A Day on the Canal
My original photo essay idea unfortunately fell through due to sickness so this one was a bit of a 'last minute' idea.
As I live not too far from the Kennet and Avon Canal I thought it would be a great place to photograph because of people living, working and enjoying the canal and the wildlife is an added extra! I've spent many hours walking along it - although not the overall length of 87 miles - I thought I would narrow it down a bit!
I decided to do it in the style of observational mode using mostly decisive moments developed in the 1960's. I felt it would be more natural with the subjects not looking directly at the camera, although I did feel it necessary to use some staging, where I integrated with both canal visitors and cafe and barge owners.
The day itself was very wet and overcast so I was a bit apprehensive about the lack of people who would be on the canal and the lighting conditions.
All pictures were taken with a Canon 650d digital camera.
I approached the canal side cafe owner (Teashop by the Canal) who agreed I could take pictures from inside the cafe and outside. I figured a good starting and finishing point would be the cafe.
So the first picture (Picture 1) is from upstairs inside the cafe which incidentally housed a canal museum. I decided on this shot as it had a good view of the canal. I set the camera to automatic ISO speed and I set the AF mode to automatic. I manually adjusted the focus so the inside of the room was in focus and the outside was blurred and slightly out of focus. I was quite pleased with the outcome.
On leaving the cafe I came across a chap called Barry who is a frequent visitor to the canal having friends who work on the barges and does occasional work on the barges himself. Barry was feeding the swans and agreed that I could get some shots of him. Pictures 2 and 3 were decisive moment shots of Barry feeding the swans and as you can see in Picture 2 a duck landed just as I took the photograph. Both these pictures wee taken with automatic ISO and AF mode but i manually adjusted the focus accordingly. I edited picture 3 by adjusting the brightness, vibrance and contrast.
We went along to the canal quay where I saw a good decisive moment photo opportunity of a barge with it's chimney smoking and in the background a resident of another barge adjusting his TV aerial (Picture 4). I zoomed in to get a close-up of primarily the smoke but I think I would have captured a better image if I used a slower shutter speed then I would have got a better view of the smoke. I'm still quite pleased with the photograph however.
Picture 5 is a medium shot of the quay with some moored barges including the one I was luckily enough to get a trip on. At this point it started to pour with rain and I set the camera to landscape mode and tried to capture the raindrops hitting the water as well as the view of the barges in proximity of the buildings to show that part of the canal was pretty crowded. Unfortunately the end result didn't show the raindrops, if I used a longer shutter speed I would have captured the rain falling. I adjusted the exposure and gamma correction on this photograph.
For picture 6 I decided to take a long shot which was a staged photograph that shows the barge workers chatting. I wanted to get an image of the cars passing above the bridge and in the foreground you can just about see another barge passing. The depth of field shows the cars out of focus and the back of the barge is slightly out of focus also, which is how I planned it. I decreased the depth of field and used a medium aperture to blur the busy background. I adjusted the hue saturation to make this picture slightly lighter.
As I mentioned before, most of my shots are decisive moment ones. Picture 7 being captured just as one of the barge crew lifts his arm to point out something to his colleague. I used a small aperture (F16) to create a more intense depth of field.
I was aboard the barge when I saw a comical moment which I decided to capture (Picture 8). This again is a decisive moment - it seems to show that the wildlife take notice of warning signs as well as barge owners! I adjusted the vibrance and saturation in the photograph.
The barge stopped to enable me to take the picture of the Hogs Head (Picture 9). It was by this time, an early Saturday evening and the town was just beginning to start its nightlife. Light was beginning to fade so I decided to use the flash. The picture portrays another aspect of life on the canal. I like the way the lights reflect off the water. The picture shows that the trees, the sign and the pub are in focus whilst the people and the inside lights are out of focus. The noise and the out of focus shows the business of the pub whilst the in-focus shot shows the serenest of the canal.
Whilst still on the barge, another decisive moment came up when we were approaching a bridge (Picture 10). I chose this image because of the juxtor position of the serenest of the canal and the contrast of the people rushing about on the bridge above in the town. It was still raining really heavy - the only indication to this being the lady on the bridge with the red umbrella.
Continuing to use the flash, Picture 11 shows the perfectly silhouetted figure of Barry against a blurry background, as he finishes for the day. I chose this image again because of the juxtor positioning of the out of focus barges and the in-focus of Barry staring across the canal, not able to see his face, with his hood up it kind of portrays the sometimes sinister character of the canal at night. The darkness of the canal, caused by the surrounding trees to add to the sinisterism.
I returned to the cafe for my final shot of the day, the cafe was about to close and Naree, the waitress began to clear up. The shot shows the last of the cafe users enjoying their cappuccinos. Naree said she had a really busy day and was looking forward to going out in the evening. I think the picture portrays her eagerly tidying up and she appears keen to get home. After being inside the warm of the cafe she is wrapped up for the outside coldness. The shot is dark and also reflects the dark dangerous waters the canal can be at night compared to the serenest of the canal during the day.
What was conceived when I first considered the idea was to create a mimesis and verisimilar world to portray some of the things that occurs on and beside the canal.
You can also view these pictures on Flickr here
