City and Nature

Staying with the vertical architecture theme, this is a simple snap taken on October 7^th, 2024, on North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia, down near the east end. What makes it interesting is the juxtaposition of the solid, man-made geometry of the buildings against the random, organic nature of the trees, all bathed in bright sunshine for vivid colour. I love scenes which place nature and the artificial world together like this, the grouping suggesting that they can coexist in harmony if we get the balances right. No adjustments were necessary, this is exactly as the frame came off the phone. It is of course one of a sequence of images, and it was hard to choose between them, so below is another frame which, from a slightly different perspective, favours the vegetation over the architecture, for a different "meaning" in the picture. Poco M5 phone pic. Image by Mike.

Dizzying Geometry

A simple snap, but the thematic material makes the pic. Vanishing point symmetry, of course, but that view up a tall building is always spectacular, invoking as it does thoughts of gravity and physics. The trees are a wonderful biological counterpart to the artificiality of the structure—the natural versus the man-made. Two very similar shots—I thought I’d present both in the same post. I took these frames on October 12^th last year, when in the Adelaide CBD, passing through en route from visiting friends up north. Minor adjustments to contrast, colour and sharpness in Irfanview; Poco M5 phone pic. Image by Mike.

Street Sculptures in Hastings

Imagine being presented with a giant chrome octopus playing chess, on a seaside street near the English Channel? Hastings had a series of metal sculptures celebrating marine life sited in the old streets near the seafront, and I had the pleasure of encountering them when I was in Hastings on November 15^th, 2012. I was there to catch the Aussie band I follow in a performance at the Stag Inn, on Allsaints Street, a memorable event all by itself, but I had the chance to photograph Hastings in late autumn light, light rays over the Channel, local curiosities, and to have a jar in a couple of historic pubs, like The Cinque Port Arms. That was my last time on tour over there, and I miss it a lot. Adjustments to colour, contrast and sharpness in Irfanview; Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

 

Colourful Night

This was the very last frame I took before leaving Sunderland after the conference at the university in November, 2011. I was almost back to my boarding house just off the Roker seafront, and took this shot from the street corner. As I recall, I had the camera balanced, held rigidly against something, probably a post cross the road. This was the best of the set. Fog had rolled in and I got many interesting studies as I walked back from the last social with colleagues from the event, but all suffered from softness and camera shake to one degree or another, as light registration speed was just not there in those days. Oddly enough, I still use the same camera all these years later—it’s reliable and keeps on going! The colour always engages me with these shots—the late evening blue sky scattering through the fog, the burn-in of the street lights, all very atmospheric. Minor adjustments to colour and contrast in Irfanview; Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

Flawed Photo on a Rainy Day in Blackpool

This is (I think!) Lytham Rd, Blackpool, England, on a stormy day approaching winter. There’s good old Blackpool Tower in the background. The reason my memory is dodgy today is that this is a long time ago—November 18^th, 2006 is the date stamp of the image file. It’s only a 2mp image—I was economising on card space in those days, not realising that it really didn’t matter. This was my first trip to the UK and I’d dropped by Blackpool to visit a pen friend (now deceased) and make a pilgrimage to his shop. A hail storm came in off the Irish Sea while I was out and about, and I remember having fish and chips in a small corner shop while hailstones bounced in at the door.

Artistically, it’s a reminder of what not to do: the bin in the foreground ruins the shot, which is probably why I never used it before. But the sense of place is strong in this picture: the people, the vehicles, the storm sky receding with weak sunshine on the wet pavers... If I’d had my wits about me I would have walked to the other side of the bin, to exclude it, yet got substantially the same picture. But I wasn’t thinking in those terms—I saw the lighting and general composition, and grabbed it.

So there you are—a picture with a number of merits about it, and one glaring drawback. I could crop the bin out, but cropping horizontally would also exclude those lovely reflections in the pavers. Cropping vertically, while creating a nice picture, loses the street scene to right and places the lamp post very close to the right hand edge. Does that feel jarring? I’m not sure, so the cropped image is below—please compare and make your own evaluation! Minor post-processing—a touch of contrast, sharpness and extra colour. Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

PS: Two posts in quick succession make up for that fortnight with nothing!

The Dark Capture Lottery

 

To an old chip, low light could be the kiss of death. But, in a way, the new super-fast light-gathering digital cameras have taken some of the trickery out of it, because it used to be very creative—trying to accommodate a long shutter speed in low light without blurring the shot. Now you can point and shoot at thousands of ISO (ASA as film speed was rated in the old days), without incurring unacceptable digital grain, but a decade and a half ago it was not so easy. This is the Georgian Crescent in Whitby (the hotel where Bram Stoker wrote Dracula may actually be in this picture!), the night before I set out for home at the end of my November, 2011 trip. I took a wander around the town with my camera to see what I could catch. Light on the river, street lights, street scenes—but all hampered by the light gathering ability of the reliable (old) camera. I’m unsure exactly how I got this one to come out sharp—I may have balanced it against a street lamp or other vertical post. If it was hand-held then it was simply luck that I didn’t move while the shutter was open. But by this point in my travels it was second nature to support the camera against something solid to prevent movement when shooting in the gloom. Minor adjustments were made in Irfanview. Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

Blue and Gold—A Whitby Twilight

 

This is a longer view toward the Gothic church in Skinner Street, Whitby (I posted a close up almost exactly a year ago, “Cold Stone, Warm Light,” on July 20^th, 2023) which I captured around November 6^th, 2010, during an afternoon and early evening stroll through the quaint seaside town on the Yorkshire coast. The sun never rises very high at that time of year, so time of day is often difficult to pick from a photograph. This was probably not much after 4 in the afternoon, but the streets are filled with shadow, very blue against the golden light catching the upper parts of the church. It’s a magical place and a magical time of year, just after Guy Fawkes’ Night, when autumn slides quickly into winter. I remember having a drink at The Granby Freehouse, at right of the picture, still a very traditional pub at that time—I’m not sure if it has succumbed to development and updating in the 14 hears since. I set a scene in my first vampire story right there in that street (appearing soon in an anthology with Hiraeth Books!) Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

City Streets

 

In contrast to the last few images, which have celebrated the natural world, mostly forests, here is the complete opposite—no blade of green to be seen. This is the view from Grenfell Street, Adelaide, South Australia, toward what was built as the REM-Myer Centre, back in the 80s, along the pedestrian-only James Place. I remember when I grabbed this shot, in June, 2020. I had been to the city for shopping and was heading back to my bus stop when I saw the vertical symmetry, the light catching it just so, and had to stop, grab out my phone and record what I saw. Phones are great for those moments when an interesting composition presents itself. The contrast, colour and sharpness were minimally enhanced. Leagoo M9. Image by Mike. Mm

Hard Streets

 

These are ordinary suburban streets in Sunderland, in the English North East, but the light from that overcast and the wet ground conspire to make the tableau seem very “hard.” I took this shot on either the 11^th or 12^th of November, 2010, having just arrived for the conference at the University. I took a walk down the sea front from my B&B in Roker, took in the sights of a wet, chilly day, had hot chocolate at a small corner cafe, and generally looked for atmospheric images to record. This one has a brooding quality created by that angry sky, and a certain human plaintiveness—the utter lack of green, not so much as a weed showsng between paving stones. The overall effect is somewhat dystopian, though on a sunny day in summer the impression could be quite different. Some enhancement was done—contrast, colour, sharpness and gamma value. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

The City By Night

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This is the third of my night shots in Sunderland, UK, taken during a chilly walk on an evening in November, 2007. Here I'm approaching the St Peters bridge, just visible at right, from the south side, and the streetlighting has registered the muted tones of buildings and grass amazingly well. The image was enhanced with gamma correcion to bring up the middle values, then contrast and colour saturation were used to restore visual density. The camera was held solidly against a lamp post to defeat shake, allowing the long exposure to do its magic. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Street Art in Stockton

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Public artwork can take almost any form and sometimes it is quite surprising. In Adelaide's Rundell Mall we have a cast bronze pig rummaging in a waste bin! I photographed these energetic dogs in the High Street, Stockton on Tees, Cleveland, UK, having realised by their frozen imobility that they were statues, though painted to look lifelike. In Classical times statues were painted, it is only in recent centuries we have become used to the idea of bare stone, and here bronze is treated to create a strangely lifelike impression, especially when glimpsed from the corner of the eye. The composition was simple, the light soft in the winter shadows of an afternoon in November, 2006, and some foreground was cropped before the image was enhanced the usual way. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Lytham Rd, Blackpool

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The sky was the motivating factor in this image. It was just after sundown on a chilly evening in November, 2006. I was standing on a bridge, looking north toward Blackpool Tower, and was exploring for a while before retreating to my hotel. The short wavelength light in the shadowed street is an interesting, soft registration, while the clouds make for an artistic counterpoint to the angular, built environment. Sharpened and enhanced, with gamma correction bringing up middle values and contrast hardening them off. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Street Scene in Shadow

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This frame was taken in the morning at the top of the eighteenth-century Henrietta St, Whitby, in November, 2007. The shadow of the east cliff is cast over the mouth of the River Esk and flattens the contrast, and this frame, looking back down the steep street, catches the compression of perspective with a medium telephoto factor. The verticals of the buildings become the theme, and the horizontal of the road surface the element giving meaning to the verticals. The absence of pedestrians creates an almost staged air, and a quite artistic feel. Sharpened and contrast- and colour-balanced. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic, telephoto. Image by Mike.

Whitehall

Whitehall is London's famous 'corridor of power,' the street where government buildings cluster thickly from centuries gone by, built in the style of the Classical revival and adorned with statues as if London was making a bid to be New Rome. The Plain trees thrive in the city and this shot serenditiptously captures the ephermeral contrast between a dense cloudbank and sunlight on marble architecture. This building is seen in the closing shot of the main titles of The Professionals classic action series from 1977-'81. The vertical format was cropped out of a horizontal frame and a slight fine rotation was used to square up the symmetry. The colour was adjusted, along with contrast and sharpness, making a pleasing balance between the green and grey elements. November, 2007; Fuji FinePix, S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Night on the Street

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Sometimes digital cameras can amaze you. This is a full night-time shot in streetlighting, and it's as clear as if you'd stepped into the street and looked around. It was a bitterly cold night in November, 2007, and I was leaving a function at the Bonded Warehouse Restaurant in Sunderland, UK, to walk back to my boarding house. I held the camera against the wall, rock-steady, to let the chip work its magic with a long exposure. Note how the wall is distorted with the wide-angle effect of the lens. Mid-tone areas were enhanced with gamma-correction, then contrast and sharpness were increased, and a slight custom rotation (a fraction of a degree) was used to minimise the proximity-distortion of the wall. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Evening in an Old Town

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The texture in this photograph is quite amazing, the variety, from the metal of vehicles to the swirls of an unsettled sky, the direct sun highlights on the upper parts of hundred-year old buildings and the overall long-frequency light in the wide shadow areas. I took this shot in November 2006, on Oxbridge Lane, looking into Yarm Road, Stockton-on-Tees, Yorkshire, UK. Yarm is the anglicised, lingually-drifted hand-down of Iarum, the name of a Roman river port just a few miles away, which is a comment on the antiquity of this part of the world. This photograph was taken on a blustery afternoon, around 3.30pm, with not much over an hour's daylight remaining. Colour, contrast and sharpness were enhanced. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Aim to Expose

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Automatic exposure takes care of everything, right? Of course not, the quality of the image depends on the information you feed the computer in your camera, and that depends exactly where you point the lens. The automatic system light meters on what is in the crosshairs, same place the sonic beam rangefinder is targetted for focus, so if you align the camera on a bright object exposure will be adjusted accordingly, even if it blacks out the rest of the image as a result. This picture was an exercise in compromise, and deciding what's most important. I took this shot from the top front window of a London bus in December 2006, and the subject matter was the busy street before me, most of which was deep in shadow due to the buildings being very tall. Note how the shop lights are exposed: this is a much more interesting element in the image than the bright faces of the buildings further up, which are burned out. I kept the point of focus well inside the shadowed subject matter and the system did the rest. In the manual days I could have light-metered on the shadows, set the camera then pointed into the sun if I liked, to create a particular effect of burnout, with perhaps only a small part of the frame exposed correctly for drama, and you can still do this with digital cameras. But with less creative images the automatics will do an excellent job if you help them along a tiny bit. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.