Monday, August 22, 2011

Fire Escape

Fire Escape

I keep going out to shoot color and coming back with B&W. This is in my neighborhood again, an ordinary fire escape on the side of a building not facing the street.

Sometimes I think these are ugly things that ruin a street scene and other times I think they add to it. Depends on my mood, I guess. This is more of a test shot, I'll look for better examples to shoot now.

What the heck, I'll thrown this one in as a bonus today. Not sure about the washed out sky...

Fire Escape 2

Same fire escape as first image.

4 comments:

  1. Love the lines and angles fire escapes offer. The soaring lines of the two buildings in the first image make the little bit of sky bring your eye from the bottom to top like a walkway or river would do in a landscape. The fire escape is not as pronounced in the first image. I like them - both images work for me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mike, you do things that most people forget to do when they go out shooting, which is to look up .... most tend to look forward a few will look down but hardly anyone looks up... good shot. Its funny what you find mundane we find unusual and beautiful. I love both shots.....

    ReplyDelete
  3. These are excellent. The perspective is brilliantly highlighted, and the shades of tonality is perfect. These look like classic images... the sort of thing people would pay for to mount and hang on a wall. (I would)

    I have drawn and design steel staircases as part of my work for many years.. and I have always loved these kinds fire escapes as seen in countless American movies. Always memorable action scenes.

    As Gerry said, most people don't see this sort of thing as it is not on the ground. (I see these things 'cos I am always looking up)

    These are my favourite images from you since I've followed your blog. Thanks Mike.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks guys! It's all about learning to see, right?

    Chery - good point about the sky, I hadn't noticed that :-)

    Gerry - I wrote earlier about shooting around my neighborhood precisely because it is so mundane to me, I try to imagine it through the eyes of someone else for whom this might all seem exotic or strange.

    Bill - I've discovered the shadows and highlights tool in PS is pretty effective for bringing out the tones in B&W. Like you, I wonder sometimes if I'm overdoing it...

    ReplyDelete