Portrait landscapes

Two similar compositions from an evening walk. To a degree the equipment used has dictated the visual outcomes, which helps emphasise the nature of the two subjects - which are actually both man made watercourses just a few dozens of yards apart. Both have been processed from RAW files, the most drastic manipulation being the addition of graduation to the skies.

The photograph on the right was shot using a telephoto zoom on a full frame DSLR which results in the shallow depth of focus giving a soft look that suits the more natural elements of the image.

The photograph on the right was taken using the X10 on a wide angle setting giving greater depth of focus laying stress on the industrial elements of the sewage works. The straight course of the ditch and the hard edge of the pipe in the foreground contrast with the delicate reed stems and the curves of the water in the left hand picture.

Individually the images work. Together they make a pair commenting on what we think of as the natural world and man's intrusion into it - while one scene looks entirely natural it has been created to appear that way, yet the other is obviously artificial and has been colonised by nature.

None of this occurred to me at the time I made the pictures!.

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