A small recent photo dump…
I’ve been remiss for the past few months in sharing many images. Not that I’ve taken bucket loads but even those few that I have, have been sleeping silently on my hard drive. A couple I’ve printed which I’ll mention below, and that process always gives definition and reality to the images I’ve shot more than the others.
Why not print everything? Well I guess much of that comes down to $$ but also I like to keep the printing to those few prints that I deem special - dare I say it - worthy of some ink. I want to be able to look back on the image and feel the texture, and remember why it was I took the photo in the first place.
So without further ado, here are some photos of this year that I’m happy to share!
One of those winter days that I was spending down in A Little Cabin in the Alps. Windy and cold! So I took a short trip around to a place that - in clear weather - you can see the huge bulk of the Monte Rose massif. Not today Josephine as they say. What was visible however, were a few lower peaks in the foreground of the Monte Rose shadow. This is one of them where I tried to capture the storm that was enveloping the entire area, the windblown snow (spindrift) and yes, the contrast of lighting that was still being displayed.
This was one of the images I printed off on A3+ Hahnemühle Photo Rag Matt Baryta which gives an “impressive reproduction of vivid colours, details, and deep blacks” - that I can verify!
I recently (April) finished a road trip through some parts of Europe which were still blanks on my map. Particularly Kosovo, North Macedonia, Greece and the Apennines of central Italy (yes ferry from Greece to south-east Italy to manage a circular route!). The standouts for me were Kosovo and the Apennines. Beam me up Scottie and bring me back…
Here was one of those mornings that I got up before sunrise, all set for some wonderful blue hour images, only for the Greek meteo omitting to say there would be blanket cloud most of the morning…
Twists and turns of life. Maybe it’s best we don’t know what’s around the next corner.
Another early morning shot (well two to be exact!) from the nearest polder to where I live (5 mins drive away). Low rising mist with some - not a lot - shadow. I split-toned both to give a degree of warmth to the images whilst cooling down the shadows.
Windows of opportunity.
Rapidly changing shapes, shadows & scenes on the East Face of Corno Grande 2912m, Gran Sasso in the Apennines, Central Italy. A minute later views had disappeared for another 10 minutes…
One of those days where afternoon cloud build up helps with the scene instead of hiding the summit entirely.
Sometimes images call for colour.
Often I resist - but not this time!
The Cascata delle Marmore (or Marmore Falls in central Italy) - the largest man-made waterfall in the world created, initially, by the Romans at a total height of 165m.
Tripod in hand (prepared this time!), vantage point all sorted… What I hadn’t reckoned on was the amount of spray (duh) that when the waterfall was in full force (they open a watergate in the river above the top fall twice a day), I was having to constantly wipe the lens to get any any sort of half clear shot.
This was one of the early shots I took before the lens just became a smeared mess. Half a second with a 6 stop ND filter.
Nothing much here apart from what you see! I was attracted by the zebra crossing and shadows created by passing cyclists. A sunny day in Amsterdam!
Walking through Amsterdam - yes same day as the cyclist shot! - I was struck (again!) by the desire, not just a “willingness”, of non-Dutch ethnicities to be photographed compared to the more “traditional” westerner.
I came across a fibre-optic pipe laying crew of Middle-Eastern background, where initially some light and shadows attracted me - before some of the crew waved me over to have their photo taken. Boy did I wish I had my Canon Selphy printer with me to give them a photo…
The whole experience (10 mins - most of it handshaking and chatting) reminded me of why I love the Middle Eastern Arabic countries so much.
Openness.
Conversation.
Warmth.
Smiles.
Engagement.
Despite the craziness in the world driven by you know who and his ally (singular) in that part of the world, the overwhelming desire there is for peace and prosperity.
Thank you fibre-optic crew for your reminder.
Another glimpse of Corno Grande 2912m, Gran Sasso in the Apennines, Central Italy.
I originally shot this with a white balance of 3000K meaning very strong contrasts and a very dark sky. However, the more I looked at the image, and how I remembered the day, the more I felt drawn to displaying the scene as I have it now - and cropping a lot of cloud out to widen the view - again as I remember how I “saw” whilst taking the photo.
Another one I printed off on A3+ as it deserved this sort of size! Paper again Hahnemühle Photo Rag Matt Baryta
To enlarge just click on image.
