Assignment Three: Monochrome.

Assignment Three: Monochrome.

On the beach at Deal is what remains of the once thriving Fishing fleet.  As Deal has no harbour the boats have traditionally been hauled up onto the pebbly beach at the end of each trip.  The presence of the Goodwin Sands just off the coast acts as a natural break water and protects the shore from the worst of the waves.
Due to changes in fishing policy the boats have lost quota and the number of working boats is down to a handful.  I photographed what remains of a fleet that at one time filled over one mile of beach.

The Boats are hauled up into the beach by winch or tractor.  The state of the tractor and featured winch says a lot about the decline in the fortunes of the fleet.

I have used a low view point and wide angle lens to emphasise the size of the tractor.  The poor old beast is now abandoned and sits rusting away on top of the beach.  In the processing I dramatised the sky by lowering the blue and played with the red, orange and yellow sliders to increase the contrast on the machine.  Some added sharpening has given it bit more bite.

This is one of many winches that have fallen into disuse and are little more than junk.  The steel rope is dull with lack of use, the gears are rusty and spiders are taking over. 

I have included this shackle for no more reason than I like the texture of the materials and the pattern of the components.

The Gary Ann is one the remaining working boats but even she is reduced to taking out sea anglers and carrying out a bit of crab fishing.  The crab pots give a nice feeling of this being a working boat and add texture to the image.

I have included this second image of the Gary Ann as it shows her in a different context; that of part of a fleet.  I like the pattern the three boats make as they reduce in size from right to left.  The mess and debris in front of them hints at lack of interest and care.  I again put contrast in the sky with use of the blue slider and used the warm filters to do the same with the pots and pebbles.

The fate of the Julie awaits most of what is left of the fleet.  High up on the beach and never likely to take to the water again.  She lacks a decent coat of varnish and the cabin door has fallen in.  There is no sign of any fishing gear around her and no apparent means of getting her to the water.  I incorporated the vapour trails in the sky as a allusion to time and tide passing her by.  I have left a large expanse of sea behind her to intimate that her time at sea is past and that she has no future.  The low key finish adds to this, giving the image a melancholic look.

The Moss Rose is one of last real working boats.  Well kept and a regular sight setting out her crab pots.  I have processed this image to be lighter and without the ominous sky of the other boat images.  There is feeling of hope rather than failure, of hope rather than decay. 

The last two images are of items I saw in the area that took my fancy.  The first is of a rowlock on a very heavy rowing boat.  I just liked the contrasting materials. 

The second of these, and the last image, is a collection of anchors hooked over a metal bar.  I took the shot from low down so as to have clean sky as the background.  By being gentle with the processing I have allowed the texture of the metal to come through.

Have I been Successful? 

Demonstration of Technical and Visual Skill.

Each of the images has been given a slightly different treatment so as to reinforce their impact.  The lo-key of Julia to convey a sad quality as against the hi-key of Moss Rose indicating hope and a future.  With the last two it was a matter of allowing the qualities of the textures to come through and only using techniques that would enhance them.

Quality of Outcome.

These eight images are better than I thought I was going to achieve and I'm pretty chuffed with them.  They put across the state of Deal's diminishing fishing fleet and the fight the fishermen have to keep going.  

Demonstration of Creativity.

The message I wanted to get across in these images was one of a dying industry but one where men are still managing, just, to make a living.  As I went round the beach I kept my eyes open to the opportunity of close up and detail shots.  The light on the day I photographed the boats dictated the direction I shot from.  The sky showed very little detail until I processed it, but having done so I think the sky and its clouds add to the overall feel of the images.  

Context.

Back in the 1960s and '70s I processed all my own film and prints.  All the adjustments we now take for granted had to be got right in the camera with the use of filters and careful exposure.  I still think the quality of a well taken, processed and printed black and white images cannot be beaten.  Trouble was, each print was unique.  Every time a new print was made some variable would creep in.  Having said that there is no way I would go back into the dark.

To shoot in colour so as to use the colour channels for enhancing an image is almost magical and has opened up a whole new world in image processing.  The images I produced for this assignment would have been so much harder to produce in the days of film.  When looking for these images I tried to see tones and textures rather than colour, contrast rather than hue.  Each image was worked in various ways.  I produced three versions of the anchor.  First with a darkened sky and lightened metal.  Second with a lightened sky and darkened metal.  In each of those the visible texture of the metal was reduced so in the end I settled for very gentle enhancing with a little sharpening to highlight that texture.   It was by such experimentation that I came up with the images I have produced.