Ahoy Snaily!

Nothing special here, just another close encounter on my morning wanderings. Thankfully, the snail is very slow by nature, which allowed me to come close. Interesting thing is that I just noticed one of its upper tentacles is half missing., meaning we have a one-eyed snail here! Poor thing, who knows what kind of adventure resulted in that.

As always, hop to Leanne Cole’s blog Leanne Cole PHOTOGRAPHY, where every Wednesday she hosts The Monochrome Madness Challenge, with many excellent images.

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Repetition

This is my first post in this new Monochrome Madness year. What an amazing thing, a fourth year of continuum and still going strong. Even when I step away from my blogging, this challenge draws me back.

For this week, the theme is repetition. So I decided to repeat the image from 2015. I was visiting Prague and this image of Charles Bridge is my favorite from that trip.

Its construction started in 1357 under the auspices of King Charles IV, and finished in the beginning of the 15th century. The bridge replaced the old Judith Bridge that had been badly damaged by a flood in 1342. This new bridge was originally called the Stone Bridge (Kamenný most) or the Prague Bridge (Pražský most) but has been the “Charles Bridge” since 1870. As the only means of crossing the river Vltava until 1841, the Charles Bridge was the most important connection between Prague Castle and the city’s Old Town and adjacent areas.

I took this image with the 70-300mm lens, from a considerable distance, without a tripod. It was a challenge to keep a steady hand, but I had some breathing lessons, so that helped a lot.

The editing was fairly simple. I went for the panoramic crop, it usually works well when your subject is a bridge. Adjusting exposure to bring focus to the stone work was my next step. Finally, blurring the background added a tridimensional feel to the bridge. I like those swans and boats, they add a little bit of dynamic to the image.

I think it fits in the Repetition theme, with all the arches, sculptures and history. Also, I crossed it countless times, repetition in itself.

As always, I urge you to visit Leanne Cole’s blog Leanne Cole PHOTOGRAPHY, where every Wednesday she hosts The Monochrome Madness Challenge, with many excellent images.

Peace Lily

My victim for this week’s Monochrome Madness Challenge is my little Spathiphyllum, the only plant that can survive my caregiving. And it even blooms! Considering me being a serial killer of plants, it is a miracle. On the other hand, it would be quite a miracle if I managed to kill this one, considering it being very resilient. I finally found a perfect match for me. 🙂

The only thing worth mentioning about my post-processing is adding a frame. It seldom works, but I find it quite an improvement here.

For more interesting monochrome images, I recommend a visit to Leanne Cole’s blog Leanne Cole PHOTOGRAPHY, where every Wednesday she hosts The Monochrome Madness Challenge.

Atomium

Yet another image as a result of experiments conducted in my study. Playing with light still fascinates me and this time I found the object that allowed me to position the source of light as a backdrop. Last few images I did in a similar way, the light had to be positioned from the front, so this time I managed to produce something different under the same conditions.

Not really a groundbreaking work, but it gives me delight to discover something new. With spring around the corner, maybe I will finally venture outside with the camera, not only my phone.

This is a souvenir my cousin brought me from Brussels, a famous Atomium, which depicts nine iron atoms in the shape of the body-centred cubic unit cell of an iron crystal. It was originally constructed for Expo 58, the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair. CNN named it Europe’s most bizarre building. I call that alternative facts. 😀

For more interesting monochrome images, I recommend a visit to Leanne Cole’s blog Leanne Cole PHOTOGRAPHY, where every Wednesday she hosts The Monochrome Madness Challenge.

Milano Revisited

I went back to an old image, from 2014. It is funny how you can find something new in a pile of old stuff. I think I took images of Arco Della Pace from every possible angle, except aerial. Yet, you can always rediscover new details.

When I was doing and AfterBeforeChallenge (hosted by Stacy Fischer), I used a trick on a couple of projects, stretching the image. I went back to that trick again, just to see how far I can push it. I managed to stretch the image by 10%, everything beyond that was too much. It was fun doing something different, cause lately I’ve been doing all the work while taking the image, with minimum effort in post-processing.

For more interesting monochrome images, I recommend a visit to Leanne Cole’s blog Leanne Cole PHOTOGRAPHY, where every Wednesday she hosts The Monochrome Madness Challenge.

Reflections

This month’s theme for Monochrome Madness Challenge was reflection and I thought about many different things. In the end I decided to play with the mirror and my little souvenir from Paris. The hardest part was to clean the mirror, it was impossible to remove all the dust specks. Finally, I had to finish cleaning in post-processing. 🙂

For more interesting monochrome images, I recommend a visit to Leanne Cole’s blog Leanne Cole PHOTOGRAPHY, where every Wednesday she hosts The Monochrome Madness Challenge.

An Elephant In The Room

I am slowly trying to find my way back to regular blogging, but I must admit it is hard. Still thinking of changing some things, trying new directions and yet I find it so easy to return to the fold of Monochrome Madness.

This one is from the series of experiments with the flashlight and some dark background, not really on the mark, still much room for improvement. I found some tutorials how to manufacture your own shades to create interesting backgrounds, but as with all things, I lack the time.

For more interesting monochrome images, I recommend a visit to Leanne Cole’s blog Leanne Cole PHOTOGRAPHY, where every Wednesday she hosts The Monochrome Madness Challenge.

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

In my book it is just never too much of Christmas magic. This year I spent so much time taking images of my Christmas Tree decorations, they look so cute, hidden…and every single one has a story behind it.

For this week’s Monochrome Madness Challenge, I decided to leave a dash of color. After all…it’s the right season.  🎅

For more interesting monochrome images, I recommend a visit to Leanne Cole’s blog Leanne Cole PHOTOGRAPHY, where every Wednesday she hosts The Monochrome Madness Challenge.

Change Your Heart, Look Around You…

Still on track for Monochrome Madness Challenge, I found this weeks subject on my bathroom window. Finally a plant survived in my household! Not only that, she is in full bloom. I bought a cactus last year and poor thing was dancing on a precipice leading to afterlife, but she survived. Maybe there is hope for me…

The stage remains the same, week after week. Black background and a flashlight. Unfortunately, the lamp I bought in IKEA is not giving me a good light, so I am stuck with the flashlight…at least until I figure out where to find different bulbs for the lamp. Playing with light was challenging and fun as usual and after some 20 shots, I finally settled on this image. Post-processing was minimal, these days I try to do all the hard work in setting the scene.

For more interesting monochrome images, I recommend a visit to Leanne Cole’s blog Leanne Cole PHOTOGRAPHY, where every Wednesday she hosts The Monochrome Madness Challenge.

Moment

I am continuing with my series of macro images of random objects, experimenting with backgrounds and light. I find it very inspiring and perfect theme for Monochrome Madness Challenge. Going through my drawers, I never know what forgotten object I will stumble upon and breathe a little bit of life, if just for a moment.

This tinny clock offered some good contrast, demanding minimum effort to set up the stage. Just a little bit of polishing and playing with the right amount of Orton effect, to get that nice softness and balance.

For more interesting monochrome images, I recommend a visit to Leanne Cole’s blog Leanne Cole PHOTOGRAPHY, where every Wednesday she hosts The Monochrome Madness Challenge.