Like Morag, I was intrigued by the bubbles created
as the waves lapped up the beach. In one area they
had a beautiful iridescence. Unfortunately it was
a fl eeting beauty, and by the time I had honed in on
one area, composed, focused and jumped through
all the usual hoops, the bubbles had popped and
disappeared forever.
As I moved away from the froth and the detritus
that marked the point where the waves hit the
shore, I started to wonder if I could somehow
become more involved in the creation of the image.
My new boots (and my not-inconsiderable bulk)
were making interesting patterns in the sand and
I began to imagine I could see miniature landscapes
being created by my indentations. I have an ongoing
collection of images made from the shore that are
slightly oriental in feel – the shapes of the seaweed
often take on the form of Japanese hieroglyphics
and so I started to build on these ideas as I trudged
around making hills and valleys with my feet.
I shot all of the images with my Canon EOS 5DS R
and a 70-300mm f/4-5.6 L IS USM lens. I have got toan age where I know my weaknesses in life and one
of them is very defi nitely an inability to organise
an extensive collection of accessories. Therefore,
I invariably travel light – no tripod, usually no ND
fi lter (my lens stops down to f/45, which enables
me to use a slow enough shutter speed for ICM
on all but the brightest of days) and little else apart
from a spare battery and money for coff ee.
My infl uences come from the many years
I spent painting, as much as my time spent in the
darkroom, and my images are made by combining
in-camera multiple exposures with ICM. My
camera off ers me various blend modes, which have
the eff ect of creating strong abstract shapes and
obscuring extraneous details. It is about as far
from a prescriptive way of working as is possible
to imagine, so it benefi ts from a slightly
unsystematic approach.
Whether or not I will ever fully realise the
vague ideas I have in my head – ideas not even
fully formed – remains to be seen, but this was
a really enjoyable exercise.Valda’s st ory
In Valda’s bag- Canon EOS 5DS R
- Canon 70-300mm f/4-5.6
L IS USM - Lee Litt le Stopper
- Spare batt eries
February 2018 Outdoor Photography 47Opposite
Canon EOS 5DS R with 70-300mm f/4-5.6
L IS USM lens, ISO 200
Below
Canon EOS 5DS R with 70-300mm f/4-5.6
L IS USM lens, ISO 200, multiple xposures
at various sett ings43-47 Morag & Valda1_SW.indd 47 18/12/2017 15:21