ARCHIVE 514 – RAINY DAY (MONO + COLOUR)

 

 

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Rainy day on Tadham Moor, on the Somerset Levels; 14 May 2013.

As the rain poured down, the view through the window of my car, towards a nearby Willow.

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

Technique: Canon G11 PowerShot at 140mm (35mm equiv); 200 ISO; conversion to mono, selective colour restoration and toning in Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Antique Portrait preset.

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ARCHIVE 509 – STORMY DAY (MONO + COLOUR)

 

 

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Looking out from my car at a stormy day, on the rooftop car park at Broadwalk Shopping Centre in south Bristol; 15 Feb 2014.

A black and white image, starker and darker than reality as such images often are, and with the blue of the sky re-introduced.

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

Technique: Canon G11 PowerShot at 28mm (35mm equivalent); 400 ISO; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Strong Infrared Low Contrast preset.

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OUTER SUBURBS 232 – A WEATHER FRONT MOVES THROUGH

 

 

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Out early, walking in the lockdown.  I’ve taken fewer photos during these walks recently, for three reasons I think.  First the sun is higher in the sky now, even during the very early hours I keep – I’ll have to wait until the very earliest stirrings of autumn before the light gets lower and more golden again.  Second, I’ve worked out a “safe” walking route where the all important social distancing can easily be achieved, but as this is mainly through suburban housing estates, I’m rather reticent about pointing a camera towards anyone’s front windows!  But thirdly, and inevitably I suppose, all of this virus turmoil is getting to me such that, as I walk, my mind is often preoccupied with things other than photography.  It can take quite an effort to re-focus the mind into real “looking and seeing” mode; having Roe Deer and Foxes around does me good!

But last Thursday the skies became a little more dramatic as a small weather front passed eastwards over Bristol.  It brought a couple of light and in fact quite refreshing showers, and as I looked at the clouds moving over from the west, this scene unfolded.

Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day.

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

Technique: TG-5 at 70mm (equiv); 200 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Portrait profile; south Bristol; 21 May 2020.

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OUTER SUBURBS 230 – PARKED CAR 13 (MONO)

 

 

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There are earlier images in this Parked Car series here: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 .  Each will open in a separate window.

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

Technique: TG-5 at 25mm (equiv); 800 ISO; Lightroom, starting at the B&W 04 profile; south Bristol; 16 Jan 2019.

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OUTER SUBURBS 228 – CAR BESIDE FENCE, EARLY LIGHT 2

 

 

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Walking in the lockdown, and – deja vu – finding another car beside another new fence lit by the bright, early morning sun; this one had just been sprinkled by a light rain shower.

The earlier post is here .

Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day.

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

Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Vivid profile; south Bristol; 1 May 2020.
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ARCHIVE 471 – HEADING WEST IN FILTHY WEATHER (MONO)

 

 

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Heading west in filthy weather over North Moor, on the Somerset Levels, southwest of Wells; 27 Oct 2011.

Damp and murk on the Somerset Levels: strong winds, rain cascading from dense, dark overcast, and puddles building up along on the roadside –  a mile or so ahead, the road is completely awash.

I hope this photo conveys some of the wildness of that dark morning.  I’m safe and dry in the car of course, and the illuminated dials on the dashboard convey something of being on the inside, looking out.  The two dark, antenna-like structures protruding from the bottom of the windscreen (roughly on either side of the road as we look at them) are the bases of the frantically flailing wipers, and the headlights are on full beam to light more of the scene.

Two technical points.  The astonishing D700 is working at 25,600 ISO – how I love the abilities of this truly gutsy camera!  And, although the (image stabilised) wideangle is wide open at f4 (and 1/20th second), the 16mm focal length still provides sufficient depth of field the render both the dashboard and the road reasonably sharp.

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

Technique: D700 with 16-35 Nikkor lens at 16mm; 25,600 ISO; converted to mono in Silver Efex Pro 2.

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ARCHIVE 467 – BRAKE LIGHTS IN A TRAFFIC QUEUE

 

 

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Brake lights of two white vans in a traffic queue, seen through a wet bus window in Bristol; 28 May 2013.

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

Technique: Canon G11 PowerShot at 140mm (35mm equiv); 200 ISO; rotated 90 degrees clockwise.

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ARCHIVE 454 – TREES IN MIST (MONO)

 

 

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Trees in mist on Tadham Moor, south of Wedmore, on the Somerset Levels; 27 Oct 2011.

Today was filthy weather down on the Levels – rain and more rain, and mud and water everywhere.  I tried to wipe the condensation off the inside of the windscreen but it remained wet, and the camera managed to focus through both this condensation inside the car and the mist and pouring rain outside.

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

Technique: D700 with 70-300 Nikkor lens at 116mm; 3200 ISO.  The shot has been converted into mono in Silver Efex Pro 2:  I applied this software’s Antique Portrait preset, and reduced its pale vignette a little.

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OUTER SUBURBS 183 – AFTER A SHOWER, RAIN ON THE BUS SHELTER’S ROOF

 

 

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Early morning, just after a rain shower.

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

Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Portrait profile; south Bristol; 27 Jan 2020.
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SOMERSET LEVELS 439 – WALKING WESTON’S STREETS 6

 

 

Autumn on drain cover

Weston-super-Mare, my home town, on the coast where the Somerset Levels run down into the Bristol Channel – the local, somewhat muddy, version of the sea.  Following a recent reunion with age-old friends there (here), I’ve been visiting Weston again, and walking streets echoing with things remembered – sometimes only half-remembered –  from over half a century ago.

Weston is a seaside town and, like seaside towns the UK over, it is experiencing something of an economic downturn – the era of the family seaside holiday in uncertain British weather is long past, due to cheap holidays in warmer and far more reliable, foreign climes.  So, there is to Weston something of the cheap and cheerful, a – to me, anyway – rather attractive tattiness at the edges, that makes walking here with a camera a pleasure – a definite feeling of not knowing what will appear next.  The Ghost of FATman Past perhaps?  Well, if he gives me half a chance, I’ll photograph him …

And so in Nov 2019 to pictures taken with an open mind – pictures which are, for better or for worse, in the main quite different from the preceding 400+ that I’ve posted of the Somerset Levels.  Some of them may be a little obscure / far out / radical / unexplained /  I don’t know… but I did mention photographing with an open mind, which means looking, on the spur of the moment, at anything and everything …    But, whatever, warts and all, I hope you’ll like (at least some of) these images.  (Click onto them twice to enlarge them)

Earlier posts in this series are here: 1 2 3 4 5 .

A short history of Weston is here.
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Looking up on the High Street: demise of the seaside holiday, and the economic plight of so many seaside towns

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 Looking into a trendy bar

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Rainy morning: umbrella in car

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