theonlyD800inthehameau
Photography by theonlydeadheadinthehameau
Lens-Artists Challenge: I’m on the phone…
Posted on March 31, 2026
This week’s challenge is to display image(s) captured with a mobile phone rather than a traditional camera. That’s no problem for me as, despite the name of this blog, I no longer own a D800 – or any photographic device other than my trusty iPhone 14 Pro Max.
I gave our dear daughter all my traditional photographic ‘kit’ a couple of years ago: she’s a much better photographer than I am. You can find her work on Facebook and Instagram at NJC Photography. Take a look, then tell me I’m wrong.
In practice, I don’t really miss having a ‘proper’ camera. The iPhone delivers perfectly good images and there are plenty of apps to give it an extra boost if you want to. Plus, it doesn’t weigh a ton.
Anyway, I snapped this in the Yorkshire seaside resort of Scarborough last summer. If you’re viewing it on a desktop screen, I suggest you lean back in your chair for the best effect, rather than hunch forward. Leaning back just a little emphasises the leading lines formed by the breaking wave at the top of the picture and more detail on the rest of the water.
Either way, you get a human figure with both a reflection and a shadow. What more could you want?
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.
The old cart wheel
Posted on March 8, 2026
This old cart wheel is propped up against the wall of our barn, slowly and quietly surrendering to the elements – but it can still offer some interesting photographic possibilities.
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.
Last On The Card: The Fallen Leaf
Posted on September 2, 2025
After a period of strong wind and heavy rain, this oak leaf ended up on top of the wall of one of our raised beds.
Lens-Artists Challenge: Doors
Posted on August 18, 2025
I used to be a regular contributor to the ever-popular ‘Thursday Doors’ challenge: to the extent, indeed, that I eventually ran out of subjects, having snapped pretty much every interesting door within a radius of about fifty miles.
So when I saw that this week’s Lens-Artists Challenge was (drum roll) ‘doors’ I was initially at something of a loss. Did I have anything previously unpublished? As it turns out, I did, and here it is.
Unfortunately, all I can tell you about this particular door is that it’s French and the image was captured on my iPhone in September 2020. No doubt my eye was caught by the unusual pattern of the door itself and perhaps even more so by the carved stone frame.
Cellpic Sunday: Purple Garlic
Posted on June 15, 2025
We use this salt jar to store our fresh garlic, but the bulb of purple garlic was way too big to fit inside in one piece.
Lens-Artists Challenge: Cabbages
Posted on September 8, 2024
What could be more mundane than a cabbage? Even a red one?
These red cabbages, cut into halves or quarters, were on sale at the Saturday market in the city of Perigueux. Opened up like this, it’s possible to appreciate the complex layering of the leaves.
Lens-Artist Challenge: Rock Your World
Posted on April 16, 2024
“Rose-red city, half as old as time”
There is nowhere on earth quite like Petra. The sheer scale of the monuments themselves is mind-boggling, but the natural context of weathered sandstone in which they are set may be even more so (spot the human figure).
The Roman Column
Posted on October 13, 2022
There’s plenty of texture in this artfully lit section of a column dating from Roman times, on display in the Archaeological Museum in Toulouse.
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