I wanted to capture the low morning light against this gnarled trunk of a tree. I was trying balance it with the shiny green of the grass at its roots and the dark green of ivy.
Kilburn Grange Park, London
Does photoshopping make you look at things differently?
This is the question I found myself asking as I peered along the shore of the River Thames with the low winter sunlight glinting off the choppy water and making the brown mud glisten and look almost beige.
Recently I have been taking lots of photos and now I am looking at the world in a different way. Now when I don’t have a camera I stop to regard a scene; checking the light, wondering about angles. I enjoy the beauty of the late evening sun shining on the buildings I see through my work window. I work out at what time it will be best to visit a place to get the best light.
I have even had two synesthesia events: once I enjoyed the taste of a meal so much I wanted to photograph the flavour and another time when I wondered how I could catch the smell of a sewer vent and not loose the rising mist coming from it.
My interest in taking photos has changed the way I look at the world.
And when I found myself looking into the sun at the River Thames I wondered how would I see this scene if I was planning to shoot it like those talented landscape artists who use filters, special lenses and a modicum of photoshopping to produce those stunning shots.
Do these guys now look at scenes and assess it for its photoshopping potential.
I know in my less complicated world of seen through a Canon 600D with no filter or special lens and no photoshop, I have changed my way of looking at the world.
I wonder if I started photographing and photoshopping the resulting images I would change again?
I had a quiet Sunday morning stroll in the park with Holly (the dog).
The day was dull and I had just got my long lens (70 -300) back from repair so I wanted to find an excuse to use it.
This unseasonal rose stood out bright and pink in the drab rose garden, brown stems, wilted dark green leaves and dried straw and manure bedding.
I liked this rose’s shape and slightly decayed look. Banality and beauty in a flower; life as it is.
Kilburn Grange Park, London
View of city buildings in the evening sun
There was something about the way this huddle of roofs fitted together in a strange jig-saw way.
I was attracted by the near-to-medieval look of some of the roofs juxtaposed with modern office concrete and glass.
And I liked the contrasting lines - flat, vertical, horizontal, curves, and pointy bits.
Actually that is it, those church like pointy eaves, so steep, so high, so impractical and out of place.
All in a late afternoon sunlight.
I took it with my big lens - 70 -300 from near the Scoop, looking over the river.
near Tower Bridge, London
Wind it up, Fenton.
I just love this chaps rigidity and taut energy he is using trying to get that damned kite up. Also look at his little tummy exposed to the cold. Shivers. He was busy shouting at his son to wind up the cord, wind it up, wind it up, Fenton!
I will have to go back to take photos with my long lens of people trying to get kites up. There is something so human in trying to fly a kite. All the hope, energy and desire for a few fleeting moments of sublime flying.
Parliament Hill, Hampstead Heath, London.
…..
PS - His kid wasn’t really called Fenton.
Rain clouds and cold trees.
This huddle of cold trees, stark against the horizon suggested itself immediately I saw it. I walked off the path and across some soggy grass to get in the best position. In earlier shots I had a silhouette of three people walking in between the middle of the trees. But the clouds were not dark like they were in this shot.
I suppose I could layer the people on in Photoshop or some such trickery. But then again, looking at it, there is something wild and explosive about the trees, best keep the focus on them.
Hampstead Heath, London.
Willow branches.
I was attracted by the sunlight on these branches against the blue sky, very bright for January.
There was a lot of wind and movement, so I was rapidly shooting, clicking only when I saw the auto-focus red light had hit something. Very little chance to compose each shot, just firing away.
Hampstead Heath, London.
Inside “scoop.”
This is the London Mayor’s office and the London Council chambers, officially known as the Scoop. There was a time you could ascend the spiralling walkway to the top of the building, but you have to be satisfied with floor 2 these days.
So much glass about it is hard to get a shot without reflections.
The Scoop, Southwark, London
