The Meridian Tower is the main structure that can be identified in this misty, murky shot across Swansea Bay from Mumbles. So ends a week of photos taken in dull, damp weather – I hope you have enjoyed them in spite of the weather.
A gallery of all the images I have posted this week can be seen below.
I didn’t have to pick out these photos from the shoot I did on that dreary day in Mumbles – for that matter, I didn’t have to take the photos in the first place. The images were processed and uploaded a week ago and now that I come to write this post, I wonder what my reasoning may have been. What was my intention and what might be my, or your interpretation of them?
I find I am reading things into them now that may have been sub-conscious at the time of production or even post production – but that time to reflect is very valuable. All of the work I have produced as an artist over the years was made over greater or lesser amounts of time, naturally, but just as the meaning of a piece of art can be different for each individual, so it can also change for the artist.
Some of my other art work can be seen here.
For some reason I had the impulse to process this image in sepia tone. Adding a bit of grain, it is given an aged look (as sepia does), as if it were a shot of Swansea Bay from Mumbles taken a century ago. Of course there are a number of tell tale signs that this could not be the case. The most obvious is perhaps the wind turbine.
The image can also be seen on Leanne Cole’s Photography blog and Monochrome Madness 46.
The last of my images for this week is a final view of Penarth Pier against the rising sun on a grey day. Also featured is a slideshow of the images I have posted through the week. I would also like to connect to another blog this week – that of Lightscapes Nature Photography. I get frustrated when I see overworked photography with that slickly unreal appearance and no texture – it seems to be used a lot commercially. However, that is not the case with Kerry Mark Leibowitz’s photography of landscapes and on top of that, there is good reading and advice to had as well.
The first image below is not monochrome but you would be forgiven for thinking it is. I admit to taking the saturation down a bit but most of the effect comes from the direction of sunlight (yes, sunlight) and the angle of the camera. There was also quite a weird light in the sky anyway (as can be seen in my first post this week), and this has also contributed to these images.
The bottom two photos are monochrome and the last one is also included in Leanne Cole’s Photography blog post Monochrome Madness.
As Penarth Pier stretches out into the sea the structure of stanchions that hold it up have an interesting concertina effect towards the end. I can’t be sure but I like to think (for some weird reason), that this is partly the result of perspective and not just the fact that there are more stanchions closer together where the end of the pier widens to a viewing (and fishing) platform.
The early morning light on Penarth Pier is not so unusual but the mixture of colours in the sky looking out from Penarth seafront towards Flat Holm and Sleep Holm Islands in the Bristol Channel did strike me as quite weird.
