Andy Brown (mrbuk1)
Crowns
(Published in Photo Technique, Spring 2013)
(Explore #270)
Living in Devon, I'm very lucky to have easy access to a wealth of picturesque, iconic, and even downright dramatic locations both here and in the surrounding counties. Many of these are world renowned, and arguably none more so than is the case with Botallack Mine in Cornwall - just a couple of hours drive from me. Bizarrely, I've recently been enviously studying a lot of images from Dungeness in Kent, and then suddenly realised I've perhaps been overlooking sites closer to home. It's not that I was unaware of Botallack - far from it - it's been on my list of places to visit for years, yet somehow I just hadn't got around to it. It was something of an eye-opener to get the opportunity recently, and I'm glad I did. Some places have an indescribable, rather unique aura about them and in this regard Botallack doesn't disappoint. Certainly there's a wealth of information about this historic area available on the internet, so I shan't bore you with tales of it's past. I shall instead point out that should you decide to investigate further and as a result pay a visit you're in for a treat - it's rare to find yourself in such a place steeped with an almost palpable sense of heritage and intrigue.
Of course, the summer of 2012 being what it is, my trip coincided with dour skies and drifting bands of rain. This in itself wasn't necessarily a bad thing - somehow I couldn't imagine Botallack in anything less than forbidding circumstance, yet as anyone knows rain droplets are the enemy of a photographer's lens. As my visit had been something of an unplanned affair, I'd done nothing in the way of research, but was anxious to at least take a couple of shots before the incoming weather worsened and the light faded completely. I've since come to realise just how frequently this vantage point has been used before me, but at the time I felt it was perhaps one of the few I could take advantage of due to it's sheltering position from the elements. Hunkering down behind a huge vertical outcropping of rock (and yes, I cast several wary glances at it while the wind veered around it's contours), I found a spot where I could wedge my tripod in the dry and go to work. In truth, I have resolved to return as don't think I really sought out 'my' angle here, yet at least another time I will have the benefit of some familiarity - plus the knowledge of one or two other vantage points I spied having checked out the lie of the land. I feel as if I'm touching on this a lot lately - the relative pros and cons of shooting the overly familiar as opposed to the completely overlooked... I don't believe there's a right and a wrong approach - such binary reasoning is for mathematicians and pregnancy tests(!), yet I personally get more satisfaction from successfully exploiting a hitherto unexplored vista. This may not mean on a different occasion I'll shoot from the hip while abseiling down one of these engine houses, but the brave never say never!
As for Dungeness, well, I'm still massively enthusiastic to pay a visit, and intend to do so in the winter months to empthasise the bleak atmosphere thoughts of the place always conjure for me. Even the rugged allure of Botallack can't dampen my ardour... Any photographic trip including five lighthouses, numerous decrepit buildings, boats, and a couple of nuclear power stations can't be bad!
Crowns
(Published in Photo Technique, Spring 2013)
(Explore #270)
Living in Devon, I'm very lucky to have easy access to a wealth of picturesque, iconic, and even downright dramatic locations both here and in the surrounding counties. Many of these are world renowned, and arguably none more so than is the case with Botallack Mine in Cornwall - just a couple of hours drive from me. Bizarrely, I've recently been enviously studying a lot of images from Dungeness in Kent, and then suddenly realised I've perhaps been overlooking sites closer to home. It's not that I was unaware of Botallack - far from it - it's been on my list of places to visit for years, yet somehow I just hadn't got around to it. It was something of an eye-opener to get the opportunity recently, and I'm glad I did. Some places have an indescribable, rather unique aura about them and in this regard Botallack doesn't disappoint. Certainly there's a wealth of information about this historic area available on the internet, so I shan't bore you with tales of it's past. I shall instead point out that should you decide to investigate further and as a result pay a visit you're in for a treat - it's rare to find yourself in such a place steeped with an almost palpable sense of heritage and intrigue.
Of course, the summer of 2012 being what it is, my trip coincided with dour skies and drifting bands of rain. This in itself wasn't necessarily a bad thing - somehow I couldn't imagine Botallack in anything less than forbidding circumstance, yet as anyone knows rain droplets are the enemy of a photographer's lens. As my visit had been something of an unplanned affair, I'd done nothing in the way of research, but was anxious to at least take a couple of shots before the incoming weather worsened and the light faded completely. I've since come to realise just how frequently this vantage point has been used before me, but at the time I felt it was perhaps one of the few I could take advantage of due to it's sheltering position from the elements. Hunkering down behind a huge vertical outcropping of rock (and yes, I cast several wary glances at it while the wind veered around it's contours), I found a spot where I could wedge my tripod in the dry and go to work. In truth, I have resolved to return as don't think I really sought out 'my' angle here, yet at least another time I will have the benefit of some familiarity - plus the knowledge of one or two other vantage points I spied having checked out the lie of the land. I feel as if I'm touching on this a lot lately - the relative pros and cons of shooting the overly familiar as opposed to the completely overlooked... I don't believe there's a right and a wrong approach - such binary reasoning is for mathematicians and pregnancy tests(!), yet I personally get more satisfaction from successfully exploiting a hitherto unexplored vista. This may not mean on a different occasion I'll shoot from the hip while abseiling down one of these engine houses, but the brave never say never!
As for Dungeness, well, I'm still massively enthusiastic to pay a visit, and intend to do so in the winter months to empthasise the bleak atmosphere thoughts of the place always conjure for me. Even the rugged allure of Botallack can't dampen my ardour... Any photographic trip including five lighthouses, numerous decrepit buildings, boats, and a couple of nuclear power stations can't be bad!