Sunday 26 June 2016

A busy day

The fishing bug continues to bite, but it doesn't bite too hard on Saturdays which is good for attending local events. last weekend I gave the village walking day a miss. Partly because I had work to do but mostly because it was raining heavily. It wasn't my camera I wanted to keep dry, it was me! Yesterday, however, the sun shone intermittently on the Rose Queen day.

There isn't much goes on at the Rose Queen event, and there seemed to be less to see and do than last year for some reason. However the poultry and pigeon exhibition was there again, and just as popular as last time. Kids love ducklings and chicks, and being allowed to stroke the star of the show - a well behaved Pekin bantam.





There was plenty of burger eating and other Martin Parr style subjects, which I mostly avoided. There weren't many dogs in evidence. Which was a pity.



As you'd expect there was plenty of photography, and videography, going on. As you'd also expect most of it was mobile or tablet based.


Either I wasn't in the mood or I just couldn't find enough to photograph without repeating what I did last year, but there wasn't really sufficient pictures to warrant a gallery this time.



Repeating yourself is a big problem with visiting the same places and events. Of course it doesn't bother the aforementioned Martin Parr. He compiles his collections of similar pictures of similar subjects into books. That's fair enough, typologies have their place and value, but is somewhat dissatisfying for this viewer.

Finding new subjects or ways of picturing old ones is a growing difficulty for me at poultry shows. There's always the quest for a better example of a particular picture, but I seem to need novelty to keep me interested. Visiting the bantam club's evening box show a couple of hours after leaving the Rose Queen event was new for me. That had the drawback of not knowing what to expect. Catch 22!

Unlike the usual shows a box show sees exhibitors turning up with their birds in boxes as usual, but to be penned in rotation as the various classes are announced for judging. After the awards are made for each class the birds are put back in their boxes. A far less formal arrangement.


Regardless of the informality the judging is still exacting and  'post match' analysis is still carried out.



The light levels and quality in the show venues continues to frustrate. I need a slow enough shutter speed to overcome the cycling of the fluorescent lights, but a fast enough one to freeze the action of the fidgety birds - and to overcome camera movement with longer focal lengths. There's no happy medium though. Using flash would solve the problem, but likely give the pictures a journalistic look I don't want. I guess switching to black and white would solve the colour problem, but colour is quite a part of this subject matter. Besides, black and white would run the risk of giving the whole project a nostalgic feel. lets give it a try.


Hmm...

Country and agricultural show season is in full swing now, so I might take myself off to one or two of those over the coming weeks to keep the poultry pictures coming. Alternatively I could dive into the tackle shop project. Or not!

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