Yeongnang Lake and Good Light

I had an errand to run and took the lakeside boardwalk path rather than the more direct route through ugly commercial neighbourhoods. Partly because the ugly city streets never make me feel good and partly because the clouds and light looked nice. I'm glad I went the way I did because the afternoon light was just nice for photography.

I've photographed this scene a number of times on digital cameras and two or three kinds of film. This is the best version, I think. The light is beautifully filtered through the clouds, the clouds themselves are interesting, and I used a slight panoramic crop that suits the scene better than 3:2 or 5:4 ratios. I like how the dark clouds in the upper right balance the dark plants in the lower left corner and create a diagonal. Another diagonal is made by the reflection of the clouds in the lower right and the line of clouds in the left side of the sky. Well done you, says I to meself.

I've attempted to photograph the boardwalk with buildings and trees in the background several times in the past but always failed. On this day I finally got the composition I wanted and, luckily, on a day with such soft and painterly light. 

Like most decent photographs, these two are a combination of good luck and some skill. The camera, in case any of you are wondering, was the Nikon Z50II with the 16-50mm lens that came with it. I used the Neutral Picture Control to avoid the slight over-saturated look of most digital pictures and I added a film grain filter in Nikon's software to reduce the overly-clinical look produced by digital cameras.

Benches

 

I visited the library to renew Emma and took a walk around the nearby park afterwards. I brought a small camera with me and, in an effort to overcome my photographic slump, gave myself some limitations to see if they might help me discover some new perspectives in a place I've visited many times. I set my camera to Neutral Picture Control, turned the zoom ring to the standard focal length (50mm equivalent on full frame), and tried to find simple compositions. I didn't make many pictures and most of them got deleted, but I was pleased with these two. The lines are pretty good and the overcast weather removed distracting shadows and provided muted colours.

Green

 

Like I mentioned in my last post, I'm not sure this photo has anything to say but I do like the colour and the lines.

Form and Content

 

When I took a photo class many moons ago, my teacher told me that I was good at form/composition but weak on story/content. I had balanced compositions, strong lines, etc, etc, but my pictures weren't about anything. They were just design. I think he was right. I worked at it.

   I think the above photograph is pretty well composed. It goes from dark to light, there are repeating vertical lines in the concrete and the wires, there's a triangle of meters, and it's simple. (I am wondering about the line on the far left, though. Should I leave it in so the eye doesn't fall out of the frame? Or take it out to emphasise the dark/light progression and remove a possible distraction?) But does it say anything? Maybe. An electrician might have something to say about the quality of the meter and wire installation. A painter might have some opinions on how the paint was applied. I have neither of those trades, but to me this looks thoughtfully done and haphazard at the same time. I probably made this photo because I liked the composition possibilities and because, frankly, this is very neat compared to some of the electrical work you see outside buildings and I wanted to record it.

   Anyway, hope you like it, for whatever reason.

The last roll of black and white film I had developed and scanned was Ilford XP2 Super 400. The only photos worth keeping were a few of me and the cat.

    Selfie in Traffic Mirror, Sangdomun Village.

When in doubt, photograph a cat.

Camera and film reminder

I finished a roll of Foma 400 in the Nikon F80 recently and when I use up the roll of Portra 160 I have in the fridge I'll send them both off for developing and scanning. And then . . .? I'm not sure. I like film but I'm skint. I'm not sure I'll buy more film in the future. Not only is it expensive, but I'm in a major slump and I don't even bother with the digital cameras much. So, we'll see. Or not see . . .

Buildings and Poles

 

Hotel and Clouds

High-Rise Luxury Apartments

Luxury Apartments and Lightpole

Bus Shelter and Utility Pole

All photos made on Kodak Ektachrome E100 in a Nikon F6 camera. Would these graphic photos have looked better on digital? They would certainly be cheaper.

The day was quite bright, as you can tell, so I used manual exposure to avoid blowing out the highlights, especially in the buildings.

Yeongnang Lake

These are scenes I think I've shared before but probably in different light and on different film or on digital.

Bird Perches. Nion F80, Kodak Ultramax 400.

Apartments Across the Lake. Nikon F6, Kodak Ektachrome E100.