Time

For some time now (and it's not only with the arrival of a rather distracting baby on the scene!) I've been getting frustrated at not having the time to take photos, and then when I do, finding it really difficult to 'see' potential photos.

Over the holiday period I've finally got off my backside and made time to go out and take some photos, and enjoyed it in a way I've not felt in a long time. With a few days in Suffolk over New Year, I was able to revisit some spots that have yielded some images I've been very pleased with. In particular, I took the photo below some seven years ago, through a window of Tinker's Cottage, which had fairly recently burnt down (though I'm not sure exactly when). The house is tucked away where it clearly doesn't get visited very often, and was still strewn with the last occupant's belongings. It had the look of the Mary Celeste about it - as though the place had long ago been abandoned with everything in place, with the fire coming along only much later. Quite extraordinary to look at, and very spooky to be taking photos, half expecting to see a ghostly apparition turn up in the images.


On Saturday, I revisited the cottage to see what seven years of dereliction had done to the place, half expecting it to have been demolished to make it safe. To my surprise, it looked as though nothing but the elements and the local flora had touched it. The same piano, seven years on:

My first time-lapse efforts

Well, I've been a little obsessed with the idea of time-lapse these last few months. Below is my first attempt at my own, of some straight-forward landscapes in North Wales. There's lots that could be better about it, but nevertheless, I'm quite pleased with the results. My mind has been working overtime thinking of the possibilities for future attempts, when I get the time...

North Wales time-lapse from Thomas Heller on Vimeo.

Horse chestnut

Each spring, I always seem to find myself taking photos of the freshly unfolded leaves of the horse chestnut. They're so much lusher and beefier than the leaves of any of the other trees you get in Britain. Sadly, however, it's not long before they start to look rather sad. In the last few years, the horse chestnuts in this part of the world have been succumbing to a leaf miner, so that by late summer many of the trees have shriveled and discoloured leaves.

Little People

First spotted this on BoingBoing, now seen that they have a book out. Yay!

Little People: a tiny street art project

Trellick Tower, London

I recently encoutered Trellick Tower recently when having a random wander around the streets after visiting Portobello market. It's a huge block of flats, really quite imposing. There's something about the concrete partitions between the balconies and the amount of stuff the residents store on them, it gives the impression that the front of the building has been pulled off, and you're looking into people's flats.

Tilt-shift time-lapse

I've been vaguely aware of more and more people using tilt-shift lenses to create images of landscapes that look as though they are actually photos of small models (or, possibly more frequently, using Photoshop to give a similar effect). By tilting the plane of focus away from that of the film/sensor plane, it gives the appearance of a very shallow depth of field that you would typically get in close-up photography.

As is often the case with clever techniques that suddenly gain in popularity, the results you see on the web vary enormously in how well they're employed. However, the work of one photographer that I'm loving is that of Keith Loutit (spotted on Boing Boing), who has extended tilt-shift to time-lapse photography:


Beached from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

I've finally done it!

After waaay too many hours sitting at my computer I have finally (more or less) finished turning my website into a reasonably pleasant way for people to look at my photos. It is my hope that anyone who comes across it will leave their thoughts in the guestbook or comment on individual photos...

For some reason I have decided to add this blog, which I now have to fill with interesting things. Hmmm. Maybe another evening - my eyes are protesting at being made to look at a monitor too much.