Heptonstall - Still Messing with Film

I think I wrote previously that I had been ill for several months this year and this has taken its toll on my productivity levels.  A quick way of telling how little work I have done is the amount of film I have lying around.  I still have the majority of my stock of Superia 400 waiting to be used on Laundry; I've got several rolls of Fujicolour 200 and a roll of FP4+ rolling around my camera bag.  There is also nearly a full box of 4x5 sheet film still sat in the fridge.  On top of this I had a part used roll of Ilford's FP4+ in my K1000.  In fact it had been in there quite a while.  It was time to use it up.

I decided I would have a little trip to the nearby village of Heptonstall.  I had been meaning to do this for ages.  So while I had a roll of film to use on nothing in particular, I thought I would take a visit.

Heptonstall is quite a large village on the Yorkshire side of the border with Lancashire.  As far as remote goes in England it is quite remote being, that it is set quite high up in the Pennines  and is quite distance from any major towns or cities.   This probably one the reasons that it has stayed the way it has for many a year.

Even being so close to where I live and work, I had never heard of it until a couple of years ago.  Heptonstall first came into my consciousness through the work of Fay Godwin.  Godwin struck up a life long friendship with poet Ted Hughes.  Hughes collaborated with Godwin on a book of poems and photographs entitled The Remains of Elmet.  The poems were a reflection of Hughes' growing up and life in Heptonstall which lies in the ancient former kingdom of Elmet.  Each poem was accompanied by one of Godwin's' photographs.  The combination of these two extrodinary talents meant that visiting Heptonstall would appear on my to do list.  It would be remiss of me to mention that Heptonstall is also the final resting place of American poet and Hughes' wife, Sylvia Plath.

As it turned out this wouldn't be the last time that Hughes would have an influence on me.  His collaboration with another photographer, Peter Keene on River would lay the foundation stones for my project The River (more on this in the very near future).

Anyway, I managed to find a bit of time to visit and I have to admit I found the place captivating.  It certainly lends itself to photography and in particular film photography.  The centre of the village could be straight out of 1940's inspired film set.

It’s definitely a place that I must visit again and spend a bit more time photographing.  The shots into this post were shot on FP4+ rated at 50 ASA and developed in D74.

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.

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.

When the River ceases to flow - The authoring of a photo-essay

I've often said throughout my blog that rather than producing single images I much prefer to produce a photo-essay.

For those that are quite new to photography a photo-essay is very much like a written essay.  It tells a story from beginning to end. Of course, a photo-essay is done visually and can take many different forms.  It can be documentary; it records the story with straight record photography.  It can be a series of images linked by a common theme or it can be a series of images that have, in simplistic terms, a certain look about them.

The River has become my latest attempt at producing one such essay.  However, with this one I decided I would come at it from a slightly different angle in the fact that I would use the medium of an AV (audio visual, a bit like a film with still photographs in) to tell the story.

Before I continue I would like to point out that I am not a filmmaker and I have no intention of migrating in to the world of film.  It's just too complicated to make something that is credible and meaningful.  I will leave this to the people that are good at it!

So back on to the subject of photo-essays.

With Remnants, I had no problems.  I like history, I like stone, I like landscapes, I knew the locations.  Straight forward.  Turn up, shoot, process, job done.  The River however, is a whole different ball game.

Up to date I have covered around a third of the river that I have chosen as the subject.  There are 212 files in the project folder including 47 pieces of video footage.  Here lies the problem.  Most of the images have the same type of treatment on them; I have a look.  Most of the images show the river as it is, wort's and all. I have a story.

So where's the problem?

Well, the problem is that a lot of the images are starting to look the same.  There isn't enough variation between them to make them stand out.  And this brings me round to the point of this post.

What makes a photo-essay work?

In my opinion the aspect of a photo-essay that makes it work isn't as much the photography as you would first think.  For me, what makes a good photo-essay is the editing.  It's the photographers ability to narrow down all the shots they have taken in to a few that tell the story in a clear and concise manner.

Going back to the River then, how do I take the project forward?  Well, after a lot of thinking, sleep deprivation and more thinking I've come to the conclusion that I am going to narrow it down to around twenty images.  These images won't necessarily tell the full story and will probably be abstracts of the River.  The actual landscape aspect of the project will be shot as film and the film itself will tell the full story.

As much as I like digital, I am still quite keen to have a physical product at the end of the project.  I have kind of decided that this will be in the form of a series of prints from the project.  The film will be hosted at a gallery (that is already sorted, more information nearer the time) and then held on my You Tube account.  Expect to see a preview in the coming weeks.

By the way.  If you want to see some examples of photo-essays why not have a look at our latest issue of Pixel magazine.  Back issues can be found at Pixel's website; www.pixelmag.co.uk

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.

A Productive Day!

Yesterday was one of my most productive days.  First was a trip out to somewhere I hadn't been before, Widdop Reservoir.  I didn't have long there but came back with this image.  No doubt I will be going back in the very near future!

Last night, I went down to our local running track.  I sort of have this idea centered around amateur sport as my next project.  So, while I was there I took a couple of test shots to see if it would work.  Not quite sure about them yet.  May have to try a couple of other locations first.