Photography Blog of Neil Pendlebury

8/1/2025 0 Comments

Eyes

Some of my recent street portraits were criticised recently because the critic coundnt see the eyes. In one photograph the subjectis looking doen and in the other the subject wears glasses. On one hand i understand this need for the eyes to be seen. The eyes are windows to the soul we are told. So if we cannot see the eyes, then we cannot see the soul ? Perhaps that is the critics issue ? Or some other contemporary psychological element that can be substitued fpr 'soul' when that term has lost its resonance in the mainstream of some societies such as ours (Anglo Saxon predominantly ie English) . However for myself I find other aspects of the gaze equally compelling. Looking away has psychological and emotional resonances has it not ? Looking down (lost in thought) seems to tell a story. Closing the eyes also especially whilst awake :) also tells a story. Is there pain ? suffering or simply tiredness ? And also for me when the gaze is towards me or my camera lens there may be a moment of self consciousness, of contrived storytelling. Whereas when teh gaze drifts away from my lens i often find the subject seems more natural in the landscape. just my thoughts on eyes and the gaze. regards Neil January 2025

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13/11/2024 0 Comments

Composites

I have started experimenting with composites
It really has come from paying for Photoshop proper and Lightroom after years of using basic free versions with limited editing potential.
And that comes from joining Ayr Photographic society which was the push I needed.
So i am just at the start of that journey of working with layers etc etc
I am keen to look at some older Landscape images and re edit them with these tools that are new to me. To edit sky and land separately.
However with street pictures I a find myself sometimes dissapointed with a background.
Editing it separately still sometimes doesnt make me happy with the result.
So I have started combining some of the pictures of people that i love
With one of my favourite elements in cities, alleyways
I love the bins, puddles, pipes and graffiti of alleys.
With experience I willl earn how best to position the person
If indeed I am after 'realism' rather than some 'alternative realism'
Neil P
Nov 2024

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11/6/2024 0 Comments

London street photography Spring 2024

I had a very satisfying 10 days or so in London, staying at friends in Dalston, walking around the city taking photographs.
I suspect that i am naturally introvert with some extrovert tendancies
So I find that i need a way in to taking pictures of people
Walking along the canals in London is my way in
The barges, the graffitri, the bridges are all a great source of inspiration for me
Get me using the camera, get my eye in ... and from there I begin to take pictures of people.
Quote: “A photograph is a moral decision taken in one eighth of a second.” – Salman Rushdie
I probably have two approaches to taking picture of people on the street
One is to approach, talk, maybe share something maybe not, then take some pictures.
Another is to catch people on the fly
I like the results from both and both approaches have their pros and cons for me.
Eric Kim, says of candid street portraiture, “It gives you a look into peoples' souls.”
One of the nice aspects of treet/people photography is the conversation.
I am interested in quite a lot of things
And i think that this is helpful
In the photography and in conversation.
“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… It remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.” – Aaron Siskind
I am not terribly interested in art theory
I thought that i might be, I did a 5 year art degree at Chelsea college of art and design.
I think that i am attracted to an emotional response about something.
Theory it seems to me can get in the way
“There is one thing the photograph must contain, the humanity of the moment.” – Robert Frank
London Spring 2024
Fuji XT2
Fuji 35mm F2 lens

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5/11/2023 0 Comments

Beach and cliff walk west of Dunbar

One Saturday morning in the late Autumn of 2023 myself and my sister Joanne made for beaches by Tyninghame west of Dunbar, Scotland. The weather was all gloom as we rock hopped around salt water pools. She taking wondrous pictures with her Sony phone with it's wide angle cinema scope angle of view. I was a little jealous of her results. I persevered with Fuji XT2 and 16mm lens. After a while the late sun burst from beaneath cloud and created some much needed feeling and contrast in the landscape. The image below I aimed more or less just west of North with the sun over my left shoulder. Using one knee as a tripod, aiming for utter stillness and imagining the resolution of micro detail if only I can hold my breath, my body and the camera still for a moment.
Fuji XT" Fuji 16mm F8 1/2000 sec ISO 1600

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26/9/2023 0 Comments

Storm Agnes in the quiet of a Coniston gorge

Stepping out of the battering of the storm winds I delicately edged over wet gravel slopes, saturated grasses and moist dark rocks into the relative quiet of the gorge. I trusted the sticky rubber of my Sportiva TX2's but I also knew that I had worn the soles flat with daily use. And so i balanced delicately over the rushing waters, composing, setting up spindly lightweight tripod, dodged blowing branches and took some shots whilst holding a x10stop filter in place (the threads didnt match my Fuji 16mm f2 . I expected a batch of soft results from the inevitable vibration of my hands holding a filter on the lens over 1 to 2 minutes. But the results were okay, amazingly. Some detail there. Message to myself to start bringing the heavier tripod and buy some filters that fit !

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23/9/2023 0 Comments

Skelwith bridge, Lake District, 22nd September 2023

I have been coming to Skelwith, gateway to the Langdale valley, since 1977. The Brathay river runs under the bridge at Skelwith which connects Ambleside to Coniston. Skelwith Force is an attraction for visitors and many people take the leisurely and very pretty walk between Skelwith and Elterwater. The Brathay during this stretch is or has been one of my favourite swimming spots for many years. The image i took below in the rain on slippery rocks perched just above the rushing water. I need that foreground contrast between the treacley liquid flow of the river and the hard outlines of rocks for it to work. The set up was precarious, I had a very lightweigh tripod and head, and I held a x10 stop ND filter over the Samyang 12mm lens manually as the threads don't match !! I did manage to get one image with my fingers in the image ! Only a few shots were possible between downpours. Whilke the composition isn't working all over the frame, some of it is and i like the ripple effect towards the top and middle of frame. Quite good I think. I am often conflicted between the impulse to discover detail with highlights/shadows adjustments and the need to keep the overall drama/emotion/feeling in the picture. Neil P

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22/9/2023 0 Comments

Coniston Falls 20th September 2023

Coniston Falls at least I call them that. Those spectacular falls that are the upper part of the gorge and just below the bridge about half a mile walk out of town West, towards the summits of Old Man and other peaks in that wonderful circque. This day the rain and wind was intense, gusts blowing the lightweight tripod over and a huge amount of spray out of the falls, was refreshing, but constantly mired the lens in moisture. I settled on the Samyang 12mm (18mm FOV in full frame lore) because it brought interest into the foreground where the Fuji 16mm (24mm in 35mm terms) created more of a nice picture postcard look, not whaat I am after or was after. I wanted the power of the falls, the flow of water contrasted with hard, dark slate rock. My 10 stop ND filter is for a zoom lens which i sold so i had to hold it in place delicately without moving the camera while the other hand held the light tripod in place during exposure. I took multiple exposures for water and rocks, both with and without the ND. I hope that i can edit something satisfying, gloomy, foreboding and dark (much like myslef lol) on the laptop, despite being a novice with Photoshop. What do you think of my result ? all the best, Neil

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Eyes

Composites

London street photography Spring 2024

Beach and cliff walk west of Dunbar

Storm Agnes in the quiet of a Coniston gorge

Skelwith bridge, Lake District, 22nd September 2023

Coniston Falls 20th September 2023

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