ARCHIVE 604 – ON THE UPPER DECK OF THE EARLY MORNING BUS

 

 

.

Three travellers on the upper deck of the early morning bus to work.

The woman beside the window is engrossed in a newspaper, her expression reacting – negatively, perhaps –  to the day’s news.  But the other two people – further into the shot and less clearly seen – appear more passive and preoccupied.  And the steaminess of the bus’s window is thick, almost opaque in places, and densely textured.

Those two people at the back get to me.  First, they can only be partly seen, its almost as if they are fading into the background – which brings thoughts about the dehumanising effects of some workplaces, and of the unnaturalness of lives spent commuting and working in cities.  And second, both of these people are staring fixedly ahead.  Are they somewhere far away in daydreams, or do they see something nearer at hand, closer ahead, in either the present time or in times soon to come?

Also, this blurred image is starting to look like some sort of painting or daub (more probably the latter), and when any photo does this I feel I’m getting somewhere.

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, and click onto that image to enlarge it further – recommended >>> come on in, the grain is lovely!

Technique: X-T2 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 300mm (equiv); 12,800 ISO; Lightroom, using the Provia/Standard film simulation; Temple Meads, central Bristol; 15 Dec 2017.

.
.
.

ARCHIVE: LOOKING AT CARS 45 – WOMAN IN CAR

 

 

.

As so often happens, a grab shot – time for only one, very quick shot –  as passing traffic momentarily slowed down.  Luckily I had the camera set to spot metering linked to the active autofocus point, something I’m using quite a lot at the moment.  And the telephoto zoom was fully extended.  I just raised the camera to my eye, it found focus on her hand almost instantaneously, and I fired.

What do I think about this image?  Well, a passing soul, a passing someone, a stranger to me as I am to her, someone going somewhere.  But now, I suppose, part of a design, resting her fingers upon – or is she helping support?! – a curving metallic blueness set in a photographically enhanced darkness.  And if I could produce more such images, of beings in artificial, abstract realities, I would.

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.  These Looking at Cars posts are here: 1 (with context); 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 .  Each post will open in a separate window. 

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); 800 ISO; Lightroom, including the Classic Chrome film simulation; Park Street, central Bristol; 7 Apr 2017.

.
.
.

ARCHIVE 597 – POSTER

 

 

.

Poster in a Truro shop window; 25 April 2007.

I don’t usually take photos of other people’s photos, pictures or graffiti – although I do like good graffiti / street art very much ->>> I am, after all, a resident of Banksy’s hometown. 

Its not so much that photographing others’ images feels like theft or plagiarising, its more that I prefer to concoct my own images.   Having someone else’s image as a part of a composition is ok – see this example –  but making someone else’s image the principal subject or all of one of mine just isn’t really me.

But this picture struck me – the pose and vacant gaze on the right and the gawping, mindless expression on the left.  Whoever took this picture deserves abundant applause!

And what should we all do?  Well, of course, like sheep, we should all mindlessly follow whatever fashion chooses to dictate ….  but that bus is overcrowded >>> anyone for the Individuality Special???

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

Technique: Nikon F6 with 24m-85m Nikkor lens; Fuji Sensia 400 colour slide film rated at 800 ISO.

.
.
.

ARCHIVE KENYA 112 – MAASAI (MONO)

 

 

.

Maasai woman in the Maasai Mara Game Reserve, Kenya; April 1979.

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

Technique: OM-1 with 50mm Zuiko lens;  Agfa CT18 colour slide film rated at 64 ISO, converted to  mono in Capture NX2.

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.

.

.

.

ARCHIVE KENYA 107 – ON A FARM IN WESTERN KENYA

 

 

.

Sub-Saharan Africa’s love affair with bright colour: Luo woman on a farm near Akala, in western Kenya; April 1979.

She is sitting in front of the wooden door of a mud hut with a thatched roof.

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

Technique: OM-1 with 50mm Zuiko lens; Agfa CT18 colour slide, rated at 64 ISO to further saturate colour.

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.

.

.

.

ARCHIVE: LOOKING AT CARS 31 – STELLA AND EUGENE SET THEIR HEARTS ON THE NICE NEW CAR OUTSIDE THE SHOP WINDOW (MONO)

 

 

.

I’m trying to do different things with these Looking at Cars posts and, well, here is something different – seen while looking across Park Street, in central Bristol, on 24 Apr 2013.

A reversal of reality: the inhabitants of shop windows are now real people, looking into the shop window displays of our world and playing out their materialistic tendencies.  When reality reverses, the dummies go shopping, right?  I can only hope that, when they display me on their mantelpiece, it will be with due sensitivity and prominence, and showing my best profile too …

When I’m processing images and start to see something going right, something promising emerging in front of me, I often start to hum, whistle and even sing (try not to imagine the last of these, especially if you’re under age or have just eaten).  The volume of my ravings can increase as what I’m working on really comes together, and my wife has mentioned strange noises emanating from the FATman Photos Launch Pad … and you thought you were weird … well that makes two of us then …

Anyway, when working on this, I found myself continually humming and singing snatches from Paul Simon’s “Rene and Georgette Magritte with their dog after the war”, and maybe that’s who I see these two as being.  I’ve called them Stella and Eugene because that occurred to me earlier, and I can really see him as a Eugene, but perhaps they’re really Rene and Georgette.

The tone and contrast have been added to create more of an unreal atmosphere.  I had thought about removing the small bright area near the top left corner but, because I wanted the whole diameter of the big car’s wheel, and room to spare each side, this small, pale rectangle helps balance the composition.

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 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 .  Each post will open in a separate window.

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

Technique: Canon G11 PowerShot at 140mm (35mm equiv); 400 ISO; converted to mono and toned in Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the High Contrast Harsh preset.

.
.
.

ARCHIVE KENYA 99 – LUO FAMILY

 

 

.

Luo family on a farm near Akala, in the far west of Kenya; April 1979.

The backdrop is the painted wall of a wattle and daub hut, the smooth surface layer of which is starting to flake off on the far right.  Minor points, maybe that I’ve only really appreciated now, after all these years, are the Vicks poster and the kitten.

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

Technique: OM-1 with 50mm Zuiko lens; Agfa CT18 colour slide film, rated at 64 ISO.

UPDATE: The people in Kenya were in the main very friendly and hospitable.  I very much enjoyed my years in that country.  Again – once again – I wish that I had photographed more of the people that I met there.

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.

.

.

.

ARCHIVE KENYA 97 – HOUSE ON A FARM

 

 

.

House on a farm near Akala, in the far west of Kenya; April 1979.

These are Luo people who live in the immensely fertile far west of Kenya, not far from Lake Victoria – a vast body of water that supplies them with vast quantities of fish, and with frequent thunder storms which keep their land totally green.

The structure consists of mud walls, above which a conical thatched roof is mounted on a great mass of wooden poles. There is quite a gap between the roof and the walls but, in this hot, equatorial area, cold weather is not an issue. This hut has at least two rooms: the doorway to a second room is to the left of the people. The mud walls have decorations drawn straight onto them, and there is an oil lamp hanging up. Notice how everything, including the chest of drawers and some of the pictures hanging on the walls, has cloth covers.

Food and water are not an issue for these people, they live in a wonderfully fecund landscape. But there are diseases – it was here that malaria first got its claws into me, despite my using mosquito nets and prophylactics.

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

Technique: OM-1 with 28mm Zuiko lens; Agfa CT18 colour slide film, rated at 64 ISO.

.
.
.

ARCHIVE KENYA 91 – IN THE DIDA GALGALLA DESERT

 

 

.

Nomadic tribeswoman leading camels through the Dida Galgalla Desert in northern Kenya; June 1978.

This image is rather pale and insipid because I’ve lightened it to show more detail – it was taken in very harsh, overhead sunlight so that much of the subject matter is in shadow and silhouette.

This photo shows a person and her home on the move.  Amongst other things, the camels are carrying sections of the curved walls and supports of low huts, which will be erected at the new dwelling site.  A nomadic existence is essential in such dry areas – people follow rainfall, which is a source of water for man and animal alike, and also of greenery for the livestock.

This was a hurried photograph – soon after I raised the camera, rocks were flying my way.  Which reminds me of the roving packs of feral – and no doubt rabies-ridden – dogs in the Sultanate of Oman.  They were so used to having rocks thrown at them that there was no need to actually throw anything – all that was required was to momentarily stoop towards the ground as if about to pick up a rock – of which, as here, there was an inexhaustible supply – and the canines were heading quickly for the hills.

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 side film rated at 64 ISO.

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.
.
.
.

ARCHIVE: LOOKING AT CARS 10 – RUSH HOUR, RED LIGHT

 

 

.
Red light in the rush hour:  queuing traffic, frustration, cold winter sunshine.

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 . 

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: X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 300mm (equiv); Lightroom; Bristol Bridge, central Bristol; 11 Nov 2016.

.

.

.