually I ended up in Barley struggling for inspiration.  I then remembered a shot that I had taken in the past at nearby Newchurch.  The shot was already done in monochrome previously but the days conditions meant that it would work well.  So I set off in that direction.

I first stopped off at a plantation near Barley Bank Farm.  I quote like the idea of something disappearing deep in to the photograph and I thought that this work well.   It does, sort of.  The image also has an appearance of being monochrome when actually it is full colour.

In the end I got to the location and it couldn’t have been more perfect.  The snow was pristine and the sky was grey.  Nice for subtle changes in colour.  Dialling in a bit of exposure compensation would mean that the snow would be almost paper white and the image would contain all the shades of grey (not just 50!) through to almost black.

A bit of fine tuning in Lightroom meant I had one of the most beautiful images I have ever made.

Snow photography is interesting.  You either go for an images that is real and as a result you’ll have a blue-ish cast to the image or you dial in exposure composition and have white snow.  At the time I wrote about this for Pixel Magazine.

Incidentally, I do tend to print the images I make and I like.  This one prints gorgeously!

Still January

January was quite a productive month.  A few days after shooting the Lancashire Coats a few friends and I had a night out round Blackburn.  I had sort of pre-visualised a shot that I wanted to try and so off we went to a back alley.

I have to admit I have got in to the habit of planning shots and collating ideas.  These are kept in a little A5 notebook that is pretty much always with me.

In there are notes on techniques, sample images, film data even a bit of journal.  The other thing that I do is sketch out ideas and lighting diagrams.

Yesterday I talked about the essay leading you rather than you leading the essay sometimes a shot does exactly the same.  It's easy drawing a lighting diagram away from the location. When you do get on site sometimes things just alter.  I suppose I should do some more research rather than relying on memory but hey ho!

So here is a posh selfie shot and the lighting diagram so you can see the difference!

The River - I can't believe I have written about this!!!

Quite some time ago I wrote a series of posts regarding an essay I was working on called The River.  I actually completed the essay a while ago but apart from showing it a Blackburn Camera Club, I omitted to do anything else with it.  I think I just got caught up with getting shows ready and starting new bodies of work.

Anyway,  I've finally got round to posting the final AV presentation on YouTube and each of the stills are on my flickr page.  There is more to this story but that will come in the very near future.

Messing with a purpose

The last few months have been hard.  A bout of illness has left me feeling uninspired and a tad unproductive.  Yes, I've done a little and I believe I have done it well but trying to find the motivation to pick up at least one of my cameras has been a challenge.  It's a rarity that rolls of film that have been put in my bag to shoot with haven't left the canisters they came in.

On Monday, I visited my camera club well, I say my camera club, we were actually visiting Darwen as one of our joint evenings.  The guest speaker was Barry Payling.  Barry is a well respected photographer who shies away from digital and continues to shoot with his Hasselblad on Velvia film.  Not only that he shows his slides (real ones, not digital) on a Hasselblad projector.  Barry proved to be a good speaker with some very nice images.  Not everything was to my taste but there were some that I did enjoy.  The most important thing about Monday night, for me, was seeing my photography friends again.  It has given me the kick up the backside that I needed.  So, this week, while the weather was nice I actually managed to get out and shoot some pictures.  Nothing too serious, just messing really but messing with a purpose.

I’m not sure if it’s time to get back working on my essays again.  It might be a little too soon but as things improves it will come back around.  For now, it was nice to to shoot.

The rest can be seen here.

Lee Johnson Photography hits the road!

Former president of Blackburn & District Camera Club and Editor of Pixel the online Photography Magazine for Pennine Lancashire, Lee Johnson sets out on to the lecture circuit for the first time.

Lee is no stranger to delivering talks and lectures and offers a range of lectures to suit anyone with any interest in photograph and local history.

Subjects for 2014/15 Lectures include:

• Remnants - A look at mans impact on the Pennine Lancashire landscape from the use of stone throughout the ages.  This consists of mainly monochromatic documentary landscape images and lasts around 1.5 hours.  This talk can be extended to include elements of processing techniques to get 'the Remnants look.'
• The River - The River is a documentary essay on the course of Colne Water.  It consists of a lecture lasting approximately an hour followed by an audio-visual presentation of the essay.  This lecture can be adapted to talk about audio-visual presentations.
• Photo-Essays  - A light-hearted look at photo-essays and telling stories through photography. This includes advice on photo-books and desk-top publishing and producing AV's.  Approximately 1.5 - 2 hours.

All lectures can be tailored to suit your individual club needs.  Email us for details.

Messing about with Photoshop

The other night I decided to revisit some shots that I took at Widdop the other week.  There is nothing wrong with the original shot.  In fact, I actually like it.  What I was interested in doing was trying to see if I could emulate a pinhole camera using Photoshop.

In fact, I ended up using two programs to get somewhere near the look I wanted.  I also used a Fuji Velvia 50 filter with the grain from a Superia 400 fulter in DXO Super Film Pack 3.

Will I give shooting pinhole and do it the easy way in Photoshop?  Will I hell!  It's nowhere near the same but out of interest I think I'm going to have this lightjet printed.  Just our of interest and experimentation.

Being Multi-disciplined

Most photographers have a passion for one particular area or genre of photography, others try a bit of everything and as a result of this master any.

I like trying new things.  I like trying new techniques but I quickly find that I'm bored and return to my two favourite disciplines, nature (in this I include landscape and wildlife) and documentary.  I just guess it is where I am comfortable, where I am home.

Finding Treasure

Roe Lee Park Pavilion - Pracktica MTL3.

Ilfodata B, ASA 25, f16. Developed in Rodinol1:300, 30 minutes

A while ago I was given a box of old photography junk.  Most people would have thrown it away but I had a rumage through it and found some useful stuff.  Some I'm actually using!  A couple of old bakelite 35mm developing tanks, bits of measuring stuff, some reusable 35mm film canisters (for hand rolling.  Film not tobacco!) and a couple of rolls of Ilford HP5+; all good usable stuff.

There was also a sealed tin with white tape round it.  On the tin it was marked Ilfodata B made by Ilford.  If what was on the tin was right, this was 100ft of 35mm film.  Guess what? I was quite excited!

Off in to the reading room, I mean darkroom, I mean bathroom (it's multi-functional!).  I shut the door and carefully opened the tin and sure enough, there in the dark, I could feel a roll of film!!!  So I snipped a bit off and rolled a short length.  I gave this to Bob to have a play with.  He's more experienced than me with weird stuff.

After searching the internet we could not find any information on this.  We found one article on Ilfodata HS something or other which was made by Ilford for copying documents.  We had an inkling that the film we have is for something similar.

So we were still in the same boat.  We had absolutely no information about this film; what it’s ASA (ISO) rating was, how to shoot with it or even how to process it.  Bob thought it might be ‘contrasty’ with being a document film but also thought that the developer pyrocat would sort it out.

Assuming that this was the last 100ft of this film in existence (that we know of.  There is none on eBay or in of the places where we know to get weird stuff from) we thought we should contact Ilford and see what information they held.

They basically knew as much as we did.  They thought it was manufactured somewhere in the 1970’s (which we gathered from the design on the tin) and suggested an Ilford developer that we probably wouldn’t use anyway.

So back to square one!

Pracktica MTL3 with Pinhole lens on.

This weekend I decided to bite the bullet and shoot a little bit and try developing it.  I have to admit, my knowledge of handling film is limited but I am learning all the time.  Back when I shot film, I mostly shot colour and sent it to a lab.  I dabbled a bit with processing black and white but didn’t go beyond a couple of rolls.  So, I’m on a learning curve of chemicals, techniques and working in the dark!  It’s fun.  I mean really fun!

Friday night I rolled enough film to shoot five frames.  I had the idea that I would try shooting with a 35mm pinhole again.

Come Saturday morning I nipped down to Roe Lee Park to shoot the pavilion there.  It has sort of become my test subject!

I shot one frame with my 50mm lens at ASA25, f16, couldn’t tell you the shutter speed but I think it’s around 1 second maybe ½.  I then shot one at 5 seconds to try and take in account reciprocity.  I then changed the lens and put a 43mm pinhole lens on and finally a 75mm pinhole.

During the evening, I re-read the article on the HS and one thing jumped out at me.  The author had said that the film was similar to Kodak Technical Pan.  I went on Massive Dev Chart and look up Technical Pan Developing times.  At least I would have a starting point and could mess with development on the results of this short length.  I’d nothing to lose.  There sure enough was Rodinol, 1:300 for rating ASA25.  Excellent.  I could do this.  I mixed up the chemical and began the process.  40 minutes later and I was on the final wash.  A bit nervous I peel the film off the reel.

Wow, was my response.  The photograph made with the lens on was stunning.  I could see every tile, every mortar joint in the building.  The negative look gorgeous.

The pinhole isn’t  quite right but it’s getting there!  These are scans of the negative.  For some reason the scanner has cropped the top of the building off on but it gives an idea.  The neg is so much better though!

A trip with a Trip

Ghyll Cemetery

Just before Christmas I bought some Kentmere 400 film.  Basically to try it out and I have to say, I am impressed.  It’s a lovely film for the price.  Yeah, I’m impressed.

A couple of weeks ago, I put the film in to my little Olympus Trip 35 and started shooting with it.  Nothing in particular but just trying the film and getting used to the camera.



A Nelson Street

I love the Trip.  It’s such a fantastic design and beautifully built.  The images from it are lovely too.

So, just taking my time shooting a little randomly slowly started to fill the roll up.  Even Eve, my daughter took it out and had a go at shooting with it!  She did pretty good as well!



Griffin Manor

First up was a stop off a Ghyll Church and Cemetery and Barnoldswick.  Some nice little shots came off from that.

Then there was pulling my camera out of the bag at the camera club.  Just for a little documentary type shot.

One grab shot in Nelson which I think has a nice social commentary without having people in it and finally, a little walk around Griffin Park, Blackburn.

To see the shots and other shots with the trip visit my flickr set here.

Lancoast

As well as working on Laundry, I am also working on a second essay entitled Lancoast.

Lancoast is an exploration of the Lancashire Coastline through the medium of photography.  At the moment it is very much in the planning phase.  But the general idea is to shoot monochromatic coastal landscapes on a pinhole camera and use alternative processes to develop film and create prints.

At the moment I'm experimenting with film and various cameras to see what I can achieve before heading to the coast to shoot some images.

Like Laundry, Lancoast has its own blog.  It can be found here.  Why not stop by and have a look.

Back in the Box

As posted a little while ago, Remnants went back in its box with a little sadness both from me and the gallery at La Dolce Vita, Colne.  Finally, I have got round to sorting everything out and I have now got a little time to reflect.

As part of this process I took photocopies from the comments book and they are fantastic.  I thought I would share what has been said about Remnants.

‘Really impressive and very moving’

D. Claude.  Leeds

‘Emotive, calming’

G. Hensley.  Trawden

‘Very atmospheric and engaging’

I. Cleasby.  Oxford

‘Very beautiful images, dark and sombre but uplifting’

                                    M. Fielding.  Colne

‘Captivating, mesmerising images.  Beautiful.’

                                    Miriam & Andy.  Colne

‘What an unexpected surprise!  Very impressive indeed!’

                                    G. Read.  Colne

‘Simply brilliant and nice to see a local artist’

A. Ul-haq.  Colne

Thank you so much to everyone who visited the exhibition and took time to comment.

Feeding an obsession

For many photographers a place that is close to their heart becomes the subject of their obsession.  It's a place that is generally close to their home; it's a place that they will visit regular; it's a place that they will know like the back of their hand; and it's a place that will be the subject of many, many photographs, even though most of them will not be seen beyond their computer screen.

How do I know this?  Well, I have my obsession.  My obsession is a hill in Lancashire called Boulsworth.  It lies to the south of Nelson and Colne  and towers above the village of Wycoller.

My favourite walk to the summit is from Coldwell Reservoirs. and is relatively flat until you take the concessionary path to the summit.

Boulsworth has been the subject of my photographs before, it in fact plays a part in Remnants and will no doubt feature in future landscape projects.  So why is this hill my obsession?

It would be easy of Pendle to be my obsession.  It has a lot going for it, it is unusual in the fact that it stands alone, it has history and atmosphere but for me Boulsworth is just something else.  I can't put my finger on it and couldn't say why, but this hill has to be one of my favourites in Lancashire and I definitely have more photographs of this hill than any other.

Last Wednesday I managed a trip back to my obsession and did I catch it at the right time?  I was there just as the sun was going down and managed to catch these images.  Although bitterly cold, the sun was out and the sky was threatening more snow, just perfect for a landscape photographer.  However, I didn't come away with the photograph that I was attempting to capture.  That one may have to wait until next winter now.  Watch this space!

A turn in The River is not always a happy one!

If you have been following this blog then you will know that I started work on a project with the working title of The River towards the end of 2012.

During the last couple of months I have made numerous trips to the river that is the subject of the project.  These have been really enjoyable trips mainly because not only is the river very appealing but for the most eastern of its course it is in a beautiful location.

I was becoming aware that I was focusing too much attention on this one stretch of river and for the project to be a success then it was time to consider other locations.  Therefore, I paid a visit to a short stretch that runs through the Waterside area of Colne.

The first thing that I noticed was a contrast and I thought it was one that would really spoil the project.  The amount of rubbish and waste that was thrown in the river was unbelievable.  I was honestly shocked.

I really don't know why I should have been.  I have spent most of life working around or studying rivers.  I have seen the best and the worse and generally, Lancashire rivers have vastly improved from when I was a kid and even more greatly improved in the last ten years.


After a lot of thought I realised why it had shocked me.  It wasn't the fact that there was litter and rubbish in the river, it was the fact that actually I was only around a mile and half away from the stretch that I had been working on.  Two miles from where two becks meet to form the river and roughly three miles from its source high up on the moorlands.  It was the fact that in that really short span of river, humans had left a massive mark on it and not one that is positive.

I think the three images here sort of bring home the impact.  There were taken in less than one hundred yards of each other.

So the question is this; armed with this knowledge how do I make this work in a project that was supposed to be uplifting?

I found this a really difficult question to answer and I came to the following conclusion.  This has to be told as it is.

Why?

Well, if I don't tell it as it is then the whole project will be a lie.  True, I could just focus on the pretty bits but anyone wanting to visit the location after seeing my work would be seriously disappointed.  With this in mind there will be a short section devoted to this particular stretch and it will show the river as it is.

In fairness, it wasn't all doom and gloom.  I came across James P. Sullivan from Monsters Inc which made me smile.  The something amazed me.  Bobbing about this stretch of river looking for food was a Dipper.  Despite being in the centre of a busy town, despite the rubbish it was here; it was pretty close to me and I still didn't bag me a Dipper!

As for the pretty stretch of river, I am going to return there.  I have to.  I want some wildlife to come in to this project and there is plenty there and plenty of places I can get close enough to film and photograph.  In addition I will continue to travel further west to where the river meets Pendle Water and I will continue further east to the source of the river, and to follow the becks that feed it.

I just hope that as I travel further west the conditions improve and that I have seen the worse that the River has to offer.

Back to the River

It is fair to say that I hate being stuck indoors.  This week we managed to get a brief rest bite from the winter weather.  Although cold it was sunny and we had some nice light.  So putting on my boots, winter jacket, thermals (of course, it is still February!) and picking up my camera and tripod bag it was time to head off back to the river.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had been reading one of my favourite poets, Ted Hughes, The River and this was what sparked my current obsession of water.  Actually, that's not quite true.  I've always had an obsession with water for as long as I can remember.  However, that obsession rather involves boats with big sails and a lot of money!  That being said I do find water fascinating and I find photographing it just as fascinating.  Why?  If you own a DSLR go and stand at the side of a fast flowing river.  Put your camera in to manual mode.  Turn off autofocus.  Set your ISO as high as possible to get a reasonable image.  Open up your aperture and set your shutter speed to 1000th second.  The just fire off a few shots.  What you get is a pattern shot of water droplets and flow.  You can pretty much guarantee that no two shots will be alike.  Even if you take a shot of the same patch of water.  This is what I find fascinating.

So my little obsession with water has grown into a project.

For Remnants not only did I produce a book, I also produced a slide show and mini Audio Visual (AV) presentation (if you run through my past posts you might find it!) for the Marsden 100 I also made an AV production.  However, sometime last year Bob posted an AV that combined film making with traditional photography AV.  I can't for the life of me find the link but the film obviously left a lasting impression as this is what I want to create for The River.  There is still quite a bit of work and planning to do but so far in my folder there are 153 shots with 27 video files and I'm not done yet.  Editing will probably great reduce this but its nice to know that I am well on my way with the project.

And so, as the sun sets on The River for now I would like to leave you with this image.

Just Because Snow Can Be Beautiful!

I know the recent snow has brought misery and difficulties to a lot of people during the course of the last couple of days.  However, it is easy to forget that it actually can be quite beautiful and a lot of fun.  Try and enjoy it while we can!

Feeling at Home

Jubilee (Darwen) Tower - Taken from 

Remnants.

For nearly as long as I can remember I have had a love for high places.  In essence it's not just a love of hills and mountains but more in particular Lancashire hills.

It began when I was a teenager.  I would get home from school, blow off homework grab my trusty spotted companion (a dalmatian named Billy) and head for the moors.  I loved the walk through the wooded valley and up past the reservoir before striding out on to the open moorland which is home to Darwen Tower.  Billy loved it too.  We spent hours and hours up there just wondering, sitting by moorland streams, listening to Skylarks and generally watching the world go by.

Even as I grew up that love didn't die.  In fact it grew deeper as I joined Lancashire Countryside Service as a Volunteer Ranger and eventually working full time.  Funnily enough, it was the same hills that I wondered as a boy that I now worked as a man.  Sometimes, Billy would be with me too.

The Ranger Service broadened my knowledge of the hills and sent me to other areas to explore, firstly in the West Pennine Moors and Rossendale, then the South Bowland Fells along with Clougha to the far North finally settling in Central Lancashire and becoming intimate with Pendle, Boulsworth and the hills surrounding the Wycoller Valley.

I do love the Lake District, I love North Wales even more but there is nowhere like my home turf.

What has this got to do with photography?  Everything.  I produce my best work when I'm working in Lancashire.  Why?  I think its because I love it or that I know it as well as anyone else.  Maybe it's just because I'm fascinated and amazed by it.  Perhaps its a life long love affair.

Some places I am really drawn to.  One of these is known as Walton Spire.  The Spire sits on Knave Hill high above the towns of Nelson and Colne in Lancashire, is directly between both Pendle and Boulsworth Hills and is in close proximity to the site Castercliffe Hill Fort.

Knave Hill is a bit strange.  It is my opinion (and also that of others) that the hill is man made.  Looking at aerial photographs it is possible to identify concentric rings of terracing that appear to be the construction of the hill.  However, the site has another feature in the Spire it self.  The bottom part of the cross is an ancient stone monolith that would have probably acted as a marker for travelers on the trade route from the Irish Sea to the North Sea or vice versa.  It is possible that the monolith could be somewhere in the region of 4,500 years old although some legends say that it was erected in rememberance of the Battle of Brunanburh in 937.  The top of the spire was added in the 1830's by Richard Thomas Wroe-Walton a local gentleman with strong religious values who live in Marsden Old Hall that still stands in nearby Marsden Park.

What ever the reason or how ever old the Spire is.  I can't help being drawn to the place.  Earlier this week I went up there in the snow and got some lovely pictures of it while enjoying a bit of pleasant if not cold weather!  Even the sheep seemed happy to be there.

A big thank you!

My blog roll has reached over a thousand views!  Many thanks to all of you that have take the time to visit and have a look at my photographs.

Best wishes,

Lee

Playing with Witches

 On Wednesday I went out with a friend to take some images for use by Pendle Borough Council.

Our first port of call was the new Alice Nutter sculpture in Roughlee.  Alice Nutter was convicted and hung for being part of a covern of witches in the Pendle area.  In total 10 people from the area were taken to Lancaster tried and then hung.  Another, from Gisburn was taken to York and executed there.

Alice was unusual in the group as she was the widow of a wealthy farmer and it is often thought that she may have been convicted due to the jealousies of other local people.  The entire group were convicted on the evidence of a nine-year old witness named Jennet Device who mas made to stand on a table in front of a packed court room.

 After we were done with the sculpture we headed up in to the fields to capture some images of the landscape.  From this position we were able to get some nice pictures of both Pendle and Blacko.  It was a lovely hour and a bit, with warm sunshine in a beautiful part of the country.

Remnants Update

Remnants now has its own page complete with Flickr slideshow illustrating all the images from the project and a preview of the book from our Blurb bookstore.