Quarry House - a photo on Flickriver

Quarry House

Best viewed large on white.

Each generation I'm sure must perceive it's own series of momentous, or life changing, inventions, natural phenomena and humanitarian events. I was 42 on the 3rd of February, and although I missed out narrowly on the moon landing (conspiracy theories aside) which would have had to be up there, for me the most significant single 'happening' is without doubt the creation of the internet. Cummunication is key, and the possibilities our friend WWW has afforded the world is truly mindboggling. The concept alone would have been almost entirely alien just a few short decades beforehand, and yet now it's possible for me to order goods, pay bills, video-link to friends in Canada, view exotic nebulae courtesy of Hubble and generally faff about all from the comfort of my front room. Or from my phone - anywhere (well, nearly...).

There are of course the dark, secret pleasures of the web (I was referring to my previous addiction to online FPS's, particularly multiplayer Battlefield 2 - what were you thinking of?) but again the core concept revolves around communication, and the opportunities it offers us as a worldwide society and community. For me personally, I doubt I would have been as likely to embrace photography as a serious creative outlet had it not been for the wealth of visual images now available as stimuli. I've been taking pictures for a comparatively short period of time, and my interest has grown ten-fold thanks in no small part to the work of others that I can access so readily on the net. Yes, I would still rather a photograph in it's traditional manner - i.e. printed, and I own perhaps two or three dozen 'good' photography books ranging from Ansel Adams to Gregory Crewdson, and from John Sexton to Martin Parr. Site's like flickr engage with and capture the imagination of millions (because they offer the images of millions - unlike the number of books I can afford or store), and it always amazes me that I can reach an audience anywhere in the world simply by displaying my work here. Of course, sites are constantly evolving - some come and go and the pool is muddied and stirred until it can become difficult to unite that which interests you in one location. Over the last couple of years I've posted work to other forums such as Art Limited, 500px and most recently Google+ to name but a few. This allows me to potentially reach an even greater variety of people, yet simultaneously makes it harder for me to keep track of the work of others whom I wish to see and discover. Pros and cons, as with so many things...

For these reasons, I have resisted the urge to spread myself too thinly and continue to concentrate predominantly here on flickr, partly because the time involved to dedicate yourself to the plethora of available photography sites can quickly become all encompassing. I want to be out taking photographs! I still rue the 300 plus hours I clocked up on Battlefied 2 some years ago (I'm sorry if you played and 'mrbuk1' sprinted in front of your ATV, dropping mines as he went!), and am thankful I never seriously considered MMORPG's like World Of Warcraft. Had I done so, you might not have seen any actual photographs from me at all, nor I from you.

Despite this, occasional diversions can concentrate the mind and add perspective, hence I remain an active author at the lavishly presented online Landscape Photography Magazine. My shot 'Dark Canopy' (elsewhere on my photostream) will be appearing along with a write up in a forthcoming issue, and I've been approached regarding options for increasing my involvement and profile there (more on this if and when). I've also recently taken on an admin role over at what I consider to be one of flickr's finest black and white groups Monochromatic Visions alongside Jon DeBoer, thanks to an invite from head admin Brian Day. I expect, like me, many of you will find yourself torn between various internet commitments, but I'd recommend either of these platforms in terms of both quality and content.

Then of course there's the creation of my own personal website to focus on - providing of course I can steer clear of the new Battlefield 3. Damn, watching those LAV-25's explode was satisfying...

Taken on: February 8, 2012

Tags:

Black & White

Long Exposure

Landslide

Mono

Rocks

Ground

Hut

Building

Path

Barren

Remote

Desolate

Brixham

Devon

Square

Detail

Contrast

Stone

Mud

Framing

Diagonal

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Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II, f/16.0, 136 sec (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Aperture:	f/16.0
Exposure Time:	136
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