A bit of Thursday randomness

Just a random image I thought I would share!

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.

Return to the River

It's fair to say that since the start of the project the river has become my second home.

I have to admit that I do love it.  There are so many facets to it.  One minute it is peaceful and tranquil next its loud and violent.  Whatever, there is something along the riverside that allows it to reflect your mood.

The other the river does is it never ceases to amaze you.

I know this stretch of river very well.  In fact, it has played a role in my life for the last nearly fifteen years.  Generally, its sat quietly in the background with just enough background noise to let you know that it is there.  At other times I'm in it.  Often up to my knees.

However, it is the little moments of interaction between myself and nature that keep me coming back for more.  Yesterday, it was a Grey Heron that was sat around 12 feet away from me.  At other times it has been Grey Wagtails making their way up and down the river searching for their next meal or its the dark coloured rock that suddenly climbs up on to the bank to reveal a stunningly beautiful Otter.  It's these little moments that make my visit worth while.  It's these little moments that make the river.

Versatile Blogger Award

One of my fellow Lancastrian Bloggers, Loki at The Modfather Site.  Has honoured me with a versatile blogger award.  These are something that I don't really go in for and I have to admit, although that I have run a website for several years they have in the past been business only.  It's only since I started editing Pixel and reading Sleepy Joe's blog that I have become a bit more personal about what I write.

So firstly, I must thank Loki for my award.  I'm not convinced that it is deserved but hey-ho!

Now there are some rules attached to this so here goes:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and include a link to their site. (Done on this one!  But thanks again, Loki!)
2. Add the Versatile Blogger Award picture to your blog post. (It's here, isn't it!)
3. Nominate 7 fellow bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly and include a link to their site.  (This one I'm going to struggle with!)
4. Let them know you have nominated them. (It's on its way)
5. Share 7 random facts about you. (I'm sharing Loki's sentiment here.  Do I have to??? (stroppy teenager, swinging arms, huffing and sulking).

So to nominations;  This is a difficult one.  Why?  Because I don't really read blogs.  I read Sleepy Joe's and Loki's after that The Online Photographer.  I suppose I read Pixel's but that is because I'm heavily involved with it!

So, I'm going to nominate - Sleepy Joe.  Yes Al, I'm passing it on to you!

Now to Seven Random Facts

1. I hold a black belt in Judo.
2. The most favourite car that I have owned was a 1974 MG B GT.  I loved it.  No power steering, crap heater, tried to kill me a few times.  Would I have another?  Hell yes!
3. I play guitar and keyboards.
4. I can sail a yacht.
5. I am more at home in the wilds than in a town or city.
6. My favourite animals are the Wolf, Red Pandas, Genets and Otters (pretty much in that order). 
7. I have a keen sense of smell and fantastic distance eyesight.  Although I partially deaf on my left side.

To finish off a photograph!

Welcome to the Countryside

The River - A Flickr Slideshow

I thought I would post the slideshow from The River Flickr set.  These are 28 of my favourite images that I have taken so far throughout this project.

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.

Making Contact

A few weeks ago I posted that I had decided to get my Pracktica MTL3 out of the attic and put some film in it.  In the end, I put two rolls of film through it.

The first was a roll of Kodak BW400CN.  This is a black and white negative film rated at 400 ASA and is processed using the C41 chemistry.

This roll of film was 36 exposures of complete and utter randomness.  That being said, it was largely shot in and around Colne.

Talk about coincidence.  The last few shots on the roll was of a 1960's London Bus in Colne Town Centre.

Once processing the film I decided I would get them on to the computer and with a little editing may come out with some nice images.  First a learning curve!  Getting the images in to the computer.

I was quite lucky that my Canon MP220 Printer/Scanner works quite well at scanning on the bed.  However, it is no where the quality of a true neg scanner and I may have to either invest in one or pay to have the negs scanned.

Funnily enough I quite like the image above.  The scan quality and dust on the scanner give the image a really dated feel.

Before I wanted to go and make prints I thought I would go back to the traditional way of selecting before printing.  That is making a contact print.

For those that haven't a clue on what I am going on about.  A photographer would lay the negatives across a piece of photograph paper then expose it to light.  Once the negatives had been removed and the paper processed you had a sheet with a copy of the image on them.  This sheet would then be used to select which of the negs would go for final processing and printing.

With my little experiment I decided I would make a digital contact.  That is, scan each of the negs and make a contact sheet of them rather than individual images.  So that is exactly what I have done.  Below is the finished contact sheet.  Now I must go and find a better neg scanner!!!