Xrays / CT scans and film

I’m in Tokyo right now, and I noticed that the airport here had now introduced CT scanners for the carry on luggage.

My friend Bert sent me a link to the YouTube video below. The first half of the video is a bit of pre-amble and padding which you can skip. The other half is what you need to know about X-rays - either traditional or CT.

The upshot is that you should always ask for a hand-inspection for your film. No matter what speed. I had no idea just how much degradation happens each time (even a low ISO) film is passed through a scanner. Subtle colour shifts and lack of contrast / shadow detail are the main things for traditional x-ray machines. But CT-Scanners are more damaging for just a single pass.

This may mean you have to plan your flights: Heathrow for instance has zero tolerance for asking for a hand-inspection for instance. I tend to avoid the bigger airports when I can.

If you want a quick summary, this is how I see it:

With Regular X-RAY scanners, it is best to ask for a hand search whenever possible. Avoid lead bags as they will boost the X-RAYs. Travel with ISO’s less than 400.

With CT-Scanners, surprisingly, there is less to worry about in terms of salvaging your films. There is no ‘oscillation wave’ across the films from the scans, which is impossible to remove. What you do find instead is a loss of shadow detail in your films. The upshot is : get the films hand inspected, or perhaps better, find a local film processor to process the films for you.

What I did take away from most of this review, was that film is compromised at some level when scanning through an airport.

I had always been worried that my films might be unusable. I thought that was the only variable at play, but it is now apparent to me that when passing film through any scanner, you lose quality.

When you are dealing with trying to optimise your images by using the finest lenses, etc, then this just tears apart the idea of trying to maintain absolute quality: whatever you do, the final results are at the mercy of the airport scanner, and you may come home with film that is ‘poor quality’ rather than ‘unusable’.

Bolivian Scale

Many thanks to Karsten Weis, for allowing me to reproduce this wonderful image of his, from our Bolivia tour back in 2019.

I am always trying to explain to my friends, and fellow photo enthusiasts, just how amazing Bolivia is. I think Karsten does a good job in this photo which sets the scale of the Salar de Uyuni against one of our tour participants.

Image © Karsten Weis, 2019 Bolivia Photo Tour

Scale is a hard thing to convey in photographs. I have simply given up trying to convey it, because for the most part, I think we only truly understand the immensity of a place once we have witnessed it ourselves. But it is nice when I see images that give us a hint of what we might experience if we go there ourselves.

I was first drawn to photography as a way to mark my life: to record my experiences. I haven’t forgotten this as my photography has matured over the years.

I think it is very easy to obsess on the image acquisition part, and forget to remember to be present, to consider where we are, and just be aware of what it is that we are experiencing. Photography is so much more than image making. It is the experiences we have whilst out there in the landscape that add depth to our lives.

I cannot wait to go back to Bolivia this May. It is such a special landscape.

—

Many thanks once again to Karsten for allowing me to reproduce this image.

Put yourself in a nowhere place

By putting yourself in a space that has no specific ‘main subject’, can be a great learning experience.

Beaches where there is no background subject or foreground interest are ‘nowhere’ spaces that you can use. They remove any chance of you finding a ‘main subject’ (what I like to refer to as a security blanket) with which to work with simplifying your photography.

It can be a daunting experience to be somewhere that you see ‘nothing to photograph’. I would suggest that the best way to start is to simply get the camera out of the bag and set it up and switch on the live-view. This may seem rather obvious but I think it is hard to visualise anything with our eyes by simply looking around.

Something seems to happen to us when we set up our camera on a tripod and aim it at the horizon. What may have appeared to be a nowhere place, turns into something much more when we see it pop up on the back of our live-view. For one thing, cameras see ‘linearly’ so tend to pick up on the subtle variances in tone of the sand or sky. Our eye tend to tell us that the sand is all the same tone when it isn’t. Same for sky. By forcing our eyes to look at the camera live-view, we are now seeing a picture, rather than trying to imagine one with our mind’s eye. It’s a subtle difference but it is a big one in terms of helping you get started.

I have found that doing this in different weather conditions leads to different kinds of pictures. What was first thought of as a place that has nothing, can soon turn into a place that offers up so many possibilities each time you return.

What was considered empty soon starts to appear to be not empty at all as you begin to work with the subtleties of the tones in the beach and sky. Working with different shutter speeds can also help you turn what might seem rather ordinary into something more visually appealing.

This is why I like to come to the Isle of Harris here in Scotland. Although the landscape is extremely beautiful, it is also extremely absent of ‘main subjects’ to use in your compositions. I have found over my time of working there, that Harris offers a lot in terms of different climatic conditions, which in turn affect the quality of the light, and bring different atmospheres.

I have found over the years that I tend to now seek less cluttered places. It is not because I wish to work on minimalist compositions, but it is just because I have found that the more I work with less, the more I start to see how much there is, still in the frame.

Simple comes in varying degrees for all of us: what you may initially think of as simple, can after a while, appear to be more complex than you had first thought. After some years of working in less cluttered places, I have found it very hard to go back to more ‘traditional’ scenes. They are simply too complex, and have far too much going on.

If this isn’t something you have tried before, then I can only suggest that you try putting yourself in a nowhere place. You may just find that by stripping back the layers, you are able to see that there is yet more to uncover.

Avoiding the Security Blanket

“It takes a while to realise that perhaps the main subject of your photography
is the light itself”

I have always thought that when we remove recognisable objects like trees / mountains etc from our frame, we are left with the most important elements of a photo: the quality of the light.

We are often more adoring of photos that have beautiful light than beautiful subjects. We rarely say ‘what a beautiful subject’, but we do say ‘look at the light!’ So I believe that most of our motivation when we make photos is all about the light. Not the subject. The subject is often an anchor, or something for the eye to latch onto.

I believe truly, that we do not actually need subjects in landscape photographs. We just need variances in luminance and variances in tone to keep the viewer’s eye interested. We just need interesting light.

When we feel the need to put a subject in the frame, we are, In a way using them as a form of security blanket. Perhaps we feel that without a main subject, the image won’t be strong enough? Perhaps without a main subject we feel the viewer won’t know what they’re supposed to be looking at?

When I work in empty spaces, I have learned that I am really photographing the light. I’ve done it so many times now, that I now understand that most landscape photography is really all about the light. Classical subjects such as trees, mountains, etc are secondary, if required at all.

I understand and appreciate for those who haven’t done so, working in empty places can be a daunting experience. We feel vulnerable, if we don’t have a subject. We can feel lost.

It takes a while to realise that perhaps the main subject of your photography is the light itself.

This can only really happen by putting yourself in locations that are devoid of subjects, or are often called ‘minimalist’ or ‘empty’ places. I have photographed in plenty of empty places now, and I’m aware that I am no longer daunted by the prospect of it, but rather seek it now. Because empty spaces allow me to see subtleties in the light, to quieten down the scene. It is only then, and only then, that I may consider adding in a classical subject if I want to.

Even if you like to find subjects to put in your frame, making images in a place devoid of subjects is a really useful learning tool. You may feel vulnerable for a while, but it will teach you how to quieten down your compositions and over time, your appreciation of the more subtle tonalities in the landscape will develop.

Perhaps like me, you’ll come round to realising that the main subject in all of your landscape photos, was always first and foremost, the quality of the light.

Frozen Lake

I’m at Lake Saroma, here in Hokkaido today. This is the view from my hotel room looking out to the lake.

I am thinking today about how I see this view every January. An illusion has been cast upon me. I have never seen the lake during any other season, so in my mind’s eye, it is a perpetual winter place and when I think of Saroma, I think of the vastness of its frozen lake disappearing into the distance.

Perhaps there are places you have been to, that are fixed in your mind as existing in an immutable state? These places are where we can escape to, or dream of when we are back home, back in our routines, and dreaming of further adventures.

The winter sun

The winter sun has always been a subject I keep returning to. Often I have used it in my pictures when the skies are overcast and I can look at it comfortably with the naked eye. For if I can stare at it without causing damage to my eye, then it can be recorded without blowing out the exposure.

Anonymous location, Hokkaido 2023

Fjallabak nature reserve, Iceland 2022

If one is seeking to have a recognisable style in their work, then recognising when you are drawn to certain subjects can reveal where your aesthetics and visual sensibilities lie.

I do not go seeking themes in my work consciously, but rather tend to discover them as they surface slowly and gradually as a repeating feature in my imagery. Zooming out, whilst reviewing one’s work is always beneficial in noticing patterns and repeating themes in one’s work. Often I can only notice them when I look at my work from a span of many years.

Hokkaido 2019

Fjallabak nature reserve, 2017

The winter sun is always a symbol of hope. It is a reminder that summer is never that far away, and even when the winter is at its shortest day, and darkness seems to prevail, the light will soon be coming back.

Since the 21st of December we have been on a trajectory towards longer and warmer days. I often take stock on this day. Consider that the solstice has always been an important part of man’s life-cycle and that of the Earth’s. I do love all the seasons and perhaps for me winter is the most atmospheric and photogenic. But I know that for all of us, we all seek the light and warmth of a coming summer.

Hokkaido 2018

Hokkaido 2015


Within Reach

I always think my job is to stay out of the way of my own pictures. The viewer should be blissfully unaware of the photographer’s presence in the work.

If the composition is too considered, then the viewer may be aware of a degree of contrivance in the work. If the composition is not considered enough, then the work may lack focus or clear intention.

Same for editing: if the work is over ‘processed’ in look, then a feeling of a need to impress, or a lack of believability may exist, and linger, no matter how much one tries to adapt to the work.

In either of these cases, the viewer is aware of the photographer lurking in the background. Because they can feel poor judgement in the work.

To be invisible whilst also conveying a sense of style in one’s work is perhaps the hardest thing to pull off. Both feel as if they are mutually exclusive. And yet both are required.

It reminds me that one must be part of their own work, but at the same time be outside of it.

Inside of it, and yet outside of it. Both existing at the same time.

A special place

Today I just wanted to post a few images from my recent edits.

I will be heading back to Hokkaido next week, and will be spending a month in Japan. I have a few research projects on the go…..

Winter Sun over snow field, Hokkaido January 2023

Optimal Conditions

I’m about half-way through editing the images I shot in Hokkaido last January. The new portfolio is really a collection of old-friends but shot in the most optimal conditions I have experienced so far.

I have no problem repeating locations every year, if the conditions show me another view of a tree or location I know well. With the photograph above, I found this location with my guide around 2016. It is on private land (as is most of Hokkaido - go there on your own and you will be shooting from the roadside at best). We always ask for permission to enter land, and with this location, it is government owned. We have to walk in on snow shows to get the best views and some years that I come here, there is not always so much snow here. But last year we had quite a lot of snow across the entirety of Hokkaido.

So I really don’t mind going back and shooting compositions or views that I have done before. Particularly if I feel I’m getting a more optimal view of the location.

I think this is perhaps a reaction to the ‘I’ve been there and done it’ kind of thing. Places are always worth going back to many times. Once for me is often never enough. But I accept that when you have finite resources, finite time, perhaps it’s of more interest to go to somewhere new each time. I just think for my own development as a photographer, growing into a landscape / culture over many visits is just a much more rewarding experience, and provides a deeper connection.

Hokkaido January 2023

I have a backlog of images from the past few years to attend to. I’ve only just got round to working on my images from last year’s Hokkaido tour. We had some of the most favourable conditions to date on any of the tours we’ve done, and this one particular location worked so beautifully. Literally the trees were floating in the air at times, but somehow today, I don’t feel like illustrating that. I much prefer to just show you a slightly mauve sunset shot of my favourite tree in Hokkaido.

I rarely worry about having a backlog of images. I’ve found that I can let images sit around for a year or two before I edit them (I have a very nice portfolio of images from Senja that were taken in 2020, and each time I look at the films I am very excited about what I captured. But I think there needs to be a right time to edit them).

And so this week is Hokkaido week. I also have lots of nice images from Lencois Maranhenses in Brazil to edit too, but they are going to have to wait.