A Sunday Stroll by the English Riviera

An hour to spare. A new phone camera. A walk by the sea. What could emerge?

I am enjoying playing around with my new Pixel 9 Pro camera phone (see previous blog) but I wondered if I could successfully use it to do ICM (Intentional Camera Movement), one of my favourite creative techniques. Following the advice of Stephanie Johnson, I tried out the app Camera FV-5. The basic version is free-to-use and provides DSLR-like manual controls for shutter speed, focus, white balance and exposure, giving it the long exposure capability required for ICM. In settings I selected Synthetic Exposure Type and then there are two options, either Film Type or Light Trail. I played around with both, experimenting with different length exposures and had some fascinating results!

I walked along the Torquay seafront to the harbour on a July Sunday. I have previously taken many photos there, but the new app opened up different possibilities. The clouds may have been threatening rain, but they were beautifully captured in this shot. I also like the Cubist effect the app gave to the buildings.

In this one, the light on the sea and sparkles on the seaweed in the foreground are quite neo- impressionistic, and the one below, looking across Torbay to Corbyn Head, is reminiscent of Helen Frankenhalter's more abstract approach.

What is impressive is that these images have had very little post-processing.

The marina and the harbour are always tricky to photograph, but using the light trails option reduced the busyness of the scene and just provided the key elements of basic shape and colours, bathed in light.

Before I headed back, I had a play with capturing the different reflections in the harbour, looking for contrasting compositions. The dull light seemed to helped with the depth of colour. Then the restaurants started to turn on their lights, adding sparkle to the scene:

This one has the simplicity of a work by Piet Mondrian. It has primary colours, a grey and white background and vertical lines.

I noticed some more reflections, this time of people crossing the bridge, but what happens if the image is flipped vertically? Raindrop ripples in the 'sky':

I was keen to continue playing, but the rain got heavier:

until the elements became more and more diffuse as they dissolved in the rain:

Back home in the dry with a warming mug of tea, I carried on playing. I created this abstract in post-processing by combining three copies of the same image rotated and blended. The network of lines, shapes and colours create a sense of depth, and reminds me of the work of Maria Vieira da Silva. It has a muted palette, with flashes of bright primary colours to add contrast.

Overall, again I am pleased with the outcomes of this photowalk with my phone camera, although I can't quite see myself abandoning my Canon just yet!

#abstract; #artinphotography; #appCameraFV5; #harbourviews; #sundaystroll