Tag: 1980s

Foggy Dam.

David M4 Comments

The new Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge is Chutes and Ladders.

Having fallen off a ladder a little over six weeks ago and still in rehab not being allowed to put any weight on the left leg or the right shoulder I wasn’t considering a ladder.

So I thought about chutes. I’m not sure if this part of a dam is called a chute but it’s as close as I could get.

This is Lawers Dam in Scotland shrouded in fog. The original was shot on Kodachrome 64 although it was an almost monochrome image. There’s not a lot of difference between the original and this monochrome conversion.

Foggy Dam.

Unnatural Patterns.

David M4 Comments

The new Cosmic Photo Challenge is Unnatural Patterns.

I can’t decide if these photos are natural or unnatural but I’m going to say they’re unnatural for the challenge.

The photos are of sodium thiosulfate crystals photographed through a microscope using polarized light.  I made a solution of sodium thiosulfate, put drops on microscope slides and used various methods to get the crystals to form. The first photo could be part of one of my fingerprints.

A fingerprint in sodium thiosulfate.

polarized light microscopy

polarized light microscopy

Sharp.

David M2 Comments

This week’s Cosmic Photo Challenge is The Sharpest Image.

I was considering a follow-up to last week’s challenge which was It’s A Blur by using a blurred image that had an element or elements of sharpness.

Then I thought of this shot, possibly because over the last month I have had an intravenous line in the back of each hand at different times and have had so much blood taken it’s become a joke between the lab technician and myself.

This photo of a syringe is from a studio shoot in the 1980s. One of the shots was used on a magazine cover. I used coloured gels over the flash heads to add some colour to the syringe and needle.

A sharp syringe.

The South Bank one Sunday morning.

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One from the archives taken early one Sunday morning on the South Bank of the River Thames in London, England in the early 1980s.

I was living and working in north London at the time, running a photo department during the week and shooting a variety of personal work at the weekends. Early one Sunday morning I headed down to Westminster with my tripod and camera bag.

There was a light mist over the River Thames which added to my decision to shoot black and white. Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament were partially obscured by the mist, adding to the atmosphere.

I used my Olympus OM1 loaded with Ilford FP4 which was my regular black and white film.

Early morning on the South Bank.

Old wall box.

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One from the archives taken in Cheshire in the 1980s. A wall box is a type of post box set into a wall.

This box was set into a sandstone wall on Bickerton Hill, Cheshire, England. Bickerton Hill is a low, red sandstone hill close to the southern end of a long-distance footpath known as The Sandstone Trail. The area was quarried in the past so the wall is probably built of locally sourced sandstone.

I did a selective colour treatment to leave the post box red with the rest of the image in monochrome.

Sometime after the photo was taken the post box was stolen. Removed from the wall in the dead of night I presume. Apparently there are people who collect old post boxes and obviously some aren’t concerned about obtaining them legally.

Selective colour treatment of an old post box.

European Goldfinch feeding on Teasel.

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Throwback Thursday travels back to Cheshire, England in the late 1980s.

This is a European Goldfinch feeding on seeds in a Teasel head. The seeds are a popular food source for the birds and the plant is grown to attract them by some people.

Teasel heads were used as a natural comb for the nap on wool in the past.

Goldfinch feeding on Teasel.