Tim Parkin - Landscape Photographer

Soo - it’s been a seriously long time since I’ve been posting but that doesn’t mean nothing has happened, quite the contrary. I’ll try to keep the updates separate but to summarise, I’ve been finishing a couple of websites and I’ve finally got the Light and Land website live! I’ve also nearly launched Joe Cornish’s new website (last few products being added). On the film front, I’ve finally got my hands on a fully automated Jobo developing machine (and flooded the office whilst plumbing it in) and a drum scanner! Me and a few people from the lf-photo forum have been running a scanning comparison and I’ve worked out how to get the best out of the Epson scanner in the process (with surprisingly good results). I’ve also been playing with all of the colour films you can use now you’ve had to revert to sheet film (if you’re a large format photographer that is). On the general side, I’ve been using the Lee RF75 kit which is working really well (and fits on my LF gear too!) and I’m starting to use the Canon Tilt Shift lens too, which is a smashing bit of kit and opens up lots of opportunities.. I’ve also been off the the Yorkshire Wolds with Paul Moon and Jon Brock and have to say it’s a place that rewards investigation. I’ve also been playing with the new Intuos, have started to use Capture One and have discovered the best noise reduction software in the world ever! (for film anyway - I’ve yet to try it on digital). The big news is yet to come though, I’m announcing a new business venture in September and it’s a biggy - landscape photography related and lots of new content..

I’ll write a little post about each of these bits of photography related fun over the next few weeks and keep you posted on the business venture too..

I was asked by Jon Eland (Strawbleu) if I would be interested in giving a presentation on my photography to Exposure Leeds, a community that started as a flickr group I believe but has grown into a general photography society for Yorkshire with members coming from as far as Manchester. I was unsure of how to approach giving a talk and given that I had to fill 2 hours, I figured I could cover quite a bit of ground. Obviously most people would never have heard of large format photography and so an element of this in my talk would probably be a good plan and there were an assortment of other topics I fancied covering too. In the end I decided to create a potted history of my photography, expounding on various revelations and cockups along the way, pulling in subjects such as film, large format, stitching, exposure balancing, finding the picture, composition, persistence, etc. etc. Sort of a mini-summary of this blog I supposed (although slightly less geeky so that I'd end up with the same number of people in the audience that I started with).

Not being the biggest fan of powerpoint, I decided to give Keynote a go after hearing Niall Benvie talking about it in such high regard. The application is quite a revelation - finally an easy to use presentation tool that concentrates on the show, not on the gimmicks (although it has these aplenty but their use is oriented towards supporting the presentation, not being the goal of it).

So, laptop in hand I got dropped off at the Old Broadcasting House site near the centre of Leeds with my camera gear, some slides and a light box to present with. Inside I found a wonderful space, well appointed and with great presentation facilities (a microphone that worked and a projector that rendered colours properly - a rare thing indeed). Only a couple of people were there at the start but as I got things set up, more and more people arrived. Finally, when Jon Eland introduced me, there were approaching fifty people in the audience! Well, I figured I'd best give them some value for money (£2 entry with free coffee!).

The presentation went exceedingly well with pictures dredged up from my digital past and it was interesting seeing a consistent picture of how I've progressed as a photographer. One of the highlights of the evening for me was explaining the large format camera in terms of digital cameras.

My question to the audience was "If I said I was selling a single use 100Mp digital sensor that had a vastly superior colour handling response and only cost £3, how many people would buy it?" - the response was pretty damn positive. I didn't add the next bit but I could have "And you could buy a camera that used this sensor for half the price of a Canon 7D and you can get lenses for the camera that are the equal to the new Canon 24mm tilt-shift, which retails for £2K, for about £3-400 - would you buy it?".

I imagine most of you know what I'm talking about and, put in those terms, most people seem to react very positively indeed. Never mind adding "Oh and you can pick your sensor reponsivess to give you anything from a Joe Cornish colour boost to a Fine Art accurate colour response with 10 stops of dynamic range". I was also cruel enough to point out that if you take black and white and like using a red filter, your 20 megapixel camera is now only a 5 megapixel camera - I actually felt guilty about that one... Oh, and an interesting blog post recently about guy testing the M9 against an M6 with some microfilm developer and the results are very interesting

Other bits of my presentation were mostly about why it's better to take less pictures, reinforcing the point that the less pictures you take, the more time you have to find them and actually work on the composition once you're there. I think I made sense :-)

I finished the talk by showing a video by the God of Landscape Photography - no not Joe Cornish, Peter Lik - He of the "To get the best light I use the 5 minute window that photographers know as the 'golden hour'" - take a look at it yourself here..

The response to my talk way exceeded my expectations, as did my enjoyment of giving it. A couple of response from people at the bottom of this blog post. I went for a drink afterward with flickr photo here Tricky and Jim Moran (whom I had known through the internet for many years but had never met before) plus quite a few other people who went to the talk (it's handy having a pub next door to the venue). The evening was a great success by my criteria and I'd happily give another talk now - knowing that people find what I have to say interesting.

Hopefully we'll also get a few more people interested in large format photography! A bit of evangelism doesn't go amiss (and may convince the film companies that there is something to this large format thing - well, OK - I won't manage it single handedly but if everyone does a bit, we'll could definitely boost the scene somewhat).

For anyone who wants a taste of landscape photography, our Large Format courses are working with Leeds Exposure to create a one off outing at £120 as long as we can fill the 6 places. Each person who comes along will be able to take two pictures and will get the use of one of our large format cameras. We'll develop the film and scan it into digital for you so you'll have the original slides and a 200Mp digital conversion. We're trying to work out where to host this event and currently we're thinking about Brimham Rocks. If anybody has any other suggestions, please add a comment to this post.

Also, the feedback I've had from the talk was brilliant.. from a few twitter posts..

"Tim delivered a thouroughly interesting presentation at Exposure Leeds. It was great to see a different approach to landscape photography than I am used to and his talk (aswell as his photos!) inspired me." - Gary Stevenson

"Tim's talk was informative, humorous and above all passionate. A truly insightful evening! Did I fail to mention the superb photography?" - Malcolm Stoney

"Really enjoying @timparkin talk - nice explanation of how large format cameras work!" - Jon Eland

"Very interesting talk by the very talented @timparkin at @exposureleeds tonight, feeling a bit tempted by large format :-)" - Rick Harrison

to a wonderful blog post by Elly Oracle.

Thanks to everyone who came for making it such a fun time!

Working with Dav to put on a beginners large format course was something I was quite excited about and as much as we knew we were hitting a potentially small market, we were hopeful to get at least a few people along. As it turned out, our first course had two people and one more participant who came along on the Saturday afternoon.

So after picking up Vinnie (our new camper whose full name is Cosy Rosy Camper Vinne Van Parkin - named by my neices) in Chesterfield, I enjoyed my rolling drive over to Baslow, where we were hosting the course at the Devonshire Arms hotel.

I have to say that the Devonshire Arms has been renovated very nicely and the staff are very friendly indeed. A couple of teething problems but nothing major so we met up with our guests, Robert Parslow and Simon Howers. Robert is a veteran of many Light and Land courses and it was nice to meet up with someone whom I had been heard in very good tones before hand. Simon I didn't know and although he had a lot of experience with film, he was only just starting to use the large format camera and was interested in how to use tilts and movements.

I'd spent a few evenings the week before writing some comprehensive notes about the technical sides of photography and so the friday evening was spent reviewing some of the cameras (including Dav's new Chamonix - which I'm sure he'll write about soon but was very impressive to me). Then back to bed, check for the shitty morning weather and meet up for a nice morning's chat about tilt, shift, swing, diffraction, pies, politics, movies and then it was time to get out and put a few things in to practise.

Out to Baslow edge and we're trying out some movements and taking a few pictures. The weather was glorious with beams of light travelling across the valley that we could use as studio lighting. I tried to explain the concept of using the sky as a big lighting rig. Softboxes for the foreground (the edges of clouds where the light is diffuse and soft), a few spotlights on important features in the background (beams of light coming through the clouds) and the jobs a good 'un. I took a picture alongside everyone else.

Back to the hotel and we set up our Jobo CPE in the bathroom and developed a few films and then back out again for some more shooting, meeting up with Paul Arthur and his wife along the way. The afternoon was more overcast but we could see a good break in the cloud on the horizon so we prayed for it to stay. Fortunately it opened up and gave us a wonderful lightshow. I managed a quick shot of some Bracken shapes and a wall, making the most of the subtle purples and reds in the heather and bracken - underexposing my velvia to make the bleached bracken strands stand out in the foreground. And whilst I was taking it, Robert Parslow was taking this wonderful photograph just next door.

Back to the hotel for tea and then a slide show and a chat about composition and it was off to bed again. Sunday morning went a little less straightforwardly. I was up early but we found out that the doors couldn't be opened so I followed the fire exit and moved a chest of drawers out of the way along a corridor and then unbolted and opened the front door at which point the alarms went off - or so I though - it was actually my very loud iphone alarm telling me I was about to miss a sunrise. So we'd found a way out but we couldn't lock it again and so I stayed behind and waited for the staff to arrive.

The rest of the gang went out and enjoyed a great sunrise at Higger tor alongside a bunch of jumping, singing and dancing born again christians. Me? I was just sitting back at the hotel but unbeknonst to me the alarms had gone off and the staff member that was living in the hotel had tried to get out but his way was blocked by a chest of drawers (how did they get in front of his door then?) at which point he thought he was trapped by some gang of theives and called the police (I'm not sure where the police were though - they need a better service obviously).

In the end, we had a chat with the staff about it and apologised; we were both put out a bit. Anyway - back out again to Padley gorge and we had a few good opportunties for pictures (I got captivated by the mosses on the trees and walls).

Overall? A good start to the courses I think.. no profit made but everyone came away happy I think they all learned something. A big thank you to Paul, Simon and Robert for coming on the course and making it very enjoyable (if quite tiring and a little stressful - developing someone elses film in a bathtub is a worrying task at the best of times - even worse when they've paid for the service).

UPDATE: I've got some pictures from the course and have uploaded them to picasaweb..

Peak Workshops

So, the pain, missed shots, slipped discs and just downright frustration of this winter is just not to be repeated. Our current mode of transport is great for long distance cruising and copes well around town but a 3.0L 230bhp Automatic with big low profile tyres in the snow? Nah! Double Nah! Embarrasing even... and it cost me a week in bed as I tried to push it out of Brimham Rocks car park (even before we'd actually parked).

Anyway, I'd been considering a campervan for a while and I'd been looking at a website that imports 'rust free' Toyota Hiaces from Japan for some time (http://www.poplarmotors.co.uk. There are some 4x4 2.8L Diesel engined Hi Top vans that looked very nice and so we planned a trip down to Chesterfield to take a look, planning to buy later in the year.

As it happened, the garage had the perfect van (i.e. High top, night heater, 2.8 non turbo diesel, very clean, <£10k, awning, open conversion with good window views, gas/electric fridge, gas hob, space for roof locker, sink, mini-toilet). It was in very good condition and only had 60,000 miles on a 94 plate and was just the right price. The night heater was a bonus as I was thinking I would have to fit one for an extra £800-£1000 pounds (a night heater is a little in built efficient diesel burner that exhausts fumes outside of the van and uses a heat exchanger to warm the inside of the van - hopefully very useful when camping in winter conditions).

We had to have a serious think but as far as I was concerned, this was the one. I had done quite a bit of research before hand and discovered that the Hiace is used in third world countries around the world as a minibus and transporter. Story after story I read stated that they were unkillable and would tackle even the most ridiculous of potholded, muddy African roads and the 2.8 diesel engine is so easy to work on and spares available so cheaply (China used to Hiace as the model for it's own line of people carriers with compatible parts supposedly) that I shouldn't need to do much work on it (compared to some of the other better specced manufacturers cars which are a little prone to breakdown - including the 2.4 diesel turbo in the UK version of the Hiace). It took a bit of thinking about (OK, not much) and we put our money down.

A couple of people have said "Is it really a proper 4x4?" - well, take a look at the following video of a minivan version taking on a 4x4 jeep..

If you're short on time, skip to these times, skip to 1'47", 2'45" and 5'10"

Another good example is

We went to pick it up on the day that me and Dav were starting out large format course and it drives beautifully - well OK, a little bathtub like cornering at speed but it reminded me of my old Morris Minor Traveller - even down to the 50mph limit going up hills :-) it does cruise at 60 nicely though, enough for me..

We've yet to try it out for an overnighter but a trip to Whitby is on the books and I'm planning on getting a set of chains so that my personal case of seasonal affected disorder (or "missing effing winter shots") does not occur again.

As a couple of colleagues have said, the most important part of photography is being in the right location at the right time and given that, a campervan has to be the ultimate landscape photography accessory!

Ah - A chance to go out in Yorkshire again so it's back to old haunts. Places like Malham Cove have loads of opportunity but I like the mass of 'ingredients' that the limestone pavement that Ingleton and it's surrounds give (I also like that they don't push you into taking a certain angle or subject). So it's up to Twistleton and a quick walk up to the scar. The weather was windy and cold but invigorating and apart from a brief moment of nearly getting knowcked over as you crest the edge of twistleton, everything was sublime. Sunbeams were scanning across Hawnby and you could see out to Lancaster and Morecombe Bay (digital snap below - fast moving light and a frantic search for foreground meant no LF of this one).

We then wandered around to the east side of the wall at Twistleton Scar End. I spent some time working around the row of trees on the pavement and also a large hawthorn where we were resting, I've posted the black and white conversions below - feedback appreciated.

After a while, I started scouting subject matter to work around the dramatic sky that was developing just over Barrow and just as I started setting up a shot, I started to have trouble focussing. No matter what I did, there was a great big blur over Morecombe bay. I came out of the dark cloth to see the biggest front of rain coming in and the view almost completely obscured!

Nothing for it but to wait it out and get pee'd on. Just as the rain started to abate, the sun poked it's head out - more rain looked like it was on it's way and it was gusting 30-40mph. Just as I was about to go back under the dark cloth to check focus, I saw that the wet flat areas of pavement were picking up reflections from the low angled sun but, unfortunately, the best bits were about 200 ft to my left. Another quick move, setup and recompose and I was again waiting for the rain to stop and wiping the lens down every few minutes - a frantic setup often leads to compromises and I focussed this one by eye (no loupe) and took two exposure readings (the edge of the sun - around an EV13, and the foreground, around an EV8 for the mid-tones) and dropped a 3 stop hard grad in place and crossed my fingers.

I managed to get four frames off, a Provia, an Astia and two Pro160S's. The main picture is the Astia which came out very well and is sharp as I could expect (the pavement is spot on, the horizon is OK and the tree itself is a bit blurry from the wind I think), although a little underexposed, it seems to capture the feeling I wanted (at least for me).

Driven back off the hill by the wind and rain just as the sun set, it was a dark walk back to the car with head torch battery slowly failing, but a very satisfying way to get back in the photography driving seat.