Digital Camera World - UK (2019-10)

96 DIGITAL CAMERA^ OCTOBER 2019 http://www.digitalcameraworld.com

LEFT

MONTAGNE ST VICTOIRE, FRANCE

I have always had a fixation with small sheds.

I am not ashamed of this – there must be

a psychological reason for such fondness.

I was staying in the handsome city of Aix-en-

Provence in southern France. The viticulturist

whose land lay along the lower slopes of

Montagne Sainte-Victoire had long since

harvested his crop, and the vines, with just

a few ragged leaves, were stripped of grapes.

But I had seen a shed! The dusting of orange

light on its chunky stone was a gift, as was a

dark doorway that provided a point of deep

black, which to a certain extent images need

somewhere – although they should not

take up too much of the surface.

There was a delightful, though perhaps

tenuous, relationship between the mountain,

the tiled roof and the rumpled soil. The final

player was the cirrocumulus sky, each puff much

more entertaining than a carpet of infinite blue.

SETTINGS

LENS 50mm

EXPOSURE 1/2 sec at f/22

FILTER Polariser

Spotlight on Autumn photography

RIGHT

STONEHENGE, ENGLAND

In the late 1970s, the familiar brick-shaped

bale was soon to be eclipsed by the much more

glamorous cylinder. Here was true and naturally

glowing installation art atop the stubble.

When I came across these five-foot-high

bales, I was disappointed. The sky was a weak,

dreary, monotonous blue. But from the angle

at which I stood, I thought the farmer must

have seen me coming. The bales before me

were positioned like a perfectly laid table. Of the

11 swiss-roll bales, two sets seemed inseparable

from one another. I looked across to the west

and saw a formation of cloud that made me

laugh out loud. It was beyond belief that such

an arrangement of building cumulus cloud could

echo so precisely the giant bales beneath, even

though the clouds were some distance away.

The wind delivered the clouds before they

disintegrated, the ensemble came together

and it all seemed perfect. Sadly, it was not –

through my viewfinder I could see my tripod’s

shadow. Any movement would have altered the

balance of the image, but I didn’t compromise –

I made my image from exactly this point.

SETTINGS

LENS 50mm

EXPOSURE 1/2 sec at f/22

FILTER Polariser Ch

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