A weekend away - Warwick

Warwick. Cloudy day. For photography that comes as good news and bad news. The good news is that harsh sunlight is significantly tamed and that means good, soft shadows. The bad news is that it means less overall light with which to take a hand held shot.

Then, of course, there is the problem with the subject itself; a town of such an age that the medieval builders didn't exactly do a plumb job. If you are an architectural photographer, you're going to do your nut in this place. If you get one thing straight (lamp post) then something else is going to look like its falling over (clock tower) so take your best shot.


I mean ... seriously ... some of these buildings look like they've been out on the piss and are looking for someone else's shoulder to steady them.


Some of these buildings damn near look like they're going to fall on you!!! You're chance of getting good, straight, building photography of everyday buildings that weren't of cultural significance in the day, is next to friggin' zero.


You're also battling against modern pigeon shit protectors and other things which completely wreck a good shot. The only way around this is hours in Gimp to get rid of the netting.


One way around some of this is to change your angle so that the shot looks more artistic. In cases where the architectures lines are fighting you, try to vary your angle so that any oddities in the lines and building work are hidden from view. Some times there will be very little that you can do, but if you've come up against something that you really want to photograph and you're going to spend time in Gimp afterwards ... at least give yourself the option and take the time to wander around the subject to see if you can improve the lines.


There will very likely be times when you can never get a building to look one hundred percent; in some cases, that actually comes as part of the charm of a building that is hundreds of years old; it is up to you to see the picture and make the best of it that you can.


Lack of light is a definite problem. Some people see me firing about ten or so images off in some cases. Despite this, out of 196 shots I took in Warwick, I kept 73 of them. That's better than a 1 in 3 and I'm happy with that. But why am I shooting like that? Two reasons.

Reason 1 is to try and keep the camera still. Cloudy weather means little light and although I won't move from ISO 100, I'll try and push the shutter speed along with the anti-shake to get whatever f stop I can handle. In years to come, increases in sensors will mean we can give a little on the ISO, but for now taking multiple shots handheld is the only way to pray that one of them will come out sharp.


Reason 2 is composition. Even slight movements in the camera can result in a big change in composition. Here, I decided to try and include the key hole in the shot but not only do I think the composition didn't work, but also that the key hold is out of the depth of field. I'd have to do some processing to make that of any use.


Art does have a habit of encouraging more art and this piece was, "To celebrate the life of David Eliot Mycroft 1970-1998" so there is no telling what you'll find. To be honest, in the architecturally sterile towns and housing estates, I have found little art, only interpretation of the architecture mood itself, but historic places like this seem to continue to encourage creation. You can never really be sure of what you'll find around the corner.



Of course, while the architecture may stay still, the people that live in these areas continue to move with the times and there are shots to be had. Next to the owner of this wonderful Alaskan Husky (or I think that is the breed) was one of the town characters who also insisted that I shot him; and then there was this dog, tethered by its owner who went in to a shop for a while. I wish I could have done more with that look of abandonment!




The long story short is that these towns are full of bits and pieces of history but take work to bring them out which, if you're walking around with other people and have a timetable to stick to, can be a bit restrictive and tat can fee like a waste; so practice, practice, practice and have some techniques to hand for working in low light without a tripod.