climate change activist and science communicator; event photographer; amateur mapmaker — advocate for a stable global climate, reduced nuclear weapon risks, and safe human-AI interaction
Equipment, examples, history – all matters photographic
Here is an interesting series of photos about fishing in Alaska. There are huge waves, giant crabs, and a feisty cat. Having read so much about fisheries in the last few years, it is nice to have some visuals to accompany my thinking. Here are my favourites:
PS. Be advised that a few of the advertisements on the original page may not be work appropriate.
Wandering through the forums on photo.net, I came across the work of Wojciech Grzanka. His macro photography of insects is especially cool. Magnified insects look so other-worldly it is no suprise they have inspired to much science fiction and fantasy, ranging from the brilliant to the amusingly mediocre.
One of the best things about the photo.net community is the sheer level of skill and helpfulness among the community members. At the same time, the quality of other people’s images is almost certain to make you feel like a rank amateur.
PS. Grzanka’s website is pretty slick as well, though the images seem to be the same as those on photo.net.
I have been thinking about submitting a few images to the Intra Muros competition, but I am finding it hard to locate arty black and white shots of the right sort within my collection (1, 2). The general pattern of the ones they have accepted is that they show recognizable Oxford architecture, individual people are often included but never highlighted, and they have an abstracted quality to them. Somewhat surprisingly, most of my favourite photos taken in Oxford are in colour. Normally, I am a big fan of black & white.
The deadline isn’t until June 9th, so perhaps I can keep my eyes open for the right sort of image from now on. The winners get photos printed in their calendar and the best single entry wins £50.
Large pyramid at the Louvre
Smaller pyramid at the Louvre
Eiffel Tower
Parisian sewer
Mike beside the Canal Saint-Martin
Fruit at a market near Mike’s where most of our picnic supplies were purchased.
Metro stations in Paris have some odd names.
Basilica of the Sacré Cœur
Dramatic hair, dramatic expression.
Most of the best graffiti we saw in Paris had a colour wheel beside it. Does anyone know why?
With its inside-out appearance, the Pompidou Center reminds me of the Lloyds of London building.
One of the best things about Paris is how there always seem to be people out and about. This was taken at about 1:00am.
Mike on a big stone head.
The plaza containing the head. I almost broke my leg taking this photo, as I had to do it standing inside a fountain. The metal grates at the bottom that seemed firmly fixed actually shifted aside quite easily, plunging you into the shaft under them.
A man vaguely resembling Lenin stands on the Pont des Arts.
One nice feature of the Louvre is how contemporary art is included in the middle of some of the galleries. Along with these statues, there was a huge polished silver mirror installation in one of the Egyptian galleries.
Brass and marble sculptures are my favourite form of visual art.
It is interesting to watch living artists working from the examples provided by dead and venerated ones.
Along with art and historical artifacts, the Louvre includes the apartments of Napoleon III. This adds something like a palace tour to the whole experience.
Even the graffiti near the Louvre is none too bad.
The scene is Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, during the middle of an evening service. You see a person standing to one side of the alter, in the transept, looking across at one of the massive rose windows. The digital camera comes up, the window is magnified as much as possible, and then there is a sudden flash that distracts every one of the hundreds of the people in the cathedral but doesn’t provide nearly enough light for a proper exposure. On the camera’s screen, a very underexposed version of the window appears.
Normally, this is the end of things. Some people go on from here to deactivate their flash and take a second photo. This one is both hopelessly grainy (because the camera has automatically chosen the highest possible ISO setting) and completely blurred (because hand-holding a 1/2 second shot of a distant magnified object inside a darkened cathedral doesn’t work).
Obviously, I am someone who appreciates the practice of photography. As such, it pains me triply to see people taking photos in a distracting way, poorly, and in a space where such touristic incursions aren’t polite or appropriate.
Moral of the story: your flash cannot illuminate Notre Dame Cathedral. It cannot illuminate the Super Bowl or the moon either. If you are photographing these things, have the kindness, intelligence, and courtesy to turn it off. Then, make sure to at least brace against a wall, to help deal with the long exposure.
The 96 acres of the former Wadham estate contain a lot of nice plant life.
They also have a flock of decorative black sheep that wander in the valley that runs down to Branscombe and the sea.
The light on our last evening was especially lovely: warm sunset light, filtered through a translucent cloud that reduced the contrast.
More interesting looking plants.
With the support of the Wadham Foundation, we had tasty food throughout our week.
This house, just across the back alley from the place where we were staying, looks exactly like the white rabbit’s house from Alice in Wonderland doesn’t it? We’ll smoke the monster out!
Braced against the wall, this photo shows John contemplating an interesting archway in the former home of Dorothy and Nicholas Wadham.
The former bedroom of Dorothy Wadham, though the bed is a recent reconstruction.
While I was concentrating on getting my thesis written, most other members of the trip were more concerned with reading. While much was academic, Harry Potter and crime-fighting monks were not wholly excluded.
In my hermitage, I worked to compile notes and thoughts into a thesis draft.
