Amateur Photographer & Cinematographer (1933)

December 27th, 1933 k AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER t> 6 CIHEMATOGRAPHER a ' ^T)hotograph the Highways and Byways in Winter By CLARENCE PONTING. FEW amateurs have an opportunity of getting very far away from their homes in search of pictures in the short winter days, for by the time business is finished the light has gone. The weekly half-holiday provides an opportunity for making a few exposures to country dwellers, whilst the car owner can soon be miles away from the town if he so pleases. The car, however, as a means of transport is a poor vehicle for picturehunters. The driver usually hates to make a stop, or drives too fast to see the composi¬ tions when they present them¬ selves. No ; the best way to look for pictures is on foot, a slow means of transport, but one which ensures the maximum exposures if the art ist has the “ seeing eye.” As there will be only a short period of workable light it will be necessary to confine these walks to subjects near at hand. The convenient bus or tram will provide a means of trans¬ port to the town dweller at a very small cost, and with considerable saving of time. Possibly the surroundings in which the photographer is deposited may be perfectly familiar, and he will be loth to cover ground which has already been combed for pictures on some previous occasion. As a rule, it is inadvisable to go over ground when weather conditions are identical with those of previous visits. The eye has become too familiar with the composition of the landscape to enable it to pick out anything new. The optimist, however, will refuse to have his enthusiasm damped. A place, he will tell you, is never twice the same, and something is almost sure to turn up which was not there on his last visit. Farm work is conducted at an earlier hour during the winter, and the plough horses may be caught being led home along the lane which was bare of figures during the summer months. In winter, conditions are likely to have changed to a marked degree since the previous visit. The leaves will have fallen, leaving the branches of the trees bare, and exposing the delicate tracery for the camera to portray. Hoar-frost may be still present on days when the frost never gives, producing a transformation on grasses, the hedgerows and trees, which provides admirable and delicate subjects for the camera. An old bramble trail, or rampant growth of briar, under such conditions have produced more than one exhibition picture. The veil of mist which often hangs about all day at this time is useful in concealing an undesirable background, and when this occurs it is well worth while to revisit scenes which were marred by some unsightly object in the middle distance during summer. A shower of rain may have left reflecting pools of water in the road or cart tracks, which make beautiful even so ordinary a subject as a main road. In country lanes this moisture is sure to provide some useful lead¬ ing lines by filling the ruts, especially if they can be taken “ against the light.” Fail¬ ing all these, there is still the kindly, low, winter sun, which throws such fascinating shad¬ ows of objects on field or path. As the light and time more or less restrict the choice of subjects, the photographer might do worse than set out with the deliberate in¬ tention of produc¬ ing pictures from the material which can be found along the main road, or the probably more productive byway. These common and somewhat despised objects are quite capable of giving good compositions if only the photographer will remove from his mind the fact that they are ordinary, and rather uninteresting. fn most cases they are, and yet, why should not the highway be as full of beauty and romance as, say, a pas¬ toral ? Life of some description will always be met with in such places, and it is quite on the cards that the venturesome may be fortunate enough to meet with a picturesque tramp, or a dilapidated country cart in which the driver is sheltering beneath one of those enormous carriage um¬ brellas. Granted that the possibility is remote, such things are found on the highway, and they will not be recorded unless you are there with a camera. With ordinary subjects of this type so much depends upon the temperament of the individual, for two photo¬ graphers might go out to the same road under identical conditions and time, and whereas the one might produce an exhibition picture, that of the other would merely be a record . The angle and direction of lighting are important, and, as far as possible, should be selected to suit the subject. The whole secret of success in pictures of ordinary 20 594