One of my favoutire walks is along the seafront at Teignmouth. I have photographed it multiple times, and yet, each time the images are different.
Teignmouth has a wonderful combination with its stretches of red sand interspersed with wooden groynes reaching out into the waves, overlooked by the decaying structure of the pier built in 1865. The tide goes a long way out, revealing fascinating patterns and reflections in the sand. This image is a record shot of the beach, the groynes and the pier in the late summer sun. One person silhouetted by the water's edge now that the holiday season is winding down.
I spend some time thinking about what to photograph. I decide on the long RF100-400mm f5.6 lens that I am so enjoying at the moment. I home in on details, looking to emphasise the black lines against the glinting sea:
I then have a play, slowing down the shutter speed to between 2.5 and 6 seconds at f32, and slightly moving the camera to capture different effects. I wanted just the minimum representation of the pier in the image. I adjusted the AWB to shift the temperature too:
By the final image I had the hoped-for ghostly and eerie effect to represent the decline of the pier, being washed away by the waves:
I then go for walk down to the groynes, thinking about this idea of capturing details to represent the whole. Sand and wind-blasted, rusting and deteriorating:
My attention was suddenly drawn to a shaft of light coming through the groyne onto the sand. And I was transported into another flow of intense focus. This is the first record shot, with the camera struggling with the exposure because of the strong contrasts in the image:
I added a filter, adjusted the settings and with the shutter speed varying between 1 and 2 secs I was able to follow the light as it came through the gaps in the groynes, capturing the patterns on the water as the waves ebbed and flowed:
Another change of white balance brings out these beautiful blues, with the varying shutters speeds and change of movement leading to the images becoming more and more abstract:
Photography is drawing with light. By using ICM I can create abstracts of the scene through capturing tone, texture and colour. In this photoshoot, I have attempted to retain some essence of the place too.
One of the key reasons that I like to use ICM is that each image is unique. I have photographed at Teignmouth beach so many times and yet never produced images like these before. I recently came across another blogging photographer, Wild Willow Ways (Mary Carron), sharing her journey with ICM. She writes that she almost gave up on it because the failure rate was so high initially as she played with different techniques and learned what works for her. She persevered and now includes ICM in her creativity toolbox. I urge you too to persevere if you are doubting what you can achieve.
Mary also provides ideas for resources.
(443) Andy Gray - YouTube (who talks through complex edits of his ICM images in Photoshop)
Impressionography - A gallery dedicated to ICM photo-art, founded by Robert Clark.
I trust you will find these links informative too:
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