Photo based TV and movies...

Watched the movie One Hour Photo again the other day.  Very interesting movie with some great little photography snippets... (slightly de-americanised)

"I'm sure my customers never think about it...

but these snapshots are their little stands against the flow of time.

The shutter is clicked...

the flash goes off and they've stopped time.

If just for the blink of an eye.

And if these pictures have anything important to say to future generations, it's this...

I was here.

I existed.

I was young. 

I was happy and someone cared enough about me in this world to take my picture.

Most people don't take snapshots of the little things...

the used plaster...

the guy at the petrol station...

the wasp on the jelly...

but these are the things that make up the true picture of our lives.

People don't take pictures of these things."

I'm also very much enjoying Wildest Dreams on BBC iPlayer at the moment.. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00lvz1n/Wildest_Dreams_Episode_1/

.. right up my alley!  .. and if they need contestants for next years series I shall be applying!!  

Harvest, wildlife and pegs...

Farmers hard at work in the summer sun reaping Rape Seed and ploughing the Wiltshire landscape.

Brizzol Balloon Fiesta in triplets

A triplet of Red Arrow photos during their awesome display...







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A triplet of panaromic format photos..

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A triplet of colourful balloons in a variety of poses.

Birthday creation

A recent birthday photoshop creation with a dark and twisted influence. Note: the frame had frayed strings hanging down from the top as cut ropes and was heavily decorated with all manner of gubbins and brik-a-brac!

Photo tripping

A weird bunch of photos this post, taken on a rainy tour of a local town..

first off, an impulsive capture of light, shade, reflection and generally confusing weirdness.
Knitting gubbins in a shop window, reflection minimised by my polariser, hoorah!
A nice shadey alleyway leading off up the hill, all very photogenic with perfect weather of mono pictures!
Frome or Milan?!  A vintage Vespa scooter rusting in the rain next to some colonnades.  I really like this pic, so gave it a polish in photoshop to make it extra special.  
Finally an old Kodak ad painted on a wall near a Kodak shop.  With the world famous Kodachrome film ceasing production are they soon to become extinct?It will be a shame, even though I never use film now, I grew up taking photos using their film.  

A vision of the view

I quick waffle about a photo I took recently in Bradford on Avon.  Things I like and just highlighting the reasons why I like it...

It was taken after sunset on a rainy night from a bridge over the lines.  A 13 second exposure with the camera balanced on the edge of the bridge.  ISO 100 to minimise noise, f/10 aperture to both slow the shutter speed down and get the required depth of field.  Auto white balance adjusted at raw processing stage.

For me it has great colours, a stark contrast between the cool blues of the cloudy sky and the warm lighting of the platform.  Detail and interest is good, lots of patterns in the paving, small architectural touchs, the light reflecting from the rails and sleepers.   It has a human presense with the woman on the bench that stayed still for most of the 13 seconds! (thank you)  and a few blurred ghosts of passengers unboarding.

Some inperfections that I like too, the spot of rain causing a halo on the horizon, I like as it is another hint that it is still raining (along with blurred rain streaming past the left side lamp).  Also the star bursts from the light points caused by the relatively narrow aperture, technically a flaw, but again I like them as they're fairly subtle.

Then there is the symetry, overall pleasantly symetrical but on further inspection interestingly impefect.  

The far bridge helps disect the image into parts and helps block the viewers gaze from following all those leading lines away from the interest and into the horizon.

Another happy snap on the blog!

Wild Summer Life

Thistles and butterflies enjoying some rather rarer sunshine.
Nice weather for snails!

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Duck in rain.  (photoshopped)

Salisbury, Cley Hill and a hover fly...

Salisbury catherdral in the setting Sun with a bit of photoshop work (to straighten lens distortion and desaturate the colours)



Cley Hill, Wiltshire. Local legend says that the hill was created by the Devil, who was carrying a big sack of earth to bury the town of Devizes, probably as punishment for turning to Cristianity. He stopped to ask a traveller the way, who realising what the devil was going to do told him that he was travelling from Devizes and it was so far away that his hair had turned grey during the journey. Upon hearing this the devil decided to give up the evil deed and dumped the earth at the side of the road. (Sounds perfectly believable to me!)

SVR

4 photos from the Severn Valley (Steam) Railway, at the Bridgnorth end of the line, including a VIP visit to the workshop and the toasty cab of one of the engines.  

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Carved Angels from St Peters church Wolverhampton

The return of the Heddington Steam Rally

A selection of oddities from the local Steam rally, from rusty relics of a bygone era to roaring ozone killing tractor pulls and a beautiful Harris hawk from the falconery display. 

A triplet of variety

Black and white sunset, macro/nature and a nightscape..

The British Museum

Photos from a wander around the British Museum in London, only there for about 4 hours so I guess I got around about 20% of it's immense collection or world heritage artifacts..






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Tribute to Michael Jackson outside the Lyric theatre which was showing Thriller - Live.