OUTER SUBURBS 111 – PHOTOGRAPHING SHADOWS (MONO)

 

 

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Shadows: a fence, a tree and me.

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 .  Each will open in a separate window.

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

Technique: TG-5 at 35mm (equiv); 800 ISO; Lightroom, using the Camera Portrait film simulation; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Silhouette preset; south Bristol; 6 May 2019.
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OUTER SUBURBS 72 – PATH THROUGH MODERN HOUSING 6

 

 

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Another functional and not unattractive pathway through modern housing, and something very different from the previous one.  Unusually for me, colour and mono images here – for me the black and white gets it – and I think its worth enlarging >>> click onto it to open a larger version in a separate window, and click onto that image to enlarge it yet again.

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Earlier pictures of a paths through modern housing are here: 1 2 3 4 5 .  Each will open in a separate window.

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 .  Each will open in a separate window.

Technique: TG-5 at 25mm (equiv); Lightroom, using the Camera Vivid film simulation; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the High Contrast Orange preset and adding a light Coffee tone; south Bristol; Jan & Feb 2019.
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OUTER SUBURBS 25 – STREET SCENE 3: INVASIVE SPECIES

 

 

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Green leaves against a blue fence, rescued for posterity – days later, a tidy householder had decided that this living thing was making the place look untidy, and duly sent it to meet its (probably none too pleased) Maker.

There are earlier Street Scene posts here: 1 2 .  Each will open in a separate window.

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 .  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: TG-5 at 91mm (equiv); 800 ISO; Lightroom, using the Camera Natural film simulation; south Bristol; 31 Aug 2018.

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STILL LIFE 236 – FENCE POST (MONO)

 

 

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Beside the road, on the way into the village of Stanton Drew.

The camera was tilted, to bring the post (further) away from the vertical.  The post has a slit through which light can be seen, and it not a pure silhouette: some of its rough, corroded surface texture is just visible.

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

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 105mm (equiv); 200 ISO; Lightroom; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Strong Infrared High Contrast preset; Capture NX2; Stanton Drew, near Bristol; 6 July 2018.
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STILL LIFE 203 – CARRION CROW

 

 

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Carrion Crow at sunrise.

A Minimal image, mostly featureless black or gold, with just a single horizontal band of silhouetted detail.  The fence post is not vertical, the fence’s wire is barbed, and the bird’s head is seen in profile: for me, these points add something.  Do you agree?

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

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 3200 ISO; Lightroom, using the Provia/Standard film simulation; Stanton Drew, in the Chew Valley; 6 Nov 2017.
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STILL LIFE 117 – CAR BEHIND A WIRE FENCE

 

 

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Brooding in the shadows and all too beautiful; tantalising, seductive even; and prudently fenced off from those who might want – or perhaps even, desire – to take too close a look.

But a cold beauty now, dumb, metallic, inert, just a work of modern sculpture or an overlarge paperweight, even if all of that can be changed in an instant by the arrival of – no, not something with the elegance of Cinderella’s slipper – but more prosaically, in this mass-produced, machine-driven world, a key.

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

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 200 ISO; spotmetering for highlights; Lightroom, using the Velvia/Vivid film simulation; car park beside Temple Meads station, central Bristol; 26 May 2017.
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ARCHIVE 241 – WELCOME TO BURNHAM-ON-SEA! (MONO)

 

 

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Walls at the back of the Morrisons supermarket in Burnham-On-Sea, Somerset; 20 Mar 2013.

I have been and probably still am married to my 70-300 telezoom – the thing is, I so often “see” at 300mm, which is x6 in 35mm format.  But I’ve taken this lens to Burnham so many times that, today, I thought it time for something different – a wideangle zoom.  And the change worked – new perspectives appeared everywhere.

This post’s title is a bit naughty as we like Burnham a lot – its cheap and cheeful but uncomplicated, and there are good eateries and food shops – and here I am portraying it like some kind of prison camp!  Its a great place!

D700 with 16-35 Nikkor at 21mm; 400 ISO; converted to mono with Silver Efex Pro 2, starting from the Low Key 2 preset.
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SOMERSET LEVELS 260 – RIVER BANK 1

 

 

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River bank, Tealham Moor; 15 Mar 2016.

Quite early in the morning, out on Tealham Moor, last Tuesday.  The sun has barely risen, there is not the slightest breeze, and the frost is still crisp in all places that the sun has yet to reach.  High above me a lone skylark sings, sensing spring’s onset.

Well, what can we see?  We are looking across a small, water-filled ditch, not a river at all really, and on the far bank of this little waterway there is a barbed wire fence and some tall, pale plants.

At top left in the frame, there is just a hint of the pale vegetation beginning – gratefully I’m sure –  to receive the sun’s warming rays.  But the bank itself is facing away from the sun and so remains in deep, cold shadow.

And below this dark bank, lower right in the frame, the motionless water reflects both the sky’s blue, and the sunlit fence and plants that are, otherwise, out of our view.

Looking at a little part of somewhere, the camera has captured it in an otherwise unremarked moment in time.  It is a calm moment and the resulting image is calm, and calming, too.  And looking at this, I am able to get away for awhile from always doing, doing, doing, and instead get more towards being, being, being – enjoying, and valuing, the moment.

Click onto this image to see a larger version in a separate window.

D800 with 70-300 Nikkor at 300mm; 800 ISO.
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SOMERSET LEVELS 255 – RURAL IDYLL (MONO + COLOUR)

 

 

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Roadside fence on Walton Hill, on the top of the Polden Hills; 13 Jan 2016.

The title of this post is just what this isn’t, if you see what I mean – but then what farmer wants people spilling over onto his fields from a small car park beside a busy main road?

The rotation of the image brings side lighting from the right which ups the atmosphere.  The wooden elements are vaguely cruciform, the yellow lichen takes on the mantle of some creeping disease or disfiguration, and the snaking barbed wire speaks to me of naked (and industrialised) pain, persecution and exclusion.  Looking at this, I can’t help but think of a crucifixion, albeit not one with any religious connotations.  FATman Photos gives you something of an apocalypse on this Saturday morning.

D800 with 70-300 Nikkor at 300mm; 1600 ISO; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Film Noir 1 preset and selectively restoring colour; rotated 90 degrees clockwise.
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CHEW LAKE 19 – FENCE POST (MONO)

 

 

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Fence around the edge of the reservoir at Herons Green, Chew Valley Lake, Somerset; 6 Apr 2015.

I thought about restoring the colour to the little plant – is it a lichen??? – but ended up deciding that it would be a distraction.

There is another image of this fence here (although you’d never know it from the post’s title!).

D700 with 70-300 Nikkor at 300mm; 200 ISO; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Architectural preset.
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