A different view of Dorset
Martin Dolan looks at familiar places in unfamiliar ways
Published in November ’16
This shot of Holes Bay in Poole, taken at 5.45 in the morning, takes advantage of the colour of the sun before it hits its full strength
Every photographer has a different approach to taking pictures. Some go for peace, some go for the savagery of storms. Some photographers prefer abstracts or dark and moody shots, other prefer the light, high-key images one often gets in winter.
This panoramic stitching of Durdle Door and Man O’War Bay shows both natural light from the east and artificial light on the Isle of Portland lighting up the horizon
Beech Avenue at Kingston Lacy, partly illuminated by the vehicle’s headlights and partly painted over by its tail-lights
Martin Dolan’s images of Dorset are almost all of famous, or at least well-known places, but they are not by any means run-of-the-mill landscapes.
Through his careful use of the time of day and the mixing of natural and artificial light, he presents an iconic image in a wholly different manner. Some of the otherworldliness present in his images is owing to the time of day and angle, but he also makes use of a digital photographic technique in some shots called High Dynamic Range or HDR.
Old Harry Rocks – at low tide as the sun is coming up – combines the green of the marine flora with the warming rays of the early morning sun on the normally white stacks
Suspension bridge over the Stour at Blandford, taken with an ultrawideangle lens very close to the flowing water
A more serene Stour at the Bryanston bridge in Blandford
This is where several different exposures of a scene are combined to deliver an image that is closer to what the human eye would be able to discern; normally photographic images either show too little highlight information or too little detail in the shadows. The downside to this technique is that it can lead to images that also have unnatural colours, although that too can be an artistic tool when used sparingly.
Another Holes Bay sunrise, but this time near midsummer when the sun is rising almost in the northeast to the left of the RNLI buildings
As this picture is looking almost due east for the sunrise at Old Harry it means it was taken at an equinox when the sun sits at compass points at daybreak (E), noon (S) and nightfall(W)
