HARD TEXTURE

HARD TEXTURE

I noticed this when I was visiting a medieval building in North Western France earlier this year....
I was drawn to both the pattern as well as the texture of the stone.

X MARKS THE SPOT

CRANES AT THE PORT OF ST MALO

These cranes and their reflection were seen at the port of St Malo in North Western France.
St Malo has a history of being a home of the Corsairs - French Privateers and Pirates.

More recently (1998) it was the site of an Anglo-French summit which led to a significant agreement regarding European Defence Policy.

EARLY MORNING ON THE BEACH.

EARLY MORNING ON THE BEACH

During the day, Bournemouth beach can be a very busy place. Even during the Autumn months a lot of people visit the beach and with dogs and children running around and cyclists riding along the promenade it often gets too busy for me.
However if you are prepared to get up early and go for a walk along the beach you might be lucky enough to see the quiet side of the beach.
With the tide going out this fisherman is making good use of his early start by sorting out and repairing some of his fishing gear.....

MONT-ST-MICHEL....NORMANDY .

VIEW OF MONT-ST-MICHEL

Most photographs of Mont-St-Michel in Normandy Northern France are taken at some distance in order to show the Mont in its full setting half a mile off the coast. When I visited the Mont in the spring I also took a number of images of the Mont from some distance away and that is certainly the most popular view that we all see.

However the Mont can also be quite impressive when viewed closer as can be seen in this image of the massive structure which almost seems to be growing out of the very rock itself.

Mont St Michel and it's bay is included on the UNESCO list of world heritage sites. At the very top of the spire is a statue of the Archangel Michael.

WATER TOWER - NORTHERN FRANCE

Water Tower - Northern France

During my recent cycle ride from Gibraltar to the UK I saw lots of these water towers in Northern France. I have a real liking for them.....the various shapes and sizes make them interesting photographic subjects. I saw this particular one about twenty miles south of Chateaubriant and I was really attracted to it's smooth lines and great slender shape.

MICKEY ON THE SEAFRONT

MICKEY AT BOURNEMOUTH (SOLARIZED IMAGE)

It is no secret that I prefer black & white and toned images to colour. The reason for this is because I think it can give an almost 'not of this world' feel to an image and that is a style of photography that I enjoy. I will also use infra red techniques with some of my images particularly of old buildings.

One exception in my use of colour is to Solarize the image....This still gives me the 'not of this world' image style that I like but the unreal mix of colour....all most pop art in appearance...  can help to create a really unusual and bright picture that I find quite refreshing.

The solarized image above is typical of the effect. I took three images of this scene, black & white - colour- and this solarized one. Both the black and white and colour shots just did not work...they tended to appear flat and boring, however the solarized shot livened up the view and seems to work well with a colourful character like Mickey Mouse.

I prefer to make my image 'alterations' at the point of capture rather than post production.

**Remember to click or double click to enlarge the image to see it better.


For the next month I will be away cycling back to the UK from Gibraltar....I will resume posting  on this blog towards the end of September....Probably back to black & white again..

GASLIGHT AND CHURCH TOWER

MALVERN PRIORY AND GAS LAMP

Malvern Priory was founded as a Benedictine Priory in 1085.....one year before the Doomsday book. It was a monastery for over 450 years.
In 1541 it was bought by the local people for £20 in order to save it from destruction. Since then it has been the parish church at the centre of Great Malvern.
The Malvern gas lamps are thought to be the inspiration for the lamp in the forest of C.S.Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.