ARCHIVE 374 – AND IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE CAT (MONO)

 

 

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Our friends’ cat, a favourite subject of mine.  She has a very warm and friendly personality.  She seems to like our company and, wherever we are, she will come and seek us out, and then sit or lie down beside us, simply wanting to be near us, it seems.

She climbed up onto the arm of the sofa and spent a lot of time with her back to us, wagging her tail.  Then she turned around, the bright light streaming over her from the right, and gazed impassively at us for sometime.

I find cats very beautiful and never tire of photographing them – perhaps the title of this post sums up my feelings towards them.  Something spiritual, perhaps?  Quite possibly.

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

Technique: D700 with 105mm Nikkor lens used wide open; 3200 ISO; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Full Spectrum Inverse preset; Bristol; 1 Mar 2015.

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PEOPLE 359 – MAN WITH A PHONE (MONO)

 

 

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Man with a phone.

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

Technique: X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Pinhole preset; Deanery Road, central Bristol; 9 Sept 2016.
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PEOPLE 358 – TRUE STORY

 

 

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I was looking at adverts in the windows of Bristol’s Broadmead shopping centre, thinking of trying for images about capitalism, materialism, consumerism, greed and so on – getting a bit radical about it all.  There came a giggling and a jostling just behind me … well I can have that effect on people … but turning I found two young women, probably in their early 20s, clearly together, clearly amused, looking over my shoulder.

Turning back to further fathom my great anti-capitalist ideal, I heard a loud smirk, followed by “… £79 … do you think that includes his clothes? …” and then a storm of giggles.

“Ah … Bristol!” came into my mind, but maybe that should have been “Ah … Life!“.  After all, how boring Life would be if our senses were immune to things like wonder, humour and a sense of the absurd.

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

Technique: X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 202mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; Lightroom, using the Astia/Soft film simulation; Broadmead, central Bristol; 16 Aug 2016.
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PEOPLE 354 – SARA

 

 

We all have some money,

but no matter how rich or poor,

 we all think we should have more.

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

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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STILL LIFE 244 – JACKDAW 2 (MONO)

 

 

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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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PEOPLE 350 – GOING TO WORK 78

 

 

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Its just around sunrise, in Bristol, at the start of February.  And a fat, unkempt and rather unnerving old man – brandishing a camera and wearing an improbable hat – appears suddenly out of the gloom and, camera raised, lurches forward uncertainly towards the passengers on the early morning bus.

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 75 76 77 .  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 – recommended.

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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PEOPLE 345 – GOING TO WORK 75 (MONO)

 

 

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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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PEOPLE 344 – GOING TO WORK 74

 

 

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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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STANTON DREW 48 – VILLAGE LIFE 14

 

 

 

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Still quite early, only around 7.30am, but we western Brits have been having a certainly unusual heatwave this past week or so, and the midsummer sun was already very warm.

Having grown up alongside  a big tom called George, I have always had a great love for cats.  This one was not 100% sure about me (although we have in fact met before), but he was just too warm and comfortable to do anything about it.

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

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom, using the Provia/Standard film simulation; Stanton Drew, near Bristol; 6 July 2018.

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PEOPLE 343 – GOING TO WORK 73

 

 

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Walking to work across Bristol Bridge, around sunrise in early December – and three things to talk about here.

First, I’m on her radar.  Although I was quite far back with a big telephoto, she looked up from her phone, the autofocus was already locked on (more on that below) and I fired a single frame. Awhile back, I’d planned to approach people in the street and ask their permission to photograph them.  But, although that may be something for the future, I’ve only actually done that once so far, and the resulting image was really not very good.  On the other hand, as those familiar with this Going To Work series will know, I’ve taken many more or less candid portraits on Bristol’s streets – and I like these better.

With this kind of photography, there’s often the fear/worry that people will object to having their photograph taken but, so far, the only comments that I’ve received have been apologies for getting in the way and obstructing my shots!  This may of course be due to the fact that I’m photographing early in the morning rush hour: the vast majority of people appear totally focused on getting to work, walking head down and with fixed expressions.  However, if someone were to say something, I would smile and say something simple like “Hello, I’m Adrian Lewis, and I’m here photographing the morning rush hour.”, and then await their response – putting the ball in their court in a way.  I’ve read a lot about this sort of photography, and the key strategies seem to be openness, an air of confidence, a smile and a readiness to explain further about what I’m doing.  I always carry some FATman Photos business cards to give out if necessary – although up to now these have been given to people who see me photographing anything and everything, and are just interested to see the sorts of photographs I take.

Secondly, the early morning was not bright, and the (now 10 years old!) D700 was working at its highest ISO – 25,600!  And so this picture, even though its not cropped, is extremely grainy – lol! >>> click onto it to see what I mean!!!  But I’m quite happy to have the grain and, in any case, I think that its ALWAYS better to have a go at a photo, no matter how poor the light conditions >>> its ALWAYS better to have a technically imperfect image than no image at all.  I strongly believe a photo’s subject matter / content is what matters, with technical aspects of the images coming quite some way second.

Third, I started digital photography as a full-frame Nikon user (D700, D800), but in the last couple of years have started using Fujifilm mirrorless cameras, including the excellent X-T2.  Most of the Going To Work pictures have been taken with my X-T2 or, indeed, my X-T1, and they have done a very good job.  But, if pressed, I would have to say that the Nikons are better for very rapid autofocus in poor lighting conditions.  But, you pays your money and you takes your choice!!!  The Nikons are bigger, bulkier, heavier, and their optical viewfinders – in most situations – are not as useful as the big, electronic viewfinders on the Fuji cameras.  And the Fuji cameras take beautiful pictures, and are smaller, lighter and very easy to handle.  For the moment, at least, I’m using the Fuji cameras a lot, but also holding onto my Nikon gear.  And, finally, Nikon (or Canon) is likely to produce a mirrorless replacement for their DSLRs soon: I’m looking forward to seeing this.

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 .  Each will open in a separate window.

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window >>> and if you have a thing for grain, click onto this enlarged image to enlarge it yet again!

Technique: D700 with 70-330 Nikkor lens at 300mm; 25,600 ISO; Lightroom; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Film Noir 2 preset and adding a light coffee tone; Bristol Bridge, central Bristol; 2 Dec 2016.
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