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 15, 2018 Leave a comment
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Jackdaw on a roof at Church Farm, Stanton Drew.
The smallest of our crows, and attractively busy, bustling, talkative and, often, approachable.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window, and click onto that image to further enlarge it – recommended.
Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom, using the Velvia/Vivid film simulation; Church Farm, Stanton Drew, near Bristol; 6 July 2018.
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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 3, 2018 8 Comments
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Pollarded Willow standing in floodwater on Tadham Moor, south of Wedmore, on the Somerset Levels; 23 Nov 2012.
With its bulky, rounded crown, this tree is top heavy and well on its way to collapse. The usually wet, peat soils provide little in the way of support.
More about the practice of pollarding can be found in my first Somerset Levels post
Technique: D700 with 70-300 Nikkor lens at 165mm; 200 ISO; converted to mono with Silver Efex Pro 2, using the Yellowed 1 preset as a starting point.
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July 1, 2018 12 Comments
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On the way to work: walking up towards Bristol Bridge, early on a summer’s morning.
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 . 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.
Technique: X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 200 ISO; Lightroom, using tilting and the Provia/Standard film simulation; near Bristol Bridge, central Bristol; 19 July 2016.
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June 15, 2018 12 Comments
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This image is best viewed enlarged – click onto it to open a larger version in a separate window, and click onto that image to enlarge it further.
Composition: morning rush hour, Victoria Street, and perhaps there are two subjects here. The backlit and near silhouetted man on the left – walking across the road while looking at his phone and carrying his briefcase – first drew my attention. Using him as the image’s sole subject would magnify his size in the frame and draw attention to him. But I couldn’t resist the silhouette of the cyclist on the right too, with the light catching his billowing, steamy breath and shiny helmet – he is balancing on his wheels, rather than put a foot to the ground while waiting for the lights to change. Maybe our gaze will be drawn back and fore from one to the other of these two people, I don’t know, but, in any case, here they are. To me, although the man on the left could be the image’s sole subject, this is not true of the cyclist – he’s further away, amidst a fairly cluttered background.
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 . Each will open in a separate window.
Technique: X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom, using the Velvia/Vivid film simulation; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Cool Tones 2 preset, giving the image the look of Fuji Neopan Acros 100 black and white film, and adding a strong selenium tone; Victoria Street, central Bristol; 11 Nov 2016.
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June 9, 2018 8 Comments
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The walk to work: small, alone and in a fleeting, uneasy world of light and shadow.
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 . 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: X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Architectural preset and adding a light coffee tone; Victoria Street, central Bristol; 11 Nov 2016.
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June 5, 2018 2 Comments
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Chairs beside a table at the Hurtwood Inn Hotel in Peaslake, Surrey; 25 Mar 2012.
An assemblage of shapes, shadows and textures with – especially in the background – obscure and abstract shapes.
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 . Each will open in a new window.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window.
Technique: D700 with 24-120 Nikkor at 120mm; 400 ISO; converted to mono, and toned, in Silver Efex Pro 2.
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June 1, 2018 6 Comments
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Well, what is here? A park bench, silhouetted, that has been styled to defeat both vandalism and rough sleepers. It has signally failed in the former, its right hand end having been broken off – I suppose by someone jumping up and down on it.
And then a walker, an anonymous someone going somewhere; though not to this bench, as I can testify.
And the first fallen leaves of autumn scattered on the ground.
What is least apparent of all is the wall glimpsed behind those striding legs, which is a part the gaunt skeleton of St Peter’s Church, burnt out by incendiary bombs in 1940 and now preserved as a memorial to the city’s WWII civilian dead.
I have been going through something of an uninspired patch with my photography, things just haven’t been flowing as freely as usual. I’d gone down to town to hear a lecture on, of all things, the institutionalised treatment of inebriated women in days gone by. But it was a lovely sunny morning and the little camera was in my pocket, so I opted instead for a quartet of favourite pastimes, namely strolling, looking and taking photos, and then buying some Belgian beer of great quality – compared to a lecture, all things far more uplifting for the soul!
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 . Each will open in a new window.
Click onto the image to see a larger version in a separate window, and click onto that image to enlarge it further.
Technique: Canon G11 PowerShot at 140mm (equivalent); 100 ISO; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Architectural preset and adding a slightly blue tone; Castle Park, in Bristol city centre; 20 Oct 2015.
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May 11, 2018 6 Comments
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Looking southeast from East Water Lane, on the Mendip Hills, Somerset; 7 Aug 2014.
The eastern side of the lane, with a line of Hawthorns rising above a dry stone wall of the local limestone. In the distance, trees line the road that continues on eastwards towards the Hunters Lodge Inn, Green Ore, and the main highway that runs down the Mendips’ steep southern slopes into the tiny city of Wells.
Back beyond the nearest tree, to its left, several other low trees are faintly seen out in the field.
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Technique: D800 with 12-24 Sigma lens at 12mm; 200 ISO; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Cool Tones 1 preset.
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