Friday 24 April 2009

Broad appeal

Potter Heigham Broad, Norfolk, UK - July 2008

Finally. Yes, finally, i have started work on the portfolio section of the website. It's only taken four months for me to build the courage up to start on the biggest phase of the website reconstruction.

I keep on telling myself the delay was so that i could get the page design right but i think I'm just kidding myself - I'm actually put off by the sheer scale of the task. Besides, as websites go most people much prefer looking at a regularly updated photoblog than a portfolio that rarely changes from month to month. The online portfolio, however, works like the 'best of' album released by musicians. It keeps the best work out and on view - a sprat to catch a mackerel.

I'm rather pleased with the above photograph but it's been a tough one to get right. I scanned the negative about six months ago but couldn't produce a picture that i liked. Something just didn't seem to work - the image balance seemed all wrong. I tend to leave photographs that are like that and return to them later when i can evaluate them afresh. The process usually works and its surprising how quickly you can solve the problem. In the photograph above, the sky was dodged to tone down the clouds and the water was lightened too. The final finished photograph catches the quiet, almost old world slow pace of the broads.

The yachts parked along the side of the broad are getting ready to take down their masts. Potter Heigham has a very small stone bridge dating from around 1385 that needs to be navigated through to reach other areas of the Norfolk broads. A bridge pilot is provided for those who require help to traverse through the narrow space, but first boat skippers must make sure they can fit comfortably under the bridge. It's a tight squeeze!

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