A shot on the juggle

In between ferrying a friend around while he dropped of his car for his wife (long story...) and us visiting a friend in hospital, I managed this opportunistic shot...

Dodging the traffic

..well, not quite. There were only a few cars around and I was stood in the cross-hatchings in the middle of the road. I did have to seek the pavement (sidewalk) a couple of times for safety while I was looking for the best viewpoint. It happened to be outside the rear car-entrance to Plymouth's Charles Cross police station and I got a lovely smile from a woman police driver who saw what I was up to as she turned into it.

It just so happened that the only parking space I could find near to the Uni was just opposite this spot and as I got out the car to stretch my legs while I was waiting, The first view I had of it was from this angle and, as it turned out, it was the best viewpoint—I only had to get closer to fill the frame.

Sanity's Edge

Ok, I've given it a bit of a film-noir treatment, as that's how it spoke to me, but what really grabbed my attention was the way that the glassless window-opening framed the stairwell and its lovely bold shapes—patterns framed by patterns.

Well, it appealed to me anyway!

In answer to a comment a little earlier by Donna I said to watch out for my next post. I hope it was worth it! It's certainly turned out better than I'd dare hope. What do you think? Does it do anything for you?

comments / critique / feedback always welcome :)

Stumble It!

Resist the Machine

I was going through the "promising" pile in the digital darkroom and ended up playing around with this.
[Image updated: 7th Oct; v. slight crop to remove distractions at lh frame edge]

Resist The Machine

...while being constrained by convention

Resist The Machine

I was at a friend's house and paid attention to the walls for the first time. A Devon bricklaying style—and probably used in other places, too. Come to think of it, I've seen fireplaces with stonework like this as well.

Anyway, I think my subconscious must have noticed them on my regular visits and has probably been screaming silently about them for ages.

I love the shapes and the strong horizontal flow. The overall feel is almost "Mondrian", with lovely textures in the natural stone. I chose this framing as it 'felt' right—a good selection of larger bricks, nicely lit by the mid-afternoon sun. At this time, the sun is still quite high and the resulting harsher shadows emphasised the horizontals.

In some sense I chose it because I can equate to what it's saying. We're all being forced into uniformity in many aspects of our lives but even so, we can still retain much of our individuality while still fitting in together. It's when the verticals all start to line up as well that we've got to watch out for, because then we all become little boxes.

comments / critique / feedback always welcome :)

Stumble It!

Abstract interior architecture

Well, not quite abstract but with definite leanings...

What's in a name?

This work is an homage to Douglas Hofstadter and his seminal work, Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid,a book that helped me on my journey to understand 'life, the universe and everything'.

Three Part Fugue With Inversion

A photographer friend, John Miles, had invited me to see his digital darkroom set-up in Royal William Yard. On leaving, I noticed the beginnings of this arrangement as I turned right (I came into the scene 'stage left'). I backed up as far as I could, even leaning backwards over the rail a little to fill the frame with the composition I was after and made the shot. As usual, I fired off two or three (especially when there's lowish light and it's hand-held), just to make sure!

The title is chosen for the composition. The various compositional structures rotate, reflect, invert and repeat each other, much like JS Bach did with the themes in his fugues. There's also hints of Escher, with the deep perspective and hints of a jumping of levels.

I didn't need to do a great deal to this shot, just a little bit straightening and some dodging and burning to enhance the lighting and some of the textures.


comments / critique / feedback always welcome :)

Stumble It!

Waiting for sugar and milk

I went round to a mate's (mansour eskandary) today — dreadful — no milk or sugar, so...

No tea!

What could be worse? Round for a chinwag, maybe take forward his requirements for selling online, only to find the slack git didn't tell me to bring milk and sugar with me as he'd run out.

So off he went to the local shop — about 20 mins there and back. I'd brought my camera with me just in case he could put his hands on the right gear for some practice product shots — fat chance, he couldn't even find the black backcloth he said he had!

Reaching For The Skies

I'd spotted the farm barn opposite where he lives before but could never find the right spot to frame these wonderful parallels. Well, on this occasion, the light was right and so I tried to find that perfect viewpoint again.

I eventually climbed and perched on top of a wall and, voila, by leaning out a bit (and by using the perspective / straightening tool when I got it to the digital darkroom) I knew I'd got the spot.

Being high up meant I could look down a little over the hedge and I spotted that I coud just catch those weeds growing against the wall. Bingo! Just that bit of additional interest that would make the shot work, in my opinion. Artistic intent realised, just take the shot. Now, would the scene I could see in my mind's eye come out in the digital darkroom?

...then the dang clouds blocked the sun for a while, ruining the lighting. So I just stood around atop the wall double checking my camera settings — ISO metering etc. and looking like a right berk! Quite often the standard pose for a photographer! Sure enough, the sun came out again (after I'd said hello to a couple of surprised cyclists) and I made the shot.

After a suitable number of cups of tea, got back and straight to the DD (digital darkroom) for 'developing'. I'm happy with the way it's turned out — pretty much spot on to my intent, though I have to admit, the weeds were serendipitous but became an important part of the composition — as implied by the title.

So, does it work for you?

feedback / comments / critique welcomed as usual :)
[more shots from the wall due soon]

Stumble It!