Galleries
Arty: Pictures that appeal to me, for what it’s worth.
Usually pictures of shapes, colour, lighting, composition, mundane objects. They can be printed large or small.
Good pictures to give to your friend’s to hang to on their walls so their friends think they are strange, and you can embarrass them if you visit and find the pictures have gone.
Some people may actually like them.
Most cities have churches. Often ignored, but are very much of the visual character of towns, cities and villages. Sometimes castles.
I have included photographs of the interiors of churches in case people have not been in one.
They, usually, were a lot of work to build and demonstrate the work of sculptors, craftsmen, artists, engineers, architects and money.
You can find them all over the place, and reflect much about the nature of the people in the surrounding area. Sometimes, the workmanship of the stonework and craftsmanship is breath-taking as is the size and enormity of the task to build them.
In northern climes they are cold.
Churches should not be taken for granted
These photos are pictures of the nature of the places visited.
Many were taken in work travel. These photographs are not usually “Post Card” like, nor would be good in guidebooks. They usually would be best printed as large images or projected on a screen
But, really, I try to give some little taste of the place that tells you why this is one part of a country and not anywhere else.
The photographs show the architecture, the street furniture, the relief, the local transport, the uniqueness of some part of the place… something that could not be found anywhere else
Generally, wide-angle lenses are good at this. They have an acceptance angle larger than the human eye is aware of. The human eye “sees” around 450 and this is what you are aware of. Wide angle lenses are typically 700 to 800 angle. Also, “tele-photo” lenses, with a much smaller acceptance angle enable you to pick out details and interesting parts of a city that may not be noticed.
Landscapes are the sort of photographs I hope people would like to have large prints made from and hung on the wall.
I try to take the photograph such that, if it were hanging on the wall, people would get pleasure, satisfaction and relaxation from looking at the image.
They could also be good for lawyer’s or dentist’s waiting areas.
These photographs tend to be at their best with the around the natural acceptance angle of the eye which is comforting to view, but a wide angle leads you into the photo or being “in” the photograph as the photograph “unfolds” from your feet to above you head.
Most books of photographs are first of people and then, landscapes. So if you want to do your own book of photography, you know where to start.
I was persuaded to put in this section as my web master thought it might interest people as background.
In my professional career, I designed and manufactured large medical cameras for cancer and physiological function imaging that used gamma rays instead of light. These “ Gamma cameras” also known as “scintillation cameras” and “nuclear cameras” do not use film, but the gamma rays from the patient pass through a lead “lens” which makes the distribution the same from the patient as in the detector. The detector converts the gamma rays into an incredibly small amount of light which is amplified to make the image.
The first camera was invented by Hal Anger and there is a photograph of him with me and the world’s first digital gamma camera, which I designed, is in the background. This work finally allowed me to “draw” in a technical way to have components manufactured to be built into my equipment. For you that have nothing better to do, you can search US and Canadian patents, mostly when I lived in Manotick.
Various of my cameras are shown and there is an image of me, I.E.S. Bone SPECT, in which the blacker spots in my spine are where the bone is healing following fractures in a cycling accident. This form of imaging is not very clear or sharp because it is an image of growth and very little pharmaceutical can be given.
Some of my “photo” cameras are included and a special mention of my “travel” camera, the Olympus XA2 which took all the Swiss, Rome and Tahoe amongst others, on my work trips.
These are photographs of things out of the ordinary.
Arthur’s Day is a day in Ireland when they celebrate Arthur Guiness’s birthday. Guiness everywhere! Equally, World Corporation 24/7 begs the question why they need the sign if the gate is in use 24 hrs a day
Photographs of this type often pop up with little warning, so vigilance and “prepared-ness” is the order of the day.
Some things just amused me, so I take a photo. Sometimes you have to look closely to see the point, but….
I’m not much of a portrait or people photographer, but sometimes, I have a go.
Real portrait photographers excel in studio photography using careful lighting procedures to create subtle and often dramatic nuances in their subjects.
It should always be remembered that some people do not want their photo taken and it takes a level of “brass neckedness” to just carry on photographing. Not really in my nature.
Studio photographers of people usually use a short telephoto lens so that they are not so close to intimidate their subject. When I was asked to do some portrait photography I would often put a used roll of film in my camera and click away to the end of the film until they got relaxed.
Nowadays, with so many ‘phone cameras, people are less self conscious.
Shops are one of my favourite subjects.
They capture so much of the culture of their situation. Food is characteristic of a region or country and the shop owner or server also reflects this personality.
I always ask if I can take photos, because, if I don’t I may only get one photograph or all the further pictures are of grumpy people. Also, shop owners sometimes may not want you to take pictures because they may think you are going to pass on their prices or what they stock.
The standard lens is often the best in “landscape” mode or a wide angle if taking photographs in “portrait” to get the “involved” look.
This is for the nearly “odd” category.