Project 29: re-photographing a well-known image

The aim of this project is to select an image that has been published and research it's location, lighting, time of day etc and then find that location and re-photograph it, taking the closest version that is possible.  Then from within about 100 feet of this spot take a different original image.  As I am both a fan of Joe Cornish and also of Whitby, I decided to use the image below by Joe of Whitby Abbey Steps taken at twilight.

All this sounds easy until account is take of the torrential rain I encountered on the day I elected to do the shoot, the fact that Joe photographed from the 'wrong' side of the railings and that the street lamp didn't come on at the required time.  It all added to the fun of the venture as well as the frustration.  I also noticed that the right hand of the three buildings at the bottom of the steps is now a different colour.  I did find plenty of scope for other shots within 100 feet of this location, however.
I include my efforts below:

When I first arrived at the location it was pouring with rain so, as I was too early for twighlight anyway, I retreated to Trencher's Fish and Chip emporium.  On returning to the spot I was dismayed to find that all of the street lights were on bar this one.  Undaunted I began to set up and the rain started again so the camera had to sheltered under the brolley until it stopped.  I then realised, when I compared my printed Cornish shot with my viefinder view that I needed to be the other side of the railings, but, as there were 'keep out' notices, I decided that discretion was the better part of valour.  Either that or age is making me more cautious.  My image includes too much of the harbour to the right and also the buildings to the right of Joe's blue one.  My lamp post is also not quite far enough to the left.

 

Having 'failed' on the first shot I retreated a short way up the steps to look for some other shots from this location.  Just before I decided to pack up for the day I checked one last time to find that the light had come on so I rushed back down and took this image.  I much prefer this to my first as the light makes the shot.  However, twighlight was now moving into darkness and so the lighting is very different to Joe's. Although Joe's image is without doubt superior, I am still pleased with my shot and I am not generally in the business or copying someone else's photographs.

Having taken these two shots I set my mind to looking for other images to be had from the location and include them below:

This is a telephoto sho tof the clock tower taken from very close to the location before the fish and chips!  I like the clock tower itself and the attractive pan-tiled roofs.  It's a pity though, about the blue netting around the buildings behind.  This is a shot I may well re-shoot in the future when building work has finished.

A wide angle shot from just below the lamp featured in Joe's shot looking down the steps into the old town.

A shot looking from the top of the steps looking towards the Abbey.

Another shot from the top of the steps, this time looking over the harbour.

A wide angle horizontal view looking down the steps and over the harbour from just above the 'Cornish lamp post'.

Although this is an older image I have included it as it is another, taken at sunset of the celtic cross at the top of the steps and within 100 feet.

Although I made a trip especially to complete this project this weekend, Whitby is a favourite spot of ours and I have many images taken around the town and harbour.  I was there a couple of months ago looking for images on the theme of water for Assignment 3.  While I was there I took a shot that I had done before on the west pier.  I had got the idea for this shot from one by Joe Cornish and so include them here.  I have included Joe's image below:

 

Although I took this shot and the one below because I had been inspired by Joe's image, I didn't have a copy of it to hand.  I wasn't intending to use the shot for this project at the time and wanted to make it my own rather than Joe's.  My view point is lower and the frame recangular rather than the square format of Joe's.  I have therefore included the light on the East pier in my shot.  Mine is a twilight shot and it needed a long exposure which has blurred the fisherman in the distance.  This makes it for me.

This is the same shot taken a couple of years ago.

Again this location has much potential for other shots.  I include some below that were taken roughly 100 feet away:

Taken looking towards the West Pier with big seas.

Taken from the same spot as the original shots of the end of the East Pier with a rainbow and storm clouds in the distance.

Another image taken from the original shot.  This time at sunset looking towards Sandsend.

Yet again from the original spot but turned round looking towards the harbour and town as the lights come on.

What have I learned? It is not always easy to take exactly the same image as someone else.  This maybe that it is not always possible to get into exactly the same position, not have the right focal length of lens or in the case of Joe Cornish not have a 5x4 inch Ebony 45 SU field camera or, more recently, a Phase One IQ 180.  Not that I am envious, of course!!  Weather also is a consideration and it would be absolutely impossible to encounter identical weather and lighting conditions.  Then there are other variables such as the light that doesn't come on in time.  Of course it is not desirable to copy somebody else's work and , as the project was designed to demonstrate there are a host of alternative images to be taken from any one location.  In fact if two people are photographing at a location together, the chances of them taking identical images are remote.  This is as it should be.  In fact when my wife is with me she usually has her panasonic lumix compact and takes her own images.  How often do I feel that she has the better shot and can't believe that I didn't see it.