September: month in review
Each month I aim to pick an image that, in my mind at least, captures the flavour of that month. It might not be the best image from the month, or the most spectacular of subjects; it just needs to illustrate something about the month.
St Monans Breakwater, Fife
Fujifilm X-T3 | 16mm f/11.0 10s ISO320
What’s this month’s image? Returning to the smaller scale, this month’s image is of the very striking and picturesque breakwater at St Monans on the Fife coast.
Did you do anything to it? The scene was fairly flat; I’d hoped for more dramatic conditions, but the evening light turned out to be pretty muted. Some dodging and burning, together with selective contrast and saturation adjustments, were needed to bring out the detail in the scene. The end result, I hope, retains the pastel hues and tranquility of the scene, while making the most of the colour and detail that was present on the night.
What’s it doing here? St Monans is a popular location with photographers and tourists alike and the distinctively-shaped breakwater is a very popular photographic subject. There is only one viewpoint that makes the most of the breakwater’s shape with the result that there are any number of versions of this image on Instagram and other sites. That said, the conditions can vary hugely, creating a wide variety if compositions and images. I like the tranquility that this image conveys, but it is also a location that I’d like to revisit when the tide is higher and the weather less clement.
The photograph was taken after dropping my daughter (and her inordinate amount of stuff) back in St Andrews for the start of term. I’d planned the trip so that I could return via St Monans in time to catch the sunset. The village is on the east coast, so more of a sunrise location than a sunset location, but I hoped that the soft evening light would add something to the scene.
I have also been trying to take advantage of the shorter days to venture out and catch either the sunset or the evening light. I’ve been quite pleased with some of the results, as the images below hopefully illustrate.
Have you been up to much else? It’s been another busy month. In between the evening outings I’ve also managed to squeeze in a couple of sporting events. I had a second visit to Knockhill for the bikes - better circuit access and having a bit more of a clue yielded some improvement in the results. The second event was a first attempt at photographing rugby, with slightly less success. While motorsport is fast, it’s also largely predictable. You’ve got a pretty good idea of where the bikes are going to be, which direction they’re travelling in and roughly how fast they’re moving. In contrast in rugby, while the subjects aren’t moving at speed, the movement is more erratic and much less predictable. I’ve posted a couple of examples below.
Any recommendations? A couple…
Reading: By way of diversion, Gideon the Ninth is different, well-written and entertaining and you can’t ask for more than that…
Listening: The Stranglers have been making fabulous music since 1974 and Dark Matters is no exception. A fitting tribute to Dave Greenfield…
Viewing: Sweet Tooth on Netflix is well worth a look…
Lastly, any final words? Another busy month ahead in October with a trip to Skye and woodland workshop later in the month planned.
