Stepping Stones

“Ah the old stepping stones”, as I assume someone, possibly geriatric and from a Southern U.S. State once said. This scene shows a stepping stone walkway across the River Ogmore, right next to Ogmore Castle, in South Wales and was taken on my Nikon FM with 28mm on Ilford FP4 125 ISO at f8 125/sec.

So what do I like most about this shot? Well how about the action element? The old man in the background about to fall in the river while two swan’s barrel towards him at speed (don’t worry he didn’t fall in or injure himself, just turned around after he realised the stones were too slippery to cross safely that day). Or how about the detail on the closest stones, water rippling as it flows around them, the detail of the surface of the rock, pin sharp with cracks and imperfections of age and weathering and the wet footprints giving a contrast of colours on their surface. Or the reflections of the swans on the water’s surface? not hugely noticeable but adding some more depth to their positioning in the photo.

Personally, my favourite part of this whole image is the way the stones line up in the image, giving a nice leading line from the detailed front of the picture where we’re stood off to the man balancing in the background and converging together into a nicely blurred background. I’ve a few more shots of this river and the castle that stands on it’s banks and I’ll be sharing over the next few days.