The Solitary Person

The solitary person I owe my solitude to other people

Photography by Michael Critchley

The solitary person I owe my solitude to other people

Dedicated to my wonderful wife Francine, who rescues me every day from confinement.

What would I be without her?

Solitude does not necessarily imply sadness or loneliness and most people would agree to the need of solitude in their lives.

During my early photographic years, the solitary subject had always appealed to me. This latest collection of solitary photographs depicts the individual absorbed in deep concentration.

Some active, some passive.

THE SOLITARY PERSON

I am not intruding and am, therefore,

The design and photography in this book are Copyright ©2012 by the author Michael Critchley.

All rights reserved.

not acknowledged.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any mechanical or electronic means without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

The space around the solitary figure is deliberate because it adds to the emotion of being on one’s own.

If I were to ‘crop in’ on the subject I would loose that importance and it would change the story entirely.

Photography by Michael Critchley

Late departure Waiting to cast off in the middle of the night on the Portsmouth to St Malo overnight ferry.

Canon EOS 400D EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ISO 800 1/25 @ Ć’11

Making secure Arriving at Sarah Island, Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park, Tasmania.

I like the position of the young girl securing the Catamaran to the jetty and the way the rope links the bottom to the top. One half of the page is patterned by black sparkling water and the other half is patterned by circles and mesh.

The colour is simple and uniform.

Canon EOS 400D EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ISO 200 1/640 @ Ć’11

Morning wash Early morning duties before arriving at St Malo harbour on the overnight ferry from Portsmouth.

I like the way the water is being sprayed parallel to the railings, linking the two orange colours and following the strong angle of the composition.

Canon EOS 400D EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ISO 400 1/80 @ Ć’3.5

Green gloves Viewing your subject from above enables you to see a different perspective on composition.

Strong white lines frame this orange worker on the horizontal division of aqua and dark blue – with a touch of green gloves.

Canon EOS 400D EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ISO 400 1/80 @ Ć’5

Bulldogger Deep in thought, this rider prepares for his next conquest in the battle with the beast, at the Mareeba Anniversary rodeo. The image is divided into 2/3 beast and 1/3 rider emphasising the size of the steer. Strong diagonal bars point toward the rider.

Canon EOS 400D EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ISO 800 1/200 @ Ć’8

Changing direction I like the movement of the engineer toward the black, heavy metal railing which takes up half of the image. This amount of space is not wasted but emphasises the heaviness of the train and the amount of energy required to turn the engine.

Canon EOS 400D EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ISO 200 1/160 @ Ć’9

Dry dock The left, out-of-focus half of this image, is taken up with shape, colour and texture, the right half is sharp and clear and contains the ‘activity’ – defined shapes, angles, textures, colour and the human presence of the fisherman. This image is about shape and composition, the man just happens to be there.

Canon EOS 400D EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ISO 800 1/640 @ ƒ6.3

Rock fishing A fisherman on Ellis Beach north of Cairns, Australia is dwarfed by huge black boulders and an expanse of blue sky. Rule of thirds.

Canon EOS 400D EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ISO 200 1/500 @ Ć’7.1

Wood piling ‘John the Log’ at The Lavender Farm, Rainford is surrounded by his work – large logs in the foreground are split to fire-size in the background. Rule of thirds.

Canon EOS 7D EF-S10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM ISO 400 1/160 @ ƒ7.1

Houseboat Terry, a seafaring artist, has moored his selfbuilt, catamaran houseboat at Cooktown harbour, for repairs and a paint job before the cyclone season starts.

Canon EOS 400D EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ISO 200 1/320 @ Ć’6.3

Memories A portrait of a war veteran and campaigner of pensioner’s rights. He rests, surrounded by his memories.

Canon EOS 7D EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM ISO 400 0.3s @ Ć’5 HDR

Workplace Organised chaos – where you can wander around in amazement at what can be found in this fullyfunctioning nostalgic workshop.

Canon EOS 7D EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM ISO 400 2.0s @ ƒ8 HDR

Keeping watch Surrounded by green grass and a vast sky with ominous cloud-cover, Bill keeps watch over his flock whilst training his dogs.

Canon EOS 7D EF24-70mm f/2.8L USM ISO 200 1/320 @ Ć’8

Red Hat This is not just a picture of a young skier on the winter slopes but an arrangement of shapes, colour and angles. The arrows direct the viewer into the page; the red padding around the post links to the girls red hat, while the angle of the calves is the same as the post. A simple. uncluttered rule-of-thirds composition.

Canon EOS 7D EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM ISO 400 1/640 @ Ć’7.1

Caught napping When this image was entered into a competition, the judge recommended cropping the person in tightly to create a ‘better’ picture. Er, No! Cropping in tight would not show the isolation, I saw, of this man on a pebble beach by the river.

It might show more detail – but so what!

Unfortunately the judged missed the ‘artists’ point of view – a sad consequence of being judged by tick-boxes and people that don’t understand.

Canon EOS 7D EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM ISO 125 1/320 @ ƒ8

Water spout A simple angular design.

Canon PowerShot G11 6.1-30.5 mm ISO 100 1/320 @ Ć’8

Bottom Me and my House shadow Farm, Robin Hood’s Bay We A simple stayed and at elegant a farmhouse ‘V’ composition B&B on ourwith weekend tripinteresting an to Robin Hood’s pattern Bay ofand dogtook paw the prints. opportunity to photograph the farm buildings and equipment.

FinePix S5000 I like the arrangement of the window frames with the black shape of broken 5.7mm glass; ISO 160 the corrugated metal and the shadow of the roof; 1/850 @ ƒ6.3 the angle of the wooden panel over-lapping the rough stone wall.

Canon EOS 7D EF24-70mm f/2.8L USM ISO 400 1/250 @ ƒ11

Working in the shadow A composition of strong straight contrasting lines and the soft curves of pipes and man.

Flashes of purple, yellow and pink; different textures within the light and dark concrete.

The angled, pink line divides the top 2/3 and the bottom 1/3 and adds depth by defining the foreground.

Canon EOS 400D EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ISO 200 1/160 @ Ć’7.1

The level line A solitary person, surrounded by concrete. I like that the action happens on one half of the image, and that half is divided again where angles cross and meet. Interesting angles and division of spaces.

Canon EOS 400D EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ISO 200 1/160 @ Ć’7.1

Finishing touches A central composition of lines pointing to the polishing action.

Canon EOS 7D EF24-70mm f/2.8L USM ISO 400 1/250 @ Ć’8

The milkmaid Lines and angles point toward the action of cleaning. “…the bull likes to be with his ladies when the milking starts.”

Canon EOS 7D EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM ISO 800 1/30 @ ƒ4

“Say please!”

One of a series of three pictures of a young girl feeding goats. The goat is focused on the food and the girl is focused on the goat – waiting for that special word.

Canon EOS 7D EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM ISO 200 1/200 @ ƒ8

Petite déJeuner Early morning chores – out and about every day, rain, hail or shine. Rule of thirds.

Canon EOS 400D EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ISO 200 1/250 @ ƒ5.6

Bamboo arch One of those opportune moments when the camera was at hand. Click, and hope for the best.

A second later and the picture was gone.

Canon EOS 400D EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ISO 800 1/250 @ Ć’6.3

Silver necklace A group of sculpted tribes women on show at a cultural exhibition in La Gacilly, France.

Canon EOS 400D EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ISO 200 1/125 @ Ć’6.3

I have been an Art Director/Graphic Designer for over 40 years and using cameras for longer.

Now, with those years of experience behind me, making images with the camera – photography and paintography – is what I enjoy most of all.

I see designs of shapes and spaces all around me and when I look through my 3x2 viewfinder it’s as if I’m designing a double page spread in a brochure or magazine. Perhaps it’s because I’ve always needed empty space in photographs to insert a headline or a block of text, that I compose my photos in this manner.

I like the space to surround my subject and I will quite often divide my compositions in half or thirds with more emphasis on the open space.

This space is not wasted but is left there for a reason – it is part of the design.

Let the image breath.