Not sure why this made it to The Guardian

by Posted in Thoughts Leave a comment

Source: Balloons, dildos and shagpile carpet: empty porn sets – in pictures

By day, Jo Broughton was a cleaner at a porn studio, making the tea and ironing sheets, but after dark she turned her camera on the suburban boudoirs, hospital beds and ice-caves, capturing the eerie bathos of these empty fantasies

I’m really not sure why someone thought this was worthy of a place in “The Guardian”. OK, it’s a quirky idea but beyond that what did the photographer actually do. The sets were already in place. The lighting had already been taken care of. All she really had to do was point a camera and press the shutter release. Maybe take a few shots just in case? Maybe she deserves credit for just thinking of doing it? If I’d been in her place would this have occurred to me – probably not!

Wilting Flowers

by Posted in Still Life Leave a comment
wiltingflowers-1

These wilting roses were in a vase on our dining room table and since I didn’t plan to go out that day (it was gloomy, cold and I was feeling lazy) I decided to take some pictures. It turned out to be more difficult than I thought.

I was using a legacy Canon FD 100mm f4 macro lens on my NEX-5n. I think it’s the only lens that goes to f32! Trying to fill the frame I had to get quite close and even at f32 the depth of field was very narrow. I took quite a few pictures. The first few managed to get the nearer flower in focus, but the more distant one was out of focus. The next batch were the opposite: the rear flower was in focus but the other was not. Fiddling with the focus I managed to produce this picture, which looking at it again fails because neither flower is really in focus.

The other thing this lens pointed out is the amount of dust on the NEX sensor. I usually find I’m shooting around f5.6-f8 and I’ve noticed in the past that if I go up to f16 I see a couple of spots, usually in flat bright areas like the sky. This time I was using a lens at f32 and boy did I see a lot of dust spots. I really have to do something about cleaning the sensor!

Graveyard for stone pillars.

by Posted in Black & White, Landscapes, Things Leave a comment
stonepillars-1

I noticed these four stone pillars in a garden not too far away from where I live. They each have a metal piece sticking out of the top and I found myself wondering what it’s purpose was. Maybe something had once upon a time been attached? But what? They were placed in a out of the way part of the garden and again I wondered why? What had led them to be exiled in this way? Could it have something to do with the pieces from the top? Was the design fatally flawed with the top pieces breaking off one by one over time? I do actually know the owner of the house and I could ask what the story is. But I think I’d rather keep things mysterious.

Christmas Reindeer

by Posted in Landscapes Leave a comment
christmasreindeer-1

I’m not entirely sure why I like this photograph. It’s a bit misleading as it gives the impression that these ornaments are out the the woods when in reality they’re not too far away from a house. Still there were a lot of trees behind them and I suppose the intrusion of technology (e.g. the fairy lights) into this otherwise rural landscape caught my attention. I thought a lot about whether or not I should add this to the blog and at first thought that I wouldn’t. However, I found that I kept coming back to look at it and so decided to put it up.