Painterly Pictures, from Flowers to Fields to Farmhouses..
WARNING: Purists may find the following images disturbing! :)
These all started life as photographs. Sometimes the image lends itself to this effect imo, and at other times, it helps compensate for technically compromised ones. Sweep the flaws under the carpet.. :)
Either way, I’m more about interpretation than replication.
(I do offer this as a service, btw. If you have an old photo you’d like to resurrect, give me a shout, I’d be happy to see what I can do.)
Softened wheat field. I was always fascinated by the wonderful illustrations in my childhood storybooks of dreamy English meadows and country lanes, bordered by flowering hedgerows. They felt somehow friendly and enticing.
Bruno. There’s a ball in there somewhere.
Stating the obvious.
ICM photo of cherry trees coming into blossom. You shoulda been here next week, they said..
Bruno, my mensch dog, RIP. The following photo was taken in the same wheatfield.
I have a penchant for poles. :)
A detail from the image below:
… in Kirstenbosch forest.
A very old cellphone photo I’ve struggled with ever since. A misty morning, Glencairn marshland.
Red rooster in b&w..
Unknown surfer at my old local, the Kom. I could literally throw a stone into the water from where I lived.
Neil’s dog.
In Solidarity.
Bear’s Breeches, Newlands forest.
Wolf moon rising. This was a terrible photo, the ISO (ie noise) was off the charts! I managed to recover some semblance of respectability.
My homage to the pioneering pictorialist photographers, like Léonard Misonne and Alfred Stieglitz, whom I much admire. I added a textured layer to somehow fake the amazing vibe they invoked..
Poplars in Autumn, Noordhoek Common. ICM, combined with soft focus and further softening in post.
One of the oldest houses in St Helena Bay.
And the house next door.
We got cut off! Phone booth, St Helena Bay harbour. I’m slowly building a photo collection of these defunct Telkom phone booths around the country, from Nieu-Bethesda to Strandfontein..
Bland old cellphone pic, given a new lease on life.
This photo of Table Mountain required a tripod ideally, but I’m not a tripod guy. Being rather late, with a slower shutter speed, there was a bit of motion blur. Many more photos of Table Mountain here..
Homeward bound, Trekoskraal. More tractors here..
A screengrab of myself surfing J Bay, taken by my mate, Robbie Irlam. His office is on the beach :)
Backlit restios, bursting into flame at sunset.
An old farmhouse, Klein Karoo.
