Looking at – and seeing – the world
August 19, 2018 7 Comments
We all have some money,
but no matter how rich or poor,
we all think we should have more.
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Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 223mm (equiv); 3200 ISO; Lightroom; Welsh Back, central Bristol; 2 Feb 2018.
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August 11, 2018 8 Comments
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Bristol’s city centre is actually quite small, it can be walked right across in an hour or so, but it is surrounded by suburbs that are vaster (and often wealthier) on the north, and smaller (and in many parts less well to do) on the south. Most of my pictures of the city have been from the city centre but here is one quite far out in the southern suburbs. This is the A37, known as the Wells Road, which is a main artery heading south out of the city towards the tiny city of Wells, and also Yeovil and – that (to me anyway) holiest of holies – the county of Dorset.
The edge of the city is not far ahead, perhaps a couple of miles or so, and beyond that are some of my favourite areas of countryside – the Chew Valley, the Mendip Hills and, of course – perhaps my spiritual home – the Somerset Levels. This blog has image Categories for each of those areas – see the Categories drop-down list, which can be found in the sidebar, just below the gravatars of readers who have left Comments.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window, and click onto that image to enlarge it yet again – recommended.
Technique: X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 129mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom, starting at the Provia/Standard film simulation; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Antique Portrait preset; south Bristol; 19 July 2016.
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July 27, 2018 4 Comments
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Parked car, pavement and arches, looked at differently. And now, to me at least, becoming more an assemblage of shapes and textures than recognisable entities.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window, and click onto that image to enlarge it further – recommended.
Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 800 ISO; Lightroom, using the Velvia/Vivid film preset; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Film Noir 1 preset, and using a light selenium tone; rotated; beside Temple Meads railway station, central Bristol; 19 July 2018.
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July 21, 2018 Leave a comment
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Going to work, standing alone at the bus stop. In a world of traffic noise, exhaust fumes and the stop’s prosaic lists of routes, destinations and (hoped for) times.
But, as always, the phone provides an alternative reality, an escape from it all.
The cars crawl slowly past, edging forwards at less than walking pace towards Bristol Bridge. The bus may be sometime.
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 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 . 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 yet again – recommended.
Technique: X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; Lightroom; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Film Noir 3 preset and adding a tone; Baldwin Street, central Bristol; 9 Sept 2016.
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July 14, 2018 15 Comments
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An old and very dear friend of mine is a professional psychologist and avid people-watcher. Her insights into everyday human behaviour never cease to fascinate and amaze me. I had the idea sometime back of giving her a photobook of the Going To Work images (produced via Blurb) for her birthday, and that project is moving ahead. In the course of assembling these pictures for use in her book, I have found six images that have not been posted in the Going To Work series but which really belong there, and so I am going to start incorporating them into this series here. This is the first of the six.
ORIGINAL TEXT
Morning rush hour, central Bristol; 19 July 2016.
Early morning sunlight blasts down Baldwin Street, bringing out the textures on a dented and dirty car (for which, in my world, read eminently characterful car).
And the driver, who is late and who does not have any time at all to waste, bites his nails and stares anxiously ahead at the stacked up, stationary traffic.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.
X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; Lightroom.
UPDATE
This picture was taken on the first of my early morning bus trips into Bristol city centre which, on the 19th of this month, will have been two years ago – how Time rushes by! This was the morning when I took the first of the Going To Work images, although the concept of such a photo series hadn’t then occurred to me.
Two things get to me about this picture. First of course, is the man’s body language – he’s in a hurry and in a traffic jam – bad news!
The second thing is that, for quite sometime now, when out photographing I look for good light and then try to decide what to do with it. As I’m writing this post, its a warm summer’s day, but the total overcast has made the light flat and featureless – there are no shadows, except those below the parked cars. This sort of lighting is fine for taking shots of detail, and for some portraits and abstracts, but I like chiaroscuro, a term that started off being used with regard to paintings, and which describes the effects on contrasting light and shadow in an image. And in this picture I’m looking at the early morning light glancing along the dirty and dented bodywork of the car. I really like the textures and shadows that this warm, glancing light reveals, and there is something else – this is Reality, this is not some auto magazine’s shot of a spotless, pristine and shining car >>> car porn! >>> this is what Life is really like, warts and all.
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 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 . Each will open in a separate window.
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July 12, 2018 10 Comments
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Close in with a car door.
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Technique: X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom; Bristol harbourside; 14 July 2016.
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June 15, 2018 12 Comments
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This image is best viewed enlarged – click onto it to open a larger version in a separate window, and click onto that image to enlarge it further.
Composition: morning rush hour, Victoria Street, and perhaps there are two subjects here. The backlit and near silhouetted man on the left – walking across the road while looking at his phone and carrying his briefcase – first drew my attention. Using him as the image’s sole subject would magnify his size in the frame and draw attention to him. But I couldn’t resist the silhouette of the cyclist on the right too, with the light catching his billowing, steamy breath and shiny helmet – he is balancing on his wheels, rather than put a foot to the ground while waiting for the lights to change. Maybe our gaze will be drawn back and fore from one to the other of these two people, I don’t know, but, in any case, here they are. To me, although the man on the left could be the image’s sole subject, this is not true of the cyclist – he’s further away, amidst a fairly cluttered background.
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 62 63 64 65 66 . Each will open in a separate window.
Technique: X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom, using the Velvia/Vivid film simulation; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Cool Tones 2 preset, giving the image the look of Fuji Neopan Acros 100 black and white film, and adding a strong selenium tone; Victoria Street, central Bristol; 11 Nov 2016.
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June 7, 2018 8 Comments
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Morning rush hour, Victoria Street.
Inbound traffic at a standstill, and walkers crossing the flow at traffic lights – the cap of the man in the middle recalls an earlier age.
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 62 63 . 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 further enlarge it.
Technique: X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom, using the Astia/Soft film simulation; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Antique Portrait preset; Victoria Street, central Bristol; 11 Nov 2016.
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May 9, 2018 6 Comments
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Red car, parked near trees.
Or, then again, a camera … or an eye … looking only at you …
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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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April 27, 2018 6 Comments
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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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