Badger, badger, badger

My neighbours, the badgers, have been particularly active in recent weeks.

I had been feeding them at the front of the house, but I wasn't happy with the photos that could get; there was a patch of tarmac in most images and I really wanted to get more shots at the badger's eye-level.  One possibility was to move the feeding site to the "lawn" and then  lie in the grass each evening until the badgers arrived. Moving the feeding site is easy - they will quickly find a new nearby site. But lying in the grass for up to two hours was not appealing because of arthritis and the very high likelihood of tick bites.

I eventually moved the feeding site to the back of the house where there is a steep bank topped by a flat area planted with a few trees. The top of the bank is approximately at eye-level when I'm standing at the back door.

The badgers found the new feeding site on the first night. After a week at the new site I also discovered that the badgers are not bothered by me standing in the wide open doorway with a dim outside light switched on. This discovery has really opened up new possibilities for photographing the badgers.

These images are all taken with flash at about 10:30pm. I used the outside light to help me get focus.

Badgers - sow and cub at right

Badgers "greeting" - cub at right

Badger cub

Car park, Aberdeen

As a result of visits to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary I've had the opportunity to spend time with a camera in the hospital car park.

I initially got some monochrome images showing interesting views on the ramps between floors, but then discovered that with the right light and choice of White Balance settings the colour of the steel-work comes alive. The first image is abstract showing the colour and detail as originally visualised. The second image has a warmer light and more clearly shows that this is a car park.

Steel Work Abstract

Car park, Aberdeen

The car park is a modern multistory (12 or 13 parking levels) - a great improvement on the previous parking arrangements. 

Abstracts

I have been reviewing the photographs that I made last year, asking myself which images I like best. I've realised that many of my personal favourites have abstract qualities. Such images may warrant , or require, longer viewing times than images with more realist subjects. Abstract images are less likely to do well in an SPF or PAGB competition where an image will get a high score only if it has immediate impact. Photographers often don't know that judges at SPF / PAGB competitions view each image for only 3 to 5 seconds (true!) before giving a score. Any image that demands a longer viewing time is probably doomed in such a competition.

Given the speed of the judging process it is amazing how good a job the SPF / PAGB judges can do - in just a few seconds they will usually pick out any serious technical flaws and make a good assessment of an image's visual impact.  The overall result is that the stronger images succeed. This judging process does however work against some types of images - for success at SPF / PAGB immediate impact is essential.

In a monthly club competition the judge will always spend longer looking at the images, so different types of images can do better that those sent to SPF / PAGB competitions.

The images below, both January 2018, are more-or-less as found on the ground beneath my feet. Adjustments were done in Lightroom, no Photoshop.  The images were originally prepared as prints, with approximately A4 dimensions for the intimate mono "Road marks" image, and A3 for "Cosmic cold".

Road marks 1

Cosmic cold

Imagination

Most of my photographs come from "found objects", either scenes or items in and around the house. A few photographs are at least partially inspired by dreams. The "Bees" image was from a vaguely remembered dream and this image is also based on a dream. When I put a print of "Ascent" into a club competition the judge wondered if it was something to do with advancing through life. I'm not sure what it's about, but in my dream the climb surface was not rock - I only remember that there was no fear despite the crumbling handholds and more of the climb behind me than ahead.

Ascent

P is for Pomegranate

Extending the alphabetography with fruit. I was looking at colour wheels* and wondered if fruit could be arranged as a colour wheel.  This image is as close as I could get with the fruit at hand. The fruit are not pure colours, and the plate provides the blue.

Fruit Wheel

Note*: colour wheel - pure colours arranged as a wheel - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, magenta, red ... etc.

I bought a pomegranate intending to include it in the first fruit image, but it didn't fit on the plate

Pomegranate