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.

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.

The Master

With the new month comes a new Monochrome Madness theme and this time it is all about culture.

It was not hard to choose an image, I had it on my mind from the start. This sculpture of Leonardo da Vinci by Piero Magni is located at Piazza della Scala in Milan.

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.

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.

Shadows

March is just around the corner and so is the new theme for the Monochrome Madness Challenge. This time the challenge was a shadow. Or shadows. Or something along those lines. I went for that last one, something along those lines. A statue in the shadows with the shadow.

This marble sculpture, Theseus Defeats the Centaur by Antonio Canova from 1875, is located on the grand staircase in Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum. The museum is one of my favorite places to visit when I am in Vienna. It was opened around 1891 at the same time as the Naturhistorisches Museum, by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary. The two museums have similar exteriors and face each other across Maria-Theresien-Platz. Both buildings were built between 1871 and 1891 according to plans drawn up by Gottfried Semper and Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer.

The museum’s primary collections are those of the Habsburgs, particularly from the portrait and armour collections of Ferdinand of Tirol, the collections of Emperor Rudolph II (the largest part of which is, however, scattered), and the collection of paintings of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm.

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.