ARCHIVE 296 – TIMBER (MONO)

 

 

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Stack of mangrove poles; Lamu, coastal Kenya; July 1978.

The (Western) human eye scans images from left to right, and from top to bottom. Here, my eye enters the image from the left, and then travels right along the parallel poles, until arrested by the vertical pole and its binding, at the far end – positioning the vertical pole on the right of the picture does not work so well.

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

Technique: OM-1 with 50mm Zuiko lens; Agfa CT18 colour slide rated at 64 ISO; Silver Efex Pro.
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STILL LIFE 121 – HAND RAIL

 

 

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I’m emerging from an underpass that crosses a sunken area of the city centre generally known as the Bear Pit, probably due to its lawless nature in times gone by (albeit not very far gone by …).

The sunken path that I’m following is climbing up and around to the right, and the grey hand rail on the sheer wall of the path follows that curve.  High railings to my left shed harsh shadows across the scene, and the wall to my right has various graffiti (for which read street art, in my parlance) and stickers adorning its surface.

And, this underpass and the Bear Pit having something of an uneasy reputation, having taken the shot I glanced nervously behind me – only to see another photographer taking my picture – as he said, the photographer being photographed!

This image might benefit from 90 degrees’ clockwise rotation.  See below – what do you think?

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

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 200 ISO; spotmetering; Lightroom, using the Velvia/Vivid film simulation; climbing up out of the Bear Pit, central Bristol; 26 May 2017..

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BRISTOL 121 – ALL SAINTS STREET 2

 

 

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Red car, reflecting yellow and rotated.

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

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 800 ISO; spotmetering; Lightroom, including flipping, rotation and use of the Velvia/Vivid film simulation; All Saints Street, central Bristol; 19 May 2017.
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STILL LIFE 119 – TWELVE REFLECTIONS

 

 

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Windows in a block of flats: each reflects the world slightly differently.

The image has been horizontally flipped to make the text more easily readable – which may or may not be a good thing!

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

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 250mm (equiv); 800 ISO; Lightroom, using the Astia/Soft film simulation and horizontal flipping; Temple Way, central Bristol; 26 May 2017.
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PEOPLE 276 – WOMAN WALKING

 

 

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Bond Street: shadows, sunlight and someone, on a morning pavement.

She was always going to be anonymous – just her feet and shadow – but rotating the shot may have absorbed her still more into the overall abstract.

There is a rather different image of a man walking, here.

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window, and click onto the enlarged image to enlarge it yet again.

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 153mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; spotmetering; Lightroom, adding 90 degrees clockwise rotation and using the Velvia/Vivid film simulation; central Bristol; 26 May 2017.
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STILL LIFE 118 – WINDOWS, CHRISTMAS STEPS

 

 

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Looking up, in Christmas Steps.

Windows with blue and cream frames catch the light;  and the fresh greens of a pot plant just make it into the frame. 

At upper left, metal brackets supporting a shop sign are fixed to the rough, ochre frontage – although, in another world, they might be the antennae and front leg of some giant, climbing insect intent upon who knows what chaos and mayhem.

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

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 200 ISO; Lightroom, using the Velvia/Vivid film simulation; Christmas Steps, central Bristol; 26 May 2017.
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STILL LIFE 116 – GATE OF A BUSINESS PROPERTY

 

 

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The old and battered gate of a business property; St Thomas Street, central Bristol.

A bluish grey sheet of wood has been attached to the inside of the metal gate, to further deter intruders.  And a piece of wood or metal, painted orange, has been placed on top of the bluish grey sheet, perhaps to further strengthen it or to cover a disused keyhole.  The whole now becomes an abstract design, with a vivid Lightroom film simulation exaggerating the colours and contrast.

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

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 800 ISO; Lightroom, using the Velvia/Vivid film simulation; 19 May 2017.
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STILL LIFE 115 – THE VIEW THROUGH A GLASS DOOR

 

 

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Arriving early in the city and reeling from a second breakfast in Hart’s Bakery, I headed north up Temple Way amidst people going to work.  A jogger went past at the speed of light and scared me half to death.  An old pub I’d known and loved was empty, derelict, sad.  And then I was engulfed by hordes of kids, running for buses, noisy, off to school.

Amidst all this rush, I found myself outside the offices of one of our local newspapers, the Bristol Evening Post.  And in its façade was a glass door, which neatly filled the frame.  Here it is, rotated 90 degrees anticlockwise.  You’re probably going to ask what on earth this photo depicts – most of us want to know what we’re looking at, its a human trait –  but I have to disappoint you, because I can’t remember – it simply caught my eye at the time and I photographed it!  I have a feeling that the half of an ovoid at upper left was a table top, and there was security guard too but I don’t think he’s in the frame … but, in my mind, its really a question of whether such details add to the image overall.

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window, and click on this larger version once again to further enlarge it.

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 6400 ISO; Lightroom, adding 90 degrees anticlockwise rotation, and adding the Astia/Soft film simulation; central Bristol; 26 May 2017.
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STILL LIFE 114 – BUS STOP

 

 

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A bus stop.  What is here?  The pavement is on the right, decorated with a discarded green drinks container and some dog ends (which is Brit for cigarette butts).  The dark blue vertical structure is the bench for people to sit on, and there is a curved arm rest (also meant to deter rough sleepers) in silhouette to the left of it.  And, continuing left, glimpses of brickwork through transparent panels in the bus shelter’s back wall.

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

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom, using the Velvia/Vivid film simulation and 90 degrees anticlockwise rotation; Victoria Street, Bristol; 19 May 2017.
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ARCHIVE 292 – SCAFFOLDING, NETTING AND THE RULE OF THIRDS

 

 

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Scaffolding pole and safety netting, sunlit, at the top of Lodge Street, in central Bristol; 15 Apr 2014.

The building at the top of Lodge Street is having work down on it, and so is festooned with scaffolding – which has the usual red and white covering, to stop people accidentally walking into it.  And because the workmen are directly above this busy street, the whole of the scaffolding structure is cocooned in orange safety netting, to stop any dropped tools and so on falling onto passers by below.

Lodge Street is steep and narrow, one of Bristol’s old streets, and as I panted my way up to the top, bright sunlight was bathing the scaffolding and its netting cocoon.  Because it was taller than the structure, the netting had a horizontal tuck or roll to make it the correct length, and I photographed the intersection of this tuck with one of the scaffolding poles.

This picture uses three simple visual devices.  First, the pole is a diagonal across the frame, from corner to corner; and second, because we Westerners view images from left to right, the pole starts high on the left and our eyes follow it easily down to the right.  Finally, following the Rule of Thirds, the intersection of the pole and the tuck is sited at a visual strongpoint within the composition, approximately at the intersection of the image’s left and upper thirds.

And for those of you new to photography who think that such “rules” are the way forward – don’t use them all the time, or your pictures will all look the same, they will become awfully predictable.  Rather, such “rules” are things to keep in mind, things to be aware of, but never to be used slavishly.

Dark railings and a pale strip of pavement are dimly visible through the netting.  The pavement here is set up above the road, and the railings prevent pedestrians from damaging passing traffic by falling onto it.

There is another and very different image from Lodge Street here.

Canon G11 PowerShot at 140mm (35mm equivalent); 100 ISO.

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