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Author Topic: A Scraggy Old Twig  (Read 454 times)

Dave (Isle of Skye)

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A Scraggy Old Twig
« on: March 14, 2020, 11:36:59 am »

Yesterday we had a lovely day across Scotland, which has become a rare thing this winter, so to make the most of it I drove over 70 miles to get out to this waterfall I have been going back to repeatedly and photographing over the last couple of years. So finally got there about mid morning and the falls were absolutely raging and as full as I have ever seen them before, in fact it was quite phenomenal thing to behold really and very noisy. So after a few quick shots of it, what did I end up spending the next two hours of my time shooting and trying to work out the best to composition for? A scraggy old twig sticking out from the side of the bank at a particularly turbulent part of the lower falls  :-[

But goodness me did I enjoy myself and I think I can be quite confident in saying, that no other scraggy old twig like this one, has ever in the entire history of photography, had anyway near this much time and attention lavished on it before - ah the joys of photography eh?

Dave
« Last Edit: March 14, 2020, 11:47:39 am by Dave (Isle of Skye) »
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Jeremy Roussak

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Re: A Scraggy Old Twig
« Reply #1 on: March 14, 2020, 02:19:11 pm »

It's funny how we can lose ourselves in a trivial task, isn't it?

Well worth the effort, Dave, although I'd prefer a slightly looser crop.

Jeremy
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RSL

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Re: A Scraggy Old Twig
« Reply #2 on: March 14, 2020, 03:25:16 pm »

Good seeing, Dave. Seeing is more important than photographing. If you don't see, what you photograph often is crap. Sometimes pretty crap, but crap. In this case you saw, and you caught what you saw very well. Bravo!
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Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: A Scraggy Old Twig
« Reply #3 on: March 14, 2020, 07:50:14 pm »

What a magnificent scraggy old twig, captured beautifully.
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-Eric Myrvaagnes (visit my website: http://myrvaagnes.com)

Dave (Isle of Skye)

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Re: A Scraggy Old Twig
« Reply #4 on: March 15, 2020, 04:50:16 pm »

It's funny how we can lose ourselves in a trivial task, isn't it?

Jeremy

Yes and not that I need to tell you all about this, but I am going to do anyway, but my father passed away at Christmas and since then it has been lots of 1,000 mile round trips up and down to Sheffield to sort things out and setup care for my 90 year old mother (who might yet move in with us up here, but I worry it will too isolated for her up here and away from the rest of the family) and a whole host of other accompanying problems, such as sleepless nights and uncontrolled weeping etc. You know I thought I had become immune to uncontrolled emotion due to the various things that have happened in my life over the last fifteen years or so, but how wrong could I have been - anyway, as I say you all didn't really need to know about that, other than to say this is the first time since before Christmas that I have really had the chance to just go out and lose myself in a few hours of being able to think about nothing else but photography and I got totally lost in capturing this scruffy bit of a twig against a torrent of water, but it was just so therapeutic and absorbing, I couldn't stop myself. So thank you everyone for your kind comments  :)

Oh and yes I would have preferred a slightly loser crop as well, which is why it took me so long to compose this shot after slipping and sliding about on the side of the river bank and across rocks that seems to have been made from slippery glass, this was the best I could do without breaking my neck. But having said all that and I am not trying to make excuses here, honest, but I do actually like how it has turned out and how the fairly tight crop forces the weight of the centre of the tree (scraggy twig) onto a compositional third near to the centre upper right, which makes it feel about right to my eye for some reason.

Dave
« Last Edit: March 16, 2020, 04:07:01 pm by Dave (Isle of Skye) »
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Dave (Isle of Skye)

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Re: A Scraggy Old Twig
« Reply #5 on: March 15, 2020, 04:57:56 pm »

Good seeing, Dave. Seeing is more important than photographing. If you don't see, what you photograph often is crap. Sometimes pretty crap, but crap. In this case you saw, and you caught what you saw very well. Bravo!

Thank you Russ, a Bravo from you is always very much appreciated  ;)

What a magnificent scraggy old twig, captured beautifully.

Thank you so much Eric  ;D ;D ;D

Dave
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degrub

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Re: A Scraggy Old Twig
« Reply #6 on: March 15, 2020, 08:42:06 pm »

Bloody hell, man.
Survival is enough.
Anything more is icing on the cake.
One foot in front of the other will get you there.
  :-\  :-\ :-\
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Dave (Isle of Skye)

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Re: A Scraggy Old Twig
« Reply #7 on: March 16, 2020, 04:14:45 pm »

Bloody hell, man.
Survival is enough.
Anything more is icing on the cake.
One foot in front of the other will get you there.
  :-\  :-\ :-\

Thanks for that degrub and yes I am OK, in fact as good as ever, it was just one of those many things that seem to come along in our lives that can knock us sideways for a little while. But I know I can roll with it and pretty much anything else that happens to me now and I suppose that is in fact what I was trying to say in a convoluted way, that life can get tough and seem relentlessly bad at times, then without knowing it, you do something like spend a couple of hours photographing something insignificant, or just sit watching the waves crashing over a rock or something and then you suddenly realise you are through it and life will carry on.

Dave
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Paulo Bizarro

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Re: A Scraggy Old Twig
« Reply #8 on: March 17, 2020, 05:19:10 am »

Quite good and well seen.

Dave (Isle of Skye)

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Re: A Scraggy Old Twig
« Reply #9 on: March 17, 2020, 04:29:17 pm »

Quite good and well seen.

Thank you Paulo  ;)

Dave
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