Memories

Any photograph has a back story known to the photographer and others involved.  The place, the time, the company, the weather, the atmosphere, what happened prior to the photograph, or subsequent to the image being captured are all part of this backstory. 
When the photographer or those involved view that image the whole gamut of events surrounding the photograph come flooding back.  I can look at a photograph and sometimes even remember what we were talking about before or after its capture. 
Thus we delight in seeing our old photos.  Memories we might have forgotten can be jolted and relived by viewing a photo with a strong backstory. 
These three images will hopefully bring back in the future the feel and delight of not only the day and walk in the Chee Valley but the whole holiday I spent with these four lovely women.  The house we stayed in, the laughs we had, the other walks, cycle rides, visits and meals we packed into the week will all jump forward in my mind. 
I will even remember the moment of panic I felt as I thought I was about to fall off one of the steping stones!
When people lose their mobile phone or camera and are heartbroken over the loss of the images on it I always feel sad but a bit annoyed that they haven't backed them up.  I was always taught whether it was a photograph, a document, a piece of music ar anything that the rule was Save Early, Save Often.
The number of Word documents I have lost half way through and had to retype is really annoying. Personally I back up to my computer, and then to two portable hard drives in different parts of the house.  But then I am a bit obsessive over such things but remember, hard drives fail, houses catch fire and computers are lost or stolen. 

Always remember

Always remember
I was in Hull on the Friday to get a fix of City of Culture when we went to the Hull Minster to look at the newly paved square and reflecting pools.  My pictures were poor as it was near midday, there was too much light for decent relections, I had not got a polarising filter with me and too many people were around.  On the Monday I was in Hull again in the evening mainly to photograph the old town and waterfront.  I did remember the Minster and went back as the sun was setting and there was no-one around to take a series of rflecting images of which this is one. 

When to HDR

Sometimes a technique comes along which proves to be controversial and like Marmite splits the photographic opinion straight down the middle. 
Back in the day solarization was such a technique which in a club competition would get you a 20 or a 9 depending on the personal taste of the judge.
HDR (High Dynamic Range) is a way of processing a number of images to produce a final photograph with a much increased exposure range so there is more detail in the shadow areas so it doesn't block out and more detail in the highlight area so it doesn't burn out.  It does however produce an result which looks hyper real and therefore to some seems false. 
So when should you bring HDR out of the bag?  In my opinion it takes a brave photographer to try HDR on a pastoral landscape. It just jars too much for me.  The gritty feel of HDR needs a gritty subject. 
I tend to restrict it to scenes of urban decay, industrial grime or high contrast. 
When I was walking beside the Humber today past the old wooden wharves by the Albert Dock I felt that this was ideal for HDR.  Here are a couple of images.  What do you think?