Anyone fancy a walk down some Devon lanes (sorry to you gear buffs, lots of images)

grebeman

Old Codgers Group
I thought I'd begin a project to try and capture some of the remaining rural flavour of south Devon, so here are some images (14 actually) from a walk near South Brent. I began near the hamlet of Cheston.

14884046420_f7c1567743_o.jpg

140828-1100623
by barrie.whitehall, on Flickr
No sooner had I begun than I had to stand aside for the postman on his delivery round. It's already after two thirty in the afternoon, so don't expect an early delivery hereabouts


14883988059_78fb1d9a8a_o.jpg

140828-1100624
by barrie.whitehall, on Flickr
Two signs that we're going to have to keep a lookout for horses


15070327292_6130c263b7_o.jpg

140828-1100625
by barrie.whitehall, on Flickr
A little further on and we come to Peeke Farm, this is one of its barns in some need of loving care


15067665351_3e260b92f5_o.jpg

140828-1100628
by barrie.whitehall, on Flickr
Looking back as we press on we see the farmhouse at Peeke Farm


14883985369_77237a2a36_o.jpg

140828-1100630
by barrie.whitehall, on Flickr
Every farm has one somewhere, the scrap corner, this is Peeke Farms contribution to the genre


15047682546_165a94bff7_o.jpg

140828-1100631
by barrie.whitehall, on Flickr
Another stand aside, this time for the inevitable horses, the local riding school is out and about


14884041470_02501f74d4_o.jpg

140828-1100633
by barrie.whitehall, on Flickr
Some of the barns at Owley Farm suggest it was one of the wealthier farms in the area


15067662151_b4e01e7d8a_o.jpg

140828-1100636
by barrie.whitehall, on Flickr
The granite and slate hung farmhouse at Owley Farm


15067661511_411f953434_o.jpg

140828-1100637
by barrie.whitehall, on Flickr
Owley Cottage, if that's their woodpile for the winter, it's going to need some work doing before they can put any on the fire


15047679406_5f73f87873_o.jpg

140828-1100638
by barrie.whitehall, on Flickr
Pressing on down the hill we pass the delightfully named Owlet Cottage


14883980579_64abff9175_o.jpg

140828-1100642
by barrie.whitehall, on Flickr
At the bottom of the hill, appropriately named Owley Bottom, there is a bridge across the Glazebrook


14883979749_62f10579f3_o.jpg

140828-1100643
by barrie.whitehall, on Flickr
Having gone down, then we have to go up, reaching Bullhornstone Farm


15070686145_f0886980e4_o.jpg

140828-1100655
by barrie.whitehall, on Flickr
Quite some way further on I decided to leave the lane and take a footpath across the fields, one incentive being to get a photograph of this corrugated iron barn that hasn't stood the test of time too well


15067657631_383d267b1e_o.jpg

140828-1100659
by barrie.whitehall, on Flickr
Getting back towards Cheston I came up behind this elderly lady walking her dog, it's got some way ahead of her which was pretty good considering she told me it was 15 years old

Well, a long walk, hopefully an enjoyable one, and for me perhaps the start of a project to record what remains of rural Devon.

Barrie
 
We have a 15 year old cocker spaniel - poodle mix who's usually well ahead of me when we go out for a walk. If they're healthy, they're moving...

Nice series Barrie - I like several but find the one with the horseback riders the best of the bunch. Has a real fairy-tale quality to it. The composition of the lane, the trees, and the light just really works. And having people on horses coming through doesn't hurt either!

-Ray
 
I like several but find the one with the horseback riders the best of the bunch. Has a real fairy-tale quality to it. The composition of the lane, the trees, and the light just really works. And having people on horses coming through doesn't hurt either!

-Ray

Thanks Ray, I tried the "simple" approach with this series and used the black and white conversion adjustment layer option in Photoshop CS6. Most of the shots with significant foliage in them benefited from selecting the simulated green filter which lifted the foliage tones, quite significantly in the horses shot you refer to, since there was already sunlight filtering through onto that scene. One or two also saw a curves adjustment layer used to modify certain tones, not always successfully perhaps.

For the likes of the barn at Peeke Farm I found the yellow filter gave a lightness to the stone work, again there was some sun shining on that scene (it wasn't always thus during the walk).

Barrie
 
Thanks Ray, I tried the "simple" approach with this series and used the black and white conversion adjustment layer option in Photoshop CS6. Most of the shots with significant foliage in them benefited from selecting the simulated green filter which lifted the foliage tones, quite significantly in the horses shot you refer to, since there was already sunlight filtering through onto that scene. One or two also saw a curves adjustment layer used to modify certain tones, not always successfully perhaps.

For the likes of the barn at Peeke Farm I found the yellow filter gave a lightness to the stone work, again there was some sun shining on that scene (it wasn't always thus during the walk).

Barrie

The big reason I'll never buy a monochrome-specific camera. I have too much fun playing with filters and color-channels AFTER the fact to get the look I want. Taken a handful of filters out into the field and hoping to get it right each time just doesn't appeal to me in the digital age...

-Ray
 
The big reason I'll never buy a monochrome-specific camera. I have too much fun playing with filters and color-channels AFTER the fact to get the look I want. Taken a handful of filters out into the field and hoping to get it right each time just doesn't appeal to me in the digital age...

-Ray

Interesting thoughts Ray, I had flirted with the idea of a monochrome only camera, but having used Photoshops black and white conversion layer this morning with the ability to quickly try out different filter effects, perhaps not.

Barrie
 
A bit of a change in contrast to what I'm used to seeing from your Dartmoor landscapes - a bit lower, but suiting the subject matter admirably.

The horses and riders is appealing, but as you'd expect the Glazebrook bridge is my personal favourite of the set - angles curves and shadows :) - but there's also something slightly unsettling (in a good way) about it. As if the camera is about to jerk away to something else.
 
A bit of a change in contrast to what I'm used to seeing from your Dartmoor landscapes - a bit lower, but suiting the subject matter admirably.

The horses and riders is appealing, but as you'd expect the Glazebrook bridge is my personal favourite of the set - angles curves and shadows :) - but there's also something slightly unsettling (in a good way) about it. As if the camera is about to jerk away to something else.

Thanks Paul. Dartmoor is there brooding in the background. The Glazebrook bridge was a very high contrast scene, looking towards the light, so an exposure to control (just about!) the highlights and hope to be able to pull something out of the shadows with ACR. Sliders were moved about as far as I've ever moved them, particularly the shadows. I might have a go later at producing a printable version to see how well things survive such treatment, the print will tell me much more than the web version.

As for subject matter, for what it's worth, my own favourite is the distressed corrugated iron barn.

Barrie
 
the fave for me is the woman with her dog (no surprise there)

Luke, I'm not a dog connoisseur, but I think it was very similar, if indeed not the same, as your small one. I should have liked to have been a little closer, but I guess it puts the typical tree lined, indeed tree overhung Devon lane in context. She was a proper Devonian, and ti'nt many of us left these days!

Barrie
 
Very enjoyable, Barrie. Like Sue, I'd have loved to walk along with you. My favorite is also the horses and riders...because I love the expressions on that first horse's face (surprise? a little fear?) and his happy and calm rider's. Ah...to be there riding with them!

The fact that you can walk along through people's fields on footpaths is wonderful. I don't think that sort of opportunity is common here in the states, alas.

Keep the project going - and please share more here.(y)
 
Thanks BB, I'm no horse psychologist but I detected a little fear in it's eye. I don't know why, it must have done that walk many times as part of it's riding school duties and met vehicles as well as people. Perhaps it doesn't like having its picture taken! As an instructor I guess the rider is well experienced and non of the horses shied or had any problem.

Well that's two participants for the next walk, hopefully it will be soon :)

Barrie
 
I'm in agreement that the horses and riders would be my favourite with all that lovely foliage to frame them.

Just as an observation; I notice that there are a few shots where you leave very tight margins from the subject/s to the edge of the frame. I'm not sure if this was purposeful or not but it stood out to me because it is area where I usually try to leave some bigger margins, particularly so to allow for the real estate lost to framing or wrapping if I was to print an image.
 
I'm in agreement that the horses and riders would be my favourite with all that lovely foliage to frame them.

Just as an observation; I notice that there are a few shots where you leave very tight margins from the subject/s to the edge of the frame. I'm not sure if this was purposeful or not but it stood out to me because it is area where I usually try to leave some bigger margins, particularly so to allow for the real estate lost to framing or wrapping if I was to print an image.

Hi Nik, thanks for your comments. All shots were taken with the same lens (15mm f/1.7). As you can see the lanes are very narrow with typical high Devon hedge banks which consist of two parallel stone walls close together but with a gap between them, infilled and fronted by soil. No shots were cropped on width, so some are indeed tight at the edges because physically it was impossible to get far enough back from the subject and retain a suitable angle of view to it, something I was very concious of at the time of taking them. A need for a 12mm lens perhaps, the only one I have is an old Voigtlander 12mm f/5.6 which has questionable edge definition, but I might take it along on my next visit to compare the field of view obtainable with it, and indeed just how much the loss of edge sharpness detracts from the image obtained. Where I was able to get back far enough, the distressed corrugated iron barn for example, I did hopefully retain sufficient "air" at the edges of the shot to overcome the penned in feeling left by some shots.

Incidentally, the nature of Devon hedges with a stone core to them catches out some motorists who are unaware of that fact, they are very surprised at what damage they can do to a vehicle!

Barrie
 
Okay, that explains it. It's always hard to know what is happening behind the camera just by looking at the images. These are the kind of images where being able to see right up into the corners is part of the enjoyment so I would be wary of the Voigtlander. Unfortunately the native Micro 4/3 12mm choices aren't inexpensive excepting the little Panasonic pancake zoom which is meant to be quite good at 12mm and the Olympus 12-50mm which isn't very good around the edges.
 
The Voigtlander lens used to be used quite often in the early days when m4/3 choice was limited (I used it for stillshunters "Single in January" for example), that was until I was able to assess the differences edge definition made when compared to a lens designed for a digital sensor, particularly with wider angle lenses. As an old die hard prime lens user I waited a long time before acquiring a 14-45mm zoom.

Barrie
 
Back
Top