Monochrome Madness: The Waiting Room

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: Chairs

Monochrome Madness – Hands

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 – Hands

Monochrome Madness: The Sea

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: The Sea

Monochrome Madness: Places of Worship

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: Places of worship

Monochrome madness: Leading lines

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: Leading lines

Monochrome Madness: The Demon Drink

Spooky shadows cast on the wall by this cut glass decanter.

Monochrome Madness: Spooky

Monochrome Madness: Sidestep

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: Steps or stairs

Monochrome madness: Flowers out in the garden

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.

Monochrome madness: Flowers out in the garden

Monochrome Madness: At the beach

Not all dogs are afraid of water. This pooch is frolicking very happily at the beach of Watson’s Bay, near Sydney.

Monochrome Madness: At the beach

Monochrome Madness: Things In the garden

This image was captured in the Botanic Gardens in Sydney. As usual, I have no idea what it is, but the petal was a creamy white, so the monochrome conversion was already halfway there.

Monochrome Madness: Things in the garden