Too colourful wheelie bins

click photo to enlarge
My household refuse is disposed of in one of three wheelie bins; the landfill bin that is mid-green, the green waste bin that is brown(!) and the recycling bin that is bright blue. We hide them out of sight behind a short length of fence that I erected for the purpose and in front of which I have grown Cotoneaster franchettii. The contents of each bin is taken away every fortnight by a large refuse vehicle. For this to happen I have to put the bins near the road that passes my property.

Now I can just about live with the subdued brown and green bins but that blue bin drives me to distraction. On the morning they are emptied the village looks like it has been invaded by blue extraterrestrials that are standing guard outside each house, the blueness of each one forcing itself on to my eyeballs. Who decided blue would be good colour for a wheelie bin? Has that person ever been asked his or her reasons for selecting it? Its even worse in towns where smaller properties can't easily hide away the bins. There the blue bins are on permanent display negatively affecting everyone's "visual amenity". More thoughtful local authorities chose grey or a brick-like dark red/orange: I've even seen a dark purple. Such colours are a much less glaring addition to the street scene.

When I was photographing the frost on the date of manufacture of my blue wheelie bin I wondered how much longer the receptacle would last, and whether there were any plans in hand to introduce a better colour as the blue bins expired. But then I reflected that at thirteen years of age they are mere teenagers, probably have several more years to go, and there's little chance that anyone in authority thinks as I do. Perhaps I should plant the thought in their minds.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title: Frosted Date On Recycling Bin
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 60mm macro (120mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/125 sec
ISO:500
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Forget-me-not

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I remember being told a story in primary school about how the forget-me-not (Myosotis) got its name. God - or a god, perhaps classical, I don't recall - was naming all the plants when a small one that he had overlooked called out to him, "forget me not", with which that became the name that he bestowed on it. I've also read that in the middle ages women wore the flower as a mark of steadfast love. However, I often think the flower should be called "cannot-forget-me" because the fact is, once you have this flower in your garden, unless you are obsessively tidy, you have the plant for ever after.

The forget-me-not spreads its thousands of tiny seeds by dropping them, and by its pods attaching to clothing, cats, birds, in fact anything that brushes it when passing by. In our garden it is in full bloom in a number of locations, its blueness vying with the bluebells, another flower that spreads easily and quickly. My photograph shows one of the tiny groups of flowers on its stem, the yellow centre contrasting nicely with the blue petals. For all that it is invasive it is reasonably easy to control, and I have yet to find a person who doesn't have a soft spot for this diminutive flower.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title: Forget-Me-Not Flowers
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Manual
Focal Length: 35mm Macro (70mm - 35mm equiv.) crop
F No: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/320 sec
ISO:200
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Yellow, red and blue doors

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I think of the three colours, red, yellow and blue as the long-recognised primary colours associated with, not only painting and design, but also children's toys. Sometimes, however, they can be the perfect threesome to enliven a narrow, shadow-filled road in a big city. I photographed these three colourful doors on an interesting modern terrace, during a walk near the River Thames in Greenwich, London.

© Tony Boughen

Camera: Nikon D5300
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 40mm (60mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f9
Shutter Speed: 1/125 sec
ISO:100
Exposure Compensation: -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Bright sparks and electric fences

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Is it just me that thinks its more than a little strange to protect people from the dangers of electricity by threatening to electrocute them? That's what National Grid does by erecting electric fences round their sub-stations to prevent people entering them and subjecting themselves to the danger of electric shock. I wonder which bright spark thought up that one!?

I was pondering this incongruity recently as I stood outside a Fenland sub-station with its enclosing spear-tipped palisade fence and inner electric fence, searching for a few semi-abstract photographs. I've gleaned a couple from this place before and I've learnt, over the years, that a location doesn't give up all its potential images at the first, second or even third visit. Locations change with the weather, time of day and season. People change too, with mood, recent experience, camera and focal length availability, and many other factors. These can combine and lead to a realisation that a photograph exists where before there appeared to be none. The semi-abstract nature of today's composition appealed to me. The lines of wire, circular tighteners, upright steel support and the yellow plastic (is it a warning to those inside?) against the flawless blue sky made a composition that I hadn't noticed on previous visits. The simple, subtle  and delicate arrangement must have previously been lost to my sight among all the pylons, transformers, insulators and the like.

The observant among you may have noticed that this photograph was taken with a camera that hasn't featured in this blog before. More about that soon.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo 1
Camera: Nikon D5300
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 75mm (112mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f8
Shutter Speed: 1/500 sec
ISO:100
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Perennial rudbeckia

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After the last two posts I feel the need for colour, and what can be more colourful than the bright yellow petals of perennial rudbeckia against the deep blue of an early autumn sky? In our garden we have a few clumps of these striking and long-lasting flowers. They are a variety of coneflower, one of four genera (including Echinacea) of the Asteraceae family, and are especially useful in bringing strong, bright colour to the garden after the flowers of high summer have faded.

My usual view of these blooms is against the leafy backdrop of the borders in which they reside. So, their yellow sits alongside green. However, for this photograph I made the conscious decision to get down low with the camera - in fact I held it at arms length inside the clump - and photograph upwards to place their colour and the shape of the flower heads against the plain blue of the sky. In the RGB colour model wheel blue and yellow are opposite each other. This makes them complementary colours. A feature of such pairs is that when they are placed next to one another the effect is to increase each colour's visual intensity. As the evenings begin to draw in and the first misty mornings remind us that summer is waning, photographing vibrant colours of this sort is my way of hanging on to something of the departing warmth and sun.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Sony RX100
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 10.4mm (28mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/500
ISO: 125
Exposure Compensation:  0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Blue and yellow

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Many years ago, when I was studying the history of art, I came across the technique known as sgraffito. When used in wall decoration this involves applying two contrasting layers of plaster to the surface and then scratching through the top to reveal the lower. The word derives from the Italian for "scratch" which in turn is linked to the Greek for "write". It is, of course, also connected with the word "graffito" (singular) and the more commonly used (and seen!) plural, "graffiti".

As I've said elsewhere in this blog, in general I'm against graffiti because it is most usually found in the form of "tags" on surfaces where it has no right to be, degrading the appearance of the locality. Even when it has some artistic merit, if it is on someone's property against their wishes or without their permission, I'm against it. However, there's little to object to when graffiti is on a surfaces specifically provided to receive it, or where permission has been granted.

I came upon the graffiti in today's photograph recently and decided that it too was unobjectionable. The marks had been made by fingers in the patina of dust and dirt on the metal surface of a water-borne crane. The state of the boat on which the crane was mounted was more objectionable than the graffiti, which isn't permanent and of little merit, being merely the names and scrawl of passing youths. What made me think the subject worthy of a photograph was the yellow steps and hand rail (with their shadows) against the blue paint and smudges of writing. Blue and yellow are near complementaries - the yellow would have to tip more towards orange for them to be truly complementary. This is a colour pairing that sometimes appeals to me very strongly, and at other times I find quite garish. On this crane the yellow must be for visibility reasons and I quite like it. The irregular graffiti adds an undisciplined counterpoint to the colours and regularity of the metal, and it's probably this that caused me to take my shot.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 105mm
F No: f8
Shutter Speed: 1/800
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation:  -0.67 EV
Image Stabilisation: On