ARCHIVE LEVELS 22 – RAIN STORM

 

 

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Rain storm photographed from inside my car at the Magic Carpark, Tadham Moor; 20 Jan 2008.  The prominent and upstanding dark object is the end of a line of trees, and the dull grey area that starts from centre bottom of the frame and moves left and then up past the left of the trees is a narrow road.  To the right of the tree is a pale, water-filled ditch.

This archive presents some of the pictures that I’ve taken on the Somerset Levels over many years.  More context can be found in the first post in this archive – 1 – and also in my first Somerset Levels post, from 2011 – here .  Further posts in this archive are here: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 .  All of these links will open in separate windows. 

The first Somerset Levels picture gallery, which shows the first 10 of these posts with short captions – ideal for quick viewing – can be found here .

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

Technique: F6 with 24-85 Nikkor lens; Fuji Provia 400X colour slide film, rated at 1600 ISO.

SOMERSET LEVELS: SOME KEYWORDS

And finally – some keywords that will often be mentioned in this archive series:

Droves:  to avoid crossing other peoples’ land when accessing their own, the farmers constructed a series of tracks, known as droves, between the fields. Some of these droves are now metalled roads and many persist as open tracks – all of which allow wonderfully open access to this countryside.

Rhynes: the fields are bounded by water-filled ditches – which both drain the ground and act as stock barriers. Hence strange landscapes – where fields appear quite unbounded, except for a gate with a short length of fencing on either side of it, where a bridge crosses the water-filled boundary ditch to provide access the field.  These small wet ditches communicate with larger rhynes (“reen” as in Doreen), which in turn flow into larger drains, e.g. the North and South Drains in the Brue Valley. All of these waterways are manmade and, by intricate series of pumping stations and flood gates, all of them have their water levels controlled by local farmers, internal drainage boards or the Environment Agency.

Pollarded Willows: the banks of the rhynes were often planted with Willow trees, both to help strengthen the banks and also to show the courses of roads and tracks during floods. These Willows are often pollarded, i.e. their upper branches are cut off, which results in distinctively broad and dense heads to the trees. Pollarding keeps trees to a required height, while ensuring a steady supply of wood – more important in the past than now – for fires, thatching spars, fencing and so on.

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ARCHIVE: LOOKING AT CARS 54 – VAN PARKED IN BUILT UP AREA

 

 

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The Looking at Cars series: looking back through the nine years of the FATman Photos archives (and some new images too), I’m posting pictures of cars in various contexts and styles.  These Looking at Cars posts are here: 1 (with context); 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 .  Each post will open in a separate window. 

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

Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 3200 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Vivid profile; south Bristol; 21 Feb 2021.
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OUTER SUBURBS 310 – LOOKING INTO A HAIRDRESSER’S

 

 

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Visual confusion: the view into the window of a hairdresser’s salon, currently closed in the covid lockdown.

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

Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 400 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Vivid profile; south Bristol; 6 Mar 2021.
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ARCHIVE 608 – DRINKING GLASS IN FRONT OF VENETIAN BLINDS, ROTATED (MONO)

 

 

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Drinking glass in front of venetian blinds, Hayling Island, Hampshire; 21 Sept 2010.

During one of our cheapo caravan holidays, a drinking glass stands in front of window blinds.  Light leaking in through the blinds makes strong (now) vertical stripes.  Just below the (now) upper side of the drinking glass, the glass’s curvature distorts the blind’s straight slats. 

The light inside the caravan causes the glass to cast a thin, dark shadow on the blind, below the glass as we now see it.

I’ve added lots of grain and strong copper toning in SEP2.  Clockwise rotation has turned the glass tumbler into a more abstract object.

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

Technique: D700 with 70-300 Nikkor lens at 180mm; 200 ISO; Silver Efex Pro 2’s Film Noir 1 preset and strong copper toning; rotated 90 degrees clockwise.

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ARCHIVE: LOOKING AT CARS 49 – CAR PARK

 

 

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Car park; Ilfracombe, Devon; 3 Oct 2007.

I’ve cleaned up a few small areas of brighter white on the black tarmac.  The very vague, palish line coming down from the top margin at upper right is retained as it is not too intrusive and, along with the bluish railing,  it brings a breath of reality and imperfection, which prevents the image from becoming a purely black and white abstract.

Simple, Minimalist images really get to me.  That small bluish railing near the top margin adds something I think.

The Looking at Cars series: looking back through the nine years of the FATman Photos archives (and some new images too), I’m posting pictures of cars in various contexts and styles.  These Looking at Cars posts are here: 1 (with context); 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 .  Each post will open in a separate window. 

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

Technique: F6 with 24-85 Nikkor lens at 24mm; Fuji Provia 400X colour slide film rated at 1600 ISO.

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OUTER SUBURBS 309 – TREE SHADOW ON LOCKED DOWN RETAIL

 

 

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Sunrise, and the shadow of a bare winter tree is thrown onto the security shutters of a shop closed for the duration of the current covid lock down.

Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day.

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

Technique: TG-5 at 25mm (equiv); 320 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Modern 01 profile; south Bristol; 26 Feb 2021.
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ARCHIVE: LOOKING AT CARS 48 – SELFIE WITH CAGED CAR

 

 

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Car in a basement garage.  The garage is set down below the level of the adjacent pavement, and has open, barred windows – that let in light and air and let out exhaust fumes, and that keep out those with a predilection for theft.

The camera is looking down into this garage, framing some of a car’s rear lights and bodywork.  The window bars make linear reflections on the bodywork, and I’m the more or less amorphous blob (how apt!) just below centre stage.

The Looking at Cars series: looking back through the nine years of the FATman Photos archives (and some new images too), I’m posting pictures of cars in various contexts and styles.  These Looking at Cars posts are here: 1 (with context); 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 .  Each post will open in a separate window. 

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

Technique: X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 300mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; Bristol city centre; 5 Aug 2016.

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OUTER SUBURBS 306 – PAVEMENT AFTER RAIN

 

 

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Out walking, and looking down – a gate’s shadow on a pavement, after rain.  

The pale linear structure towards upper right is the kerb along the pavement’s edge, and right of this is the road surface.

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

Technique: TG-5 at 25mm (equiv); 400 ISO; spot metering for the highlights; Lightroom, starting at the Modern 03 profile; south Bristol; 16 Jan 2021.
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ARCHIVE 599 – RECTANGLES WITHIN RECTANGLES (MONO)

 

 

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Caravans, Newquay, Cornwall; 10 Sept 2013.

A series of pale boxes, apparently floating in blackness.  The one on the right displays a slightly curved roof, and is leaning gently away from the vertical.  Otherwise, these are a series of rectangular shapes containing many other rectangular shapes.

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

Technique: D800 with 70-300 Nikkor lens at 300mm; 1600 ISO; Silver Efex Pro 2’s Pinhole preset.

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HOME 8 – SHIRT, AS YET UNIRONED

 

 

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Contemplating clothes in need of ironing, clothes being washed over by window light, and somehow feeling that there must be more to Life …

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

Technique: X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 300mm (equiv); 200 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Astia/Soft profile; at home, on the ironing pile; 9 Sept 2020.
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