The First Cut

If I got the focus in the wrong place in the last photograph, I got it bang right this time!

I saw the guy in a gap between the carriages out of the corner of my eye, turned round, focused and caught him in a split second. Thankfully I wasn't relying on an autofocus camera.

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photo

photograph

Paris

Metro

duotone

Hotel front, Paris

2006-12-02T19:09:00.000Z

I got so carried away hiding my own reflection and making sure the main points of interest were reflected clearly in good places in the window that I forgot to watch the depth of field (such as you can on a rangefinder), and I think, got the plane of focus wrong.

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photo

photograph

photography

duotone

Paris

Government building, Paris

2006-12-02T18:59:00.000Z

We walked and got lost.

There were embassies and government buildings in the area. Perhaps this is one.

You can also see some of the softening and vignetting suffered by the XA in the corners of the frame. It doesn't really bother me, though. The strength is in the complete package.

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photo

photograph

photography

duotone

Paris

Candles, Notre Dame

2006-12-02T18:54:00.000Z

Inside the Notre Dame. So many candles.

I took quite a few, in between the jostling sightseers and worshippers. I like this one best, as far as it goes.

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photo

photography

Paris

Notre Dame

candles

duotone

Bear, Paris

2006-12-02T13:20:00.000Z

I took my wife to Paris in October to celebrate her birthday.

It wasn't a photographic trip, so I kept the gear to a minimum, just my trusty Olympus XA, bought secondhand in Birmingham in about 1980. It's only recently that I've come to really fall in love with the camera. It's small, inconspicuous (it's black, unlike most shiny digital P&Ss, and you don't have to wave it about at the end of your arm to see the screen), and the lens is pretty good if you stop it down.

I also love this picture of a window display, although I do have a slight problem with this kind of photography. The real creativity lies with the person who dressed the window, setting up the idea in the first place, but I'll argue I found some nice diagonals and did some subtle digital manipulation :-)

I hope it makes you smile.

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photography

duotone

Paris

shop

cuddly toy

bear

teddy

Worthing Pier, late afternoon

2006-12-02T13:13:00.000Z

Another of my informal project to document around the sea front where I live. It's tough trying to see familiar things in a new way. This time, I've split-toned the image.

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photo

photography

Worthing

pier

sepia

split-toned

Chichester doorways

2006-09-17T18:31:00.000+01:00

The first pic here from the digital point and shoot camera that I bought for taking pictures for my food blog (www.mealsonblogs.com).

The quality is fine for the Web, but the lens isn't up to using for A4 prints.

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photo

photos

Chichester

doorways

Brighton Summer 2006 #4

2006-09-16T21:20:00.000+01:00

They tell me that the little electric train running east from the pier to the marina is the world's oldest. Here's the station.

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photos

duotone

Brighton

electric

train

station

Brighton Summer 2006 #3

2006-09-16T21:16:00.000+01:00

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photos

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duotone

Brighton

Brighton Summer 2006 #2

2006-09-16T21:11:00.000+01:00

A little further along the pier, people were queueing up to lose their money :-)

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photos

duotone

Brighton

pier

funfair

Brighton Summer 2006 #1

2006-09-16T20:59:00.000+01:00

This guy was asleep in his chair, and life was just going on around him. I was fortunate to capture the seagull in the opposite corner, too.

This photo - like the other pix in the sequence - is gently duotoned to warm up the image. As a process, it really comes into its own when output to my inkjet printer, when any colour casts are controlled by, in effect, choosing my own one!

Brighton shop

2006-06-15T08:52:00.000+01:00

Shops and shoppers in the North Laine area of Brighton.

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photo

photography

Brighton

North Laine

St Mary's Churchyard, Sompting #9

2006-04-29T00:23:00.000+01:00

This is the last one of the churchyard for the moment. Perhaps too many gravestones?

St Mary's Churchyard, Sompting #8

2006-04-29T00:18:00.000+01:00

I find this one sad. 'Grandad', on the left, is obviously new. While, as you move from left to right, the graves get older.

St Mary's Churchyard, Sompting #7

2006-04-29T00:14:00.000+01:00

St Mary's Churchyard, Sompting #6

2006-04-29T00:11:00.000+01:00

St Mary's Churchyard, Sompting #5

2006-04-29T00:08:00.000+01:00

St Mary's Churchyard, Sompting #4

2006-04-29T00:05:00.000+01:00

I find this image a little macabre. These gravestones look so much like people queueing...

St Mary's Churchyard, Sompting #3

2006-04-24T00:02:00.000+01:00

This single black marble headstone sticks out amongst the lighter coloured ones.

St Mary's Churchyard, Sompting #2

2006-04-23T12:15:00.000+01:00

The same place; same morning. For the photography geeks among you, this is on Kodak Professional BW400CN - another C41 process B&W film.

St Mary's Churchyard, Sompting #1

2006-04-10T19:18:00.000+01:00

Same film, a couple of weeks later.

If you look around this site, you may have seen this composition before :-)

Highdown Hill #2

2006-04-10T19:06:00.000+01:00

Since I dusted off my serious cameras a year ago, I've been trying to standardise my methods and workflow. I work in 35mm film have it processed and scanned. So far, I've been shooting colour neg and using software to convert it to B&W.

Mistake! I was given an out of date roll of Ilford XP2 C41 process B&W film and these latest pix are the result. Frankly, I've been blown away by the quality - the smoothness, richness of tone and lack of grain. So it's back to one body with colour and the other with black & white.

I've done a little tweaking on this pic, but the two previous images are straight.

Looking north from Highdown Hill

2006-04-10T19:01:00.000+01:00

Looking north from Highdown Hill towards a low spot in the South Downs. I think the village of Clapham is just visible in the valley.

Goats

2006-04-10T18:53:00.000+01:00

I went for a walk over Highdown Hill, the closest piece of high ground to where I live and the sea. On the opposite side of the hill from where I started, I found these goats in a field, close to farm buildings.

Beach Hut, Worthing

2006-03-10T22:44:00.000Z

The beach huts along the seafront here in Worthing have caused me to waste more images than almost anything else. There's just something about the angles, the shadows and light, the textures and the contrasts that I'm a sucker for.

Now, I don't say I haven't taken any worthwhile images of them before - I think there are some on this blog - but this is, by far, the one that gives me the most pleasure.

Taken on a sunny day last month, the obvious colour rendition came together the more I pushed the image towards extreme black and white in Photoshop.

Something has got lost in making a JPEG for posting here - especially on the larger version, so stay with this one, won't you :-). The density and richness of the print on my office wall is really something to be seen.

Lewes, 5 November 2005

2006-02-24T23:54:00.000Z

Anarchy reigns once a year in the normally quiet Sussex town of Lewes. On November 5th all the rules go out of the window, and a spirit from another age arrives (this isn't it, by the way :-) ).

One of the finer traditions is burning a huge effigy of someone who has displeased the good people of Lewes. Last year, it was Charles Clarke, our Home Secretary, carrier of our, frankly, barmy ID cards scheme.

It was strangely satisfying seeing the old chap going up in smoke!

Path and cliff edge, The Lizard

2006-02-24T21:26:00.000Z

The cod Victoriana still looks good. So here's another from the same film, given the same treatment, but looking a bit different, owning to the preponderance of dark tones.

I can almost feel the gale force wind and the stinging drops of spray or rain, or whatever it was. It brings back being - literally - on the edge. I'll let you believe I had the plate camera and enormous tripod, as well.

Bushes at The Lizard, Cornwall

2006-02-19T20:33:00.000Z

It was so windy, the branches on these bushes were already blurred. I've softened the image further, and toned it. At the moment, I love this piece of cod Victoriana. I've made a print, and will see how I feel about it in a week or two. If it still looks good, then I'll treat a series of images taken that day in this way.

Looking west from the Downs

2006-02-19T20:20:00.000Z

A gently split-toned version of a colour original. It's very tempting to go with the colour version, as the sky was just getting the first tones of sunset, but I like this one. There's a lot of detail in the original, which doesn't come across in the JPEG here. I'd love to see this image as a large print.

Out of our front window

2006-02-19T01:17:00.000Z

One evening, September 2005. No retouching, no playing with colours. It was really like this. They say we get one of these every year here in Worthing.

Up on the Downs #2

2006-02-18T16:53:00.000Z

A little late for Valentine's

2006-02-18T16:32:00.000Z

Worthing, November 2005

Photographic truths

2006-01-11T23:26:00.000Z

Stolen from the Canon FD YahooGroup:

# 1. The best scenic views are clearly designated by highway signs reading
NO STOPPING ANYTIME.
# 2. Edward Steichen owned a three-legged dog, which he named Tripod.
# 3. The Post Office folds all parcels containing photographs.
# 4. Camera straps never fail above soft surfaces.
# 5. Lens caps and cable releases can become invisible at will.
# 6. Spotone bottles are designed to tip over when the cap is removed.
# 7. Financial success in photography is directly related to proper choice
of subject matter. Falling airplanes, exploding volcanoes, and certain
Presidential motorcades work best.
# 8. No two light meters agree.
# 9. The word "Daguerreotype" cannot be spelled correctly.
# 10. A new Hasselblad would take better pictures than your present camera.
# 11. 1/60 at f/8 is the correct exposure for all photographs.
# 12. When your friends finally realize that you are a true artist,
committed to making sensitive and meaningful images, they will ask you
to photograph their wedding.
# 13. Color slide viewing cures insomnia.
# 14. On any tripod, only two legs work properly.
# 15. Dust spots are attracted to sky areas.
# 16. Yes, PHOTOGRAPHERS DO IT IN THE DARK... but they have to stop every
thirty seconds to agitate.
# 17. There's nothing wrong with a 35mm that a 6x9 folder can't cure.
# 18. Ansel Adams had three Secret Zones known only to him.
# 20. Fast films compensate for slow photographers.
# 21. Mounting a photograph is a misdemeanor in Arkansas.
# 22. Owning more than one camera assures that you will always have the
wrong camera for any given picture.
# 23. A camera store will charge $75 to repair a camera that has been
adjusted with a butter knife.
# 24. Falling caneras are attracted to rocks.
# 25. Into every life a little grain must fall.

Kindly stolen from:
http://www.johndesq.com/moskva5/

Up on the Downs #1

2005-12-24T12:20:00.000Z

The ridge of the South Downs up above Worthing. We can see this ridge from a different angle from our kitchen.

Newquay, Cornwall

2005-12-20T00:02:00.000Z

Gorse (possibly), suffering from the onslaught of the wind on a headland in Cornwall. I'm not sure why there's a white line at the bottom of the image, but it's only the 'First Cut', and it's late, so I'll make the adjustments and repost on another day.

People on the Downs

2005-12-18T13:11:00.000Z

A skateboarder (the guy on the far left) and friends at the top of the South Downs, near to Cissbury Ring, late one November afternoon.

Fair, Worthing #3

2005-11-27T00:04:00.000Z

This is another suggested crop of an image I posted previously (Fair, Worthing #2). I think this one's more successful. I've also increased the colour saturation, making the feel even more 1960s Kodachrome.

Shoreham airshow #9

2005-11-26T23:53:00.000Z

It was suggested I try a looser crop on Shoreham airshow #1. I'm not sure it improves things. I rather like the feeling of straining to lift off that's suggested by the original crop.

Goring Beach #4

2005-11-26T23:39:00.000Z

Shoreham airshow #8

2005-11-12T22:18:00.000Z

Shoreham airshow #7

2005-11-10T21:29:00.000Z

Worthing

2005-11-10T21:27:00.000Z

Chichester #1

2005-11-10T19:48:00.000Z

Steyning

2005-11-10T19:46:00.000Z

Steyning

2005-11-10T19:43:00.000Z

Lyons Cakes

2005-11-10T19:41:00.000Z

Hang gliders #3

2005-11-10T19:40:00.000Z

Hang gliders #2

2005-11-10T19:37:00.000Z

Hang gliders #1

2005-11-10T19:35:00.000Z

Beach huts #1

2005-11-03T22:44:00.000Z

Wind surfing gear #2

2005-11-03T22:43:00.000Z

Wind surfing gear #1

2005-11-03T22:41:00.000Z

Goring beach #3

2005-11-03T22:40:00.000Z

Goring beach #2

2005-11-03T22:37:00.000Z

Goring beach #1

2005-11-03T22:22:00.000Z

Shoreham airshow #6

2005-11-02T23:26:00.000Z

Shoreham airshow #5

2005-11-02T23:24:00.000Z

Worthing Pier #2

2005-11-02T23:12:00.000Z

Worthing Pier #1

2005-11-02T23:09:00.000Z

Fair, Worthing #2

2005-11-02T23:04:00.000Z

Fair, Worthing #1

2005-11-02T23:03:00.000Z

Boats, Worthing #3

2005-11-02T22:54:00.000Z

Boats, Worthing #2

2005-11-02T22:49:00.000Z

Boats, Worthing #1

2005-11-02T22:45:00.000Z

Shoreham airshow #4

2005-11-02T21:16:00.000Z

Shoreham airshow #3

2005-11-02T21:07:00.000Z

Shoreham airshow #2

2005-11-02T20:59:00.000Z

Shoreham airshow #1

2005-11-01T23:41:00.000Z

2005-10-26T00:05:00.000+01:00

The Eden Project, Cornwall

2005-10-26T00:04:00.000+01:00

The Eden Project, Cornwall

2005-10-26T00:02:00.000+01:00

The Eden Project, Cornwall

2005-10-26T00:01:00.000+01:00

The Eden Project, Cornwall

2005-10-25T23:59:00.000+01:00

The Eden Project, Cornwall

2005-10-25T23:58:00.000+01:00

EAATM, Badingham

2005-10-25T23:57:00.000+01:00

EAATM, Badingham

2005-10-25T23:56:00.000+01:00

EAATM, Badingham

2005-10-25T23:54:00.000+01:00

EAATM, Badingham

2005-10-25T23:19:00.000+01:00

Nantucket Island

2005-10-25T23:18:00.000+01:00

Nantucket Island

2005-10-25T23:17:00.000+01:00

Nantucket Island

2005-10-25T23:15:00.000+01:00

Nantucket Island

2005-10-25T23:10:00.000+01:00

Nantucket Island

2005-10-25T22:33:00.000+01:00

St Ives, Cornwall

2005-10-25T22:27:00.000+01:00

St Ives, Cornwall

2005-10-08T23:24:00.000+01:00

Cropping. It can cause a lot of - uh - lively debate amongst photographers.

Two groups don't do it. Beginners and full-frame purists.

I'm not going to knock the FFPs. If they want to add an artificial constraint to their work, that's their choice.

But, make no mistake, it is artificial - the aspect ratio of your chosen imaging tool is whatever it is because of a manufacturer's decision somewhere along the line. Me? I like to wrest back control.

I also think there are great parallels between the photographic process - workflow, if you will - and the writing process I make most of my living from. I use many steps before arriving at the completed draft. I plan, write and revise; in fact, revisions are probably the single most time-consuming activity.

Cropping images is no more than the photographic equivalent of revisions to text. Just as integral to the process of producing images. So I'm completely relaxed in presenting images with whatever aspect ratio suits.

2005-10-08T23:14:00.001+01:00

St Ives, Cornwall

2005-10-08T23:14:00.000+01:00

St Ives, Cornwall

2005-10-08T23:13:00.000+01:00

St Ives, Cornwall

2005-10-08T23:12:00.000+01:00

St Ives, Cornwall

2005-10-08T23:11:00.000+01:00

St Ives, Cornwall

2005-10-08T22:47:00.000+01:00

Brussels

2005-10-08T22:39:00.000+01:00

London

2005-10-08T22:38:00.000+01:00

London

2005-10-08T22:37:00.001+01:00

London

2005-10-08T22:37:00.000+01:00

London

2005-10-08T22:35:00.002+01:00

Brussels

2005-10-08T22:35:00.001+01:00

Brussels

2005-10-08T22:35:00.000+01:00

Brussels