Sur Le Pont

Rob MacKillop

Rob MacKillop

Edinburgh Correspondent
Trying to get a decent b&w shot with the Fuji XS-1, and failing. This is the best of about twenty, and cropped. It shows Susan and a young Rhona sur le pont d'Avignon. The Merrills, of course, beat it hands down for b&w renditions, but I'd grown tired of the Merrills - too much trouble. I still prefer film, no matter what the horned Norwegian says :) but the costs are too high.

Sur Le Pont.jpg
 
I like this image, Rob. I like the central flowers and the balance between the dark sideboard below and frame above. I like also very much the portrait of your two lovely ladies and am intrigued by the ones it is sitting on. There is a sense of nostalgia created by this and a connection between two summers with the flowers and the sundress / summer view. My only critique would be that it is too clean and clinical and needs more character to convey this better. I guess some (more) grain and a delicate vignette might do that.

But what are your thoughts and why did you take it and what made you present it in this way?
 
Ha. Well, to be honest, it was all just set up that way over time, without much thought going into it. When I came to testing the camera, I just looked around for something to shoot, and there it was. So, no great artistic thought behind it, which is probably just as well!
The camera is at a bit of an angle to the scene, and that's beginning to bug me a little. There is something about the scene that is worth persevering with. Thanks for your comments, Pete.
 
I like them both, but prefer the latter because of its more nostalgic feeling I get from looking at it. I feel it is very good, as a picture in a picture and the way you rendered it in pure luck, as no thought came to the surface. And on my surface there are no horns. As you got tired of the merrills so shall happen.......:rolleyes:
 
A resting still life Rob. I wonder how many images we can take and ever be satisfied with even maybe one or two. Which often takes me to why I love snapshots, nothing posed, family growing up, those shots that hold memories close to us.
Which these are and a fine outcome you have achieved with flim & digital over the while.
 
I know what you mean, Pete. Random shots get that better than staged shots, somehow. Not always, of course, but often. It's amazing how we subconsciously arrange our environment, leaving traces and clues to our inner life.
 
Like the second the best Rob...possibly the faded effect, but probably the fact the turned bowl is there in its entirety...made from walnut or maybe elm perchance...?

And I always find this type of pic fascinating, like looking back in time...a computer generated image of a photo with an older photo in it...
 
Cheers, Dougie. That's a walnut bowl - great texture and solidity.

The photo on the bridge is the best I've ever taken of them, at least the only one they both like. And that was before I started thinking about photography, taking it seriously. What a lesson to learn!
 
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