Track coming up over Wancombe Hill, southwest of Up Cerne, near Cerne Abbas, Dorset; 4 Jul 2003.
This was taken soon after I’d ceased considering birdwatching as my main thing – it had been my raison d’etre since 1967, and the main reason for spending years in Kenya. I’d been taking photos since around 1960 or before, but they had largely consisted of seeing something nice and recording it with a camera. Now I wanted to use cameras more as creative tools and, as I mentioned in the Art Wolfe post, to start thinking about John Shaw’s “Photo-Graphics”.
I was still very much wedded to film in those days, and the Olympus OM series SLRs were really something else. I’d used an OM-1 and an OM-2 in Kenya, but years of use in the tropics had taken their toll, and they were now full of mould. So, to start photographing again in this new way, I bought an OM-4 second hand via the internet. On this trip I had this camera, an Olympus (Zuiko) 85-250 telezoom lens, and this simply exquisite little 21mm wide angle; a rickety old birdwatching tripod completed my gear. And, having heard that Fuji Velvia 50 colour transparencies were the landscape photographer’s film, several rolls of that were in my old rucksack too.
I walked up this track, looked back, and used the 21mm. The right hand side of the track is probably a little overexposed.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window.
Technique: OM-4 with 21mm Zuiko lens; Fuji Velvia 50 colour slide film rated at 64 ISO; can’t recall how I converted it to black and white.
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Yes indeed to Olympus cameras . I still have my Olympus Om1 film camera and keep meaning to get a film and see if it still works ! Of course I’ve gone back to Olympus again now but mirror-less.
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Well the shock news is that Olympus has just sold off its camera business – so what comes next, who knows?
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I know I have been following it closely. I’m afraid since the advent of good cameras in mobile phones many camera makers are struggling. Olympus have a marvellous customer service and really look after their customers. They are great on Social Media, twice weekly sessions with advice and lots of webinars. They are making reassuring noises to us..
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Reminds me of several tracks in Guernsey.
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That’s interesting, but a place I don’t know at all.
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This is another of those enchanting images that say, “Step into me and come for a walk.” It makes me want to see what’s around that first bend, and your choice to crop the distance so tightly, giving just a hint of the landscape beyond, makes it all the more enticing.
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Gary, thank you very much! Its strange, you know, but I never have wanted to see what’s around corners in photos, that’s just not a part of me, but I have heard so many express the wish. I can still remember the moment I took this, all those years ago – I was walking up this track and I turned around to look behind me and “Wow!”. 🙂
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No fair! So you already knew what was around that corner while we are left to ponder and wonder (as we can’t wander).
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🙂 🙂 🙂
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