STILL LIFE 221 – CAR REFLECTING TREES

 

 

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Red car, parked near trees.

Or, then again, a camera … or an eye … looking only at you …

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

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; Lightroom, using the Velvia/Vivid film preset; rotated; flipped; near Temple Meads, central Bristol; 20 Apr 2018.
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PEOPLE 330 – GOING TO WORK 62

 

 

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Early morning on the main road in from the south.

T0 me, this image has a distinctly hard, cold, ruthless feel, to me there is almost a soulless malevolence here.  Thinking back to the Terminator films, is this The Rise Of The Machines???

Earlier images from this series can be found here: 1, 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 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 .  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: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 6400 ISO; Lightroom, using the Astia/Soft film simulation; Temple Gate, Bristol; 2 Feb 2018.

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ANNIVERSARY – FATMAN PHOTOS IS SEVEN

 

 

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Seven years of FATman Photos.  Once again, WOW!!! >>> where has all the time gone???!  But I like to mark these mileposts – if only to marvel at the fact that I’ve reached them!

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What to talk about?  Well, first thing, as always, thank you very much for looking at this blog over the past year.  I’m grateful for your Likes and the Comments – its always good to be in touch with you all.

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News?  Well, not a lot really.  On the hardware side, having gone mirrorless with the very good X-T1 and (especially the) X-T2 the year before, I’ve now acquired an Olympus TOUGH TG-5 camera – waterproof, shockproof, freezeproof, crushproof, you name it – but I’ve yet to realise its full potential >>> ha ha! which translates into >>> I’ve yet to hurl myself out into the rush hour on an early morning of pouring rain, freezing temperatures and howling wind, to try it out!  And I’m also not fully at one with its lack of a viewfinder and an articulated screen but, well – time will tell!

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And speaking of the morning rush hour, thank you for the good things said about the Going To Work series which, again to my surprise, continues onwards.

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Enough rambling from me – here are some pictures.  Although certainly not a motoring enthusiast, boy racer (except in my dreams …) or petrolhead, I enjoy looking at cars, looking at their shapes and how light plays on them, looking at them in various situations.  Here are a few pictures, many taken some years back – as usual, clicking onto them once or twice will enlarge them.  I hope you enjoy them – thank you again.

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Adrian

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PEOPLE 328 – GOING TO WORK 60

 

 

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Early morning on the main road in from the south.

Earlier images from this series can be found here: 1, 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 55 56 57 58 59 .  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: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 290mm (equiv); 6400 ISO; Lightroom, using the Velvia/Vivid film simulation; Temple Gate, Bristol; 2 Feb 2018.
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STILL LIFE 212 – THREE CARS

 

 

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Three parked cars.

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 100mm (equiv); 320 ISO; Lightroom, using the Camera Vivid film preset; rotated; Bedminster, Bristol; 8 Nov 2017.
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PEOPLE 325 – GOING TO WORK 57

 

Picking his way though stationary traffic, at sunrise, as the rush hour pours into Bristol from the south

(this image best viewed enlarged, by clicking onto it).

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In there amongst the traffic: headlights, fumes, noise, stress – and a strong desire to be elsewhere.

Earlier images from this series can be found here: 1, 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 55 56 .  Each will open in a separate window.

Click onto the upper image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.  Clicking onto the lower image will also enlarge it.

Technique (both images): X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 6400 ISO; Lightroom, using the Velvia/Vivid film simulation; Temple Gate, Bristol; 2 Feb 2018.

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PEOPLE 324 – GOING TO WORK 56 (MONO)

 

 

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Nearly all of my Going to Work images have been captured in central Bristol and many of them have been early on cold, dark mornings – well, its a FATman thing …  But the rush hour also occurs far out in the countryside, as the city sucks in labour from its surrounding towns and (often gentrified) villages.

The Old Bristol Road across the top of the Mendip Hills and does exactly what it says on the packet, apart from arriving at a (more or less) modern city.  It may not be an A road or a motorway, but it brings people from the Mendips and further south in towards the city.  And, because it is a open and clear road, with fairly long, straight stretches, these commuters in their modern vehicles often cover it at considerable speed.  Twice a day, the relative peace of these hills is shattered by the roar of powerful engines, and road accidents – often at road junctions – can be serious affairs.

Another image – here – shows the “rush hour” away from the city centre, and the image below also shows cars speeding along these Mendip roads.

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Earlier images from this series can be found here: 1, 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 55 .  Each will open in a separate window.

Click onto the images to open a larger version in a separate window and, for the upper image,  click onto the enlarged image once more to enlarge it further.

Technique (upper image): X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 234mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Holga preset and adding a tone; the Old Bristol Road, east of Priddy, on the Mendip Hills, Somerset; 16 Feb 2018.
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PEOPLE 318 – GOING TO WORK 51

 

 

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What is this picture looking at?  Well, one aspect of the packed in and claustrophobic nature of Modern Humanity.  Here is the daily movement of human beings from the warm, insulated and comfortable womb of the home to the stark and absolute, exposed reality of the workplace.

Here is each day’s otherwise shadowy and tranquil awakening being polluted by congestion, engine noise, vehicle horns, exhaust fumes, emergency sirens and the glare of head and tail lights.

Does the phrase a necessary evil describe it, I wonder?

Details: the sun has yet to rise, and a main road going southeast out of the city – the road to Bath and to Wells too – is already filled with traffic.

Earlier images from this series can be found here: 1, 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 .  Each will open in a separate window.

Clicking onto this image will open a larger version in a separate window, and clicking onto that will further enlarge it.

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 6400 ISO; Lightroom, using the Astia/Soft film simulation; Temple Gate, Bristol; 2 Feb 2018.

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STILL LIFE 195 – PHOTOS FROM A DRENCHED CAR: 2

 

 

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Photos taken through the streaming windows of my car during a torrential rainstorm – context and further images can be found here.

The upper image is very easy to decipher – assuming that you feel the need when faced with anything at all abstract, to know what you’re looking at – which most people do.  Its a car parked on the other side of the road with its headlights reflecting off the wet tarmac.

The lower image is a little more obscure.  Its a row of houses with – in the lower right hand corner – a woman walking under an umbrella.  Can you see her???

Click onto each image to open a larger version in a separate window.  You can click onto this larger image to enlarge it still further, but these images are very grainy.

Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 3200 ISO; Lightroom, using the Camera Vivid film simulation; south Bristol; 15 Jan 2018.
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STILL LIFE 189 – PHOTOS FROM A DRENCHED CAR: 1

 

We had a worse than usual weather forecast recently – oodles of rain and wind, maybe with hail, thunder and snow thrown in too – oh joy!  And, leaving the house, I knew that I was going to have to wait around in the car for sometime at some point.  So I popped the TG-5 TOUGH camera into my pocket, just I case.  This little camera is distinctly useful – very handy indeed to carry around, extremely sturdy, waterproof and difficult to damage, and it shoots RAW and has image stabilisation.  The only real minuses for me are the lack of a viewfinder and the fact that the screen is fixed ie non-articulated – but you can’t have everything!  Reviews put it in a class of its own, out in front of other TOUGH cameras.

Anyway,  sure enough, as I sat waiting in my car later in the day, the winds shrieked and the heavens opened.  A deluge clattered across the car’s roof and writhed in torrents down the windows.  And suddenly, looking at those windows, I was encased in a clattering, swirling, flowing and very misty world.  Surreal patterns and images were flowing, forming and re-forming all around me.  I pulled out the TG-5 and started looking into its screen.

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

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The rainstorm, viewed through my car’s windscreen, just after using the wipers: a white car is parked in front of a row of Victorian houses built of honey-coloured Bath Stone.
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The same scene, taken before using the windscreen wipers.  The car is breaking up , becoming ever more abstract, as rainwater pours across the glass.

Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 3,200 ISO; Lightroom, using the Camera Vivid film simulation; south Bristol; 15 Jan 2018.
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