Carse Project underway

Near Ballindean

So, the Carse project. I'm getting quite into it I must say. For anyone who can't remember what this is about, a quick recap. The Carse of Gowrie is a strip of low-lying fertile land about 20 miles by 2 miles situated between Dundee and Perth. The idea is that I'll record it over the next two years with the somewhat ambitious goal of staging an exhibition somewhere. Kind of like what James Ravilious did in Devon but without the talent.

I really started taking photographs of the Carse seriously last year but things ramped up when I emerged from my photographic torpor a couple of months ago. It was the snow that got me going, I suppose. I know the area very well and it can sometimes seem over-familiar. A blanket of snow, however, transforms the Carse the way it does most landscapes. Suddenly, every scene looks like a promising photograph.

It's almost like visiting an area for the first time and inspires much the same kind of enthusiasm. As a result, I now have a wee collection of Carse negs that I'm feeling quite happy about. The recent shots sit alongside the likes of the ones I took of Grange Orchard and random others that I've posted on the blog. 

The Pow of Errol burn which drains into the Tay at Port Allen about a mile away.

The pics here were all taken on the OM1 and Tmax 100 with the exception of the first one which was shot on Adox CHS 100 II. The developer was ID11 stock. My modus operandi is to basically travel along every road scanning left and right for pics and occasionally looking forward to make sure I've not driven into a ditch. Years of practise at this sort of thing have given me a quick eye for something photogenic and I have to reverse not infrequently to check out a potentially coherent arrangement of elements that flared briefly on the retina in a sidewards glance.

The biggest problem in the Carse is finding somewhere to park the car that isn't too far away from the shot. The roads are narrow and there are few verges broad enough to take a vehicle or even most of one. It's not so much that I object to walking - it's the fact that it takes time and doesn't always result in a photograph. You see a scene, eventually find somewhere to park and hike the five or ten minutes back to the location. Then you find it's not worth recording, return to the car and write off 20 minutes. Three false starts like that and an hour has gone and if you just have a couple of hours to spare that's a lot. I've got a few favourite spots where I can park up if I just want to go for a general wander and I'll be doing more of that - and also cycling as I mentioned in an earlier post - when the better weather is here.

Ponies, Kingoodie

The photography is still a case of trying to find nice compositions, preferably with something locally noteworthy in them rather than just a picture of a field. There will always be some images that I just happen to like for their atmosphere but which could have been taken almost anywhere such as the tree in fog at the bottom of the post. I've fallen right out of the habit of using filters to bring out the clouds or break the monotony of a splurge of green foliage in the landscape. That's partly because I like white skies but also because I can't really afford to lose a stop or two when I'm working with 100 ISO film handheld in the winter. I'll need to do something about it if only to justify the fairly comprehensive line-up of Contax 55mm filters that were included in an RTS II outfit I bought some time ago.

Longforgan level crossing and the Huntly Burn

Huntly Burn

For all of my photographic life until about two years ago, I can't say I was influenced by anyone being, at that time, largely ignorant of the work of earlier photographers bar a few big names. Lately, though, by taking more of an interest in the "greats" and lesser-known but sometimes better (in my opinion) photographers, that's changed a little. The aforementioned Ravilious and Ray Moore are the two whose images I've been enjoying the most and, consciously or sub-consciously, I feel I've been looking for the type of pictures they would have been attracted to.

However, I think I'm still looking for "good images" rather than telling a story so my output thus far lacks a narrative quality. That's OK as I've got a long way to go and I'll turn to life in the Carse, instead of landscape, in a month or two. If you base your judgement on the photographs in this post you'd be forgiven for thinking the Carse was a bleak, inhospitable place but the opposite is actually the case. Yes, it can be a bit off-putting in the winter (although I like it) but it's lovely during the other seasons. I love the feeling of space I get in the flat landscape and if I want hills then the Sidlaw range is just a couple of miles away to the north.

Overyards tree-lined drive

A reader asked me in an email a while ago if I could talk about the photographs I post a little more, what attracted me to take a particular shot and what I was hoping to achieve, etc. I find that sort of thing difficult to put into words but I'll have a go. The first pic of a landscape at Ballindean was taken late one afternoon when I was on the way home from a few hours snapping away. The light was beginning to go but a nice, drizzly mist descended and created the kind of atmosphere I like. The first thing I saw when driving by was a large number of crows on the telegraph wires. The only tele lens I had was the 75-150 Zuiko zoom with its not too generous maximum aperture of f4. My shutter speed was down to 1/30th by this time on the 100 ISO Adox film.

Not having my tripod with me, I balanced the camera on a fence post using the fingers of my left hand to even it up and released the shutter using the self timer. It's just about sharp enough but I wouldn't want to blow it up too much. A guttural war cry was enough to get the birds to fly off at the right time.

The Pow of Errol shot was a scene I'd passed many a time and always thought I should stop and take a pic but, again, it's not easy finding a parking space nearby. I had my tripod set up on an 18-inch wide pavement on the little bridge over the burn, one leg on the parapet and the others on the ground. Passing traffic felt very close behind me so I made sure my backside was well pulled in. Without the caravan, this one wouldn't have caught my eye. As it is, there's a certain quirkiness to it which I like and the snow helped in that respect. Having said that, I think I'll re-do it without snow just to see which I prefer.

A handsome tree in the fog

The "lead" pony in the shot of the horses was a pain in the neck. He must have had ADHD or something as he wouldn't keep still for a minute. Never mind sugar lumps: this guy needs ritalin. His pals were very obliging but he kept throwing his head about and spoiling the composition. Again, I took this one on the way home from an outing and it was a 1/60th at f2.8 shot on the 24mm Zuiko in the gloaming. He was facing off to the side when I focused on him but just as I was about to click the shutter he took a step towards me. He's slightly out of focus as a result but I think the pic just about gets away with it.

The road through the Carse crosses the railway line, depending on which route you take, about three or four times. I felt the crossings should be documented so I made a start with Longforgan. This was taken from the back of the signal box mainly because I liked the burn in the foreground and the general higgledy-piggledy-ness of the scene. I was standing on a small bridge again for this one that provided access for farm vehicles over the water to a field. I turned the tripod around and took the photo below it pointing in the other direction.

Overyards was an orchard and, I think, is now a farm with a nice tree-lined drive that makes for a pretty scene in summer and a graphic one in winter. I liked the starkness of this shot and the fact it was easy to compose whilst standing in the middle of the road. The serried ranks of trees reminded me a little of the carefully pruned ones you can see in the Tuileries garden in Paris in winter.

Finally, there's my tree portrait. This was a horrible day to be out and about in the countryside. It wouldn't stop raining, the fields were saturated and muddy and there were a couple of bulls nearby that I had to keep a close eye on. This scene, technically-speaking, isn't in the Carse: it's in the hills to the north which are known as the Braes of Carse. I decided to include it because it overlooks the Carse and also because there are one or two picturesque villages in the braes that I'd like to include in the project. Artistic licence, I think they call it.