STILL LIFE 250 – LOOKING AT CHAIRS 26: SOUTH BRISTOL (MONO)

 

 

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The backs of terraced houses in Bedminster, south Bristol: garden chairs on an impromptu and rather stark “patio” that is sandwiched between a garage door and a wired security gate – garden chairs??? – relics of this summer’s record breaking heatwave, no doubt.

The first post in this series on chairs, which contains context and an image, can be found here.  Subsequent posts 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 .  Each will open in a new window.

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

Technique: TG-5 at 57mm (equiv); 500 ISO; Lightroom, using the Camera Vivid film simulation; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Film Noir 2 preset; Bedminster, south Bristol; 12 Sept 2018.
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OUTER SUBURBS 14 – MODERN LIFE 3: PUBLIC SEATING

 

 

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Seat beside a children’s playground – and a parent, perhaps, rolling their own while their child played.

There are earlier Modern Life posts here: 1 2 .

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 .  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: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 640 ISO; Lightroom, using the Camera Vivid film simulation; south Bristol; 22 Aug 2018.
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STILL LIFE 248 – LOOKING AT CHAIRS 25: ARMCHAIR WITH CUSHION

 

 

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Armchair with cushion.

The first post in this series on chairs, which contains context and an image, can be found here.  Subsequent posts 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 .  Each will open in a new window.

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

Technique: X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 3200 ISO; Lightroom; flipped, rotated; Cosy Club, Corn Street, Bristol; 5 Aug 2016.
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STILL LIFE 247 – LOOKING AT CHAIRS 24: TWO CHAIRS AND A TABLE

 

 

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Table and chairs, for smokers and sun-worshippers, on the pavement outside a Bristol pub.

The backdrop, which considerably simplifies the picture, is some kind of hanging fabric, through which traces of words and patterns can faintly be seen.  In many instances, visual simplification is good – as enshrined in the KISS principle, which I think originated with press photographers, decades ago: KISS = Keep It Simple, Stupid!

The first post in this series on chairs, which contains context and an image, can be found here.  Subsequent posts are here: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  9  10  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 .  Each will open in a new window.

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

Technique: X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom, using the Velvia/Vivid film simulation; Victoria Street, central Bristol; 16 Sept 2016.
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STILL LIFE 246 – LOOKING AT CHAIRS 23: CHAIR BEHIND DIRTY WINDOW

 

 

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A little while back, I decided to bring down the curtain on a series of images that I was doing called Looking At Chairs.  These were mainly more or less graphic studies – because, as with cars, chairs are often visually interesting, depending upon the directions from which they are viewed, in combination with the direction and nature of the light that is falling upon them.  Some said that they’d like to see more such images and, weak-willed pawn that I am, I agreed to further posts, as and when such images surfaced.  Here is one; one or two more are in the pipeline.

Silhouette of a chair on a dirty window.

The first post in this series on chairs, which contains context and an image, can be found here.  Subsequent posts are here: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  9  10  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 .  Each will open in a new window.

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-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 212mm (equiv); 800 ISO; Lightroom; Welsh Back, central Bristol; 5 Aug 2016.
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STILL LIFE 231 – LOOKING AT CHAIRS 22

 

 

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This is the final post of Looking at Chairs – hope you’ve enjoyed the series.

So, lastly, two chairs, back to back, beside a window.

Sitting in Browns, waiting for the third breakfast of a long morning’s photography – a repast which might have equated to what we Brits call Elevenses … except that it was only just after 10am …

In Browns, I always sit at any table that looks across the room towards the windows onto the street, because these provide good cross- and backlighting.

The first post in this series on chairs, which contains context and an image, can be found here.  Subsequent posts are here: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  9  10  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 .  Each will open in a new window.

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

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; Lightroom; Browns Restaurant, Bristol; 19 May 2017.
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STILL LIFE 229 – LOOKING AT CHAIRS 21 (MONO)

 

 

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Chairs beside a table at the Hurtwood Inn Hotel in Peaslake, Surrey;  25 Mar 2012.

An assemblage of shapes, shadows and textures with – especially in the background – obscure and abstract shapes.

The first post in this series on chairs, which contains context and an image, can be found here.  Subsequent posts are here: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  9  10  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 .  Each will open in a new window.

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

Technique: D700 with 24-120 Nikkor at 120mm; 400 ISO; converted to mono, and toned, in Silver Efex Pro 2.

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STILL LIFE 228 – LOOKING AT CHAIRS 20 (MONO)

 

 

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Well, what is here?  A park bench, silhouetted, that has been styled to defeat both vandalism and rough sleepers.  It has signally failed in the former, its right hand end having been broken off – I suppose by someone jumping up and down on it.

And then a walker, an anonymous someone going somewhere; though not to this bench, as I can testify.

And the first fallen leaves of autumn scattered on the ground.

What is least apparent of all is the wall glimpsed behind those striding legs, which is a part the gaunt skeleton of St Peter’s Church, burnt out by incendiary bombs in 1940 and now preserved as a memorial to the city’s WWII civilian dead.

I have been going through something of an uninspired patch with my photography, things just haven’t been flowing as freely as usual.  I’d gone down to town to hear a lecture on, of all things, the institutionalised treatment of inebriated women in days gone by.  But it was a lovely sunny morning and the little camera was in my pocket, so I opted instead for a quartet of favourite pastimes, namely strolling, looking and taking photos, and then buying some Belgian beer of great quality – compared to a lecture, all things far more uplifting for the soul!

The first post in this series on chairs, which contains context and an image, can be found here.  Subsequent posts are here: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  9  10  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 .  Each will open in a new window.

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

Technique: Canon G11 PowerShot at 140mm (equivalent); 100 ISO; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Architectural preset and adding a slightly blue tone; Castle Park, in Bristol city centre; 20 Oct 2015.

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STILL LIFE 226 – LOOKING AT CHAIRS 19 (MONO)

 

 

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Seating for passersby, on the pavement at the bottom of Park Street, central Bristol; 6 Jan 2017.

The first post in this series on chairs, which contains context and an image, can be found here.  Subsequent posts are here: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  9  10  11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 .  Each will open in a new window.

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

Technique: X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 3200 ISO; Lightroom; Capture NX2; rotated.

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STILL LIFE 222 – BROWN CHAIR WITH ORCHIDS AND POTTERY

 

 

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This is a totally ad lib shot that I took while sitting at the breakfast table (which sounds distinctly grand, doesn’t it, until you find out that it is in fact our only table …) to see if a camera was working properly.  Just how honest and up front can I get???  I looked through the large and rather wonderful electronic viewfinder, liked what I saw, and snapped it.

This rather cluttered still life is lit by that most wonderful (and gratis) of light sources, window light, and it also benefits from the fact that this light is filtered through net curtains.

It is a totally natural (i.e. unarranged) still life, which has three main subjects.  On the right is a lovely old chair, bought second hand at least 25 years ago, and probably originating in the generation before mine, if not earlier.  Then there are two examples from my wife’s orchid collection, one in flower and the other looking rather ravaged and destitute, though with abundant aerial roots.

And finally, at the back, two pieces of pottery, the one at the front having been made by John Leach, the grandson of Bernard Leach, at his pottery in Muchelney, on the Somerset Levels.

I like this picture.  Well, it is a part of my home, so I’m probably biassed.  But what do I like most?  Well, without a doubt, the light spilling over the warm colours of that old chair.  The objects on the left of the picture are well lit and, in their way, visually interesting.  But the chair is more snugly in the shadows, the light and shadow are washing over its surfaces, amplifying its wonderful old creases and textures >>> a metaphor for myself perhaps …..

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 83mm (equiv); 3200 ISO; Lightroom, using the Velvia/Vivid film simulation; Chez Moi!; 3 May 2018.
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