As with any hobby and photography is no different, there is a need to keep things ‘fresh’ and set yourself different challenges. I have been doing pretty much the same route on my morning bike rides for about 15 years and therefore photographing pretty much the same things and places hundreds and thousands of times. However as I am fortunate to live in a pretty rural area beside the sea, it is a constantly changing scene between the changing seasons and the weather patterns within those seasons.
Perhaps being born and brought up in London, lived in and around it for the majority of my life and therefore a ‘city boy’ by nature, I might take more notice of my environment and be aware of more than most. However there is an additional factor which is age and stage, being old and retired I obviously have the time and space to ‘notice’ the world around me more than people who scuttle around concerned with the necessities of their lives and their wishes for material improvements to their circumstances.
Choice
Whilst it is true that I have four main ‘go to’ camera and lens systems with which the majority, probably 95% of my photography is done, I do have other cameras which are either older models or a bit specialized in what they do that bring other things to the party.
It now being June we have a lot more sunshine and foliage so therefore an ideal time for bringing my infrared converted camera into play.
However there is another camera I had converted to full spectrum, a mirrorless Canon M10 which has an extra party trick I like. With full spectrum cameras you manipulate them by fitting different filters on the front of the lens and in theory fitting a UV filter should give you almost normal colour however I most often use it for shooting black and white. By setting the rear screen to B&W, I can compose and shoot in pure black and white and then process and manipulate further in post production.
In terms of looking at the world in black and white it is a great exercise in keeping your eye in as far as seeing three dimensional form without the ‘distraction’ of colour, get it right and the texture becomes amazing. Anyway below a little gallery to illustrate the point.
