do I have any original photos? and do I really look like Harry Styles? ......in which I discover Google reverse image search

 While doing my morning research in bed today I came across the photography of Alessandro Calabrese.

He has created a body of work using Google Reverse Image Search, creating  'an image of photographs' that is constructed using his own work along with images found using his work within the reverse image search tool.

I can't explain it well in words. I recommend that you take a peek at an interview with him that explains the process fully.

 Now I had never heard of reverse image search before today, and as I am currently having a minor existential cricis about where I go with my photography from here, I decided to have a play, to see whether I was creating any vaguely original work.

I started with a photo of myself, taken a year or two ago... as I was interested to see if I have a doppelganger.

I am looking super happy, as it was taken on the occasion of giving up my regular job to allow more time for travel and photography.

(OH please note this photo is already 'out there', so I am not giving up any deep secrets....)


Image reverse search tells me that I look like these people.....

Harry Styles.....

Help.

Alan Rickman....

it could be worse.......




Not too convincing so far...


Next up, the navigation tower at Dungeness

dungeness

Again, nothing vaguely similar, and certainly nothing from Dungeness.

towers

Then the red hut at Rye harbour; surely there must be millions of those...

it seems that my multiple exposure has tricked the search engine fairly well

legs and holiday houses....

Add caption

So lets try a regular photo of the red hut

red hut, rye harbour

 interesting....

hay bales and cornfields...

not the red hut rye harbour

I am not convinced.

How about an iconic architectural image from Canberra

Canberra architecture

it seems that shape is more important than colour

not Canberra architecture

and finally that slowly moving water in the Abisko river

Abisko revisited

Waves and surf come up.

not the Abisko river

So it seems that all of my work is totally unique......

........if you believe Google Reverse Image Search

..........which I don't.



I also came across these words from Chang Chao-Tang this morning.

'Photography is not for the satisfaction of others. Neither is it some kind of responsibility or mission. It is a means to fill a personal void'.



And to quote Amy Tan on the 'what is my work about?' subject

"what is it about? If you look too hard it will only be about 'the about''

In other words, don't worry about why or how or who for;

 Just keep taking the pictures.

On the road......from green fields to the mountains

the road to Mount Cook

I have finished my 3 months in Gore. I loved it there.

Every morning was a delight. I saw sunrises and sunsets like nothing that I have seen in London.

clouds over the Hokonui hills

I have said goodbye to the roses

Gore cemetery

and begun my journey homeward.

It started with a coach ride.

I learned how to take moving panoramas with my phone. I had five hours to practice. And I didn't master it.

They won't be winning any prizes.

But they do show the green colours of Southland

Add caption

I picked up a car  in Queenstown and headed north over the Lindis Pass.

The tussock grasses were not so green.

The car was not so good up hill.

tussock grasses, Lindis Pass

Lindis pass 

In Wanaka I strolled on the lakeshore, through sunlit trees and wished I had come prepared for a swim.

I was in the mood for soft focus. it seemed the only way to cope with the harsh sunlight.

I also tried some multiple exposure of the reeds on the lakeshore.

Wanaka 

Next up some tramping ( hiking).

The Hooker valley track.

I dutifully notified my 'adventure buddy' where I was going and when I would be back. I ticked the box on the adventure smart website that said I have a first aid kit, and then felt a little guilty, as all I have are some elastoplast and one dressing. Not much use if I break my leg or sprain my ankle. Still, it is an improvement on two years ago when I hiked in Paradise with not so much as a sticking plaster.

Turns out I needn't have worried, as most of New Zealand were on the track. Sunday is a popular day for tramping. I would not have been alone if I dropped dead or fell off the track. Someone else would be sure to have a bandage. A lady hiker got blown off the track 4 months ago; it is a very windy valley. You never know what might happen.....


The views on the track got better and better. I ate my apple in the shelter.

my apple

And the traditional New Zealand beef sandwich that comes laden with hard boiled egg.

I know not why.

5 years ago I ate my apple in the shelter, and it was cold and rainy outside. This was so much better.

Mount Cook is the star of the show.

Mount Cook

The river is wild and cloudy. Full of glacial sediment.

Hooker river

The boulders are big and shiny.

The return journey was suitably spectacular.

It is hard to beat the colours of a glacial lake in full sunshine.

Lake Pukaki and Mout Cook

Lake Pukaki

I had walked my 10,000 steps, and so much more.

Saying 'au revoir' to this beautiful country and its lovely people.

Abisko autumn gold - sharing some memories of a golden week of photography

multiple exposure, Abisko national park

I have been wondering what to do with the images that I made from Abisko in Sweden, encouraged by Hans Strand and Better Moments photographic tours.

The scenes of autumn gold will be long gone now. Snow has almost certainly fallen within the arctic circle.

Birch leaves were vivid gold and falling fast while I was there in September, and here in the UK they are now doing the same.

As I make my final preparations for my trip down under to experience late spring and summer in New Zealand, I feel I should share some of the autmn gold that I experienced in the arctic circle before I head off into the longer days and bluer skies.

I experimented with different methods of capturing the landscape.

Conventional images using a tripod and macro lens......

I was surprised by the geometry of this rock on the river bank.

single leaf on rock

Multiple exposure...... done in the camera.

multiple exposure of fallen leaves and roots

multiple exposure of old birch trees

This one with pale blue sky is one of my personal favourites, and has been added, with another from Abisko to my website gallery 'Arborescence' ; in celebration of trees.

Birches, Abisko National Park

Focus stacking using a tripod..........

Focus stacking involves taking several exposures of the same scene focusing at different distances away from the camera. These can then be combined using digital software in Photoshop to give better clarity and depth of field within an image, and without the use of a tilt shift lens.

You can find out more about focus stacking in this video by Phillip McCordall.








Not normally something I would do, but when in Rome....

focus stacking in the birch forest

focus stacking in the undergrowth

Capturing reflections of the golden trees overhanging the Abisko River

Abisko Gold

the Abisko River

 The overwhelming gold colours are still imprinted in my mind.

It was a very special place.

Even the national park sign was gold.

 a selfie in the autumn sunshine.

I'd rather have a pebble than a diamond.............precious things and photographic influences

I am preparing a talk about abstract landscape photography.

I would love to tell some amusing anecdotes or jokes on the subject to lighten up the presentation. Google doesn't have any on this topic. Possibly because it really isn't a very amusing topic. I may have to  find something deep and meaningful to say instead. Or most probably not. I can't do 'art-speak'.

But I do know what I like even if I struggle to say "why". The emotional impact of an image is  a lot to do with the 'why'. How it makes you feel. Where it takes you in your mind. The memories that it evokes. The senses that are stimulated; touch, sound, smell. Art  is easier to sell if it stimulates all the senses in some way and takes the viewer on a journey to another place within their head.

I have been asked to list the  photographers who have most influenced me as part of my recent learning.

That was easy, and the list was long, so I'll stick to my top three.


Number one has to be Paul Kenny who creates other-worldy abstracts from objects on the seashore and sea water.

I am not one for jewels, but see his works as precious in the same way that others might see a Faberge egg or a diamond. I would rather have one of his prints than any gold or silver.

Second must be Chris Friel for his multiple exposure portraits that pack emotional punch, and his abstracted landscapes that use colour and minimalism to perfection.

His work is always surprising, and ever changing. A master of experimentation and persistence.



 Thirdly I would choose Susan Derges for her camera-less images of moonlight taken from a river bed;

This bears an uncanny similarity of tones and shapes to Paul Kenny's "Blue Moon" above, despite being produce by completely different processes. There is something very satisfying about circles, and calming about the colour blue. Flowing water and luminous landscapes without a waterfall in sight. Cool and refreshing.

I would dive in if it weren't for the toad spawn.........