theonlyD800inthehameau
Photography by theonlydeadheadinthehameau
Monochrome Madness: Minimalism
Posted on April 12, 2026
This image is really hot off the press, as it were, taken less than four hours ago.
Madame and I had gone to a nearby village fête, the chief attraction of which was the presence of some Highland cattle – one of Madame’s favourite animals (albeit not a patch on elephants). I was struck in particular by the rich golden colour of the long hair that covers their bodies, and also by the way it fell into waves.
For contrast, I cropped the image to include some of the grass they were grazing on to produce a strong diagonal to add further interest.
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.
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.
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.
Monochrome Madness: Triptych
Posted on January 31, 2026
Monochrome Madness: Leaves (And Berries)
Posted on November 28, 2025
My guess is that the greater part of flower photography is principally concerned with colours. However, a monochrome conversion of an image of a colourful flower can reveal otherwise hidden textural complexities.
Monochrome Madness: Clocks
Posted on November 14, 2025
The clock on this tower – on the island of Burano, in the Venetian Lagoon – is unusual insofar as, if you look closely, it only has an hour hand and no minute hand. Perhaps time wasn’t so over-ridingly important, and the need for precision less pressing, back in the Middle Ages.
Monochrome madness: Ceramics
Posted on October 16, 2025
Until recently (Covid did for it, as so many other things), a local Association put on an annual Expo of local peoples’ collections, interests and hobbies. One year there was an exhibition of ceramics by a keen local collector.
This featured a number of hand-painted ceramic tiles and this is one which, I believe, benefits from being rendered in monochrome (the real thing has a very wishy-washy green background)
Monochrome Madness: Ruins
Posted on October 2, 2025
As the topic for Monochrome Madness this time out is ‘Ruins’, eschewing the easy option of just posting an early morning selfie, I decided to stay with the subject of my Lens-Artists contribution earlier this week: the fabled ruins of the city of Petra.
For an idea of scale in this vast edifice, just take note of the human figures at bottom left.
Monochrome Madness: Backlighting
Posted on August 6, 2025
This is ‘Fred’, a sculpture who sits gloomily on a bench, looking out to sea, in the town of Scarborough. In the county of Yorkshire, where he finds himself, he would probably be described as ‘a reet miserable bugger’.
Even with the warm afternoon sun on his back, as here, he doesn’t look happy, and no doubt if the sun was in front of him, he’d complain that it was getting in his eyes. Yorkshire, eh?
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