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Thursday 11 May 2023

A Different Walk Every Time

Today I'm taking a long lens for a short walk. Just a leisurely stroll from my back door, through the little wood, alongside a meadow and around by the back of the church.



People I meet glance at my camera and generally assume I'm out photographing birds. But a telephoto lens can be used to pick out all kinds of details, like this May blossom just coming into flower on a hawthorn bush.



I think it was Hemingway who said that he always aimed to describe each scene with a few well-chosen details. So a room with a glass of Scotch on a mahogany table with a stag's head above the fireplace transports you in imagination to a Highland hunting lodge. A bare bulb, a mattress on the floor and a hypodermic syringe takes you somewhere entirely different. It's an interesting way to think about taking photographs too.


See, we're in a spring woodland after a night of rain. That's what this lens is good at; picking out those telling details.



No need to photograph the whole tree. A lot can be suggested and brought to mind in just seventeen syllables.



I'm referring to Japanese haiku, of course. Those poems of miniature perfection, just seventeen syllables long. John Cooper Clarke wrote a very silly one that tells you all you need to know.....

To convey one's mood
In seventeen syllables
Is very diffic



Sometimes just looking at things through the viewfinder gives you a whole new perspective. The spaces between can be as interesting as the subject itself.



I like the way that backgrounds can be thrown out of focus to add a hint of mystery.



There's a lot more colour and detail in these horse-chestnut "candles" than I ever dreamed of before I started photographing them.



And far more "candles" on just a section of tree than I would have guessed. How can I have spent a lifetime in this countryside and still be ambushed by these sudden revelations?



A petite "tree" on a twig - and the twig on the branch, and the branch on the tree....
I doubt I'll ever find any of these minute cameos when I next come this way. It's different walk every time. And you'd find something different again, things I'd never  notice in a hundred years.



By the churchyard gate the bluebells are waiting.



From horse chestnuts to chestnut horses. Peering through the hedge, near the wooden footbridge over the river, I see there's a horse in residence once again. I like the unexpected shapes of the out-of-focus leaves.



Turning the other way I spot the church tower through the sea of cow-parsley - another discovery on familiar territory. I turn for home and know that if I get out for a walk tomorrow an alternative set of precious vignettes will await me. Whether I photograph them or just enjoy the walk remains to be seen.




Take care.


33 comments:

  1. Hi John - that was quite delightful and so wonderful to have your descriptions of what is, yet what can be if and when we look. Stunning photographs ... cheers and enjoy those walks - we do!! Hilary

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  2. I think that what you have illustrated here is that the eye of the photographer is the key; the lens merely the instrument to covey that vision to others.

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    1. Interestingly a lens does impose its own style on a picture - somewhat analogous to the way a melody takes on different qualities when played on different instruments.

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  3. Simply glorious. Thank you - and your artist's eye.

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  4. Incredible photos. I love the chestnut roundness of the horse already plump on grass, and at this time of year the sheer magic of clouds of cow parsley with their honey smell.

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  5. A completely different view!

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  6. Well, that was a delightful walk, John. You could turn this sweet post into a book and many would enjoy it! You have a wonderful way with words (and photos)!

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  7. Such beautiful closeup views of the world there, John. I love these photos. The details are wonderful.
    My twin brother and I send each other haiku fairly often. I'm going to send him the one you posted here on Saturday to celebrate our birthday. He's going to love it!

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  8. I always feel sad for lone horses - they do like a bit of company.This one obviously followed you - hope you at least spoke to him.

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    1. You'll be glad to hear that the horse does have another horse for company, I'll try and get a photo another day.

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  9. A lively vivid theme of green and life. Beautiful.

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  10. Hello. I have recently found you via Weaver's blog and have really enjoyed reading your recent blog posts with your beautiful photos and the wonderfully evocative descriptions that accompany them. Thank you for sharing your world.

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  11. A beautiful horse, you captured its beauty well.

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  12. THis walk was as much in words as photos...though you've woven both together very nicely! It was lovely to come with you, through the processes of lens, your eye, words, computer, internet and my own laptop screen!

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  13. What a lovely post this is, John.

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  14. I see something different every time along our route as well. All one needs do is look.

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  15. Bien aprovechado el paseo y creo que no has tenido que andar demasiados kilómetros, para hacer tan buenas fotografías.
    Saludos.

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  16. Your photos are wonderful. Isn't it amazing how a change of focal length can change what you see on a hike? I think it was two hike ago when I took only my telephoto. Ah, the details!

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  17. Exquisite details revealed. A joy to view, especially the bluebells.

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  18. Super photos. You do develop a good eye for detail and perspective

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  19. Yes! I have often been surprised by a photo I've taken of something very familiar. I guess it's easier to focus attention. Anyway, wonderful photos today. Thank you.

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  20. Absolutely beautiful images!!

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  21. An excellent photography lesson.

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  22. I often use my long lens to photograph wildflowers. It's fun to experiment and use a different lens for landscape photography. When I'm walking around with my big white lens on my camera it always draws comments from people.

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  23. Beautiful photos--and I loved that gorgeous horse. I enjoy your walks so much! Thanks, John.

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  24. Lovely details. It's a good discipline sometimes to use an 'alternative' lens.

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  25. Lovely photos, as always, John. Thank you.

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  26. Thank you so much for showing us the amazing details that we would often walk past with just a glance, You have pointed out just how much we miss.

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  27. You look enjoyed immensely photo shooting with a telephoto lens. Some years ago I got interested to know Japanese photographic word “bokeh” (deprived from “bokeru”, being blurred or senile) is used internationally. Among all the photos, my favorite is the last one. The 12th and the 13th images look like kind of multiple exposure due to multiple things in mae-bokeh (front-bokeh). I also love the 4th and the 11th. I'd like to cope with bokeh caused by ageing like I handle bokeh of photography.

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  28. Beautiful photos! I think you can find beauty everywhere.

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