Friday, 8 March 2013

Branston Quarry.

At long last the weather has improved to the point that I can actually get back to my 2nd assignment and attempt so photography relating to the quarrying in the area. Branston Quarry is a sand and gravel works which means they basically strip away the top soil to get at the deposits located below which can extend downwards for hundreds of feet, much of the local area around the A38 corridor is rich in these kind of deposits so its something living in this area you kind of have to get used to happening. I've previously alluded to the issues surrounding gaining access to the site so I'm not going to go over that again but what I found be studying OS maps of the area was that a number of public footpaths ran near or actually through the site to some point so I had my way in. What I found unfortunately was this didn't get me near the current areas of excavation but I was able to see was how areas that have been in use recently, area beginning to recover in some ways from the complete devastation that this kind of mining produces. What I aimed to show was how the landscape appears before it is given a rebirth into a more natural state.    


Tech. Details
F-stops- f/8
Expo- 640secs
ISO- 1250
Expo Bias- 0 steps
Focal Length- 110mm


In this first shot I wanted to capture a general view of how the landscape appears with its multitude of seemingly mole hills spread over the site marking the areas already mined out. I like the image because even though there isn't any actual people present in the view mans handy work is present throughout the scene from the mining in the foreground to the many electricity pylons spread through the background. 

Tech. Details
F-stops- f/14
Expo- 500secs
ISO-1250
Expo Bias- 0 steps
Focal Length- 18mm


What both the image above and below show (and another further down) is how life is finding away to take back the landscape even now. I wasn't really to sure what I was going to find within such a landscape but what I was surprised (but maybe I shouldn't have been) is how hardy some forms of life are and that there quick to reclaim any land no matter the destruction wort on it by our self's. I think the one lone tree hanging on is a real symbol of how life clings on.


Tech. Details
F-stop- f/4.5
Expo- 8000secs
ISO- 1250
Expo Bias- 0 steps
Focal Length- 27mm


Tech. Details
F-stop- f/9
Expo- 640secs
ISO- 1250
Expo Bias- 0 steps
Focal Length- 120mm


Tech. Details
F-stops- f/14
Expo- 400secs
ISO- 1250
Expo Bias- 0 steps
Focal Length- 31mm


Tech. Details
F-stop- f/8
Expo- 640secs
ISO- 1250
Expo Bias- 0 steps
Focal Length- 250mm


Both the shots above and below capture well the way the land has been ripped apart in search of the minerals below, I think one of the most frustrating things about this collection of images was the fact I still wasn't able to get right into the quarry so have had to rely on long lenses to get any kind of decent photo meaning they tend to feel a bit flat in stead of full of depth.


Tech. Details
F-stops- f/9
Expo- 640secs
ISO- 1250
Expo Bias- 0 steps
Focal Length- 300mm


Tech. Details
F-stops- f/11
Expo- 400secs
ISO- 1250
Expo Bias- 0 steps
Focal Length- 40mm


This photo really captures the essence of what this project is all about because you can see in action the way that a new area of wetland is beginning to form even with the quarrying still in evidence in the background. One thing I failed to capture which would have been good was the fact that there where actual some wading birds around the fringes but they soon made a run for it because there was no way of hiding my approach. For me this is one of the most important photos I've taken so far in this section.


Tech. Details
F-stops- f/11
Expo- 400secs
ISO- 1250
Expo Bias- 0 steps
Focal Length- 40mm


Above I like the contrast of colour that's produced within the different layers making a bit of a more interesting view out of a very dull slightly flat feeling landscape.


Tech. Details
F-stops- f/14
Expo- 400secs
ISO- 1250
Expo Bias- 0 steps
Focal Length- 34mm


I don't know why but I find that signs can give a very different insight into a landscape generally in a more comic way. Here for example you have such a jumble of different signs giving many different orders to people working on the site that to someone like myself just seem a bit strange, for example why does the word ASH need to be written so large and what where they tipping between the cones before hand?


Tech. Details
F-stops- f/10
Expo- 200secs
ISO- 1250
Expo Bias- 0 steps
Focal Length- 38mm


This again shows a brilliant example of life finding its way, I'd guess that its most likely fox prints (but I could be wrong) as there one of the most adaptable animals this country has to offer so if anyone can find away to live in such a place its going to be him.


I'm feeling much better about this part of my project now then I have done in a long time, in away I can see how its beginning to come together and how it'll look and tell a clear narrative when I pull all the different parts together in my final assignment. Don't get me wrong I still have much more to do but the outline structure of the piece I feel is there.

No comments:

Post a Comment