Black and White

Five Landscapes

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Five monochrome landscape images, taken in the Italian alps. These were shot using a Leica Q2 Monochrom and various colour-contrast and polarising filters. The Q2M is a monochrome-only compact camera with a fixed 28mm lens which was bought to replace an ageing Ricoh GR for travel where carrying film is no longer practical. The Q2M has the advantage of a built-in EVF, and shooting with the monochrome sensor is essentially the same process as for shooting with black and white film, only without the chemicals. Compositionally, I found the Q2M […]

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Black and White

Signs of Life

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A short photo essay on the easing of lock-down and the (quasi) return to normal life, albeit somewhat cautiously. These images were shot on a short and cautious trip to Italy, with some hiking in the mountains both in Italy and neighbouring Switzerland. It is clear that the COVID19 situation is going to persist for some time to come, not least because there is still widespread confusion and/or refusal to take simple preventative measures against infection. Surprisingly, the flights and public transport were perhaps the lowest risk in the trip, […]

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Landscape

August

Sunset and yacht on Lago di Como, Italy.
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  A short set of Italian alpine landscape images, which seems appropriate for the time of year. These were shot in several locations, from Vall di Mello to Lago di Como, and are a pretty good summary of what August should be like. Unfortunately for us, August is going to be a busy month, and I am putting the blog on hold now until things settle down in September, when it might also be cool enough to process film again…

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Black and White

El Prat

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A short set of panoramic black and white film images taken around El Prat, just outside of Barcelona. This is a mainly agricultural area, with many walks that make a nice change from being in the city. All images made with the Horizon panoramic camera, using Delta 100 film.

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Landscape

Espai Rural de Gallecs

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A short set of landscape images from the Gallecs rural space, just outside of Barcelona. This is a large area which has been preserved as farmland, largely thanks to the efforts of the local population to resist the pressures of urban and industrial development. The freshly ploughed clay soils have an amazingly deep and rich red colour. And lastly, a bonus image of some street art in the underpass connecting the town of Mollet del Vallès to the agricultural lands:  

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Landscape

Unnatural Spaces

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A set of photographs taken on walks in the Garraf, a “protected area” between Barcelona and Sitges. The zone is disconcertingly industrial for a natural park, even though (somewhat surprisingly) the area is officially part of the Natura 2000 series of protected green spaces.

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Architecture

Frankfurt

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A short set of architectural fragments, shot in Frankfurt. There is a lot of new development in this relatively small city, driven in no small part by the exodus of banking from the UK due to Brexit. One of the (many) economic problems for the UK created by Brexit is the impending loss of financial passporting rights, which allow more than 5000 financial companies in the UK to trade across Europe – including full access to the lucrative Euro denominated clearing and derivative markets. Brexit means that they will loose […]

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Landscape

Come Walk With Me…

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A short set of images taken around the piers in Brighton, during a rather stormy period. I have been meaning to try to take some pictures of the old piers for some time, although the original intention of making some long exposure sea-scapes was largely thwarted thanks to a slight aversion to the gale-force winds that were seemingly laced with sleet for much of the time…  

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Black and White

To The Beach

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A set of landscape photographs taken along the coast near Lynton and Lynmouth from a rather cold and wet weekend trip to the UK. It is not exactly Cannes, but the slightly less than hospitable weather makes a nice backdrop for the black and white imagery. All images shown here taken with the M 262 and 50mm Summilux, processed in Capture One 11. These would have worked very well on Delta 100 film, but it would have needed a heavy tripod to deal with the lighting and wind. At one […]

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Landscape

Cataratas del Iguazú

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Another couple of days off from work and a chance to revisit the Cataratas del Iguazú. These amazing waterfalls lie along the border between Brazil and Argentina and are surrounded by a beautiful tropical forest, which in the 19th century once covered almost the entirety of this region. The falls can be visited from both Argentina and Brazil – and  both sides are just awesome. All images were shot with an Olympus E-M10II and 12-50mm kit zoom.

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