BRISTOL 148 – LITTLE KING STREET

 

 

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Morning sunlight casting shadows across a façade.

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

Technique: Z 6 with 70-300 Nikkor lens at 300mm; 1600 ISO; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Vivid v2 profile; Little King Street, in Bristol city centre; 10 May 2019.
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BRISTOL 147 – CAR PARK

 

 

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Stairs in a city centre car park: stark, utilitarian, unimaginative – the triumph of functionality and “the figure at the bottom of the spreadsheet” over any nod towards elegance or visual appeal.

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Technique: Z 6 with 70-300 Nikkor lens used in DX (= APS-C) format to give 450mm; 1600 ISO; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Vivid v2 profile; beside Redcliffe Way, in central Bristol; 10 May 2019.
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ARCHIVE 416 – COTTAGE IN PEASLAKE (MONO + COLOUR)

 

 

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Cottage in Peaslake, Surrey; 25 Mar 2012.

A glorious sunny morning in Peaslake, and this cottage caught my eye.  I often find rural cottages in affluent areas far too prettified and picturesque, but here the overlapping blue trellises on either side of the darker front door, and the blue window frames, all looked good and relatively uncomplicated.

I cropped in tight so as to fill the composition with (most of) the trellises and window.   Then followed conversion to mono, and restoration of the blue colouration of the trellises and window frames, in SEP2.

Apart from the dark surrounds to the front door, the image has been made pale and pastel by lightening the highlights and blues, and by the application of a thin, pale vignette.

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Technique: D700 with 24-120 Nikkor lens at 120mm; 800 ISO; converted to mono and further manipulated in Silver Efex Pro 2.

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SOMERSET LEVELS 367 – GOLD CORNER PUMPING STATION

 

 

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I’ve often wittered on about how the Somerset Levels are an area of very lowlying land – in places (some of my favourite places) below the level of the high tides on the nearby coast. And I also go on about the fact that these flatlands have only relatively recently been reclaimed from vast areas of lakes and marshes. This is all very well to talk about as a concept, but recently I visited a place where the disparity between these lowlands and the vast amounts of water at a higher level in the Severn Estuary can be seen in stark reality – I hadn’t been there for years, so I took a trip down to Gold Corner pumping station which, since 1942, has stood tall and fulfilled its very important duties in a rather empty area between the villages of Burtle, Woolavington and East Huntspill.

What does this pumping station do? Well, it takes water from the lowlying Levels, and pumps it up around 8.5 feet into the much larger Huntspill River, which is an artificial waterway which channels it down to the sea, via the estuary of the River Parrett. The Huntspill River was constructed during World Way II to provide vast volumes of water for a nearby munitions factory, which has been closed since 2008 and is due for redevelopment.

And looking at this pumping station at Gold Corner, it looks rather mundane – just an old brick structure.  But there is one very small thing here that is striking – to me, incredibly striking – and that is the small white notice immediately to the right of the windows on the building’s left face – and here it is:

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The Severn Estuary has one of the highest tidal ranges in the world.  In the spring and autumn especially, the tides along this low coast can rise up to 50 feet (15 m) above low watermark. And, as is shown by this unobtrusive little notice, without the various sea defences, these vast amounts of seawater would submerge this flat landscape, as they have done in the past. 

And take another look at the first photo here, where you can see that this little notice is high up above the road on which I was standing – I was looking up at this notice at quite an angle.  But then look at the distant water to the left of this building, which is much lower again than the road I’m standing on – this difference in height is better shown in the last photo here.

Standing beside this building, looking up at this little notice, and seeing the difference in water levels on either side of this little road, I suppose I felt humble in the face of the natural world – while also feeling very, very much at home in this landscape.

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Standing beside the Gold Corner pumping station, I am on the edge of two worlds.  For looking seawards, i.e. towards the west, there is this view – of the vast amounts of water in the (manmade) Huntspill River.

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Whereas looking in the other direction, i.e. eastwards out over the Levels, there is the clear disparity between the water in the foreground which is being retained by the pumping station’s dam walls, and the water running through the flatlands immediately beyond these walls, which is at a considerably lower level.  It is pumping stations and architecture like this, along with other facilities too, that keep the Levels intact as the (albeit often wet) farmland and moor/heath that we see today.

Click onto these images to open larger version in separate windows, and click onto those versions to further enlarge them.

Technique:  Z 6 with 70-300 Nikkor lens; X-T2 with 10-24 Fujinon lens; Lightroom; Gold Corner pumping station, northeast of Woolavington on the Somerset Levels; 31 May 2019.

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SOMERSET LEVELS 360 – OLD BUILDING 2

 

 

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Awhile back I posted a picture of this old, tumbledown, corrugated iron shack – that post is here .  I like to have some variety in my pictures from the Levels so, rather than endless landscapes, here are some close ups of that shack and its surroundings.
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Click onto each image to open a larger version in a separate window, and click onto that image to further enlarge it – recommended, there’s a lot of detail to see here.

Technique: X-T2 with 10-24 Fujinon lens; Z 6 with 70-300 Nikkor lens; Lightroom; Huntspill Moor, just east of East Huntspill, on the Somerset Levels; 3 May 2019.

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OUTER SUBURBS 117 – PHONE BOX, WET MORNING (MONO)

 

 

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Street scene; and late spring’s feelgood factor … some  warmth … some less dull light … not too much to ask really … not being quite fulfilled.

The first image in the Outer Suburbs series, with context, is here: 1 .  Subsequent images are here: 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 54 53a 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 .  Each will open in a separate window.

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

Technique: TG-5 at 25mm (equiv); 800 ISO; Lightroom, using the Camera Vivid film simulation; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Film Noir 1 preset and adding a light Selenium tone; south Bristol; 8 May 2019.
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BRISTOL 140 – LOOKING DOWN STAIRS TOWARDS A CARPET

 

 

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With Paula in St Nicholas Market: a flight of battered yellow stairs lead down to a purple carpet.  Battered stairs?  Yes, well used, leading to a pub!

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

Technique: Z 6 with 24-120 Nikkor lens used (by mistake!) in DX (= APS-C) format to give 63mm – going to DX format was not necessary as 63mm us within the 24-120 range of the lens ; 1600 ISO; Lightroom, using the Camera Vivid v2 picture control; rotated; beside St Nicholas Market, Bristol; 3 June 2019.
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BRISTOL 139 – VIEW THROUGH A BUILDING

 

 

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Walking up St John’s Steep with Paula, and thence off left into narrower streets and alleys.

The going became shadier and more closed in, until suddenly we were looking right through a building and out into the brightness of an adjacent street.

But although the light and colours in that street were bright and welcoming, caged and barred darkness kept them inexorably distant.

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

Technique: Z 6 with 24-120 Nikkor lens at 24mm; 400 ISO; Lightroom, using the Camera Flat V2 picture control; off John Street, Bristol city centre; 3 June 2019.
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OUTER SUBURBS 114 – VIEW THROUGH A NARROW PASSAGE

 

 

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Walking along a pavement and looking to the right.   And – only because of the notice, mind! – managing to restrain the impulse to climb up for a better look.

And so to the Unnatural World – a closed in, claustrophobic collection of Humanity’s peripherals – the only living things in this view being the greenery around the wheels of the abandoned supermarket trolleys, and the tree just visible above the debris strewn roof of the boarded up garage. 

And can I manage anything positive here?  Well, only that, strange as I am, I never fail to be visually aroused by the sight of parts of vehicles – truncated vehicles if you like – down narrow passage ways; and the more so here, because this vehicle has tinted windows.  And you thought you were weird … 😉 …

The first image in the Outer Suburbs series, with context, is here: 1 .  Subsequent images are here: 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 54 53a 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 .  Each will open in a separate window.

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

Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 500 ISO; Lightroom, using the Camera Natural film preset; south Bristol; 20 Aug 2018.
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BRISTOL 137 – EARLY MORNING LIGHT – AND UNDER MILK WOOD

 

 

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Walking the old, narrow streets of Bristol city centre, looking at anything and everything.  And watching how the morning sunlight crept across the buildings’ facades, I was irresistibly reminded of lines written by Dylan Thomas in Under Milk Wood:

Time passes.  Listen.  Time passes. …

And the dawn inches up.

I just simply love the thought of being able to hear the passing of time; and similarly the sound and connotations of the word “inches” in this context grab me and do not let me go.

And Under Milk Wood itself?  I bought my first copy when I was a university student, and have never fallen out of love with it.  I can still remember opening the book and reading the first few words –

To begin at the beginning:

It is spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black, the cobblestreets silent and the hunched, courters’-and-rabbits’ wood limping invisible down to the sloeblack, slow, black, crowblack, fishingboat-bobbing sea.

>> and I was hooked, and I have been hooked – wonderfully hooked – ever since!  The words inspire me and I think, in some small measure, have affected how I look at the world, how I see it and how I photograph it.

You can find out about Under Milk Wood here .

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

Technique: Z 6 with 70-300 Nikkor lens at 300mm; 1600 ISO; Lightroom, using the Camera Vivid V2 picture control; Little King Street, in central Bristol; 10 May 2019.
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