theonlyD800inthehameau
Photography by theonlydeadheadinthehameau
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.
Two curious fawns
Posted on March 3, 2016
A pair of curious young fawns in a Safari Park in the Vienne region of France
Weekly Photo Challenge: State of Mind
Posted on February 28, 2016
Like everybody else, I was looking forward to the display of birds of prey at a chateau in the Dordogne – and when it came, I enjoyed it.
But I couldn’t help wondering, as I mooched about with my camera before showtime, what the birds themselves might think about it.
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’
Stormclouds
Posted on February 18, 2016
Weather has come around again for Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge. Last time I put up a picture of freezing fog close to home, but on this occasion here is an image taken on the other side of the world, in the Hunter Valley in Australia.
Ponies in the snow
Posted on February 11, 2016
These Shetland ponies used to be found in a field about a quarter of a mile from our place. The snow (it was a couple of years ago) lends itself well to the monochrome version.
Feeding Time
Posted on February 4, 2016
Never having been one for sharing pictures of my dinner with the world (what exactly is Instagram anyway?), Cee’s chosen subject for this week of ‘Food’ had me stumped initially, notwithstanding that over on my other blog I had recently posted a picture of my take on a deconstructed curry.
But then it occurred to me that it didn’t have to be food for humans, so here’s a close-up of a giraffe grazing on whatever it is that giraffes eat.
Bridgework
Posted on January 28, 2016
This photograph is a crop from a photograph I took from a bateau-mouche cruising down the River Seine in Paris and is of the underside of a bridge. It seems to fulfil the ‘lines and angles’ requirement of Cee’s challenge for this week.
It’s an interesting optical illusion that, although the image is a perfect rectangle the right vertical looks longer than the left.
Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Lines and Angles
Spiral steeple
Posted on January 21, 2016
Cee’s Black & White challenge this week is anything that begins with the letter ‘S’. So how about the spiral steeple of St Saviour’s church in the town of Rochechouart? Shown against the sky.
The Lantern
Posted on January 14, 2016
For this week’s subject of ‘Lights’, here is a traditional lantern that hangs over the terrace of the Royal Villa (boy, was that ever a free upgrade) at the Sir Baniyas Hotel in Abu Dhabi. The shadow is a bonus.
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