Ian's Kent Coast Gallery

[Admin]

Gallery now on website.

[Audrey]

Happy New Year to everyone! It was good to get the E-Mail from Tom and know there were a whole set of new images to enjoy. --thought I'd start with Ian as his are at the top of the page.
Ian just looking at the thumb nails I'm struck by what a great panel you have ---and you caught a double rainbow and the contrast between the bright rainbow colours and that threatehing dark sky.The red in Post and Last Post[like the title!] set off the panel very well.Thinking about it the two vertical images should look out of place but they don't --it all fits together really well.
Room with a view-- Love the idea of using the wood as a frame to look through and the rail line going diagonally across. It looked dramatic in thumb nail but on seeing the larger picture the treatment given to the wood doesn't work and for me spoils the image.
Storm Waves --Lovely ---everything is just right --atmosphere, gentle colours light in the sky birds flying over and the image conveying the power of the sea --making you want to take a step back in case the waves hit.
Clearing Up ---Isn't it good how the framing of the main part of the image by the old metal adds to this and brings the derelict bits and pieces together making an interesting picture ---think you stood in just the right place to take this Ian!
House -- Monochrome with just the yellow ---Makes that house stand out really well -- love the bright yellow.
Dungeness is such a magical place! Against its atmospheric background broken, derelict, very ordinary nothing special things can be made extraordinary that a great thing to do Ian! ---I know this will apply to Martin and Tom's pictures too but I'm saving them to enjoy another day.
Thank you Ian!! -----Love Audrey

[IAN]

Hi Audrey
Thanks for taking the time to review my Kent Coast panel and giving us your considered comments.
We were very fortunate to get anything at all considering the awful weather conditions that day. All the Dungeness images were taken within an hour or so before the heavens opened and we went for lunch.
The afternoon was quite a rewarding photographic period due to some wonderful lighting conditions near Rye harbour which enabled us to get the shore line images.
The image I took from inside a hut looking out on Dungeness was slightly concocted because the wooden frame was out of focus to an extent that it would have ruined the image had I not posterised it. I also changed the view looking out because I felt the railway line view gave a better composition and was of more interest.
The various panels show how three photographers can come up with such a varied view of the same subject and gives us such enjoyment of exploring an area together.
Love Ian

[gordonvictor]

Happy New Year Ian - Your photographs reminded me of the Light and Desolation at Dungerness. If I may I should just like to comment on my feelings when I look at each picture?
Before the Storm - Amazing Light, conjures up a Magic Moment. Room with a view-Small track in foreground carrying lightweight fuel moving across waste, shingle and desolation to the Nucular Energy Power Station - Appropriate!. Storm Waves- Love it-Raging seas, Birds battling to survive the gale force winds. Over the Rainbow-Captures a moment of nature's amazing light before a storm. Post- What an eye catcher - very simple picture but brought to light by the Red Post. Cleaning Up-Time has left its mark on this marine area which is now slowly and sadaly crumbling away. Houses at Dungerness =Very powerful photograph BUT I would not wish to live in such a conspicuous House! Last Post- It really looks like the last 'Outpost' to no where!
Thanks Ian enjoyed your latest release.
Gordon

[Joe Tully]

Hi there Ian

Nice to see your Dungeness images especially within the context of direct comparison with the other two guys efforts. It's always interesting to see how different workers will interpret the same set of "given factors". No two, let alone three will ever return the same results.

BEFORE THE STORM....Nice light and well captured double rainbow. (Out of 10... 7)

ROOM WITH A VIEW...Could have been a really clever shot with some more depth of field. As it is the frame which should have made it doesn't really do it an awful lot of good. (4)

STORM WAVES... A good depiction of the rough weather but apart from that it seems to me that I have seen thousands of these over the years and so this shot isn't distinctive enough (5)

OVER THE RAINBOW...Pretty well the comment above would apply again here (5)

POST... I like the minimilist approach here appeals to me. This shot is getting there (7)

CLEANING UP.... A good idea this one. Shooting through the aperture like this gives the scene a frame, which I think would be improved by cropping tighter along the left hand side, so that the frame is allowed to be a frame.(7)

HOUSES AT DUNGENESS.... I quite like the idea here and the execution looks good too.(7)

LAST POST... Clever use of colour popping turns an ordinary shot into something else.(6)

[Glenn Rossiter]

Ian.
Yourself like all 3 of you have done the Area on the Kent coast proud. As a Physicist I particularly liked the shot before the Storm in which you can point out the Double rainbow and its reversed colours in the Secondary Bow ..... well done with exposure on this .... Physics text book material. As I've alluded to in others work, you must surely have enhanced or altered the window frames in Houses at Dungeness which is just great.  Why are they like this !!. You've really bought your SPACE and interesting compositions to the fore again Well done. As an Australian I just can't believe the obnoxious weather you Guys are having over there at the moment. .... Almost makes me enjoy the semi-drought conditions here in Aus.
Glenn.

[IAN]

Hi Glenn
Thanks as usual for your insight into our work. We had to work very hard to get any worthwhile pictures that day in a short time span. Each one of us found something different which is the delight in going out together.
The yellow windows weren't enhanced, that's how they are as is the red roofed building.
With my shot I wanted to exaggerate the frames so I made the image into mono first and then put the colour back in around the doors, frames and chimneys. I found it more striking than a straight forward shot which most people take.
I didn't notice your observation of the rainbow effect..then I'm not the physacist. I shall now go back to it and see for myself.
Before long we'll have our East Anglia galleries up and then you'll see what can be done with some lovely wintry light on the landscape instead of the wind and storms we experienced at Dungeness.
Cheers
Ian

[IAN]

Hi Joe
A bit late in replying but thanks for your critique on my Kent Coast images. So many people have visited the area that I went with a view of trying to find that unique image. I may not have done that entirely but I think my approach and execution of some of the images may stand out from the rest. I hope so.
An interesting set of marks you have given all three of us and probably not the scores we'd probably expect to get if being entered into our own domestic club compititions. Perhaps in Ireland you are more critical than our judges over here although I do like to see a wider range given than what we generally see.
I will be entering some of my images into up coming comps so it will be interesting to see how they fare in comparison to your marking. I tried to keep some of my images minimalistic which I do find goes down well with judges but it's the atmospheric landscape shots that go down well with your average punter. Dungeness houses has printed up particuarly well where my b/w,colour enhancements have made the ordinary into something more appealing in my view.
It was good to see how each one of us had approached the same subject a little differently, but it went to make a more varied set of gallery images and diverse debate.
Best wishes
Ian

[Joe Tully]

Hi Ian

Glad to hear that my comments were of some use, not to mention the marks awarded. I know only too well that we are not asked to actually award marks as such but whatever mood I was in that day, I thought it might be interesting as well as acting as a means of differentiating between so many shots, without actually having hard copy to look at. Much more difficult this way actually for me. I would always prefer to be able to look at an actual as opposed to a virtual print. Anyway, I suppose that over probably 30 years of judging shows and competitions there is the likelihood that one can become a bit jaded and jaundiced in ones views, so what I usually try to do unless instructed otherwise is to judge the shot against a "standard". My "standard", and I stress that this is purely MY method and others may have their own and completely pooh, pooh mine, is to try to decide whether a shot is above average or not. An average one merits 5 and I will mark up or down accordingly. Naturally this works well if one sees all the prints in one go bwcause one has visual references and clues to go by. It is a bit trickier when one is shown each print in rotation, even more so when the work is projected, I find, but that might just be me. On checking just now, I note that your shots averaged 6, which let's be fair, is above "average", so well done. Indeed there were enough 7's to have merited a little better perhaps but Room with a View, Over the Rainbow and Storm Waves let the side down just a little.
By the way, I don't believe I have ever awarded a full 10 or if I have I dont remember it and I would do really because the full 10 would literally be perfection. Does perfection actually exist in this little worldly existence of ours? I don't think so. Reminds me of a certain 10 awarded to a certain Olympic Gymnast of tiny stature. What if the next competitor had been ever so slightly better... would she have received 10.5 perhaps? Based on this logic I would really love to see all such events where a performance is based on the opinion of a judge written out of the Olympic Games once and for all. Only the fastest, the highest and the longest for me (would quote the Latin if I thought I could do so accurately, but you will know what I mean). Have awarded 9.5's on occasions though.
It will indeed be interesting to see how your shots fare at the hands of other judges. Always remember though, judgement is subjective and all one can say in victory is that on such and such a day, such and such a judge liked my work, and exult not overmuch, for tomorrow's judge might consider the same work to be no more than a barrell of fish. Life is so unfair at times.
Keep on truckin', you're doin' ok.

Joe