CORNWALL 58 – HANDRAILS (MONO + COLOUR)

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Handrails on a flight of steps in St Austell; 23 Oct 2012.

These many handrails are on a vast flight of steps in the centre of the town.  They obviously had photographic potential but it was difficult to decide on genre and viewpoint.  Using a tripod (I wasn’t carrying one) would probably have simplified matters.

Nikon D700 with 70mm-300mm VR Nikkor at 300mm; 1600 ISO; converted to mono in Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Film Noir 1 preset; 90 degrees of clockwise rotation, and flipping.
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KENYA 49 – THE EASTERN RIFT VALLEY AND THE MAU ESCARPMENT

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View westwards across the rift valley floor, with the dark hills of the Mau Escarpment, the rift’s western wall, in the far distance; June 1978.

Africa’s eastern margin is fragmenting and the Eastern Rift Valley, which runs through Kenya, is a product of this fragmentation.  The Mau Escarpment, seen in the distance, is the main African continent, which stretches from there westwards right across to the Atlantic coast.

The terrain between the camera and those far away hills is the floor of the rift valley, and all of this land has been created relatively recently by molten rock from within the Earth rising up to fill the fractures in the fragmenting continent.

When below ground, molten rock is known as magma.  Magma can be erupted out onto the Earth’s surface, when it is called lava – and lava is erupted through volcanoes.  There is an obvious volcano lower left in this scene, quite a small cone, and the undulating ground further away has many more.  The presence of hot springs and steam jets shows that there is still vast amounts of heat not far below the surface of the ground here - the volcanism here is not extinct, it is dormant and it might restart at any time.

OM-1 with 75mm-150mm Zuiko at 150mm; Agfa CT18 colour slide, rated at 64 ISO.
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STANTON DREW 16 – ABSTRACT IN BLUES AND YELLOWS (MONO + COLOUR)

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The sun glances over a cottage roof in the quiet village; 7 May 2013.

I love the sight of the sun shining at low angles over tiled roofs.  There are times - many times, thank goodness! - when light can be extremely exciting.

Although the tiles are still recognisable, I’ve manipulated this image substantially and it has moved towards abstraction – moved towards more of a graphic design.  I hope you like it.

Nikon D800 with 70mm-300mm VR Nikkor at 300mm; 200 ISO; conversion to mono, selective colour restoration, cyanotype toning and pale vignetting in Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Cool Tones 1 preset; flipped and rotated.

There are other recent images of roofs at Stanton Drew here, here and here.
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STANTON DREW 15 – SUNLIGHT AND SHADOWS ON GRASS

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Sunlight and shadows on the grass in the churchyard at Stanton Drew; 7 May 2013.

This is an extremely simple subject for a photograph - indeed, some might not consider it worthy of being the subject of a photo at all.

But it is natural beauty, it is what I’m into, the sort of thing I look at and derive immense pleasure from.  Many years ago, in school, I told my religious knowledge teacher that my god is “out there in the fields and hills” (or some such words as those), and that feeling is still very much with me – in fact certainly increasingly so as my years accumulate.  And maybe pictures like this reflect these feelings and beliefs of mine – I hope so.

Nikon D800 with 70mm-300mm VR Nikkor at 180mm; 200 ISO.
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STANTON DREW 14 – LICHEN

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Lichen on the back of a tombstone, in the wonderfully quiet and peaceful churchyard; 7 May 2013.

I love the beauty of natural things – there’s no doubt at all about that! – and just look at the colourful glory of these wonderful and eminently passive organisms.

This image can be viewed in two contexts.  First, and certainly more important, it is a depiction of a lifeform in all its natural beauty.  I recall that lichens in fact consist of two lifeforms – but I can’t remember their names  – and Google is down!

Second, this might be viewed as an abstract image.  It isn’t abstract in fact because the lichens are clearly depicted – it is pictorial in that respect.  But if we mentally draw back from the image and forget its subject, or maybe if we have a few glasses of nectar … no, golden Somerset cider, not Foster’s Lager ….  and peer again at it, rather more blearily this time, then its abstract qualities assert themselves.

This is one for you, Gary – I know lichen loom large in your legend!

Nikon D800 with 70mm-300mm VR Nikkor at 300mm; 1600 ISO.
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KENYA 48 – KILIMANJARO

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Sunrise touching Mt Kilimanjaro: the view from Amboseli Game Reserve in southwest Kenya; Nov 1977.

This is Africa’s highest mountain and snow can be seen around the top, but both the snow and the glaciers there may be gone within a few decades – they are all melting fast.

OM-1 with 75mm-150mm Zuiko at 150mm; Agfa CT 18 colour slide, rated at 64 ISO.
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CORNWALL 57 – THE TIDE RUSHING OVER A PEBBLE

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The tide rushing over the top of a pebble, off West Pier at St Ives; 27 Sept 2012.

The pebble, partly clothed in algae – and looking for all the world like the back of a bald man’s head - was lying on the beach just off the end of the pier. 

As the tide started rushing in over the flat sand, it flowed up over the pebble and immediately went into a tail of turbulence on the downflow side of it.  My eye was caught by this heaving, shimmering turbulence.

So, the pebble >>> or someone walking away from us at some pace and with a shimmering silk hood or cape billowing out behind – have we offended him? 

Or, simply the head of someone swimming in the tide?  His green hair sure is funky, but maybe he should have made sure of waterproof hair dye …

Nikon D700 with 70mm-300mm VR Nikkor at 300mm; 400 ISO.
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KENYA 47 – LIONESSES AT MIDDAY

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Lionesses in the baking heat of the equatorial midday at Amboseli Game Reserve in southwest Kenya; Jul 1978.

OM-1 with 75mm-150mm Zuiko at 150mm; Agfa CT18 colour slide, rated at 64 ISO.
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FANTASY 13 – THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING, OUT ON TADHAM MOOR (MONO)

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Raindrops on grass on Tadham Moor, in the Somerset Levels; 14 May 2013.

The moment I darkened this shot down and saw the blade of grass on the left, I was reminded of the Empire State, lit up at night. 

And, just about at the shot’s centre, and also up right a little, there are two thin dark structures reaching up into the sky and disappearing into rather darker haze – are these smoking or steaming industrial chimneys?

These are blades of grass beside a stream.  To me, the dark blades cutting across the front of the image help give it depth.

I’ve just published a post on the effects of mirror slap on image quality.  Although handheld, this shot was taken with Nikon’s Vibration Reduction facility doing what it says on the tin, and at a high enough shutter speed (1/320th) to (just about!) escape mirror slap’s effects.

Nikon D800 with 80mm-400mm VR Nikkor at 400mm; 400 ISO; converted to mono in Capture NX2.
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FANTASY 12 – STAIRWAY TO HELL (MONO + COLOUR)

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Stairs in St Austell; 23 Oct 2012.

I can hear it now – “but Hell’s down and these stairs are going up, shouldn’t this be the Stairway To Heaven?  FATman’s had one to many of those full English breakfasts … all that saturated fat … saturating his little grey cells … no good will come of it, I tell you … no good will come of it  …”.

Well can I make a point or two?  Ok, ignoring all the dissension and picking up on that one tiny “yes, please!”, here goes.

First, the stairs may appear to be ascending but the stout end of the handrail is a striking red – not sure that signifies anything heavenly.

Then, although the steps that we can see are ascending, they are twisting to the right and becoming smaller as they do so.  And – trust me, I’m a doctor! – just around the corner they disappear altogether.  So that any one bounding up them, sure of salvation and headed PDQ for those Heavenly Heights is in for a nasty shock.  There is also the point that these stairs are floating in the air.

Its a bit like Mrs Poulteney in The French Lieutenant’s Woman, having The Pearly Gates slammed in her face and then turning around to see that the stairs by which she had ascended to them were gradually disappearing until, standing on air “she fell, flouncing and bannering and ballooning, like a shot crow, down to where her real master waited.”.  You haven’t read this book?  You should, its excellent – and I’m only a little biased by the fact that its takes place in a very favourite place of mine – Lyme Regis, on the Dorset coast.

Another possibility is that we are standing in Hell, looking at the bottom of the stairs.

But that last point can’t be true because, finally, I have to shoot myself in the foot by gently pointing out that this can’t be The Stairway To Hell, because Hell doesn’t exist.  No?  No.  Hell is something made up by the Christian Church many, many moons ago as a means of bullying, intimidating and coercing its congregations into following its doctrine and rules ->>> if you don’t do as The Church says, you’ll roast in Hell for eternity!  Good stuff, eh?

A dear friend of mine died recently after a long battle with cancer, and in the many discussions we had about life, death, the afterlife, etc, he told me that he was extremely relieved that, after he’d died, he knew that he wouldn’t have to explain himself or make any excuses for himself to any “higher” being.  Trouble is though, once Hell had been thought of, that’s exactly what numberless millions of Christians through the ages have thought they’d have to do.

I read somewhere years ago that the three institutions that kept the masses down in Britain in the (not so distant) past were the Monarchy, the Army and … the Church.  Few truer words have been written!

Anyway >>> back to the image >>> severe treatment in SEP has reduced this to a series of basic shapes derived from the handrail and the dark, vertical faces of the steps.  As they rise, the stairs are twisting towards the right, so that progressively less is seen of the faces of the top three steps in particular.  Hope you like the shot!

Nikon D700 with 70mm-300mm VR Nikkor at 70mm; 6400 ISO; conversion to mono and selective colour restoration in Silver Efex Pro 2, jumping off at the Silhouette + 0.5 EV preset.
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