* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #943 / Revived #163 on 2026 05 13 *

I'm always happy to revisit the dam and catch up with developments. How many years is it minniev since you first introduced us to this spot? Your apology for the "technical shortcomings" of these is hilarious. It says a lot about the perfection we have come to expect of your documenting of the dam birds.
The text is important here, not that there is anything lacking in the images themselves. The text links us to our pior knowledge of the dam so we see significance in what we would otherwise have missed.
Both shots have the combination of action and calm and stage set shafts of light that makes the site so compelling a backdrop for the birds. Shot 2 has something I haven't noticed before. The white inverted L shape. Is it a recent painted addition to the wall? Here, the size and general shape counterpoints the bird very nicely.

Camera settings for the boxing shots:
The images have incomplete EXIF so I suppose that I must have been shooting with one of my fast full manual lenses.
Probably a Rokinon 85mm F1.8 for telephoto (because for the songs I did not come as close) and the Voightländer 17.5mm F0.95 for close ups.
Shutter priority at sufficient speed.
Auto ISO but limited at ISO1600.
Spot metering center point expose and recompose.
These images are NOISY, but instead of trying to denoise, I embrace the noise and call it "film grain".
Noise was most visible and irritating in the large black parts, but I increase contrast and raise the blackpoint so as to make those parts even darker.

If this was described to me, I'm sure I'd have been confident that I wouldn't like it. But I do. The domino shading works. It gives a touch of weight and balance to the bottom half of an image that might otherwise have felt a little top heavy. It's very clever and very elegant.
I'm reminded of the stained glass art nouveau work of Charles Mackintosh. There's much the same pleasure in fine vertical lines, glass and flowers.
Outstanding.

The lighting was not set up for me or by me.
This was just the lighting that I encountered.

In fact, nothing of this whole shoot was prepared in any way.
Going to the performance, I thought it was going to be interesting, so I took my camera and a few lenses fit for concert shooting.
I did not know hwo the circumstances were going to be. I did not even know if I was going to get any chance at shooting.

But the performers (and venue security) were very relaxed about it, once they saw that I knew what I was doing and was not going ot disturb.
(Maybe they even thought that having a "professional looking" photographer near the ring, enhanced the illusion of this being a real fight night, who knows?)

Not much was spoken about it and nothing arranged.
I just improvised the whole shoot.
Which means: I studied the lighting for a few minutes and then got going.

As for positioning myself: that is almost a matter of pure instinct.
Once I am "in the zone", it comes naturally to know where I have to be to get good shots, and it feels like I am in a choreography.
Moving, ducking and stretching, all the while swapping lenses from my hip bag, blindly onto the camera.

For composition it helps that I can keep both eyes open while shooting:
- the right eye is at the viewfinder getting the composition
- the left eye is open, watching what unfolds outside of the frame, and what is headed into the frame.
This is not necessary for static shooting situations, but invaluable for dynamic situations (such as, also, street shooting and sports).

That is too much praise, but thank you.
Truth be told, I am not really into boxing either.
I can see the attraction (having witnessed boxers training, I do understand the appeal of the discipline and hard work).
But photographically, it is an interesting sport, because much happens within a limited space.
When you are ringside, there are always good chances (and always tenfold chances that you realized you have missed).
I think it would be much harder to be a great sports photographer in track and field, cycling, football, soccer, basketball etc.

The light play on the pillars of that collonnade is exquisite.
It creates a pattern that turns 3D into 2D (and B&W is the prefect choice to enhance that illusion).
It almost feels like that kind of handicraft artwork, where patterns are created by weaving strips of paper.
The person (caught in the best possible spot) is almost disorienting, because she is evidence of this being a 3D scene and not a 2D pattern.

This is like MC Escher in reverse.
The Dutch artist created 3D patterns in a 2D plane, where the eye gets fooled until you realize that his 3D constructions are impossible (stairs that seem continuous, but go up while ending back downstairs, water flowing in different directions etc.)
You have captured a 3D scene and made it look like an impossible 2D pattern.

fantastic shots!

Nice play of light and shadow with a well positioned lady walking through the "illusion"

That light rays make this image great!

I like this image a lot Pete. For myself, I would go in a different direction for the processing. Something that would bring out the textures in the image contents much more than this which is more highkey in nature. The composition is terrific and I like the elements of the image as well.

The pillars have a great deal of 'texture' visible with more contrast applied and I think more detail in the walls in the background adds to the image for me.

I respect your choice for the image and again think it is an attractive result.

I enjoyed seeing both of these Paula as both a reminder of the wonderful images you have shown of the damn and its birds in the past and on their own merit here. The play of light in each is different and makes the two images.

An image taken by Roel almost ten years ago and provided to me shortly after. I have not gone through all of the images yet but this one I processed this afternoon (my time). I don't have an identification for the automobile. The images were taken at the Louwman Automotive Museum.
The second is the raw file converted to a jpg. Not sure I like the crop chosen by me! The black space seems to enhance the image somewhat and the processing kind of says just because you can perhaps you shouldn't!

I am glad you are still enjoying these.
You are doing stellar jobs in the processing.

The only thing I did at Louwman museum (once I had decided to make Raw files for your enjoyment rather than trying to make my own brand of artsy fartsy compositions) was to get as many cars as possible, objective in the frame and from a “catalogue type angle” with minimal distractions or intrusions.

Using Google Lens on your processed photo, it seems that this car is a 1901 Darraq 8 horsepower two-seater.

Wonderful car. The black with gold details is very striking.
I prefer Roel's original version mainly due to the closest point of the white background. It gives more drama to the staging and underlines the expanding white lines of the background that frame the car. Similarly, Roel has added impact by decreasing the light spill into the black surrounds.

Thanks Kumsal and Andrew.
Re Leonard Cohen. The signage near this spot is confusing. I can see why people think this is LC's house but it is possible it is simply in the same block. There are other LC sites around Hydra.
Re cats in general. My responses are mixed. As individual animals, yes they are adorable. Loose and in large numbers, it's a different matter. In Australia they are decimating our wild life especially birds. I'm very fond of our birds, the numbers and variety of them we have and their early morning song. It may be a coincidence and I know absolutely nothing about bird ecology in Europe, but in Greece I was struck by the absence of birds, pigeons and sea birds excepted.

I remember being impressed with your boxing photos when you shared some before: the lighting, the detail, the expressions. This set focused on the refs is equally impactful. There is a decided contrast between the muscular tension in him and in the boxers. His tension is more contained and mentally focused.

Very fine visual puzzle to solve as we attempt to follow our pedestrian lady through the geometry and light/shadow of these contrasty vertical posts. The lines in the street, the wall and even the grate give us horizontal guides that underlie the puzzle. Definitely a shot for monochrome! Well spotted.