theonlyD800inthehameau
Photography by theonlydeadheadinthehameau
Lens-Artists Challenge: Unusual Crop
Posted on February 17, 2026
The challenge this week is to crop an image to provide a new slant on the subject. This is one of my favourite parts of the editing process; after all, isn’t it always good at least to try and find a new angle on a subject?
For this exercise, I’ve cropped and rotated the original photo, which is of the exterior of one of the smaller shopping malls in Abu Dhabi, to produce something that is at the same time structured yet almost abstract. For comparison, I’ve also reproduced the out-of-the-camera image below.
Lens-Artists Challenge: Shapes of things
Posted on February 4, 2026
It must be at least twenty years ago that I took this photograph, in the old fort at Al Ain, in the United Arab Emirates. However I still recall thinking at the time that it was a very good example of symmetry.
The characteristic roundness of these old jars is mirrored in the circle of cobblestones on which they stood (and, for all I know, still do) and also the low stone wall that is visible behind.
Lens-Artists Challenge: Monochrome minimalism
Posted on January 20, 2026
‘What is it?’ you may ask.
The answer is: raindrops on the bonnet (hood if you prefer) of our car.
Lens-Artists Challenge: On the move
Posted on November 18, 2025
The Lens-Artists Challenge this week is all about means of transport. Well, here’s a rather unusual one.
This is a very large (look at the human figures) mechanical elephant, which gives rides to visitors in a theme park in the city of Nantes, in western France.
Lens-Artists Challenge: Landscape revisited
Posted on November 10, 2025
This aspect is about a two-minute walk from our house (our hamlet is pretty well surrounded by fields for a least a mile in every direction).
On a bright winter’s day, what made this particular view stand out for me were the strong leading lines provided by the tractor tyre tracks in the mud. With the sun relatively low in the cloudless sky, the reflections in the puddles in the furrows also increased the definition in the scene.
Lens-Artists Challenge: Ephemeral
Posted on November 4, 2025
“The only constant in life is change” – Heraclitus
This week, the challenge is to capture an image of something ephemeral: something here now, but gone probably well before tomorrow. My first thought was clouds: ever-changing, always moving.
My second thought was fireworks. I really enjoy capturing firework displays (feux d’artifice they’re called here) and with a bit of luck it’s possible to get yourself some really arresting images.
However, I decided to stick with my original inspiration. This is a view from the Caen-Portsmouth ferry just before it set sail one early morning in August this year. The clouds will soon roll by and the sea will flow with the changing tides. The view might look the same five minutes later, but in reality it will be different, unique – and transient.
Lens-Artists Challenge: Street details
Posted on October 27, 2025
Benches are a common enough street detail of course, but I’d never encountered one like this before: seen in the Welsh town of Pembroke and appearing to have been a repurposing of some old church pews (restored in 2020, according to the small sign on the left hand side).
Lens-Artists Challenge: Ancient
Posted on October 21, 2025
This towering bastion – all the more imposing for surmounting a rocky outcrop – is to be found in the mightily impressive medieval city of Chauvigny, near Poitiers in the Vienne département of France.
Lens-Artists Challenge: Dreamy
Posted on October 14, 2025
It occurred to me that this would be a suitable image for this week’s Lens-Artists challenge of ‘Dreamy’, largely because I have just referred to a post on my other website: theonlydeadheadinthehameau.wordpress.com.
This is not deliberately out of focus, but it was taken – in the medieval French town of Sarlat – through a window containing some extremely old glass. Very obviously the early glaziers hadn’t quite yet mastered the techniques for making clear glass. Still, it let the light in and kept the weather out, so it marked real progress back then.
Lens-Artists Challenge: Autumn Colours
Posted on October 6, 2025
Well, it’s definitely that time of year again, and apart from the chillier mornings perhaps the most immediately noticeable sign that autumn is upon us is nature’s changing colour palette as the predominant greens steadily turn to reds and browns.
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