2016 Project 52, First quarter by Adam (adzman808)

[Adzman808]

Thanks Geoff,

It's a bit more balanced with the crop, but encouragingly not a huge departure from the original

[Geoff F]

You did well with the original shot, Adam; all I have done is a few tweaks which were unavailable with a difficult subject when straight from camera.

[Adzman808]

You did well with the original shot, Adam; all I have done is a few tweaks which were unavailable with a difficult subject when straight from camera.

Thanks Geoff,

My shot wasn't SOOC BTW! It already had 3 custom tone curves, and few other bits and pieces and came from raw

[Adzman808]

For week 15 I'm actually a bit stuck for choice, as it brightened up a bit and I was able to take more shots

Also today, the blog I started 13 weeks ago, reached a total view count of over 20,000, which I'm very proud off (I haven't paid for search engine optimisation, or 'that much' whored the hell out of it on line...)

OK, let me know go chose a shot for week 15. It's VERY rainy again here, so week 16 might be hard work..

[Adzman808]

So the sun came out, which gave me a chance to indulge my fledgling and embryonic interest in "Street" Photography.

When you start 'doing street' and engaging with people online about it, you quickly find it's a genre that is characterised by a colossal scope of subject, and VERY strong opinions.

Truth be told... I don't know if I even do 'street' maybe it's reportage, or documentary?

Actually, don't answer - I'm beyond carrying about labels. I just like to take the pictures that I like!

Which brings me on to this week's shot.

I like this one!

I like this one not because it's best, but because I was able to see/realise/react/capture the idea in a very short space of time.

Yeah it's not the sharpest shot you'll see today. Meh... FOR ME, classical perfection is indeed awesome, but sometimes you've gotta play it loose like Jazz

YMM(and will)V


Chillin' by Adam Bonn, on Flickr

[Geoff F]

For me, Adam, Street Photography mostly follows the basic 'rules' of wildlife photography and you have done well with this bird. The background also works and gives some context to the shot.

If you had managed to get the bottom right corner object in focus I would have said well done all round. I am actually wondering about cloning in a bit of texture, or select and past from the left side?

[Adzman808]

For me, Adam, Street Photography mostly follows the basic 'rules' of wildlife photography and you have done well with this bird. The background also works and gives some context to the shot.

If you had managed to get the bottom right corner object in focus I would have said well done all round. I am actually wondering about cloning in a bit of texture, or select and past from the left side?

Hi Geoff,

Thanks as ever, I enjoy your feedback, and especially that you seem to take time to always give me some. I've greatly benefited from your feedback, from my increasing confidence with tone curves, to getting better at cloning.

As ever your critique is both accurate and helpful.

But (you knew that was coming right?!) this shot is not about the bird, nor about the man. It's about the juxtaposition, the bird AND the man, hanging around, passing the time, relaxing. The shape of the bird's wing mimics the shape of the man's knee. (Which is what makes it)

They are both oblivious to each other, the context is that they are separate, they are different species. Yet somehow they are the same, underpinned by their similar activity within the urban setting.

I'm not suggesting you don't see this and I realise that won't change if I add texture to the OOF part. But we're not in a bird watching hut, pre-focused and poised, ready to go. We're walking the streets, the scene changes moment by moment and part of being ready to seize our shot is an acceptance that we might not achieve technical perfection!

[IzzieK]

Why is it that the place where the pigeon where the bird landed is blurred? Did you naturally did it with your camera or you blurred it after the fact? Just curious...Nice shot though...

[Adzman808]

Why is it that the place where the pigeon where the bird landed is blurred? Did you naturally did it with your camera or you blurred it after the fact? Just curious...Nice shot though...

Thanks Izzie,

The DOF starts (just ) at the bird and goes back to the man

[Adzman808]

Echoes of Harland and Wolff

Echoes of Harland and Wolff by Adam Bonn, on Flickr

My shot for week16 inspired me to write a blog post!

Now as a blogger I should link to my blog post, get my traffic up a bit yadda yadda...

But here you go, copy/paste!

.................................................. ..................

Back in the 1980s, when I was at school, I remember being sick, and my Mum keeping me home for the day. I think I was about 7! Wrapped in a blanket and watching whatever passed for UK daytime TV back then, a black and white movie came on that I found really quite compelling; A Night to Remember the story of the RMS Titanic.

A few years later, when I would of been 11, we were given a school assignment to complete a study project of our choosing.

Remembering the film, A Night to Remember I chose mine to be about the Titanic. In a beautiful bit of serendipity my little schoolboy project was given a huge lift, for it was 1985, and Dr. Ballard discovered the wreck of the fabled liner 73 years after she had sank and I was able to cut out pictures of the wreck from the newspapers and add them to my project book.

The story of the Titanic has entered popular culture. There are many angles to the whole tale, the importance of safety at sea, the sad fates of people divided by class, by age, and by gender, and of course the folly of mankind.

This is not a place for these observations.

For me, the Titanic held a very simple fascination, for as long as I can remember I’ve been more than a little scared of water. Especially the sea. I don’t know why, I’ve had no near encounters with drowning, I can swim (a bit), but always the fear of great expanses of dark, deep water has been with me.

And to my imagination, nothing would quite focus and magnify that fear more, than if I was in the water next to some colossal structure, like a ship. For me the Titanic (and indeed any sinking vessel) story is one of terror. Like any good horror movie, you imagine yourself in that situation, ask yourself what you would do. Often when we see horror on the TV screen we wonder why the victim has not ran for their life or tried to fight back, but sincerely… if it were me on a sinking ship, I think I would be as incapacitated by terror as a character in a slasher movie!

It’s strange though… I often wonder past huge structures (such as buildings, or tower cranes) and don’t feel intimidated by their size, but something about large (well not even that large if I’m honest) ships scares me… I wouldn’t even want to go near one if it was in a dry dock!

Last week I was on a urban prowl, looking for shots, hoping to build on my street work. I saw what I thought to be a very unusual building.

A very impressive and large structure. From the right angle it looked a little like a ship… But the composition of the building made it look more like a ship being built.

The scene immediately took my mind back to those iconic images of the Titanic being built* back when ships were the livelihood of so many, and the ONLY way to transverse the ocean. Back in the days when things were build in situ, from the keel up, rather than a outsourced, pre-frab construction model. The work would of been very hard, very long. Injuries and deaths in the ship yards were not uncommon. It’s easy to romanticise this period in history, but make no mistake, it would have been a gruelling existence to have lived and worked in these times.

So as I stood in the street, incidentally about 37 hours shy of the exact 104 year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, I stared up at the magnificent structure towering above me, I thought of the Titanic, but more so; I thought of mankind, of progress, growth and how as a species were are driven to push ourselves to ever more lofty heights. But also I thought of calamity, of folly and the extremely high price that our progress has cost ourselves over the millennia.

But you may ask, was I scared? Did I stand there and resist the urge that I was shipwrecked; cast into a vast dark sea, lost in a merciless ocean with only a few precious moments to make my peace with my existence before death came?

No of course not!! I have a fear of water, but I’m not completely irrational, and the sea was no where near!!

(*Actually, very few pictures of the Titanic were taken, most of the shots you see of the world’s most famous liner are actually of her sisters, the Olympic and Britannic. The Olympic led a long, varied, and distinguished life, but the Britannic was sunk during WWI while serving as a hospital ship. There is a few pages of Wikipedia reading there for you; if you feel that way inclined!)

For more blog posts click http://adambonn.com/blog-toc/

[Sergio M.]

A very interesting read, Adam. I like the lines and angles. Very much like a ship build in progress.

Sergio

[bnnrcn]

Very nice image Adam

[IzzieK]

Good image and write-up, Adam. I admire your flare with words. You sound like a good story teller kind of person.

[Adzman808]

Thanks very much to you all!

@Izziek

Ha! Maybe... I try to write as if I'm talking, and I play very loose with syntax, grammer, spelling and stuff like that! I also play kinda loose with the rules of photography, but I don't seem to get away with so much on that

That's why I picked a bit more of a std shot for week16 and added the kooky story myself (it's all true btw) rather than last time, when I picked a kooky image and hoped the viewer would add their interpretation...

Personally, I enjoy both (story telling forms) very much.

My blog is sorta split between the "X-Pro1 love Story" which has been scarily popular, and blog posts like the one above, which have proved to be desperately UNpopular!

I'm not despondent about it, I mean it's all my work, but it's a little weird... The X-Pro1 pages probably average out at about 2k hits each, the blog posts at about 30!!!! All written by the same person, hosted in the same place, and with the same amount of promotion!

Just as well I made the blog for me, and decided that any attention it received would be a bonus...

[joebranko]

I find the shot very interesting Adam but your story telling compelling. If you have not written a book yet, I encourage you to do so!

[Adzman808]

Thanks very much Joe,

I don't know about that! The blog's enough work, and gives me the chance to flip about between things that interest me, whereas I think a book would require far more continuity and depth than I have in a story that I could tell!

[Adzman808]

OK! One more in this thread then I'd better start a new thread for the long overdue second quarter!

Little Red Riding Boots by Adam Bonn, on Flickr

Not so much to say on this one, as I had a lot to say on last week's one

It's our daughter, I did the usual snaps for facebook, then got a bit fascinated with shadows, and thought that this composition would tell a story from shadow but with a splash of colour!!

For the next instalment, I'll be using a shot that for the first time ever (and I've been on Flickr 8 years!!!) got me into Explore!

Anyways, I think this is it for Q1 (about 3 weeks overdue?!), so we'll kick off with a new thread next time around.

I'm starting to get confused with the week numbers as well, I think I started in week 52 of 2015?

Whatever, there will be (almost) certainly be 52 shots by December (barring catastrophe anyway!)

[IzzieK]

I must admit ---this is unusual. Yesterday I was looking at this image like the boot shot was the result of a little girl jumping but the shadow was that of a girl in the swing. Very different view when one is tired. I thought it was a composite.

[Adzman808]

Thanks Izzie,

I was aiming for an unusual image, so I guess I got it?!