PEOPLE 397 – WOMAN, BACKLIT, AT LUNCH 3

 

 

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A final take on my companion at lunch.  I’ve enjoyed producing these portraits; another genre, something different.

There are other images of her here: 1 2 .

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

Technique: TG-5 at 57mm (equiv); 800 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Portrait profile; south Bristol; 27 Feb 2020.
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ARCHIVE 452 – GREY SEAL, ST IVES

 

 

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Grey Seal off the end of Smeatons Pier, St Ives, Cornwall; 21 Sept 2016.

We’ve just spent a few days in Hayle, down near the southwestern tip of Cornwall – and the English weather, always an uncertainty, has been good to us.  When in this part of the world, a visit to beautiful St Ives is always a treat, and especially so on a bright sunny day with the tide in – the colours and light are simply out of this world – maybe because St Ives is surrounded on two or three sides by the bright sea.

Good things about this image?  Well, it was the first time my wife had seen this creature in the wild, which was a huge plus.  We’ve never seen seals there before, and the newly erected warnings about feeding them may mean that, like gulls, crows, Foxes and many others, these denizens of wild coasts have also developed a liking for Man’s tasty titbits.  Certainly an incoming fishing boat threw him some welcome morsels, which were hastily gobbled up – but maybe a Cornish pasty might send him sinking down to the bottom!

And also, just look at the colour of that seawater – for someone brought up along the muddy shores of the Bristol Channel, these clear, emerald waters are beautiful beyond belief.

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.

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ARCHIVE 449 – AND IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE CAT (MONO)

 

 

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Our friends’ cat, a favourite subject of mine; 1 Mar 2015.

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 sums up my feelings towards them.  Something spiritual, perhaps?  Quite possibly.

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

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

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PEOPLE 396 – WOMAN, BACKLIT, AT LUNCH 2 (MONO)

 

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Another take on my companion at lunch.

There is another of these images here .

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

Technique: TG-5 at 57mm (equiv); 800 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Portrait profile; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Film Noir 2 preset and adding a light Coffee tone; south Bristol; 27 Feb 2020.
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ARCHIVE 442 – MAASAI WOMAN (MONO)

 

 

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One of two Maasai women that we met as they walked together across the open grasslands of the Maasai Mara Game Reserve in Kenya, amidst the large mammals – elephant, lion, hyaena, buffalo, hippopotamus, leopard, aardvark, cheetah, gazelle, baboon, giraffe, black rhinoceros and so on – that are an integral and accepted part of their everyday lives; April 1979.

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

Technique: probably my (now battered and mouldy) Olympus OM-1 camera (oh what a wonderful camera!!!), shooting Agfa CT18 colour slide film rated at 64 ISO; 50mm Zuiko lens; converted to mono in Silver Efex Pro.

UPDATE:  well, 41 years on.  What are my feelings about this encounter?  I can only say that its an education to meet someone like this; I gained so much Life Knowledge in Kenya.  After all, she and I were both human beings, and yet so totally different in culture, way of life, you name it.  And let there be no thought of superiority or inferiority here, I regard such words as totally meaningless in this context – the two of us were simply extremely different.  And, she was entirely at home in the wild landscape in which we met; whereas on foot as she was, and left to my own devices, even if I could survive in the 12 hours of the equatorial day, I probably wouldn’t have lasted through the ensuing 12 hours of darkness.

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BRISTOL 164 – YOUNGSTER, LOST AND UNSURE

 

 

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Walking in the city centre, starting to descend a tall flight of steps – and finding this young lost soul.  This is a young gull, probably hatched on a nearby rooftop, that has now flown down out of the nest, to find itself in a totally alien environment of steps, streets, vehicles and people.

These lost young birds don’t know what to: and some walk straight out into the busy traffic and meet an instant end.  But others survive and, as evidence of this, the gulls breeding on Bristol’s roofs are an annual event.

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

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 300mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Astia/Soft profile; central Bristol; 7 July 2017.
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ARCHIVE 439 – A YOUNG FRIEND (MONO)

 

 

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A  little friend, aged two; 30 Aug 2011.

Who is she?  She is the younger daughter of friends, and we love her – and regard her friendship – very dearly.  People discuss the really worthwhile things in life, the things that life is all about, and our friendship with this little girl – and her big sister too – fits squarely into that category.  And I am doubly blessed because not only am I allowed totally unrestricted photographic access to these two sisters, but their parents have no problems at all with my publishing the resulting images here – not such common attitudes in England these days!.

And why is this image very special to me?  It is unposed; it is simple, candid and completely uncontrived.  Its is just a little girl – she was two at the time – glancing round at me with a perhaps questioning look.  I can’t get enough of it.

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

Technique: D700 with 105mm Nikkor lens; 12,800 ISO; converted to mono in Silver Efex Pro.

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BIRDS 128 – MOORHEN

 

 

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Moorhen, a member of the Rallidae, the Rails and Crakes.  This family is often secretive, in densely vegetated watersides etc, and the Moorhen itself usually frequents fresh waters with dense fringing vegetation – but here in the artificial environments of the city center, one walks out boldly along the masonry at the river’s edge, more or less used to passersby, and perhaps looking for leftover scraps of their food.

All recently posted bird pictures are here: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18  .

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

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 300mm (equiv); 3200 ISO; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Astia/Soft profile; central Bristol; 2 Feb 2018.
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ARCHIVE 438 – YOUNG GULL, YAWNING

 

 

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Gull yawning; St Ives, Cornwall; 20 Oct 2016.

This is most probably a Herring Gull.  The brown speckling on its plumage shows it to be a young bird, probably now just about to enter its first winter – it hatched from its egg this summer.

It was perched on the wall of the West Pier at St Ives, “loafing” as birdwatchers say.  Which means that it had had some food, that it wasn’t desperately hungry, so that it was just hanging around – while still no doubt keeping an eye out for any chance meal that might present itself.

I leant against the wall and, very gradually, inched my way towards it, keeping silent, compact and low.  It shuffled a little, it wasn’t quite sure about me (sensible bird!), but then it relaxed, and I started gradually capturing images.  I could have wished that the D800’s shutter was quieter but, on the plus side, its reliable autofocus did its usual excellent job, and I was able to concentrate on the images, rather than on whether they were sharp or not.

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

Technique: D800 with 70-300 Nikkor lens at 300mm; 400 ISO.

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PEOPLE 392 – WOMAN, BACKLIT, AT LUNCH

 

 

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Lunch with a very dear and valued friend, a friend of over 25 years in fact.  Sitting in a pub, with the bright, low angle winter sun pouring in through the windows behind her, lighting up her Celtic hair.

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

Technique: TG-5 at 57mm (equiv); 800 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Natural profile; south Bristol; 27 Feb 2020.
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