ARCHIVE 577 – NEAR WEST LITTLETON (MONO)

 

 

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Early in the day: above the byway, east of West Littleton; South Gloucestershire; 12 Apr 2017.

More context on this second visit to the extreme south of the Cotswold Hills, and more images, can be found here.

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

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 206mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Neutral preset.

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ARCHIVE: LOOKING AT CARS 17 – DARK CAR (MONO)

 

 

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An image of three parts.  The two cars, manufactured and highly mobile confections of metal, plastic, rubber and glass, racing away from each other on a road that is certainly not for those more sensitive souls who are forever slowing down to compose poetry or look at the wildflowers.

And then the white line in the road’s center, undulating slightly as it climbs towards the hill’s crest.

And finally the light, spotlighting the dark car as it rushes urgently towards us,  and seen more faintly through the trees on the right, and then more brightly (the light at the end of the tunnel?) on the left.

The Looking at Cars series: looking back through the nine years of the FATman Photos archives (and some new images too), I’m posting pictures of cars in various contexts and styles.  Earlier Looking at Cars posts are here: 1 (with context); 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 . 

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

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Architectural preset; fast road over the Mendip Hills, above Compton Martin, Somerset; 24 Nov 2017.
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OUTER SUBURBS 273 – WALKING, AND LOOKING DOWN

 

 

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Walking on a pavement – and pausing to look down – just as the sunlight was glancing nearly horizontally across the ground.

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 25mm (equiv); 400 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Modern 01 profile; south Bristol; 7 Aug 2020.
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OUTER SUBURBS 245 – PARKED CAR 17, EARLY LIGHT ON DRIVING SEAT

 

 

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Early morning, the streets quiet and deserted, and a shaft of reflected sunlight illuminates the driving seat of a decidedly up market auto.

There are earlier images in this Parked Car series here: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 .  Each will open in a separate window.

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.

Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 800 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Modern 01 profile; south Bristol; 25 June 2020.
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ARCHIVE KENYA 43 – ZEBRA AND FOAL, CAUGHT IN SUNLIGHT (MONO)

 

 

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Common Zebra with foal, Amboseli National Park, Kenya; July 1978. 

These two animals were caught in a momentary shaft of sunlight – in the great darkness behind them are the lower slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro, completely swathed in cloud.  They look almost like statues – or like dancers, with the foal caught in mid turn. 

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

Technique: OM-1 with 75-150 Zuiko lens at 150mm; Agfa CT18 colour slide film rated at 64 ISO; converted to mono, and enhanced, with Silver Efex Pro.

THE ARCHIVE KENYA SERIES

I’m re-posting photographs that I took in Kenya over 30 years ago.  You can find more context here .  Click onto the “Archive Kenya” tag (below) to see more of these film images from Kenya.
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ARCHIVE KENYA 13 – TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN

 

 

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A total eclipse of the Sun occurred in Kenya on 16 February 1980. Better views were forecast for southern Kenya, and so four of us drove down to an area of open bush just north of the Taita Hills to see it. I probably missed most of the experience as I was frenetically bracketing (decreasing) exposures with my set up of the OM-1 camera on a tripod, using the 400mm (= 8x magnification) Vivitar telephoto – and trying not to have my eyes boiled into the bargain!  However I do remember looking westwards and seeing the great bulk of Mt Kilimanjaro turn black as the eclipse shadow swept over it. And then we were very soon in twilight, with the birds singing their dusk chorus.

WHAT DO THESE PICTURES SHOW?

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

The Sun is so bright that nothing of its structure can usually be seen. More detail is visible during total eclipses however, and I gradually decreased the photographs’ exposures, to see more deeply into the Sun’s structure. The photograph on the right shows the Sun’s blazing white Corona or “atmosphere”, which extends for millions of kilometres out into space from our star and is only visible during eclipses. The Corona consists of extremely hot gases – temperatures of millions of degrees.

The photo on the left was taken with greatly reduced exposure, so that most of the corona has failed to register. A close look at the periphery of the Sun’s black disc shows a thin but distinct line of bright pink at about 5 o’clock on the disc. This pink area is either the Sun’s Chromosphere, or a Solar Prominence. The deep red Chromosphere is one of the Sun’s outer layers, with temperatures of 4,500 to 20,000 degrees K. Solar Prominences are relatively cooler material that erupts up through the Chromosphere and out into the Corona.

CAN PHOTOGRAPHY ROB US OF ACTUAL EXPERIENCE?

Reflecting on the thought that I probably missed much of the experience of a total solar eclipse because I was so intent on photographing it (despite the fact that, let’s face it,  thousands upon thousands of eclipse images have already been obtained by other photographers in the past) brings me to something that I’m sure of. 

And this is that being an enthusiastic photographer can rob us of fully experiencing people, places, happenings, whatever: we are simply too busy setting up and taking pictures to fully take in all that is around us.  I don’t see this at all as a reason not to be an enthusiastic photographer, but it is something to keep in mind and to remain conscious of.  For me, I suppose, a compromise would simply be to go somewhere without any photographic intentions whatsoever – but to have my little Canon PowerShot G11 slung over my shoulder or in my rucksack, in case some photographic potential appeared and I felt like taking advantage of it.

THE ARCHIVE KENYA SERIES

I’m re-posting photographs that I took in Kenya over 30 years ago.  You can find more context here .  Click onto the “Archive Kenya” tag (below) to see more of these film images from Kenya.

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ARCHIVE 484 – HARBOUR SHALLOWS

 

 

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Sunlight twinkling in shallow water, Mevagissey harbour, Cornwall; 4 Oct 2006. 

A bright sunny morning, and we walked down to Mevagissey’s harbour.  The tide was out, and there were shallows above the dark rocks of the harbour’s floor.  The sun shone brightly, and as the shallow water was pulled this way and that by wavelets and currents, the bright reflections skittered around ceaselessly and fast – and I needed a high shutter speed to capture a frozen moment of this transient beauty.

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

Technique: F6 with 80-200 Nikkor lens; Fuji Provia 400 colour slide film, rated at 1600 ISO.

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OUTER SUBURBS 219 – EARLY MORNING LIGHT

 

 

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Walking in the early morning, walking in the lockdown.  The rising sun inches up behind houses across the road from me and, finding gaps between them, shines through onto the houses, still in shadow, beside me.

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.

Technique: TG-5 at 80mm (equiv); 320 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Vivid profile; south Bristol; 5 Apr 2020.

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OUTER SUBURBS 216 – HOUSE WITH BURGLAR ALARM

 

 

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Walking in the lockdown on a beautiful, clear morning.  The low angle sunlight was making the end of a block of modern housing glow, and so to a triangle of shadowed wall at lower right, and the sloping roof of the house parallel with the top of the frame. These are the design elements in the image, and just by sheer luck the burglar alarm is more or less at the intersection of the upper and right thirds (see Rule of Thirds, 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.

Technique: TG-5 at 53mm (equiv); 320 ISO; spot metering; tilted camera; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Vivid profile; south Bristol; 5 Apr 2020.
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BRISTOL 167 – STREET SCENE 7 (MONO)

 

 

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Other images in the Bristol Street Scenes series are here: 1 2 3 4 5 6 .  Searching on the “street” tag (below here) will also find these posts.

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

Technique: Z 6 with 70-300 Nikkor lens at 300mm; 1600 ISO; spot metering; in-camera processing of the raw file, using the Graphite profile; Cotham, central Bristol; 18 Dec 2019.
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