The Symbolic Descent

Posted by Ian Bramham (Manchester, United Kingdom) on 21 January 2008 in Transportation and Portfolio.

This the first photo in a series of images that I took in the Paris underground Metro system...it was a bit of an experiment for me as I would never normally get the chance to try taking photos in a place like this.

HOT TIP FOR ALL AM3 CONTRIBUTORS :
I've been having problems for ages with my uploaded landscape orientated images looking fuzzy and not as sharp as they should be....well I finally found the answer recently in an answer by Jason Kravitz to a query in the forums .....if you too have been having this problem the answer is to make sure you resize your photos to a maximum horizontal dimension of 800 pixels (vertical size is not limited). Anything greater than 800pixels and AM3 will automatically resize it leading to the reduction in sharpness.

Please feel free to copy and paste this advice into your own AM3 blogs as I'm sure there are lots of our fellow AM3ers out there having this same frustrating problem...it would be great to sort the problem out for as many of us as possible.

Just a bit of fun, but this is one of my favourite photos with my new DSLR. I've submitted it for publication in JPG magazine. You can vote for it's inclusion here: JPG Magazine

This blog has been 'nominated' for the 2008 Photoblogawards. As you'll see, voting is very close so you could really make a difference.... If you like it, please vote for it here :Photoblogawards.
Alternatively you can rate it here VFXY Photos or here CoolPhotoblogs

If you like the photos on this blog and have got a minute to spare please vote for it at 'VFXY Photos'. The link is highlighted in green just below. It's currently ranked in their top 10.

Links to other Photoblog sites that I have found inspirational:
http://hugopoon.aminus3.com/
Hugo Poon records his home city Hong Kong in photographs so beautiful that they inspired me to start taking my own photos. Deeply humanist in his vision, Hugo claims that he is not a photographer. Why not visit his photoblog and decide for yourself.

VFXY Photos | Cool Photoblogs | Listed on Photoblogs.org

Comments (12)

Momo from Montpellier, France

I really do love this one Ian...totally Truffaut looking...great perspective, black and white tone and shadows...and more important that feeling of Mr. or Mrs. Anyone on the way to work...universal experience...

21 Jan 2008 4:05am

@Momo: Thanks Momo....I appreciate it!

Momo from Montpellier, France

Just a heads up Ian...I've clicked on the Photoblogawards links to vote and I just get blank pages...I've tried in Firefox and Safari...wonder what's up...

21 Jan 2008 4:07am

@Momo: Yes, thanks for the warning. At first I thought it was just the site that was down but they had changed the link address to the voting page for my blog!

It's fixed now thanks. It's really interesting to see how the major sites like 'Chromasia' are really pulling away now in the voting....I can only imagine how many visitors they must get to their photoblogs, but then they are often full-time professional operations not something like yours or mine where we fit things in around work and family when we can grab a few minutes :-)

the lightwriter from oosterwolde, Netherlands

Hi Ian, i like these stairs a lot. compositon and cropping are amazing!!

21 Jan 2008 4:21am

@the lightwriter: Thanks...the photo composed itself really as it was one of those shots which seemed to almost take itself :-)

GJC from Kyoto, Japan

Another impressive shot. I particularly like the framing on this -- something you are always very careful with.

21 Jan 2008 6:22am

@GJC: Thanks very much GJC!....although I don't always succeed with the framing or composition it's certainly a quality that I value highly and I always try to do the best I can. It's one of those areas in photography where there's always something new to learn from the way others work.

Lorraine from Gatineau, Canada

YOU can do no wrong! Love this stark b&w staircase and the feeling that you're going down :)

21 Jan 2008 7:14am

@Lorraine: Thanks Lorraine...it's always fun to experiment with something new isn't it!

Laurie from New Jersey, United States

I do like how you captured the man coming down the stairs. Nice mood too.

21 Jan 2008 1:46pm

@Laurie: Thanks very much Laurie!

tom from Germany

Wonderful shot. I very much like the composition.

21 Jan 2008 2:57pm

@tom: Thanks very much Tom!

amy from Rocky Mountain House, Canada

Outstanding!!! Brilliant in the b/w... very film noir to me.

21 Jan 2008 4:33pm

@amy: Thanks Amy!...funny that you should use that expression 'film noire' as its the wording for the theme of a JPG Magazine entry for a different photo that I did a while ago (see the link at the header of my page)

danthro from Suburbia, United States

nice composition and patterns! well done (not surprisingly).

21 Jan 2008 4:50pm

@danthro: Thanks very much Danthro!

Guillermina from Buenos Aires, Argentina

Have to agree with Momo on the Truffaut-like aesthetics. (And knowing Truffaut, why not Hitchcock?)

Right to the point, it's just perfect. Neat work with lights and shadows, most adequate grain... And that sense of perspective. It really shows you're an architect, doesn't it?

21 Jan 2008 8:50pm

@Guillermina: I'm really pleased that you liked it Guillermina!.....it was just one of those photos that presented itself...the stair was so wonderful even on its own but I waited to get this single person in the shot at the top as well. I was really lucky as the metro was quite busy and there were lots of people using these stairs (with most of them wondering who the nutcase was with the camera at the bottom :-)

See The Light from Newcastle, United States

Wonderful B&W great composition.

22 Jan 2008 4:23am

@See The Light: Thanks very much Mary!

pedro alexandre from loures, Portugal

the light the shadows, perfect, wonderfull picture, fit for framing on the wall.

22 Jan 2008 6:52pm

@pedro alexandre: Thanks Pedro....I'm really pleased you liked it!

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