Inquisitive sheep on Dartmoor

Another, maybe the last, from my recent shoot on Dartmoor.

Got any hay?

Inquisitive Sheep on Dartmoor

I first noticed these sheep as I was walking around looking for potential shots and at various points of view for those shots. You can see how I got on in my last few posts. As an aside, this is a good hint for photographers looking to up their game a little—your feet can improve composition dramatically. Don't just stop, take a photo and move on. Instead, walk around a bit and see how the various compositional elements interact in the scene and then choose the one that works best for you.

Anyway, each time I walked past the fence, the sheep were a bit closer. Eventually they were close enough for me to pay attention to them and, as I did, talking to them all the while in a low encouraging voice, I got great eye contact and this lovely little interaction. A genuine look of curiosity from the front sheep, while the back one, though a little unsure, was still interested enough in what was happening to throw this backward glance.

(An observation from looking at the back sheep... when all you have are cloven hooves, you learn to put up with stuff that otherwise might drive you mad!)

Anyway, I hope you like it and got something of the interaction with the sheep; and hopefully, for a moment you might even have been transported there.

comments / critique / feedback always welcome :)

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Another view of Merrivale Tor

I'm just going through the last of the shots from my recent outing to Dartmoor during the thaw. I've got a cute shot of some sheep that I hope will make it through the digital darkroom.

Tor and outbuilding

Merrivale Tor View

If you've seen my recent postings, you'll know that Merrivale is near Princetown in the heart of Dartmoor. I'm not sure what the hut on the left is, but it's fairly close to some farm buildings so is no doubt to do with that.

I relaxed my normal rules for this shot. I rarely do landscape shots without something remarkable (to me, anyway) to include for compositional purposes. In this case though, I just wanted to make a good shot of the Tor and put it in context, more of a record shot than my usual.

comments / critique / feedback always welcome :)

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Last of my recent pony shots

As promised here's the next, and last, of the pony shots from my recent outing to Dartmoor at the end of the melt from the recent Winter snows.

The gorgeous Dartmoor Pony

I think the light, though harsh, worked a little better on this shot than my other recent postings. Here it's angling in through the gorse bushes, giving nice highlights, especially across the face, mane and neck.

Grazing Pony - full body shot

These are such lovely creatures—I don't know the Exmoor's so well but the Dartmoor Pony is tranquil and gentle, if you respect their space. Sometimes they approach you, hoping for food, but feeding them is a no-no.

For a time there were many accidents involving ponies on the roads of Dartmoor. Because well-meaning folks were feeding them, the ponies had learned to associate cars with the possibility of free food. As soon as they'd see a car approaching, they'd amble onto the roads, and often quite unexpectedly—it's surprising how many ponies can appear from behind a gorse bush only big enough to conceal a large rabbit!

It's all common sense to the locals but visitors to our fine County didn't realise the feeding was leading to a problem. So signs and fines went up and eventually the number of injuries to ponies (and sheep) went down.

It's a lovely sight, to be walking on the moors for the joy of it and to round a patch of gorse and see these natives of the moors. Just one of the pleasures of living in this part of the world, and long may it continue :)

comments / critique / feedback always welcome :)

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A Dartmoor Pony in profile

Makin' good progress, only a couple more to do from this photo shoot...

Hmmm... what's be happenin' here?

Profile of a Dartmoor Pony

Not quite suspicious but definitely a cautious glance. These ponies are semi-wild and run free on Dartmoor. To the surprise of many visitors, they're not timid at all, though feeding them is strictly forbidden, as it encourages them onto the roads when they see cars, increasing the chances of accidents.

In this shot, taken during the thaw from the recent snows, as well as the cute profile, I wanted to capture the shagginess of the winter coat and its textures.

Actually, I think the next one due out of the digital darkroom will really do their coats justice. You can be the judge when I post it here in the next couple of days.

comments / critique / feedback always welcome :)

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Three more shots from Dartmoor

I said in my post the other day that I'd been working in the digital darkroom. These shots have made it through and out the other side.

I'd love to get your feedback on your initial impact.

Distant Haze

Houses on Dartmoor

Looking towards Tavistock and some distant hills and tors of Dartmoor. Houses nestle amongst some trees beyond a large expanse of prickly gorse, in an otherwise deserted landscape.

Grazing ponies

Grazing Dartmoor Ponies

Shooting into the sun can be quite challenging as this shot proves. Often, the loss of detail caused by the high contrast ruins the shot but in this one I think it suits and complements the composition.What do you think?

A Dartmoor legend

...and now for a bit of fun :)

There is a legend on Dartmoor of a headless horseman—well this is the lesser known one of the headless pony!

The Headless Pony of Dartmoor

No, not a trick in Photoshop, just a bit of luck and some careful positioning of your photographer!

comments / critique / feedback always welcome :)

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Valentines day cheeky wishes voucher

Have some cheeky fun with your Valentine!!

A customisable wishes voucher

This Valentine Voucher entitles the bearer to one of the Valentines Wishes on offer...
(available wishes are fully customisable by the giver)

...or how about the voucher as part of a Valentines Card? The voucher is printed on the inside and again is fully customisable with the choice of wishes the giver wants to include.

I will love you until... Valentine Voucher card by HightonRidley

comments / critique / feedback always welcome :)

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A question about fine art answered

I got a question from a photography student just starting a module on fine art photography. Basically asking me what I thought was meant by fine art and why it applies to my work.

Thanks for your question, Dan...

My answer

Hi Dan,

To me, fine art is all about trying to say something specific with your artistic vision -- sometimes it's called artistic intent. Some folks may have a whole series exploring their vision / intent until they have come up with their final piece that represents it. For some, the series is the piece.

It's not really important if others understand all of your intent, though. An example; in this one:
http://www.highton-ridley.co.uk/blog/2010/01/during-melt-on-dartmoor.html my intent was to represent the harshness of Dartmoor and the fact that, in minutes, the weather can change from clear to can't-see-your-hand-in-front-of-your-face.

There's all sorts in the image that speaks of both. The local and global contrast; no snow apart from in the lee of the walls; soft sky; the granite wall - you don't get much harsher than granite. Angle-iron: harsh; clear fields, sharp, pointy tor. Cultivated fields, impossible-to-cultivate tor. The composition - the finger of wall pointing straight at the tor; no subtlety there. 

Yes, context helps but I think the image stands alone without knowing Dartmoor.

Dan went on to say he couldn't see what Tracy Emin's bed was all about and this was my reply:

Re: Tracy Emin's bed - I think it's self-serving (i.e. pretty much a "self-fulfilling prophecy"). I dont think it's so much about the visual impact, it's all about what the various scattered items represent in terms of her life experience associated with them. By self-serving I mean that if it wasn't by her, people wouldn't look beyond the rather crappy visual impact to what lies beyond. 

That piece of "fine art" lies almostly entirely in the associations it triggers in the viewer and not in the "prettiness" of the image. Not really aimed at the average punter but at the cognoscenti who "know" where to look for the artistic intent; i.e. they know the context. 

A stark example of what I mean. Imagine a really, really, famous artist with instantly recognisabe, say, paintings. They produce an empty canvas. The congoscenti might say "Oh, they were going through an "xyz" time in their relationship with their public and lover. The emptiness of the canvas represents... blah, blah, blah." 

Here, context is everything and, if you don't know the context, it's just a blank canvas. For me, this isn't fine art; for me, there has to be enough of merit that it can stand on its own without context. Knowing the context adds more, but it must be able to stand alone. 

All my opinion and not necessarily having any bearing on other's reality.

I hope my views help you develop your own, whether you agree with mine or not ;)
Cheers,
  Mark

Wikipedia says of Fine Art Photography:

Fine art photography refers to photographs that are created to fulfill the creative vision of the artist. Fine art photography stands in contrast to photojournalism and commercial photography. Photojournalism provides visual support for stories, mainly in the print media. Fine art photography is created primarily as an expression of the artist’s vision, but has also been important in advancing certain causes. The work of Ansel Adams in Yosemite and Yellowstone provides an example. Adams is one of the most widely recognized fine art photographers of the 20th century, and was an avid promoter of conservation. While his primary focus was on photography as art, his work raised public awareness of the beauty of the Sierra Nevada and helped to build political support for their protection.

I'm really interested to hear what other people think of fine art and context. Over to you :)

comments / feedback always welcome :)

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Wowee! I made it as a nominee in the 5th Annual Spider B&W Awards!!

I was dumbfounded to find out I made it to nominee status in the 5th Annual Spider B&W Awards!!

Haystack and Tracks

I'm over the moon about it because the winners get chosen from the "nominees". Here is the image, it got chosen for the Nature category:

Haystack and Tracks

...and here is the Spider Awards page it's on.

I didn't get chosen as a winner though :( so that means I just got pipped at the post! but who cares? A nominee! Woohoo!!

comments / critique / feedback always welcome :)

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Another from Dartmoor in thaw

Another fresh out of my digital darkroom

On the road out of Princetown

This was the approach road to the shot I posted the other day. I'm standing in a lay-by with the last of the snow. What remains is to be found only in the lee of the granite walls that lazily zig-zag across the moors here.

Merrivale Tor Approach, Nr Princetown, Dartmoor

I'm stood right next to a big pile of dirty snow that was probably cleared off the road, judging by the amount of gravel in it. The jumble of rocks atop the hill in the distance is Merrivale Tor and Princetown is a few miles behind me as I took the shot.

I'm an image tart...

I must admit to bringing my image-tart approach to bear on this one. Only small changes but they had a big impact. So what am I confessing to? I cloned out an aerial on the house, a signpost at the end of the road and, horror of horrors I extended the left hand wall a little at the end to close off the left hand turn there. Why?

The aerial and the signpost were signs of the outside world and I wanted to emphasise the isolation of the place—if you go there you'll know what I mean about its isolation.

As for extending the wall on the left hand edge; the road comes to a t-junction and the walls curve left and right. Unfortunately, even though it was very small, the curve of the left turn and the lighter road surface took the eye out of the shot to the left.

By extending the curve of the left hand wall, instead the eye gets pushed back in to where I want it to go. A typical journey through the shot probably follows the lead-in lines, lingers on the puddle of meltwater and sky's reflection, follows the snow/wall, hits the road, gets curved in again to the small house and then on to the tor.

Which is nice because that's just what I wanted, each major feature visited by the eye in turn :)

Contrast masking

I learned a new technique earlier today that I used for (one of the layers on) this image. Many thanks to Peter Cox for his informative tutorial on contrast masking, a technique brought over from the days of the wet darkroom. In short - take a copy of the background layer (on your out-of-the-camera shot in Photoshop), desaturate the new layer, change the blend mode to overlay, invert it, apply huge radius Gaussian Blur, done :)


comments / critique / feedback always welcome :)

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A Dartmoor pony in the wild

As promised a few posts ago [@Shadow: happy now? :-)]

Dartmoor in thaw

Here's a shot of a Dartmoor pony in the wild, taken on my recent trip up onto Dartmoor.

These ponies run free for most of the year and, even though considered "wild", they still belong to the various farmers on the moors. Every year they have a foal roundup and allot the new foals to the correct herds/farms.

Dartmoor Pony in the wild

Lighting conditions were difficult in this shot. It was during the start of the thaw from all the recent snow in the UK and the air had a very clear crisp quality. In the bright sunlight, even though the sun was quite low in the sky, it lead to very contrasty shooting conditions for black and white, too much even for my tastes—besides, it was in all the wrong places!

So, I finally did battle in the digital darkroom and eventually (after two sessions!!) tamed and bent the lighting to my will. I hope you like the finished shot :)

comments / critique / feedback always welcome :)

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