theonlyD800inthehameau
Photography by theonlydeadheadinthehameau
Monochrome Madness: Everything Spring
Posted on April 18, 2025
This week the theme is the timely one of ‘Everything Spring’. Up here in the northern hemisphere it’s the time for planting and growing.
This little fella, just planted out in of our raised beds, will – if al goes according to plan – eventually provide us with some Brussels sprouts: chou de Bruxelles.
Monochrome Madness: Night-time
Posted on April 5, 2025
I took this photograph of a boat that was sailing along the Corniche in Abu Dhabi at night. The original image was pretty much monochrome itself, with just a few flashes of colour from the lights on board.
Monochrome Madness: The Waiting Room
Posted on March 11, 2025
I hope I’m not too late to join this particular party, but the latest theme for Monochrome Madness is/was ‘chair’ or ‘chairs’.
These particular examples of functional utilitarianism can be found in the waiting room of the main hospital in the town of St-Junien.
(Well, I say waiting room, but in reality it’s just a corridor with groups of colour-coded seats outside a long line of consulting rooms). In colour, these are actually a lurid, determinedly institutional green plastic, but the monochrome conversion does bring out some interesting textures, notably on the backs, that are quite invisible in their ‘natural’ state.
Monochrome Madness – Hands
Posted on February 22, 2025
First contact: our twin grandsons were born very prematurely and spent some time in the ICU. This is Grandma getting her first touch.
(It all turned out fine – the twins will be eighteen this summer and they’re both well over six feet tall now: and fine young men to boot.)
Monochrome Madness: The Sea
Posted on February 7, 2025
This is a monochrome rendering of a photograph I took in St. Andrews in Scotland, looking out over the North Sea. Who could resist those leading lines – or those clouds?
Monochrome Madness: Places of Worship
Posted on January 10, 2025
This is a detail of the carving over the east door of the Collegiale in Le Dorat – a massive church, although neither abbey nor cathedral. The presence of the small statue – no doubt of a saint – and its contrast with the curves of the repeated arches adds interest to the image.
Monochrome madness: Leading lines
Posted on November 17, 2024
Leading lines – one of the most fundamental elements of photographic composition.
Rather than a conventional road disappearing into the distance or a wall ditto, I decided to approach this latest theme a little differently. This is an arrow slit that can be found in the fortified chateau of Guédelon, in central France;
Monochrome Madness: The Demon Drink
Posted on October 30, 2024
Monochrome Madness: Sidestep
Posted on October 19, 2024
Sometimes it’s necessary to look from a different angle at something mundane in order to find an interesting image. Last week I posted a very mundane image of the side wall of a multi-story car park. Its one redeeming feature was a partially visible spiral fire-escape.
For Monochrome Madness this week, where the topic is ‘Steps or stairs’, I cropped out all the mundanity and flipped the steps through 90 degrees to produce what I think is a far more arresting photo.
Monochrome madness: Flowers out in the garden
Posted on October 8, 2024
In ‘real life’, as it were, these tiny flowers have bright pink petals. However, converting the image to monochrome goes some way to transform a ho-hum record shot into something a little more striking in its own right, partly helped by eliminating background distractions.
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