Brian A Keen Fine Art

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News Archive - 2011

Monthly Photography, Painting and Website news for the year.

Photos of The Year

A selection of personal favorite photographs for the year with larger image sizes. (click the thumbnails below to enlarge).

News: Oct 2011

Photography News

This is the first update to the website since spring and is long overdue.

It's still hard to find time for photography when I'm working. A family bereavement in August made things even more difficult. Plans for a trip to the far north of Scotland in October had to be postponed.

Pink Rose.

The water droplets on this pink rose were natural and the result of overnight rain.

Pink Rose
Wildflower Meadow.

A wildflower meadow photographed at The Lee at the end of August. I cropped the sky because I was shooting into the light using my Canon G11 and without a grad-grey filter, the sky was overexposed.

Wildflower Meadow
Early Morning Mist.

The onset of autumn brings with it early morning mist. As the sunlight breaks through, this can create some beautiful effects.

Park Cottage In The Mist.

I photographed the nearby Park Cottage in the mist early one morning at the end of September. As the sky is featureless white and the foreground plain green grass, the composition works best when cropped to a panoramic format.

Park Cottage Mist
Sunlight Filtering Through The Trees.

I stopped off near Chesham on the way to work with the idea of taking some shots of Lowndes Park and St. Mary's Church in the mist. The view was not at all inspiring and I headed back to the car thinking I had wasted my time. Then I spotted these shafts of sunlight filtering through the trees in Chartridge Lane. The figure walking down the hill provides a useful focal point. Although the images look ok in colour, I prefer monochrome.

Sunlight and Mist Sunlight and Mist Sunlight and Mist
Photography Gallery Updates.
  • 'Colour, Beds, Bucks & Herts' gallery
  • 'Colour, Macro Flowers' gallery
  • 'Mono, Beds, Bucks & Herts' gallery

May 2011

Photography News

This is the first update to the website since December 2010. It's still hard to find enough time for photography. I did manage to find a few local springtime images. A trip to London provided some reasonable images around Canary Wharf. I would like to make a return visit and get some night time shots.

Holy Trinity Church.

Although I've taken this shot this many times in the past, I could not resist the orange light of the early morning March sun. The thin high clouds help make it a good mono image too.

Holy Trinity Church Holy Trinity Church
Park Cottage.

I've also shot this scene in the past. This time it was the bright green spring grass and buttercups that caught my eye. I composed the image to avoid having bright sky at the top. This would have unbalanced the picture and distracted the eye away from the white painted cottage. A grad grey filter may have helped in this situation but as I only had my Canon G11, that was not an option. There is a path made by grazing cattle that can be used to lead the eye into the picture. This required some enhancement in photoshop to make it stand out.

Park Cottage Park Cottage Park Cottage
Park Gate.

This shot also avoids bright distracting sky. The overhanging branches help frame the old gate and stile. The master painters of the past often used 'cool against warm' colours in their compositions. In this image, the warm burnt sienna of the dead leaves in the foreground creates the complementary colour to the bright green of the grass and trees.

Park Gate
Bluebells.

Having visited the bluebell woods at Ashridge with my camera many time in the past, I decided not to go this year. I doubt if I could improve on my previous results. I made do with a couple of macro shots taken in a local wood using the Canon G11 at the end of April.

Bluebells
Canary Wharf.

I paid a visit to Canary Wharf in May. All the shots were taken hand held using the Canon G11

Canary Wharf underground station escalator makes an interesting composition that works in both colour and monochrome.

Canary Wharf Canary Wharf Canary Wharf

The tall buildings and reflections in the glass make good architectural subjects.

Canary Wharf Canary Wharf Canary Wharf Canary Wharf Canary Wharf Canary Wharf

These bolts and steel plate were part of a sculpture near Canary Wharf station. I converted to monochrome and reflected the image using photoshop to create a symmetrical abstract.

Bolts Bolts

An abstract reflection shot of a family having a picnic lunch on the grass.

Picnic

The famous footbridge at Poplar DLR Station in colour and toned mono.

Footbridge Footbridge

The symmetry of the composition lends itself nicely to being reflected using photoshop.

Footbridge
Photography Gallery Updates.
  • 'Colour, Beds, Bucks & Herts' gallery
  • 'Colour London' gallery
  • 'Colour Macro Flowers' gallery
  • 'Mono Misc' gallery
  • 'Mono, Beds, Bucks & Herts' gallery
  • 'Mono London' gallery
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