Lens-Artists Challenge: I’m on the phone…
Posted on March 31, 2026
This week’s challenge is to display image(s) captured with a mobile phone rather than a traditional camera. That’s no problem for me as, despite the name of this blog, I no longer own a D800 – or any photographic device other than my trusty iPhone 14 Pro Max.
I gave our dear daughter all my traditional photographic ‘kit’ a couple of years ago: she’s a much better photographer than I am. You can find her work on Facebook and Instagram at NJC Photography. Take a look, then tell me I’m wrong.
In practice, I don’t really miss having a ‘proper’ camera. The iPhone delivers perfectly good images and there are plenty of apps to give it an extra boost if you want to. Plus, it doesn’t weigh a ton.
Anyway, I snapped this in the Yorkshire seaside resort of Scarborough last summer. If you’re viewing it on a desktop screen, I suggest you lean back in your chair for the best effect, rather than hunch forward. Leaning back just a little emphasises the leading lines formed by the breaking wave at the top of the picture and more detail on the rest of the water.
Either way, you get a human figure with both a reflection and a shadow. What more could you want?
Monochrome Madness: On The Roof
Posted on March 25, 2026
The latest Monochrome Madness challenges us to look up and see what’s on the roof.
In this case it’s fallen leaves that have come off the many trees we have in our fields. As nature takes its course they drift off on the wind and settle wherever fate takes them. Here they’re on the roof of our laverie (basically, its the utility room, but housed in a separate building), which accounts for the slates. The metal sheeting is the roof of a potting shed that was tacked on to the back just after we moved here.
I think this image ticks the ‘strong leading lines’ box.
Lens-Artists Challenge: Colour in Monochrome
Posted on March 23, 2026
It’s all there in black and white.
This week’s challenge is to present in a monochrome image something that we absolutely know is actually a specific colour. As Egidio says in his post, reducing an image to grayscale emphasises form and texture which could well be overlooked in ‘natural’ colour.
My example is of a Romanesco, that intriguing cross between a cauiflower and broccoli. We all know it’s bright green in the ‘real’ world, but how much of the symmetry and detail of those characteristic swirls is missed when just seeing that vibrant shade?
Shell
Posted on March 22, 2026
A supermarket chain over here in France sells deep frozen ‘petoncles’ – small nuggets of scallop in garlic butter and parsley, presented on a small scallop shell. They are quite delicious, either on their own or with pasta.
And those little shells are worth a closer look…
Cellpic Sunday 22 March 2026
Monochrome Madness: Walls
Posted on March 11, 2026
The Collegiale church of Saint-Pierre-es-Liens in the nearby village of Le Dorat is a massive granite structure, built in the Roman style between the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
It’s certainly well worth a visit, although I’ve always found the interior rather on the gloomy side, especially when it comes to the numerous side chapels, such as this one. Still, considering that those walls are, at the very least, seven hundred years old, they’re probably doing pretty well.
The old cart wheel
Posted on March 8, 2026
This old cart wheel is propped up against the wall of our barn, slowly and quietly surrendering to the elements – but it can still offer some interesting photographic possibilities.
Lens-Artists Challenge: Shadowed
Posted on March 2, 2026
There is a path that runs right along the Corniche in Abu Dhabi. It’s not just a path, though (c’mon, this is Abu Dhabi we’re talking about), as interest is added thanks to fountains, underpasses and other features.
Also it being Abu Dhabi, it’s hardly ever cloudy and the sunlight is very strong; consequently, the shadows are well defined. In this section, the high wall is completely in the shade and a strong, dark shadow is cast by a lower wall and something else (I’ve forgotten what it was exactly) to the right. I’ve converted the original image to monochrome to produce this abstract, but definitely shadowed, image.
Last on the card February 2026
Posted on March 1, 2026
When we bought this house, over twenty years ago now (blimey!), we inherited two large cart wheels, about four feet in diameter, which were propped against the wall in what is now our salon. Obviously they were much too big to remain in situ, so for many years they have stood guard either side of our barn door, exposed to the elements.
Inevitably, their condition has deteriorated, especially since the hubs fell out, with the metal rims following shortly afterwards. That left only the wooden spokes, which are now in this sorry, but texturally interesting, condition.
Monochrome madness: Not Far Away
Posted on February 25, 2026
There aren’t that many churches within a 10km radius of here (plenty of sheep though). but this is the pleasingly symmetrical, albeit badly neglected, side door of one of them.
Lens-Artists Challenge: Juxtaposition
Posted on February 24, 2026
When i saw that this week’s challenge was ‘juxtaposition’, my first thought was of one or more human figures set against part of the colossal ruins of the city of Petra, but as I searched my photo library I happened to come across this one first.
It shows a team of window cleaners carrying out the (almost literally) uphill task of cleaning the exterior of the headquarters of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. I took it from my own office in that edifice, which was on the 23rd floor. I can’t remember how many floors there were exactly – about 36, I think, so these poor guys still had a way to go, in 40 degrees-plus heat and supported only by an individual safety harness.
Before I retired, at least they were given a safety cradle to use, but it certainly made me resolve never to complain about my own job again.
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