In which I find a man under a very small bridge and discover the secret world of Geocaching

remnants of a forgotten summer

Photographically I am stuck.

No idea what I am working towards.

Spending more time deleting images from my hard drive than creating new ones in an attempt to regain order over my collection.

One option might be to stop making new images and work with what I have.

Which sounds great in theory, but I make images in order to relax, and without a camera in my hand I don't feel right.

So this week I tried a new tack; take only a very small, fixed lens camera with me on a late afternoon walk as the sun was sinking after a day at work, and hope that I can find something to make images of, but also half hoping that I don't. Less images = less storage. Less images = better quality. In the days when each negative exposed had a monetary cost I was much less prolific.

hedge © caroline fraser

As usual. I got a bit obsessed with the hedges. Low sunlight catching the new growth waiting to burst into new leaf.

The small camera with a 20mm lens perfectly adequate for the job.


Not quite so good for the pond, but the blue skies reflected nicely on the very still surface.

pond

I tried to look nonchalant when pointing my camera at the top of the hedge; passers-by clearly not sure about my intentions.

But then I came across a troll, under the bridge over Kydd brook.

A troll with a white beard and a peaked cap.

His intentions were so unclear to me that I had to stop and ask him why he was 'trip-trapping' under my bridge.


At which point he became a very excited troll, and told me that he was 'GEOCACHING'.

At which point I displayed my ignorance and asked him what that might be.

At which point he got even more excited and started dancing around under the bridge in an attempt to explain.

'GEOCACHING' he said 'is the best thing ever'.

'My wife and I have travelled the world and had so much fun'

'We have come all the way from Zimbabwe to find treasure here'

'And what is the treasure?' quoth I .

In which team GBS find the treasure under the bridge

'It is this.........'

Team GBS in action

And indeed it was.

A small piece of paper hidden in a small plastic capsule under my bridge that I have walked over more than a thousand times.

He proceeded to expound on the joys of travelling to new places with the aim of solving clues, having wonderful walks in the countryside, and sharing his finds with over 2 million people over the rest of the world.

I have to say, he had me hooked. The enthusiasm was oozing out of him.

So what is Geocaching?

Basically it is treasure hunts for grown ups. The website is here


And here's a little video that explains a bit more.....

It turns out that there are many geocaches hidden in my woods.

And I never knew they were there........

Geocaches in Petts Wood and Hawkwood

It also turns out that my troll is Gavin Blair of Gavin Blair Safaris

You can see him here with his white beard and peaked cap.

I know, because it says so on his hat.

And what a delightful man he is.

And how extraordinary that he comes all the way to Bromley to seek out and photograph a small piece of paper under a bridge, when he could be out looking for elephants, lions and hippos.

What a wonderful world!

the joys of familiarity

Pond © Caroline Fraser 2012

Familiarity brings joy to dog and I.

We finally made it down to the woods today.

I have been missing them, as has dog. Duties elsewhere meant I didn't get there all week, and I felt frustrated. So did dog.

My other half opted to join me, but had to retreat almost before we got started , due to an unexplained pain in his leg that made wading through thick mud a bigger challenge than he was ready for. I hadn't the heart to admit that walking alone with dog and my camera was what I had hoped for all along. Peace and quiet. Time to think. To get my fix of nature.

Nature is my passion. Other photographer's choose different subject matter for their 'fix'.

A couple of weekends ago I had the privilege to meet Mark Power, Magnum photographer, at an IPSE workshop. Mark is a documentary photographer. He talked eloquently for a couple of hours about his career. I already knew of his work and book The Shipping Forecast, which I greatly admire. He showed prints of his new series of works Mass taken in Polish churches; beautiful large format prints of church interiors during worship. It seems that the influence of the Catholic church on his life has compelled him to make this series, having initially frustrated him and then creating a sense of envy for those who have a faith.  Having a strong feeling about an issue is a great reason to start a project, and his love of Poland is eloquently shown in his book The Sound of Two songs.

He made me stop and think when he talked about the challenges of going into a foreign landscape and trying to make pictures that are of interest to anyone else. I thought about my recent trip to Burma, and how little emotional attachment I feel to the images that I made there. How much time does one need to spend in a place to fully convey something meaningful to others in one's images?


Mark Power talked about his work in the Black Country, looking at the impact of the recession. I had not realised before that the two industries that are most likely to survive in a recession are beauty and the sex industry. Sales of lipstick used to climb during a recession as people sought to feel better about themselves. Now it is nail polish that indicates how well the country is faring.

Pond 2 © Caroline Fraser 2012

I cannot claim to be a documentary photographer, but I have in mind to make a small book on the offerings that people make in Buddhist temples, only because whilst travelling in Burma one has to think of something to focus on when visiting more temples than one could possibly imagine to be possible in 14 days.

Offerings of money, flowers, bananas and drinks are made to Buddha as a means of merit making in the Buddhist tradition of striving for a better life.

More on this later.........

I will leave you with lipstick and nail polish on a figure in a Buddhist temple, holding offerings of flowers and money.

Topaz filters and a little tree therapy

thicket © Caroline Fraser 2012

I have had a busy week, and have restored my equilibrium over the weekend with two long walks in the woods with dog.

I took a proper camera and a monopod; a compromise over the need to carry a tripod for decent depth of field, and my need to walk and feel unburdened by my equipment. As always I carry just one lens, and see what I can do with it. This weekend I have rediscovered the fun of a wide angle lens. My Sigma 10-20 mm has not been out for a while, but for my current project on chaos in the woods it is perfect, allowing a wider depth of focus than most of my other lenses, and better  quality images than a standard telephoto lens.

I have downloaded Topaz B&W effects for a one month trial, and am experimenting to see if it is something I would like to buy. I already have Lightroom which has a number of monochrome options, but am struggling to use the programme efficiently. Topaz can be used from within Photoshop, and is therefore simpler to use.


So what have I found?


I am wary of producing images that look overcooked. So many journalistic photographers seem to use Topaz filters for portraits, and the overall effect is to over accentuate the pores and wrinkles to a point where they look unatural. Likewise landscapes can have too much 'venetian' effect or 'pop', and the effect immediately destroys the image in my eye.


I like to use black and white layers within photoshop to enhance the contrast in an image without creating an obvious filter effect. I copy the background layer and convert the layer to monochrome. The blending mode is then changed to soft light or overlay and the percentage opacity altered according to taste.

black and white overlay on a colour image using soft light as the blending mode

Here is the first image unadulterated

and here with the Topaz diffusion filter applied as  a layer with some additional blur

with diffusion and blur

and here with no blur

with diffusion and no blur

Some images work better in black and white, especially for conveying nature's chaos.

original image

with high contrast monochrome effect and vignetting

original

colour image with  monochrome overlay in soft light blending mode

same image using Topaz BW  infra red effect, exaggerated grain and vignetting

One could play around for hours and  probably create all of these effects without Topaz, but the ability to preview many different effects, and then to fine tune the effect is attractive. 

grunge

aged effect

You just need to be careful not to overcook the albumen or go overboard on the 'grunge'. 

Inspired by Bill Bryson on a walk in the woods; a little more on litter

pillow talk © Caroline Fraser 2012

I missed my train to London on Sunday, as I got caught up with my self imposed automated directive to photograph each discarded cigarette packet on my short walk to the station; there were at least seven, along with some papers from the House of Commons 1983 blowing around in the gutter. I picked one up, and then wondered why I had, and put it in the next litter bin. I don't plan to extend this project to include government papers as well as health warnings.

As I strolled I pondered on this mild obsession; I recalled the graduation lecture given to my first born at Durham University a few years ago. It was given by Bill Bryson, who entertained and amused graduates and proud parents alike. He had three pieces of advice for a happy future

1. Never let anyone stop you from doing what you want to do in life. 
2. Don't moan; no one likes a moaner.
3. IF YOU SEE ANYONE DROPPING LITTER.............SHOOT THEM!

These words have stayed with me, and I whilst I haven't got involved in the campaign for Rural England's  campaign against litter and fly-tipping that Bill Bryson supports, I do spend a lot of time noticing what people have dropped and feeling concerned that our local woods are full of plastic bottles and sweet wrappers. Local volunteers do a great job  of picking up the litter, led by a delightful man in his late eighties who leads them into battle with his litter picking stick.

I  wonder how long the pink pillow that I found in the undergrowth will remain before someone clears it away. It lies just a few feet from the path, and as I walk with dog, I ponder on how it came to be there, and why the owner didn't want to take it back home again. I imagine creating a story book full of short tales based on the items found on the ground, or a photographic A to Z of found items. Was it an innocent romance, or something more sinister that brought the pillow to its resting place.

fragment © Caroline Fraser 2011

And what about this small fragment of cloth; what story does it tell?

butterfly © Caroline Fraser

Or this pink butterfly that cheered me on an otherwise ordinary day?

Any suggestions for a storyline gratefully received; I am still hoping that a poem might emerge from all of this pondering; but as you can see it is not possible to get bored on a walk in the woods.