BRISTOL 147 – CAR PARK

 

 

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Stairs in a city centre car park: stark, utilitarian, unimaginative – the triumph of functionality and “the figure at the bottom of the spreadsheet” over any nod towards elegance or visual appeal.

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Technique: Z 6 with 70-300 Nikkor lens used in DX (= APS-C) format to give 450mm; 1600 ISO; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Vivid v2 profile; beside Redcliffe Way, in central Bristol; 10 May 2019.
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BRISTOL 140 – LOOKING DOWN STAIRS TOWARDS A CARPET

 

 

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With Paula in St Nicholas Market: a flight of battered yellow stairs lead down to a purple carpet.  Battered stairs?  Yes, well used, leading to a pub!

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Technique: Z 6 with 24-120 Nikkor lens used (by mistake!) in DX (= APS-C) format to give 63mm – going to DX format was not necessary as 63mm us within the 24-120 range of the lens ; 1600 ISO; Lightroom, using the Camera Vivid v2 picture control; rotated; beside St Nicholas Market, Bristol; 3 June 2019.
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OUTER SUBURBS 65 – REACHING HOME (MONO)

 

 

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Reaching home: the view down from the pavement to the entrance to a basement flat by the river.

The first image in the Outer Suburbs series, with context, is here: 1 .  Subsequent images are here: 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 53a 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 .  Each will open in a separate window.

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Technique: TG-5 at 25mm (equiv); 800 ISO; Lightroom, using the Camera Vivid film simulation; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Yellowed 1 preset and adding a light Copper tone; south Bristol; 16 Jan 2019.
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STILL LIFE 241 – FLIGHT OF METAL STAIRS

 

 

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Looking at a flight of metal stairs, at eye level.

This may appear a little abstract so, to explain, each step has a yellow front lip; and the treads on the surfaces of the steps can also be seen.

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Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 212mm (equiv); 3200 ISO; jpeg produced in-camera from a raw file, using the Velvia/Vivid film simulation; beside Temple Meads railway station, Bristol; 19 July 2018.
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STILL LIFE 150 – STAIRS IN AN ALLEYWAY

 

 

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Street art and a flight of steps, off Quay Street in the city centre.

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

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 84mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom, using the Provia/Standard film simulation; Bristol; 19 May 2017.
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STILL LIFE 142 – STAIRWAY

 

 

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Outdoor stairway, with a roof to protect it from the elements but still in need of some tlc.  Also an abstract design, more or less bisected by the diagonal from the upper right corner to the lower left.  Strong horizontals on the right are abruptly truncated by a (grimy!) wall with some angular, zigzag patterning on the left.  Further up these steps, on a landing, were rough sleepers.

Did I wish these stairs sparkling, clean and conforming to the “Modern Sterile” look?  Not at all, to me they show more character, more reality, like this – and all the more so for being surrounded by the shopping centre’s gleaming and pristine retail temples.

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Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm; 800 ISO; Lightroom, using the Velvia/Vivid film simulation; Broadmead shopping centre, central Bristol; 7 July 2017.

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STILL LIFE 103 – FLIGHTS OF STEPS

 

 

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Looking down flights of steps with yellow edges.

Originally taken in portrait format, the image has been rotated 90 degrees anticlockwise.  The last two steps of a flight with their yellow, high-visibility safety edges are seen on the right, and there is a small landing, floored with handsome granite slabs, in the centre of the picture.  A second flight of steps descends between dark walls on the left but, because of the angle of the shot, all of the yellow edges of these steps meld together to form one yellow mass.  Another landing is dimly seen between the walls’ shadow at extreme left.

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

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 85mm (equiv); 400 ISO; image rotation;  Lightroom, applying the Astia/Soft film simulation; York Place, Clifton, Bristol; 21 Apr 2017.
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STILL LIFE 83 – FIRE ESCAPE

 

 

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Fire escape, beside Temple Meads railway station, Bristol.

Technique: this looks like black and white, but it is in fact a very high contrast colour image.

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Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujifilm lens at 305mm (equiv); 6400 ISO; Lightroom; 3 Feb 2017.
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ARCHIVE 268 – PENZANCE STAIRS WITH DRINKS CAN

 

 

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Drinks can on stairs in Penzance, Cornwall; 14 Sept 2011.

Inhibition is a strange thing – and most often something which I refuse to give in to.  After all, doesn’t that song from The Rocky Horror Picture Show say something like “Do it, don’t dream it!’?  But I’ve rambled on before about the – as I see it –  cardinal sin of digital photography being trying to pass off some highly manipulated colour image as point of capture reality, and that is something I’m quite sure about. 

So, here, yes this a picture of a drinks can on partially sunlit stairs in Penzance, but I’ve made the sunlit area much brighter than it actually was and I’ve very significantly increased the bright orange of the can to make it more prominent.  I feel better for letting you all know that!

This was originally posted under ‘Colour’, and its an example of very little colour helping a picture.  The green at top center, the (now) blazing orange can and the deep brown of the handrail are all relatively small items, but remove them and the picture loses something, and presenting it in straight monochrome makes it very featureless indeed – although there may be some potential for a really radical black and white conversion here.

D700 with 70-300 Nikkor lens at 300mm; 800 ISO.

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STILL LIFE 37 – CHALET 3: MORNING SUNLIGHT ON STAIRS (MONO)

 

 

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Morning sunlight streams in through the window of our holiday chalet near Perranporth, Cornwall, lighting up the stairs ;  11 Apr 2016.

The actual steps of the stairs are not visible.  The camera is looking through the stairs’ wooden bannister/guard rails, to where the morning sun is striking the wall that borders the far side of the stairs.  Reflections from the blazing illumination light up the edges of the stairs’ wooden rails while throwing the rest of their stark shapes into silhouette.

A Minimalist abstract, the bare bones of a scene.

Other images in this series can be found here and here.

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D800 with 50mm Nikkor; 400 ISO; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Full Dynamic Harsh preset.
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