Where Did the Time Go?

Prior to taking the photographs in this blog post the last time I went out with the camera was the 15th of December. I went to Hound Tor on Dartmoor, I took four frames and frankly it was a bit of a disaster. Not the way I wanted to finish 2019 but hey, that’s the way it goes sometimes.

A few days after that I went on a family holiday, then it was Christmas, then New Year, then I got a cold and the weather was pretty miserable for an extended period of time. The result of all this was that I didn’t take another landscape photograph until the 17th of January (when I took the photos in this post). Where did all the time go!

Keeping Sharp

You may not think a month is a long time between sessions with the camera and for some people it might well not be. For me though that month represents a reduction in the sharpness of my skills. You may well ask what sharpness has to do with landscape photography? It’s not as if I’m shooting fast-moving cars, sprinting athletes or birds in flight. What I mean by sharpness is my “photographic eye”. My ability to pick out and fine-tune compositions.

Dawlish Warren #1, Devon - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 16mm, f/11, 218 sec at ISO 64, Kase Filters CPL, ND Grad and 6 Stop ND. — **Dawlish Warren #1, Devon -** Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 16mm, f/11, 218 sec at ISO 64, Kase Filters CPL, ND Grad and 6 Stop ND.

Photography is a skill and one that needs to be practised. This is one of the reasons why I go out with my camera when the conditions aren’t exactly great. I’d rather practise my photography skills in poor conditions than find myself stumbling when I’m presented with some stunning conditions. In other words I like to keep my composition muscles fit and flexed!

Down to Dawlish

My choice to photograph Dawlish Warren as my first location of 2020 was driven by two factors. The first factor was time. I was really short of time that day and I didn’t want to potentially wait another week to get my first photo of 2020 just so I could go somewhere further away. The other factor was my familiarity with the location. As I was short of time going to a location that I was familiar with would allow me to spend more time taking photographs. However, as I wrote in a recent blog post “Does Familiarity Breed Complacency?”, being familiar with a location doesn’t necessarily make it easy to shoot.

Dawlish Warren #3, Devon - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 16mm, f/13, 1.3 sec at ISO 64, Kase Filters CPL, and ND Grad. — **Dawlish Warren #3, Devon -** Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 16mm, f/13, 1.3 sec at ISO 64, Kase Filters CPL, and ND Grad.

I knew before I got to Dawlish Warren that the weather was unlikely to give me brilliant conditions and I wouldn’t get photographs that were better than some of my previous efforts from there, but that’s not the point. The point is that I would be out with my camera and I’d be exercising those photography muscles making sure they are fit for when I do get one of those very special days.

Dawlish Warren #4, Devon - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 18mm, f/13, 1 sec at ISO 64, Kase Filters CPL, and ND Grad. — **Dawlish Warren #4, Devon -** Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 18mm, f/13, 1 sec at ISO 64, Kase Filters CPL, and ND Grad.

As I look at my images from that morning I already know that it’s not my best work. However, there are qualities that I do like and I can take these ideas with me on my next shoot where ever that might be. The most important thing is that I feel more prepared and confident for the next shoot.