Frosty mornings are great for monochrome. But the cold drains batteries so fast.
Frosty morning
Abstract building side
I don’t normally do abstract photography. My mind works in too literal a way to see interesting things in shapes and colours.
But once in a while, I see something that peaks my interest that isn’t landscapes or people.
BNF
This photo was taken near the BNF, the National Library in Paris. The L shaped building far right is one of the 4 main buildings of the library. Then one close right is another.
For some reason, they made the pavement wood all around the library. I can’t see wood and not take a B&W photo.
Sand sun
The tide makes interesting patterns in the sand. This one, around the remains of an old groyne post, made me think of the sun.
Fishermen
One of the things I really like is to take series of photos on a theme, photo journalistic style. To me, a monochrome photographer is a witness who should tell a story by focusing the viewer’s attention on the subject matter instead of being distracted by petty colours.
One early morning, I went to the fishing port of Peterhead in the North of Scotland to catch the trawlers coming back to port. I went round the harbour imaging the fishermen working on vessel maintenance, net maintenance, and unloading their cargo. I took about 50 photos before day break.
I had the Canon 350D with me at the time, with a slow lens, so the levels of light, in the winter at 3am in the North of Scotland, no tripod, with the rain, where a problem. The 350D only goes up to ISO 1600 and it’s terribly noisy at that level. But I went for it anyway, hoping that it would create appropriate grain (I love the grain of Ilford Delta 3200, especially pushed a couple of stops).
Doorway
I love doorways and doors. I must have thousands of photos of them from many countries. I always wonder what’s behind them, who walked through them, and what they’ve seen.
I took this one in a narrow side street in Edinburgh, where I used to live.
Long boat
I used to go up and down the East coast of Scotland a lot to take my photos. One of my favourite places was a small fishing village called Gourdon. I took so many photos of the shore and of the boats there.
Not long after I took this photo, the boat was removed. Presumably scraped, given its state at the time.
Church in a field
I like framing things and I like grass in my monochrome photos. They mix well with the grain.
Until now I hadn’t looked at this photo in monochrome. I took it very early in the morning to have nice orange light. But the details in the grass and in the wood work well with monochrome too.
Rocks in the sea
This is the photo that got me into monochrome (toned) and long exposures.
It is also the photo I made when things started to click for me: I had it in my head for a very long time before I could make it happen. Finding the right location for a composition I liked, and the right time of day for a long exposure, took a good while.
From that point on I concentrated on making the photos I had in my head instead of taking the photos that presented themselves.
Stairs
This photo was taken on a winter Sunday morning at the top of the Trocadero, opposite the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
I love stone work for monochrome because they contain a lot of tiny high contrast details.I took several photos to have a view without people, but in the end I preferred the one with a woman walking up the stairs.
