theonlyD800inthehameau
Photography by theonlydeadheadinthehameau
Composition: The Outtakes
Posted on April 19, 2016
We’re having what the French call a pause pour reflexion in Cee’s Compose Yourself Photo Challenge this time around. A time to think about the ground we’ve covered already and also an opportunity to show some images that didn’t quite make the cut for posting under the various topics that we’ve dealt with in the past months. Here’s a selection of mine:
Perspective
Now, what is this a picture of? Is it the building on the right (the apartment block in Abu Dhabi where we lived for ten years)? Or is it the glass-plated building on the left? Or perhaps it’s the reflection of the former in the latter?
Diagonal Lines
I used an image of two giraffes in my first posting on the topic of diagonal lines, but I could equally have used this profile of a horse – one of many in the fields around here.
Now two images that cover more than one aspect of the various topics we’ve looked at so far:
Leading Lines & Analogous Colours
A hillside vineyard near the village of Ay, in the Champagne region shows blue and green together, as well as leading lines
Geometry and Contrasting Colours
Orange and blue dominate this image of a seal at Taronga Zoo in Sydney. Obviously the balanced ball is one geometric shape but the curve of the seal’s body is like an arc of a circle.
Thursday Doors: Rochechouart
Posted on April 7, 2016
The town of Rochechouart is dominated by its medieval Chateau. It has a cloister, in one corner of which are these intriguing doors (and unusual ‘candy cane’ columns).
Thursday Doors 7 April 2016
Geometry
Posted on March 28, 2016
For the latest step in Cee’s Compose Yourself Challenge we are asked to consider the geometrical shapes within our images. Unusually, I had no problem finding potential candidates for inclusion in this selection. Quite the reverse, in fact, which is why, as an extra challenge, I confined myself to photographs that I took in Australia – mostly in and around Sydney – a few years ago.
This first image – of an upturned boat on the beach at Watson’s Bay, across the harbour from the city – contains multiple geometric shapes, in terms of both subject and composition:
Below are pairs of images featuring the most common geometric shapes. Hover over any picture for a (slightly) fuller comment.
Circles
Triangles
Rectangles
Cour du Temple
Posted on March 25, 2016
In the old part of the city of Limoges, tucked away behind the tall façade of a terrace of buildings that are themselves quite old, is the Cour du Temple. Reached through a narrow, sloping covered passage, this is a small cloister surrounded on all sides by medieval buildings four or five storeys high. This is one corner:
[Taken more than one, but less than two, weeks ago so hopefully qualifying for Cee’s latest challenge – taking a new photo]
Thursday Doors: Epernay
Posted on March 17, 2016
Épernay is, after Reims, the principal town of the Champagne region of France – and well worth a visit. When we went, a couple of years ago, we stayed at a hotel that had been converted from a grand house that had probably once belonged to a wealthy wine merchant. This was the imposing entrance:
Thursday Doors 17 March 2016
Contrasting colours
Posted on March 16, 2016
Well, I learned something today. Did you know that colours that are opposite each other on the colour wheel, when mixed, produce black? There’s a fact to be added to the store of useless information.
However, on this occasion we’re not looking to mix opposing colours but to juxtapose them. Essentially there are three ‘pairs’ of opposing colours, so here are a couple of images of each set:
Red and Green
Two roses, the first from Monet’s Garden, the second from outside our own back door (this one hs a wonderful, heady scent. Madame’s grandmother had some of these in her own garden and it brings back happy memories).
Orange and Blue
Two photographs taken on the island of Burano, in the Venetian lagoon
Purple and Yellow
I had to get a bit creative here, as I don’t seem to have many images featuring this pairing in my library.
The first is an imposing building in Bruges, where the yellow detail on the columns contrasts with the indigo shade of the reflected sky in the windows. The second is a detail of a window display in a quilting supplies shop in Sarlat. The purple and yellow are among the threads at the top, in case you’re wondering.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Harmony
Posted on March 6, 2016
On paper, the juxtaposition of this medieval stair-tower (in Chartres) with the modern-day aspect of the attached house shouldn’t really work, but personally I thonk it forms ‘a pleasing and consistent whole’ – in other words, ‘harmony’.
One Photo Focus: March 2016
Posted on March 4, 2016
This month’s One Photo Focus Challenge, provided by Nancy Merrill, had me thinking. Here is the original:
I felt that there were two possible approaches:
A matter of record
This first edit sees the image as a ‘record shot’ (absolutely no disparagement intended). Essentially, all this requires is a modicum of straightening and a sympathetic crop to highlight the sign and put it into some context – so here we can see the structure of the theatre and the fact that it is located in a green (or at least non-urban) area.
Abstract form
It looks like this theatre has been built along the lines of Shakespeare’s Globe in London (which I’ve been fortunate enough to attend for quite a few performances over the years). The key architectural characteristic is undoubtedly the black and white ‘mock-Tudor’ effect, which is a worthy subject in itself. Consequently, I cropped down to the bottom left quadrant of the original image, flipped it a quarter-turn clockwise, tweaked for sharpness and added a little grain and a vignette to produce this almost abstract interplay of light and shade, straight and diagonal lines.
Place de l’Eglise
Posted on February 25, 2016
Just over a year ago, I bought a book* about the history of the Haute-Vienne departément of France, illustrated by old postcards. It’s a fascinating series of snapshots of life a hundred years ago and more in what is still a very rural area of the country.
I had a fancy to find the locations of, and try to reproduce, these postcard images. This project, which I rather grandly call ‘Autrefois’ (literally ‘another time’), hasn’t really got off the ground yet, although there is one post extant in the thread. However, Cee’s challenge of posting a sepia image this week gives me an ideal opportunity to double my output.
Our local village is called Mézières-sur-Issoire, and this is an old postcard of the church, reproduced from the book:
And here is my take on it. As you can see, not that much has changed over the past hundred years or so, apart from the ubiquity of the motor vehicle and the related signage. The space in front of the church is now commonly used as a car-park, so I counted myself lucky that there was only one van (which actually belongs to one of the builders who did most of the renovation work on our house) there when I went along with my camera.
Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Sepia
* Fabienne Texier & Paul Colmar: ‘La Haute-Vienne Il ya 100 ans en cartes postales anciennes’
Thursday Doors: Venice (again)
Posted on February 11, 2016
Back to Venice again for this week’s contribution – although this time an ancient door, much in need of some TLC, on one of the small waterways that lie behind the Grand Canal (and are at least as interesting).
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