STILL LIFE 231 – LOOKING AT CHAIRS 22

 

 

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This is the final post of Looking at Chairs – hope you’ve enjoyed the series.

So, lastly, two chairs, back to back, beside a window.

Sitting in Browns, waiting for the third breakfast of a long morning’s photography – a repast which might have equated to what we Brits call Elevenses … except that it was only just after 10am …

In Browns, I always sit at any table that looks across the room towards the windows onto the street, because these provide good cross- and backlighting.

The first post in this series on chairs, which contains context and an image, can be found here.  Subsequent posts are here: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  9  10  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 .  Each will open in a new window.

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window, and then click onto that image to further enlarge it.

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; Lightroom; Browns Restaurant, Bristol; 19 May 2017.
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STILL LIFE 230 – NELSON STREET 2

 

 

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Looking across the street at an old, discoloured building.

The first image of this pipe, with more context, is here .

Click onto this image to open another version in a separate window, and click onto that image to enlarge it further.

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 157mm (equiv); 3200 ISO; Lightroom, using the Astia/Soft film simulation; Nelson Street, central Bristol; 20 Apr 2018.
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STILL LIFE 229 – LOOKING AT CHAIRS 21 (MONO)

 

 

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Chairs beside a table at the Hurtwood Inn Hotel in Peaslake, Surrey;  25 Mar 2012.

An assemblage of shapes, shadows and textures with – especially in the background – obscure and abstract shapes.

The first post in this series on chairs, which contains context and an image, can be found here.  Subsequent posts are here: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  9  10  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 .  Each will open in a new window.

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window.

Technique: D700 with 24-120 Nikkor at 120mm; 400 ISO; converted to mono, and toned, in Silver Efex Pro 2.

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STILL LIFE 228 – LOOKING AT CHAIRS 20 (MONO)

 

 

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Well, what is here?  A park bench, silhouetted, that has been styled to defeat both vandalism and rough sleepers.  It has signally failed in the former, its right hand end having been broken off – I suppose by someone jumping up and down on it.

And then a walker, an anonymous someone going somewhere; though not to this bench, as I can testify.

And the first fallen leaves of autumn scattered on the ground.

What is least apparent of all is the wall glimpsed behind those striding legs, which is a part the gaunt skeleton of St Peter’s Church, burnt out by incendiary bombs in 1940 and now preserved as a memorial to the city’s WWII civilian dead.

I have been going through something of an uninspired patch with my photography, things just haven’t been flowing as freely as usual.  I’d gone down to town to hear a lecture on, of all things, the institutionalised treatment of inebriated women in days gone by.  But it was a lovely sunny morning and the little camera was in my pocket, so I opted instead for a quartet of favourite pastimes, namely strolling, looking and taking photos, and then buying some Belgian beer of great quality – compared to a lecture, all things far more uplifting for the soul!

The first post in this series on chairs, which contains context and an image, can be found here.  Subsequent posts are here: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  9  10  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 .  Each will open in a new window.

Click onto the image to see a larger version in a separate window, and click onto that image to enlarge it further.

Technique: Canon G11 PowerShot at 140mm (equivalent); 100 ISO; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Architectural preset and adding a slightly blue tone; Castle Park, in Bristol city centre; 20 Oct 2015.

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STILL LIFE 227 – SPRINGTIME IN CHURCH LANE 4

 

 

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This is probably the last of my pictures from Church Lane in spring, at least for the present.  And, concluding where I started, this is the image that started me off photographing there in the first place.

I was there on a beautiful spring morning, standing below the huge Horse Chestnut tree, and I looked through the viewfinder, saw this scene  – and was instantly hooked on the exploding mass of greenery around me.

Other images from these two springtime morning shoots in Church Lane can be found via these links: with context, here; also here and here and here !

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window, and click onto that image to enlarge it further.

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 800 ISO; Lightroom, using the Pro Neg Hi film simulation; Church Lane, Whitchurch, Bristol; 4 May 2018.
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STILL LIFE 226 – LOOKING AT CHAIRS 19 (MONO)

 

 

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Seating for passersby, on the pavement at the bottom of Park Street, central Bristol; 6 Jan 2017.

The first post in this series on chairs, which contains context and an image, can be found here.  Subsequent posts are here: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  9  10  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 .  Each will open in a new window.

Click onto the image to open another version in a separate window, and click onto that image to enlarge it.

Technique: X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 3200 ISO; Lightroom; Capture NX2; rotated.

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STILL LIFE 225 – SPRINGTIME IN CHURCH LANE 3 (MONO)

 

 

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This picture is best viewed enlarged – click onto it to open a larger version in a separate window, and click onto that image to further enlarge it.

Earlier images from these two springtime morning shoots in Church Lane can be found via these links: with context, here; also here and here.

In this picture, I’m in under the Horse Chestnut tree’s canopy, looking up at it with a very wide angle lens, trying to give an idea of the size and spread of this beautiful living being.  The tree is now leaning into the picture, and rather than reproducing the luscious greens of springtime, presentation in toned black and white simplifies things slightly.

Technique: X-T1 with 10-24 Fujinon lens at 15mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom; Silver Efex Pro2, starting at the Soft Orange preset and adding a tone; Church Lane, Whitchurch, Bristol; 7 May 2018.
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STILL LIFE 224 – SPRINGTIME IN CHURCH LANE 2

 

 

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The Natural World’s great springtime outburst of growth and activity along a small lane on the outskirts of Bristol – there are further images, and context, here.  There is another image here.

Above: the vast Horse Chestnut, shot with a 15mm (equiv) wide angle lens on the X-T1, which gives the impression of the tree spreading out – reaching out maybe – above and around the camera.  Its worth clicking onto this image to open another version in a separate window, and then clicking onto that image, to fully get this effect.  400 ISO; Lightroom, using the Astia/Soft film simulation; 7 May 2018.

Below: another image of this tree’s new leaves, backlit by the rising sun.  X-T2 at 305mm (equiv); 800 ISO; Lightroom, using the Astia/Soft film simulation; 4 May 2018.  This image can also be enlarged by clicking onto it, and then clicking onto the larger image that opens: recommended.
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STILL LIFE 223 – THREE FLOWERS

 

 

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Three flowers. 

One up close and personal: solid, real, in our world, in our face too maybe but, in any case, in the way we see things. 

The other two are hazy, more remote; vague, they are imperfect impressions of reality, such as might appear in our dreams, or under the influence of myopia or intoxication.  And yet these vague impressions reflect the human condition if not visual reality – one is damaged, wounded; the other marginalised and only partly seen.  

And all are pallid, desaturated; they are pale representations of how the world ought to be.

Technique: this effect has been produced in Lightroom, by setting Vibrance to -100 and reducing Contrast.  Today there’s mostly a trend towards either bright, attention-grabbing, vivacious colours or no colour at all – black and white.  But between the two lie many possibilities – possibilities that I for one frequently forget to consider.

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window, and click onto that image to enlarge it further.

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom; Stanton Drew, south of Bristol; 4 May 2018.
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STILL LIFE 222 – BROWN CHAIR WITH ORCHIDS AND POTTERY

 

 

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This is a totally ad lib shot that I took while sitting at the breakfast table (which sounds distinctly grand, doesn’t it, until you find out that it is in fact our only table …) to see if a camera was working properly.  Just how honest and up front can I get???  I looked through the large and rather wonderful electronic viewfinder, liked what I saw, and snapped it.

This rather cluttered still life is lit by that most wonderful (and gratis) of light sources, window light, and it also benefits from the fact that this light is filtered through net curtains.

It is a totally natural (i.e. unarranged) still life, which has three main subjects.  On the right is a lovely old chair, bought second hand at least 25 years ago, and probably originating in the generation before mine, if not earlier.  Then there are two examples from my wife’s orchid collection, one in flower and the other looking rather ravaged and destitute, though with abundant aerial roots.

And finally, at the back, two pieces of pottery, the one at the front having been made by John Leach, the grandson of Bernard Leach, at his pottery in Muchelney, on the Somerset Levels.

I like this picture.  Well, it is a part of my home, so I’m probably biassed.  But what do I like most?  Well, without a doubt, the light spilling over the warm colours of that old chair.  The objects on the left of the picture are well lit and, in their way, visually interesting.  But the chair is more snugly in the shadows, the light and shadow are washing over its surfaces, amplifying its wonderful old creases and textures >>> a metaphor for myself perhaps …..

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window, and click onto that image to enlarge it further.

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 83mm (equiv); 3200 ISO; Lightroom, using the Velvia/Vivid film simulation; Chez Moi!; 3 May 2018.
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