Prehistoric Pottery

We attended a Prehistoric Pottery workshop at Severn Gorge Countryside Trust.  The photographs I took were partly in preparation for my next OCA assignment, and fitted in well with some of the photographs I took for that (not yet processed/posted).

 We made pinch pots, moulding the clay with our fingers, then added rings or coils of clay to extend them.  Above, a ring of clay is being joined onto the body of the pot.

Here's a pot at a later stage.  The perforations here imitate those of some ancient pots.  Their purpose is not known, but if the pot is filled with lighted grass, air rushes in through the holes and a narrow, hot flame comes out of the top, which could be used for jewellery making.

 A more conventional pot being decorated.  Curiously, there is no representative art on British pots of this period.  There are theories to account for this...  Since pottery is fragile, then its destruction might destroy the 'soul' of the thing depicted?

Pit Firing

Here are some pots that were prepared earlier and dried being fired.  A fire is built in a pit and when there are lots of ashes, a hollow is scraped in the middle for the pots.  The temperature is gradually increased, to drive off the remaining water slowly, to avoid it flashing into steam and blowing the pots apart.  The pots are not covered until they're hot enough for the water to have evaporated.  The test for this is to spit on a pot; if it flashes to steam, the pot's hot enough.

The pots are covered using a lot of bark, which produces ashes, useful as an insulator. 

 

More fuel is added.

 

 The temperature rises to 700 degrees.

The fire has to be refueled to keep it hot for an hour or two, to ensure the pots are fired right through.  If they're not fully fired, the unfired clay will become soft as soon as the pot's wet.

 

 When the fire's been burning for long enough, it's allowed to die down, leaving the pots covered in a layer of ashes to insulate them and allow them to cool slowly.  They must be protected freom thermal shock to stop them cracking.

 

The impatient potter can sneak a look at the pots, but must cover them back up soon, to avoid thermal shock.  The pots are allowed to cool gradually in the ashes, referably overnight.

Of course, you don't just have to make pots.
 

Motion Blur

I'd not tried this seriously before.  Isn't it fun!

To get useful amounts of blur requires a longish exposure and movement across the sensor plane.  Movement is less easy to achieve when the subject is approaching or retreating.

Without a tripod - cumbersome and likely to cause an obstruction on the street - a stable horizontal or vertical platform is required.  I decided a table in the window of Shrewsbury coffee house would be ideal, but I had to hurry down Castle Gates to get ahead of these men in high-visibility clothing. Exposure 1/8 second.

I ordered a cappuchino and settled in ambush.

I like this apparently imminent collision outside the Bull's Head.  Shame about the foot of the man on the left, just cropped too much.  Exposure 1/25 second.

That's bettter.  An effect that I hadn't anticipated is that walking involves one leg keeping relatively still while the other moves.  Duh.

Here there are two images of the right leg of this fast walker, and the shadow of a third.
I'm very fond of that wonky window.

This girl texting caught my eye, and luckily a train had just come in to the station down the hill.  Exposures all .6 of a second.

 There's a reflection on the cafe window here, but unless one sees it in more than one shot (as here!), it's not obtrusive.

 Here, cropped, is my favourite. 

The walkers seem to be bustling aggressively up and the window reflection emphasises this, yet the texter calmly ignores them.

I learned a bit about setting up the camera for this work.  I used Live View to lock up the mirror and enable me to see what I was getting, switched to manual focus to reduce delay and movement.  I tried a remote shutter release, but discovered that the motion of the shutter rocked the camera, so I had to hold it down to the table when shooting, so I may as well press the shutter release myself.  Exposures ranged from 1/25 to .6 of a second, achieved with ISO 100 and apertures f22-f29.

Single Figures

I'm finding it difficult to work on this section of the course because there seems no particular point; it's a collection of different things.  However, it's been challlenging to reduce the impact of people, or at least their size in the frame.  I'm thinking more about the use of colour and monochrome, too.

Here, amid the drama of this boat-wash at Brighton Marina, the cause of it all isn't immediately apparent.  If I could have got the shot without the intervening boat parts, I would have done, but I think the clutter in the shot helps show the character of the place better than a perfectly clear one would have.  Colour would add little, black and white helps the drama.

Also in Brighton, this time in the Museum.  Security personnel often stand here and watch.  I like the lampshade and the 'upturned boat' structure of the roof, neither of which command this watcher's interest.  This would work in black and white, but I liked the way the warm colours went together.

Blackwell, in Cumbria, is a beautiful Arts-and-Crafts house, uncluttered by artefacts and paintings as most great houses are.  Most of the surfaces are wood; its warmth and beauty would be lost in monochrome.  I had a great time, exploring and hunting.

 Although it's a big house, it has a homely feel; one could move in and live comfortably here.  This man appears to be taking the cosy welcome too far.

 Corridors run the length of the house on both floors.  They provide places to ambush visitors. 

In these shots I'm trying to show the character of the place but introduce a sense of unease when a second look reveals a fragment of human presence.

A gardener takes a rest at Church Beck, Coniston.  I like the sunlit garden against a dark and threatening sky.  This shot has to be in colour because of the similar tones.

The Print Shop at Yale College, Wrexham, is full of lovely heavy old machinery.  As a visitor, I felt I shouldn't interfere, but now wish I'd shut that cupboard door on the left.

Straightening the perspective on this shot has cropped the leg off the big press.  I need to leave room for it...

Or shoot straight and level in the first place.  Here, the lady eating her lunch in contravention of the rules, is partly obscured.