Creating atmosphere

There's a eerie feeling around the Wheal Coates cliff-top mine buildings. A sense of history hits you in a place like this where few miners were fit to work past the age of 40 and many died young. Woman and children younger than 12 years old worked above ground.

Despite the crowds of tourists wandering around I wanted to capture something of the atmosphere of the place. It was a bright sunny day with a haze hanging over the horizon.

I saw Magda walking off toward the next building, her dark clothes contrasting with her sunlit hair. She seemed in that moment almost like a spirit of the past. The new piece of wall brings the image up-to-date and besides creating an interesting piece of contrast prevents the image from being contrived. I used the walls to create a sense of depth, hopefully pulling the whole composition together in spite of how small the focal point, Magda, is in the frame. Ultimately I hope the image show something of the scale of the place and conveys its atmosphere.

"In the 18th and 19th centuries, it was common place for children to be employed at the tin mines.

In 1839, 7,000 children were employed in Cornish tin mines.

Until the age of 12, young boys worked largely above ground, breaking up rock as it was brought to the surface.

Women, known in the trade as 'Bal Maidens', were also employed to perform similar duties.

Using small hammers, the women and children would break the ore down to manageable sizes before loading into trolleys and pushing it to the ore crushing machine."

From: BBC Film -CORNWALL - WORKING CONDITIONS IN CORNISH TIN MINES

Cheers for now,

Paul

Comments

Overcoming creative block and self doubt

Every photographer, for that matter every creative, I've ever met comes to a point when they're not happy with the work they're producing. The pendulum between creative highs and dry spells swings continuously. For some the cycle is long and the bouts are quite mild for others the feeling of doubt about their work can be a crushing experience which returns all to frequently. It's actually quite healthy to have these periods of doubt because it can often be the beginning of something new and interesting which takes you further than you thought possible. Creatives in the commercial world have to always perform and although they may agree looking back that they've had a few patches where their work was less good, they always seem to bounce back. A very few creative geniuses deliver such high quality work that their poorest attempts still surpass the rest of us. But I have never heard of anyone, from tortured soul of Van Gogh to the supreme showman and genius, Salvador ...

What You Photograph Reveals How You Think

Photography is often described as a way of seeing. Less often do we talk about it as a way of thinking. What you choose to photograph, and just as importantly what you ignore, quietly mirrors how your mind works. Some photographers are drawn to faces, micro-expressions, emotional spikes. Others chase atmosphere, light, mood. Then there are those who gravitate towards structure, systems, order, the invisible logic holding a scene together. None of this is accidental. The camera becomes a sorting tool. It reveals what your brain prioritises. Where others see chaos, you might see alignment. Where some look for drama, you look for balance. Geometry, repetition, flow, layers, these aren’t just visual preferences, they’re cognitive ones. Strong graphic images tend to come from people who think spatially. Who notice how things relate before they notice what they mean. Lines before labels. Structure before story. And yet, the best images rarely stop there. They gain depth when human pres...

Why do you take photographs?

Have you ever asked yourself why you photograph? It's a question that can be answered with a simple one-sentence answer until you start delving deeper. The answer then becomes increasingly complex and challenging to unravel. I've again undertaken this journey recently, and my answer is below. Portrait of Paul Indigo by Magda Indigo. Thanks Magda! I also reviewed my images over the last ten-plus years, selected 30 of my favourite photos, and compiled them into a slide show. This was a challenging task. My favourites change by the day, probably by the minute. Still, eventually, I got to a selection I titled "That's Life." Please click through to YouTube to view the full screen. My approach to people and landscape photography is characterised by a distinctive blend of documentary and fine art techniques. I aim to create images that are both deeply personal and universally relatable. Through portraiture, I strive to showcase the broad spectrum of human experience. I a...

Beyond the obvious

Search This Blog