theonlyD800inthehameau
Photography by theonlydeadheadinthehameau
Lens-Artists Challenge: Books
Posted on June 2, 2025
I was a voracious reader from a very young age (although nowadays not so much) and my first post-university job was in the Liverpool City Libraries so yes, I can do books.
A couple of years ago I was ‘commissioned’ to take some photographs of books for a charity shop’s online sale. By far the most impressive set of tomes was this beautifuly bound and presumably encyclopedic 16-volume set of an illustrated history of France between 1843 and 1944.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it didn’t attract any bids. Realistically, who these days would go to the trouble of pulling one of these big beasts off the shelf and settling down in an armchair?
Lens-Artists Challenge: Zooming
Posted on May 30, 2025
I’ve been interested in photography since I don’t remember when, but it was only when we were living in Abu Dhabi that I graduated to a proper grown-up DSLR camera. This would have been about 22 years ago.
Fired with enthusiasm, I did a couple of weekend photography courses and one of the assignments was exactly the theme for this week’s lens-Artists Challenge: Zooming.
From the balcony of our apartment we had quite an impressive panorama of the Arabian Gulf, the Corniche and.what you might call ‘downtown’ Abu Dhabi. The Sheraton Hotel was just at the end of the street, so I practiced some zooming using that as a subject.
The significance of the number 37 is that this photograph was taken around the time of the 37th anniversry of the founding of the United Arab Emirates.
Lens-Artists Challenge: The First Thing I Thought Of..
Posted on May 19, 2025
Our challenge this week is to inject a little humour into proceedings by adding a caption to the selected image under the broad theme of ‘the first thing I thought of’.
This was indeed the first thing I thought of and – even better – it comes complete with its own ready-made caption. This little figurine has sat on my desk, whether at work or, as now, at home for more than thirty years.
Not that I ever feel put upon, you understand…
Lens-Artists Challenge: Serenity
Posted on May 13, 2025
Is there a greater epitome of the idea of ‘serenity’ than a graceful swan gliding smoothly across the water – even if everybody knows that below the surface its legs are going like the clappers?
This particular specimen was swanning around in the lake at Linlithgow, in central Scotland.
Lens-Artists Challenge: Break the rules
Posted on May 6, 2025
I have posted a similar image before, but this is a more recent photograph.
On a very still but cloudy day, the reflections of the trees in the little pond we have here in the hamlet were almost perfect. So perfect, in fact, that you may not realise at first glance that I’ve flipped the original image vertically, so you’re actually seeing the reflections at the top of the screen. I thing it adds a dimension of dreaminess to the image.
Lens-Artists Challenge: Cinematic
Posted on April 28, 2025
This week we’re looking for cinematic images.
I took this photo in the desert outside the city of Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates. For me, the main attractions were the strong leading line and the combination of sand, scrub and stone. Oh, and the symmetry of the two slopes.
It’s not too much of a stretch to see this as an establishing shot in a Western, with the added mystery of what could be lying in wait on the other side of that crest……
Lens-Artists Challenge: Go-To Places
Posted on April 22, 2025
This week, John has set us the interesting challenge of showing our ‘go-to’ places. To be honest, I’m pretty happy to be here at home most of the time (not least because it doesn’t involve the hassle of actually getting to anywhere).
We have been very lucky to have traveled to some wonderful places, so I thought I’s just post images from three of my favourite destinations. I don’t think the first two need any further introduction…
This third one may not be quite so familiar. It’s the Corniche in Abu Dhabi as our evening cruise passed the headquarters of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, where I worked for the last ten years of my career. We have many happy memories of our time in the UAE.
Lens-Artists Challenge: Abandoned
Posted on April 13, 2025
Here in rural France, there’s certainly no shortage of potential subjects for this week’s theme of ‘Abandoned’, whether it be old farm buildings or, as here, houses. This particular – and very small – example can be found next to the church in the nearby village of Rancon.
Lens-Artists Challenge – My Last Outing
Posted on April 7, 2025
It’s a particularly timely challenge for this week’s Lens-Artists, because as it happens my last outing was only yesterday (Sunday).
The first ‘big’ local event of the year round these parts is traditionally the annual ‘Fête des Fleurs‘ in the village of Magnac-Laval, about a half hour’s drive from here. It is held in the grounds of the local agricultural college, which is based in this rather grand-looking chateau. I’m always amused by the jaunty tilt of that windvane.
As you can see from the blameless blue sky, the weather was very kind, which is certainly not a given for this time of year.
Lens-Artists Challenge: Wild
Posted on March 31, 2025
Two Arabian oryx bask in the afternoon sunlight on the Sir Bani Yas Island nature reserve in Abu Dhabi.
This species of oryx was getting uncomfortably close to extinction and the establishment of the Sir Bani Yas reserve played a significant rôle in protecting them and allowing their numbers to increase. Here, they are still ‘in the wild’, as it were (there’s plenty of room), but are safe from the predations of man.
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