Looking at – and seeing – the world
August 21, 2018 Leave a comment
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Tag on the wall of a bar.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.
Technique: X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 223mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom, using the Velvia/Vivid film simulation; Little King Street, central Bristol; 19 July 2016.
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August 11, 2018 8 Comments
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Bristol’s city centre is actually quite small, it can be walked right across in an hour or so, but it is surrounded by suburbs that are vaster (and often wealthier) on the north, and smaller (and in many parts less well to do) on the south. Most of my pictures of the city have been from the city centre but here is one quite far out in the southern suburbs. This is the A37, known as the Wells Road, which is a main artery heading south out of the city towards the tiny city of Wells, and also Yeovil and – that (to me anyway) holiest of holies – the county of Dorset.
The edge of the city is not far ahead, perhaps a couple of miles or so, and beyond that are some of my favourite areas of countryside – the Chew Valley, the Mendip Hills and, of course – perhaps my spiritual home – the Somerset Levels. This blog has image Categories for each of those areas – see the Categories drop-down list, which can be found in the sidebar, just below the gravatars of readers who have left Comments.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window, and click onto that image to enlarge it yet again – recommended.
Technique: X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 129mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom, starting at the Provia/Standard film simulation; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Antique Portrait preset; south Bristol; 19 July 2016.
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August 1, 2018 6 Comments
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An old and very dear friend of mine is a professional psychologist and avid people-watcher. Her insights into everyday human behaviour never cease to fascinate and amaze me. I had the idea sometime back of giving her a photobook of the Going To Work images (produced via Blurb) for her birthday, and that project is moving ahead. In the course of assembling these pictures for use in her book, I have found six images that have not been posted in the Going To Work series but which really belong there, and so I am incorporating them into this series here. This is the second of the six. You can find the other images here: 1 .
Morning sunlight blasts up Christmas Steps, a steep lane connecting two busy city centre roads. But there is no traffic here, the Steps are purely pedestrian and, early in the morning, a steady stream of people use this ancient thoroughfare as a short cut down into the city centre.
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 72 73 74 75 76 . Each will open in a separate window.
Technique: close-in with a wide angle lens, low angle sunlight, and textures all around. This was never going to be a colour image but, as always, I like to capture images in colour, and then convert them to mono post-capture with Silver Efex Pro 2. This method does, I think, provide far more options and potential for the final image(or images) than having the camera itself shoot mono images.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window.
Technique: X-T1 with 10-24 Fujinon lens at 24mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; Lightroom; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Film Noir 1 preset; 16 Sept 2016.
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July 22, 2018 16 Comments
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Smart and classy,
washed, brushed and neat,
hearts and minds set on a good day out.
And hurrying on past anything else,
hurrying on past any unwelcome reality,
hurrying on past decay.
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Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window, and click onto that image to enlarge it yet further.
Technique: X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom, using the Velvia/Vivid film preset; Triangle South, central Bristol; 9 Sept 2016.
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July 21, 2018 Leave a comment
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Going to work, standing alone at the bus stop. In a world of traffic noise, exhaust fumes and the stop’s prosaic lists of routes, destinations and (hoped for) times.
But, as always, the phone provides an alternative reality, an escape from it all.
The cars crawl slowly past, edging forwards at less than walking pace towards Bristol Bridge. The bus may be sometime.
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 72 73 74 . 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 yet again – recommended.
Technique: X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; Lightroom; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Film Noir 3 preset and adding a tone; Baldwin Street, central Bristol; 9 Sept 2016.
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July 20, 2018 10 Comments
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Reflection of a man pulling a wheeled bag across a bridge. The body of the bridge is black, and the paler structures through which the man is walking are the bridge’s guard rails.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window.
Technique: X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 123mm (equiv); 800 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, using the Velvia/Vivid film simulation; rotated; Bristol harbourside; 20 Jan 2017.
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July 14, 2018 15 Comments
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An old and very dear friend of mine is a professional psychologist and avid people-watcher. Her insights into everyday human behaviour never cease to fascinate and amaze me. I had the idea sometime back of giving her a photobook of the Going To Work images (produced via Blurb) for her birthday, and that project is moving ahead. In the course of assembling these pictures for use in her book, I have found six images that have not been posted in the Going To Work series but which really belong there, and so I am going to start incorporating them into this series here. This is the first of the six.
ORIGINAL TEXT
Morning rush hour, central Bristol; 19 July 2016.
Early morning sunlight blasts down Baldwin Street, bringing out the textures on a dented and dirty car (for which, in my world, read eminently characterful car).
And the driver, who is late and who does not have any time at all to waste, bites his nails and stares anxiously ahead at the stacked up, stationary traffic.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.
X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; Lightroom.
UPDATE
This picture was taken on the first of my early morning bus trips into Bristol city centre which, on the 19th of this month, will have been two years ago – how Time rushes by! This was the morning when I took the first of the Going To Work images, although the concept of such a photo series hadn’t then occurred to me.
Two things get to me about this picture. First of course, is the man’s body language – he’s in a hurry and in a traffic jam – bad news!
The second thing is that, for quite sometime now, when out photographing I look for good light and then try to decide what to do with it. As I’m writing this post, its a warm summer’s day, but the total overcast has made the light flat and featureless – there are no shadows, except those below the parked cars. This sort of lighting is fine for taking shots of detail, and for some portraits and abstracts, but I like chiaroscuro, a term that started off being used with regard to paintings, and which describes the effects on contrasting light and shadow in an image. And in this picture I’m looking at the early morning light glancing along the dirty and dented bodywork of the car. I really like the textures and shadows that this warm, glancing light reveals, and there is something else – this is Reality, this is not some auto magazine’s shot of a spotless, pristine and shining car >>> car porn! >>> this is what Life is really like, warts and all.
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 72 73 . Each will open in a separate window.
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July 12, 2018 10 Comments
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Close in with a car door.
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-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom; Bristol harbourside; 14 July 2016.
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July 11, 2018 6 Comments
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Mooring ropes against a ship’s rail.
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Technique: X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 200 ISO; Lightroom; Silver Efex Pro 2, starting at the Film Noir 3 preset, and adding a light coffee tone; Capture NX2, for rotation and cropping; Bristol harbourside; 14 Jul 2016.
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July 8, 2018 10 Comments
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The back of a green van showing one of its stoplights, which has reflections of a tree and clouds. And there is a door hinge, showing a little patch of blue.
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window, and click onto that image to enlarge it yet again – recommended.
Technique: X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 123mm (equiv); 400 ISO; Lightroom; Bristol harbourside; 14 July 2016.
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