Phone Box

[Dave Farnes]

The colour ones are great. I agree, the b+w ones do look sinister, very film noir in feel. The color ones have a greater sense of the person to them.

 

[Chris Bennett]

Thanks for the comments Dave and Pete. It's nice to know that my thoughts on including the colour shots are echoed.

The thing that I find so interesting about all of this is that all of these photos were taken within the confines of the same rectangle of about 1 metre x 0.6 metre. The nature of the frame has changed because of the various posters, stickers and graffiti that has been placed there and/or torn off and the light has changed due to time of day and weather conditions, but the actual confines within which I have pointed my camera have remained static, yet the portraits are vastly varied.

Things will, no doubt, continue to evolve and I shall keep returning...

 

[Chris Bennett]

The phone box adventure continues!
I wanted to change things a little, particularly to try to find a way to get the shots without as much cropping as I have been doing up to now. The subject generally needs to be fairly dominant in the frame, otherwise all of the photos will look very similar. This way, the various bits of grunge on the glass are often what makes each photo unique.
I thought I'd try an 85mm lens but that still wasn't tight enough, so I put it onto my old 20D and the APSC crop factor seems to make all the difference. Now, it's still wide enough that I get a little warning when someone begins to move through the frame and yet, I don't have to crop so much, as the gear is already doing a lot of that for me. Also, the lower resolution of the 20D helps maintain some of the grittiness, I think.

 

[Chris Bennett]

A few more from yesterday's visit to the sorely abused double glazing...

 

[Chris Bennett]

One last one is a bit different. Half of the subject is behind two panes of glass, while the other half is behind one. Best of all though, I froze a special moment.

 

[Dave Farnes]

That is a good one, captured a great moment in time.

 

[Chris Bennett]

Thank you Dave.
I have a personal rule that I don't photograph homeless people, but I feel this scene justified my transgression on this occasion. In addition to that, he put himself into the space I was photographing, not the other way around.
Still having fun with this project, I will put up some more images later.

 

[Chris Bennett]

This one is really special, I think.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Wow. Looks like a drawing with coloured pencils. And the framing is perfect. Congratulations, Chris.

 

[Russ Butner]

Interesting. You could use that phone booth for on-going project.

 

[Chris Bennett]

Interesting. You could use that phone booth for on-going project.

That's pretty much what it has become, Russ.
The thought struck me the other day that these once vital pieces of street furniture are gradually disappearing from among us and, before we know it, they will be gone. Maybe someone will find these photos interesting after we have all forgotten about them?

 

[Dave Farnes]

Another fine shot, it does look like an artwork.

 

[Chris Bennett]

Thanks Dave.
My first thoughts on seeing this one were that the subject has a beautifully photogenic face and that the rendering gives the image a little of the feel of those drawings that are done by artists used in the reporting of court proceedings.

 

[Dave Farnes]

Yes, I see what you mean, it does look like a court drawing.

Goes well with some of the b&w ones that look like CCTV pictures of crimes in progress shown on the news.

 

[Pete Askew]

You really have turned this project into something special I think Chris. The gentleman with the pigeons works so well in many ways while still fitting the 'brief' and the painterly lady is super. I also really like the shot showing both the phone and the person with his mobile. Very nicely conceived.

 

[Chris Bennett]

...I also really like the shot showing both the phone and the person with his mobile. Very nicely conceived.

I read your comment above, Pete, just moments after telling someone that, in all the time I have spent there over the past few weeks, I have yet to see anyone using the phone and that I am documenting the final days of public phone boxes in Britain.

Thanks, too for your other thoughts. Much appreciated.

 

[Chris Bennett]

Time for a few more black and white ones from the booth of grunge.
The masked lady, a laughing policeman and coughing man with coffee bean

 

[Chris Bennett]

Some from the colour files.

 

[Wes Hall]

Those first two black and white Chris are like an illustration one may find accompanying tales of a warped sanatorium. I like these a lot, work exceptionally well.

 

[Chris Bennett]

Tales from the Sanatorium?
Excellent!!