Twas a fine, sunny afternoon with only a very small number of clouds in the sky. Too good for a golden hour vista and yet I was in a very rare situation of late that I had all day in which to spend on photography.
Take a Bow, Paddy's Hole
Deciding that the coast would be my location of choice I set off for South Gare in Redcar working on the theory there’s plenty of close up work on offer around this location.
On arrival I checked out the sand dunes but, as in the past, I couldn’t really find an image that worked (maybe one day..). I therefore walked over to have a look round Paddy’s Hole to see what was on offer. After an hour or so I came across today’s image of a large fishing boat adorned with the most wonderful livery of varnished wood. A closer inspection found a beautiful golden patina of wood grain and screw notches (if that’s what you call them?!) with each panel alternating in shades of golden brown. I felt compelled to work on an image to show off this wonderful craftsmanship.
Using my finder to work out a pleasing composition I couldn’t help hearing mutterings from a small group of fishermen obviously enjoying the warm afternoon sun on a bench around twenty or so yards away. However, these mutterings, some of which sounded a little slurred (you work it out!), were obviously intended for my ears as I noticed they were scrutinising my every move when I looked round. Deciding to ignore them and get on with my business I came across a pleasing image that almost looked as if the bow was pointing towards me although the opposite was actually true - a type of optical illusion.
I had to set up the camera within a foot of the closest point of the vessel and use my widest (90mm) lens to make an image where the steel rail left the image top right, at the same time making sure one of the wood panels leaves bottom left. After working this problem out I then had to work out the best way to keep the whole keel as sharp as possible in order to show the wood grain at its best. It’s rare for me to use swing to aid focus but it’s even rarer to use tilt and swing simultaneously but that’s what was needed. This was a situation where having the use of asymmetrical movements on the Ebony was a big plus point and made setting this up a breeze.
After taking a quick meter reading or two I tripped the shutter just as another remark along the lines of ‘legs’, ‘broken’ and ‘if I touched that boat’ came winging in my direction. That was my cue to leave and I didn’t need a second reminder!
Technical Data: 90mm, ¼s @ f22½, Rear tilt & swing focusing, Provia 100F.
As usual you can find this image and more in the ‘Recently Added’ section of the Gallery, Enjoy.