Simple Photography Tips - just sit and see what you notice

Five simple photography tips on what to do when perhaps you're in a foreign city at the weekend - sit and look, drink coffee, then wine, then take luncheon

• Take time to notice

• Use the light

• look for layers and depth when looking at water

• Relax, and have fun

• Coffee helps, in moderation

As many of you know, I have a thing about 'looking until you see'. That as you look at any scene, rural, urban, mountain, coastline, for anything longer than a glance - you start to see things, and the longer you look, the more you notice.

My wife and I caught the 'milk train' to Rotterdam yesterday, and having had our first coffee in London at 04.50, were, by 11.30 in Rotterdam, needing our second.

Rif010 https://rif010.nl was the recommended venue, the worlds first surf-pool in the middle of a city. It also has a bar, which sits alongside the surf-pool, but whose other edge is on one of the city's many canals. This was where the shade was best, necessary when the temperature was already in the thirties Celsius.

We actually had coffee, then a drink, then lunch! Served by two lovely staff. So there was plenty of time to look, and see.

The scene, although not particularly photogenic as a whole, was one of fascination. The water in the canal next to us, was mostly sunlit, and over the period of time we sat imbibing, the angle of the sun on the water, changed, and with it the reflections, and clarity of the water, and what and how we saw.

Although essentially unphotogenic, it is a real lesson of seeing in different layers of awareness, and these being part of the whole.

There are layers of seeing, and it takes time for each to be revealed.

And although these articles are pointing towards photographs, there is so much seeing that doesn't lead to the involvement of technology - unless you count that stuff God put inside your bonce as technology!?

Sometimes you just need to allow time and space, and just be. Sit or stand, and absorb, and be absorbed. So here are some Simple Photography Tips

The photos I'm about to share are not what I would normally share, I took them purely to illustrate. They were in fact an interference to the experience of layers being revealed.

Image One - duckweed

The first thing to be seen was the surface layer of the water, with slight movement, carrying leaves, patches of duckweed and sadly, rubbish. In the first image is the duckweed, with mature leaves, and developing ones. It's actually a fascinating plant, and worth your investigation, both with encyclopaedia and camera.

My Favourite Youngest Daughter has just looked at the picture as I write this. "Looks like Devon and Cornwall", which adds more to the spectrum of what you see when you look!

In addition to the duckweed, the surface carries reflections, easy to miss if you just absorb the plants.

Image Two - leaf and seed fluff floating on murky green water

The second image, shows a leaf, and fluffy thing, again in the surface layer. Both would be interesting subjects to play with, especially in different light.

Image Three - water plants showing through murky water

The third image shows how my focus changed as I noticed the water plants protruding from the bottom of rather murky water. Their form, as they seek the light is beautiful, and if you look at image four, you can see something of what you could achieve with a telephoto.

And then the fish appear, partly by appearing in my view as my eyes scan the water, and see them in the murk, and partly cos they just swam into the scene!

The image also reveals reflection of the bridge above, which I didn't notice for a while, I was too focused on the water, and looking for fish!

Image Four - fish appearing out of the green murk

Image Five - beautiful water plant and fish swimming into the scene

Image Five reveals the way that the scene comes together, with the light changing, and revealing the water plants more clearly, along with the fish coming nearer the surface to reveal themselves more clearly.

Image Six - perch come into view as the light changes

Image Six, if you stop to look, and wait, you see the fish more clearly as they drift into an area of clearer water and better light. Amongst the shoal are beautifully striped perch. Pretty but voracious when larger.

Image Seven - large fish swims behind weed. Reflection of bridge brickwork

The longer I sat and stared into the water, with my legs hanging over the edge of the deck, and the soles of my feet cooling in the water, the more I noticed, including what appeared to be a glint deep down. The glint turned out to be the open mouth of a large fish, probably a carp, that was swimming, oh so slowly, in the murky depths.

You can see part of the body and tail in image seven. But if you just concentrate on the fish, you miss other stuff, like the way the reflection of the brickwork gets distorted by the gentle movement of the water.

Image Eight - different layers of seeing

Image Eight, sort of sums up the layers and the way they contribute to the scene.

The reflection of the bridge and building in the top layer on which the yellow leaf and other wind blown debris sits.

Below the surface are the fish, for now floating high in the water, but the scene can change if they sink down, or take fright and scatter.

Then the 'towerblocks' that are the water weed.

Image Nine - the wider scene

Image Nine is what many would notice first, but for me, who has a fascination for water and the nature that lives there, comes rather later in the looking and seeing process.

The light at the end of the tunnel, another world almost, with its own activities.

Faintly seen here, but clearer in reality, are the hand grips, where bargees would grab and guide the barges and lighters through.

Then there is the sunlight reflecting on the tunnel ceiling, shown in detail in image ten. Captured in this 'still' but in reality twinkling as the water moves.

Image Ten - reflections of the sunlit ripples

Image Eleven is yet another example of looking, and taking time to see.

We had been sitting there relaxing, and looking, and watching, drinking and eating, and letting our eyes wander, and it was then I noticed the scrape marks on the stone, where boats from the past had swung, perhaps due to a gust of wind, bad steering, or unexpected current.

Image Eleven - boat bashed bridge entrance

Not particularly a subject to photograph, apart from its texture and variations in light. More a scene to notice, and let your mind go into imagination mode, and history, and boats, and sweat, and that which was once Rotterdam as it was, the shadows of which still exist.

"Sit awhile and ponder, sit awhile and heal" This is the stuff of returning mental health. https://sit-awhile.com/