Looking at – and seeing – the world
August 18, 2018 2 Comments
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Jackdaw on a roof at Church Farm.
An earlier image in this series is here: 1 .
Click onto the image to open another 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); 400 ISO; Lightroom, using the Classic Chrome film simulation; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Architectural preset; Stanton Drew, near Bristol; 6 July 2018.
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August 9, 2018 11 Comments
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Fishermen far off across Chew Valley Lake on a misty morning.
The local water company stocks Chew Valley Lake with trout, and makes good profits from anglers. There is also a sailing club, and some barely adequate birdwatching hides – returning from Kenya’s wide open spaces, I was astonished to be restricted to these little huts with their narrow viewing slits – something of a culture change! I retain the feeling that birding ought to be out in the fresh and open air.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – if you like grain!!!
Technique: D800 with 80-400 Nikkor lens at 400mm; 800 ISO; Silver Efex Pro 2’s High Contrast Smooth preset; Chew Valley Lake, south of Bristol; 17 Oct 2013.
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July 18, 2018 4 Comments
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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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July 8, 2018 10 Comments
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The back of a green van showing one of its stoplights, which has reflections of a tree and clouds. And there is a door hinge, showing a little patch of blue.
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 123mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom; Bristol harbourside; 14 July 2016.
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June 12, 2018 7 Comments
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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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May 25, 2018 10 Comments
Corrugated iron shed (its roof on the right) at the former Willows Garden Centre, near Westhay, on the Somerset Levels; 15 Jul 2005.
Minimal colour, not far from monochrome.
Technique: F6 with 80-400 Nikkor lens at 400mm; Fuji Provia 400 colour slide rated at 400 ISO; image rotated 90 degrees clockwise.
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May 10, 2018 12 Comments
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A final shot of my wife’s glass of wine, this time in black and white with some restored colour; 16 Mar 2014.
Two earlier images in this series, along with more context, are here and here – recommended.
As always, mono simplifies the scene. The bright tips of the fork assume new prominence – a short and slightly sinuous line of bright points – and the wine’s restored colour resembles an inferno in a glass. Nuclear fission? Well, hardly, I mean its only rosé … but fill a glass, a bigger, balloon-type glass is best, with Moortgat’s Duvel or Westmalle’s Tripel (and drinking these delights at anything but room temperature is, of course, unthinkable) … and you might feel both shaken … and stirred …
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.
Technique: D700 with 70-300 Nikkor lens at 240mm; 800 ISO; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Film Noir 1 preset.
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April 13, 2018 8 Comments
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Public seating, after rain.
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 . 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-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; Lightroom, using the Velvia/Vivid film simulation; Bristol Waterside; 15 Dec 2017.
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April 6, 2018 16 Comments
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Parking bay outside the KPMG building, at the Temple Meads end of Victoria Street, central Bristol; 11 Apr 2004.
Viewed with a wideangle lens, the pale kerbstone enters the frame bottom right and sinuously leads the eye back through the mass of muted colours, repeating patterns and ditched dog ends (= Brit for cigarette butts). The restrained colour palette works, I think: this version is certainly better than an attempt with monochrome.
Crawling around in gutters and getting down flat onto pavements doesn’t do much for one’s standing (no pun intended) in the eyes of the world, so its far less embarassing taking this sort of shot out in the country, with only cows and sheep looking on.
Technique: Olympus OM-4 with 21mm Zuiko lens; Fuji Provia 400 colour slide, rated at 3200 ISO.
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April 1, 2018 14 Comments
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Early morning mist lifting at Herons Green Bay, Chew Valley Lake, south of Bristol; 6 Apr 2015.
Driving through the Chew Valley, heading for the Mendip Hills, I came out onto an open stretch of road beside Chew Valley Lake and was suddenly enveloped in thick mist. But over to my left the sun was starting to rise, the mist was lifting and changing colours in the most visually seductive ways – and I swerved into a layby, jumped out and started taking pictures.
I was there for about an hour, and this is the first of a short series of images from that misty morning. I love images with little detail, and the telezoom that I’m married to was just right for picking out scenes in that warm softness.
Chew Valley Lake is a large reservoir, the 5th largest artificial area of water in the UK. It was opened in 1956, to supply Bristol with drinking water. It has many memories for me because it was here, in 1967, that two school friends first opened my eyes to birds and birdwatching, and so set me on a path and interest that continued through to 2002. I no longer go birdwatching, but I retain a deep love and feeling for birds, and see them as an essential facet of all land-, water- and skyscapes.
Click onto the image to see a larger version in a separate window.
Technique: D700 with 70-300 Nikkor lens at 78mm; 200 ISO; Color Efex Pro 4.
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