street photography

The train to Bristol

Today I went by train to Bristol and couldn’t resist covertly photographing this beautiful Japanese woman as she slept, seen through the reflection of passing smoke, trees and fields seemingly to be gently enveloping her.

A dark shape appears to be rolling her head and making her gasp – seen through a fine white gauze-like stream.

Geo tagging with my phone tells me exactly where I took this photo – on the traintrack just after it crosses the A338 north of Wantage – simultaneously both fascinating and useless information.

Below is a photo of Reading station – repeating patterns in such close proximity. The cut out shapes are the same but seen in silhouette, then blue and above, apparently reversed – the same shapes made from corrugated roofing – confused by reflections in the train window.

I tried photographing the concrete-paved platform as the train was slowly pulling out of the station, the yellow warning strip of the edge of the platform makes a pleasing border.

Decorative plasterwork on the ceiling of a public house dating back to 1746, the Llandoger Trow in Bristol centre.

Colour

Architecture, Design, Photography

I am attracted by juxtapositions of colour – thay can make all the difference to how you see something.

A cliché perhaps but lovely none the less, the first red leaves of Autumn in the lakes north of Toronto.

These vibrant colours were an unexpected delight contrasting against the black polished marble of a downtown Toronto office building, snatched from the car whilst at a stop light.

Four lanes of traffic waiting to set off from the lights on a dull day – the colours really saurated. I wish I’d had time to compose the shot better and include more of the orange sign pointing across the road. Each vehicle, engine revving, almost perfectly lined up to lead the eye, has its own colour point, linking up with the coloured flags on the facia of the building and then the verdigris on the roof.

The Toronto taxi colours seem to be designed to match the surroundings, the Autumn leaves and the red brick and verdigris copper roof of one of the few Victorian bulidings left in the downtown area, all set against the tall grey skyscrapers behind..

Photography

Wandering around London with a friend, not looking for anything in particular, lessons learned in checking camera settings before you start and remembering to switch between AV and TV to get the best of static and moving subjects.

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People

People, Photography

I do like faces – I think most people do, “people watching” is instinctive. I have made attempts at recording interesting faces photographically and in paint. I recently participated in a portraiture and street photography day in London and found the courage to ask people if I might take their photograph, sometimes I didn’t ask! I was so pleased to find most people to be kind and generous – and falttered!