I turned off comments in January and February because I was rather busier than usual and I found that I couldn't devote as much time to the blog as I usually do. Then, at the beginning of March, feeling that things were easing off a little, I turned them back on. That proved to be the wrong thing to do! Things are busier than they were earlier in the year! In fact, the other evening when I glanced at the clock and noticed that a couple of hours had passed in what seemed like a few minutes, I found myself reciting the title of the Sandy Denny song, one that I recall her singing on the Fairport Convention album, "Unhalfbricking", of 1969. "Who Knows Where The Time Goes" will be known by many through Judy Collins' version. I like them both, but of the two singers' voices Sandy Denny's is the one I prefer: her version of "She Moves Through The Fair" (on the album "What We Did On Our Holidays") is one of my favourite songs by a female vocalist.
All of which has little to do with today's photograph. It's an exercise in applying natural lighting and burning that I did a while ago. I'm not a fan of flash, though I do use it occasionally when I try to make it mimic natural light. Here I wanted "Caravaggioesque" lighting i.e very directional light with deep shadows. To achieve it I arranged some curtains to so that a shaft of light from the window fell adjacent to darker areas in a room What better to use as the subject in this exercise in trying to achieve the lighting that one of the Renaissance's greatest painters made his signature effect than the subject used by countless other painters down the centuries - a simple bowl of fruit. In fact - and here I'm consciously trying to establish a link with the title of today's post - a timeless subject. I post it with an apology. This photograph was one of my rejects. I've run out of fresh photographs due to having no time to pursue them. So, if my posting rate declines further you'll know the reason why.
photograph and text © Tony Boughen
Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 100mm macro
F No: f8
Shutter Speed: 1/15 sec
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.67 EV
Image Stabilisation: On
