Black and White

Dilbar

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Some more tests of the 90mm Elmarit-M, this time some semi-abstract shots of the hyper luxury boat “Dilbar” when it was last docked in Barcelona. The Dilbar is one of the largest private yachts in existence, and valued at $600 million it likely more expensive than the harbour at which it was docked. It is owned by the controversial Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov. Inexplicably, it is finished in a rather 1980’s beige colour that recalls many early budget PCs. It looks significantly better in black and white than in real […]

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Black and White

London River Walk

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A short set of images taken along the River Thames, mainly following the Thames Path. These were taken to test out a newly acquired 90mm Elmarit-M lens, which despite being more than 20 years old seems to be working amazingly well. The lens is extremely sharp, but lower-contrast than most modern lenses – although this is easily corrected when processing the images.  

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Black and White

State of Independence XI

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This is the last in the “State of Independence” series documenting the Catalan secessionist protests in Barcelona, covering the period leading up to the new regional assembly elections on the 21st December 2017. Throughout December the protests continued sporadically, mainly focussing on a campaign to support those people currently held in jail without bail for their actions that led to the current political crisis in Catalunya. The number and intensity of demonstrations is vastly diminished compared to the period around the referendum, as people tire of repetitive and cold evening […]

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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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Black and White

The City

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The first of two sets of high-contrast black-and-white travel photographs – in this case taken during a rather damp and cold day’s walk around Exeter. These were shot digitally and processed in Capture One. The results are very different from the usual film images, but for short trips such as this there is a lot to be said for the convenience of a digital camera.        

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Photography

The Factory

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CaixaForum in Barcelona is currently running a retrospective on Warhol – El Arte Mecánico, where you can see some the artist’s most iconic works and a good exposition of the route through commercial work that lead to the development of his iconic style. These are somewhat experimental shots taken on the Ricoh GR and processed to recall the style of some of Warhol’s work.

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Photography

Salamanca Calligraphy

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One of the unusual architectural features of Salamanca is the unusual calligraphy, which is used to mark buildings and entrances in the street. Typographically, I am not quite sure what to make of the lettering style. There are numerous sources online for fonts that reproduce the basic letters, but the kerning is consistently somewhat eccentric.

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Black and White

State of Independence X

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While the independence related protests continue in Barcelona, their number and attendance is very much reduced. This is a short set of film images taken at night at a protest in support of the politicians and independence group leaders currently on remand in Madrid following their unilateral declaration of Catalan independence.

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Black and White

State of Independence VII

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A further update and set of film images from the ongoing separatist crisis in Catalunya. On Tuesday, Carles Puigdemont refused to clarify whether or not the Catalan government had declared independence. As a result, the central government in Madrid has started proceedings under Article 155 of the Spanish constitution with the aim of restoring a

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Black and White

State of Independence VI

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More film photographs from the continuing independence movement protests here in Barcelona. Following the white protest on Saturday, there has been a subsequent unity march through the city centre, and then a gathering to celebrate what was expected to be a formal declaration of independence for Catalunya. However, the secessionists were bitterly disappointed by President Puigdemont’s actual speech.

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Black and White

State of Independence V

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More protest images from Barcelona as surging nationalism continues to polarise Catalunya and Spain, leading towards ever increasing tension. Shown here are images from street protests against police violence, and a protest calling for dialogue rather than confrontation between the two opposing political factions – one of the few politically neutral responses to the escalating violence and division.

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Black and White

State of Independence IV

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A set of film photographs taken during the day of the independence referendum in Catalunya. The central government’s attempt to shutdown the referendum, which is illegal under Spanish constitutional law, failed after the regional Catalan police essentially refused to cooperate. As a result the Guardia Civil and Policía Nacional were used in a last minute attempt to close polling stations, resulting in hundreds of incidents of violence across the region as police battled with ordinary people. Despite this, only a handful of stations were closed. With a turnout of 42% […]

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