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While browsing one of Pascal’s week links articles I happened to click on the link relating to hyperrealism and the following description was headlined. Hyperrealism style in photography brings out intense colors, contrast, and sharpness of a scene as opposed to what is visible to the naked eye.
The photographer Connor Daly was noted to - be combining hyperrealism photography with fragments of mundane and ordinary places. You may be aware from a previous blog post that I live in a village which can be said to be stuck in a 70’s timewarp or mundane and ordinary to use the above phrases. One thing I did notice was the prominence of blue in Daly’s images and down here on the southern tip of Africa we have an abundance big blue skies and the mundane. So how hard could it be? Now recently I have been going through a bit of a hiatus in my photography and have been having those stale old feelings about it. Also my trusty Fuji point and shoot street camera is starting to show signs of being a little long in the tooth so I recently invested in another point and shoot. Yes horror of horrors I have moved over to the dark side and went for a canon G7X mk ii – for reasons which we will not go into in this blog. I am in the process of acquainting myself with said camera and decided to take myself off for a sunny clear sky afternoon walk down to the village for some exercise, to renew my anti Rona vit D prescription and to get more acquainted with the little fiend. Would the big blue sky gods smile down on me and could I turn the boring mundane into something new and interesting ? After a 2 hour amble there and back , some creative and applicable post processing, and a session with my editor, followed by a 'holy moly' , the results of my first foray into the world of hyperrealism follow.
Editors Choice
Highly Commended
Pic of The Day
E is for the reason To live through urban grey E is for the warm glow That takes the fear away ... Chris Rea
Outtakes
Bonus Ball from the archives
Now that we have the hyperrealism out of the way lets move on to citizens rights. One of the buildings I was photographing was KFC ( The Colonels secret recipe lot ) and whilst composing up a shot the manager came out of his shop and asked “Can I help you” Damn what are the chances I thought to myself a manager of KFC who is a professional photographer. Of course wanting to learn from my own experience I replied very politely. “No thank you I’m fine” “You are photographing the building” Yes indeed I am. You need permission to photograph my building. Actually no I don’t I am standing on a public sidewalk. Yes you do. Actually in this country there is no law against photography in a public place. I am entitled to photograph anything in public. For instance, not that I am going to but while you stand here talking to me I can photograph you. No you can’t you don’t have my permission. Actually I can since when you appear in public you give up all expectation of privacy. Anyway I am only taking abstract images and have not taken any of anyone recognisable , not that I can’t mind you , would you like to see the sort of photo I have been taking. No I wouldn’t . And with that he proceeded on his walk of shame back into his shop. Naturally if I were to frequent his business, and heaven forbid I should sink so low I am sure he would be filming me with 10 security cameras without asking my permission. Funny that isn't it turn a camera on them and they get all uppity and officious , and worried about their privacy.
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Brilliant, Ian… pun intended 😀
Impossible here in Asia (the 70-90% humidity in the air makes everything foggy), but feel urged to try that once in more favourable countries 🙂
Hi Pascal, many thanks my take away is that something new can be made of the mundane with a little effort
nice work, great seeing… and keep it up (standing up for rights)
Hi Jeffrey, keep coming back for more – someone has to stand up to officious bullies – its satisfying to see the walk of shame afterwards
Yes it was entertaining. But you succeeded. I’ve recently had run in with one, who appears to have won. It’s really rather difficult to understand.
At the start, I said “A” — and copped a barrage of abuse for ignoring “B” which, according to the bully, meant that when I said “A”, I was entirely wrong.
So I replied, suggesting that it was totally inappropriate in a discussion group to be so rude to other contributors.
He fired up with a tirade of abuse, telling me all the reasons I was wrong.
So I replied, telling him that if he wanted to discuss “B”, he could post it separately and say whatever he liked. In the meantime, none of his comments made mine about “A” wrong, as he kept suggesting, because the two were totally unrelated. Adding that I don’t “do” arguments – I regard them as childish – and suggested that he should stop trying to start one, because I was simply not going to answer any more of his comments.
That’s the background. So – what happened next? Someone else replied to my final comment, and I went to the website to read their comment. And I was staggered by what I found.
Apart from my opening comment, ALL of my other comments had been deleted – but there was a pattern to it – they’d all suddenly had 2 or 3 “upvotes”, even though you can’t see the actual comment, so presumably everyone else liked them. But the bully must have friends with influence, to get all of the rest of my comments deleted like that – including the one where I told him I wasn’t going to argue, because I regard arguments as childish – he’d had that one deleted as “SPAM” – but it still had 3 upvotes from other contributors! Even though it”s been deleted as “SPAM”.
If the website in question had a manager, I think I’d now be telling him that in view of what happened and the support that the bully got from manager, I will stop participating in discussions on their website, and unsubscribe, instead.
Hi Pete, one can do without the final childish ‘aggro’. I would vote with my feet under those circumstances. Only petulant wokerati cannot hold a discussion and in the end agree to differ and go separate ways. One of the beauties of a platform like Facebook , I know its not everyone’s cup of tea , is the wonderful button called Block which enables one to rid oneself of single minded numpties forever. Sadly my block list is about 10 times longer than my friend list on FB – mainly due to the Rona mass psychosis – ROTFLMHFAO do you see the worry in my eye ?
Thank you, Ian – “I would vote with my feet under those circumstances. Only petulant wokerati cannot hold a discussion and in the end agree to differ and go separate ways.” That’s EXACTLY how I feel.
Anyone with half a brain, who’s finished with the kind of brawling brat behaviour of the school playground, can have a perfectly peaceful discussion with someone else. And they can either agree – or agree to differ – or, perhaps, having been enlightened by their conversation, they can both shift ground and decide they’d BOTH been wrong, and the answer was something quite different.
But “arguments” appall me. I simply choke, if someone starts one.
P.S. Love Chris Rea; I never fail to feel moved when I listen to « The mention of your name » on the album « Auberge » I own since ages…
Ditto. Auberge itslef (the intro) is quite the showpiece for a HiFi demo. Holographic 3D anyone? That must be one of your staples 😉
Wow… touché, Sir 🙂
And interesting: another song with someone hitting a bottle (this time not panning, just far away) and guitars: « Private Investigation », on the album « Love over gold » form Dire Straits… ah, us audiophile nuts 😀
Indeed, lovely!
Hi Pascal to the power of 2 , Chris Rea is such an under rated artist and one of my all time favourites for a number of reasons. If you haven’t already seen the movies he produced and wrote albums for – a real interesting one from a photographic point of view is Santa Spirito – can be found on youtube – the full movie – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c093mCIAUOI&t=2457s
One of mine too. Absolutely brilliant.
During the first covid confinements, one evening when my thoughts started going dark, I put on ‘Curse of the traveler’ over and over again and tried to locate the road from the video on the map. It took me a while, but the music and the landscape brought me back. That guy has a really special place in my heart.
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.6136964,138.8529818,3a,75y,221.11h,85.53t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sApRxPmyLESj51R7aWKMFWQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
https://youtu.be/XMLmYmPsUSs?t=177
Quite the super sleuth. You recall the blog Finding Balance about Still Rockz. I found that song strangely appropriate for the video of stills I put together of his work. Notably also in the middle of the Rona. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUUNKoCA9ZQ&t=1s
Loved how you ended the gorgeous display of photography. The mental response on the security cameras was priceless. Nice.
Hi Peter, much appreciated. We have a saying in my country ‘vat nie kak van kabouters af nie’ those who understand Dutch might get the translation – loosely translated it stands for ‘I don’t take shit from gnomes’ ( small fry )
ROTFLMHFAO – I must stop using that expression – apart from the risk of misspelling it, someone might eventually work out what it actually means, and then I’ll be in deep trouble
Ian when I read Pascal’s introduction, I thought you two must have been fighting. Now I can see that you weren’t, because you fighting a drivelling idiot from KFC instead. I can pass this on – having froggie ancestors makes ,me very fussy about what I eat – and I can state that I will eventually drop dead one day (people do it, all the time!) – and I will go to my grave, proud of the fact that I have NEVER eaten a McDonald’s hamburger. I presume KFC is a similar outfit – so I’ll extend that thought to them, too.
I did love your description of his outburst, though. Next time you bump into him, you can tell him that another non-customer found it all very amusing.
The photos remind me of an american art style of the 60’s. At least, I think that’s when it was. A few courageous companies adopted it for their advertising. I can’t blame them – it’s certainly eye catching. Has Mrs Varkevisser popped her head around the corner and asked you where you are going to put them? My favourite is no. 5 – the three primary colours, screaming at each other!
Hi Pete, In case you or others are wondering or didn’t get it KFC is Kentucky Fried Chicken and its probably a toss up which is is worse that or Big Mac’s. In both instances though I think it can be safely said the box the meals come in is more nutritious than the merchandise. Alas in the greater scheme of things Mrs V would not let any of the gaudy contents above see the light of day in her muted decorating scheme, and that is fine by me , nothing worse than decorating a house with mixed metaphors is there ?
Ian, I simply love these images! I’m a sucker for vividness, and even though these go far beyond anything I’ve been bold enough to use, I still admire them (though Pete’s question about where you might hang them lingers). Great compositions and lovely colors. Thank you for sharing them with us.
And as for the KFC twit, kudos for standing up to his bullying. People always want to protect their own information while intrusively accessing others’ information and policing their behavior.
Hi Lad, simple out of the box diversion experiment for me at this stage but glad you fell for the vividness. Who knows I might diversify and pursue it further. As to where they might hang let me know if there is an art gallery near you that purchases post modern abstract hyperrealism NFTs ( learnt that one from Pascal ) in the $100ks region ( the longer the description the higher the NFT price you understand ) – i will settle for nothing less.
Splendid stuff Ian. I love a good “shouty” image!
Hi Steve , its so bright maybe i should put a surgeon general’s warning on to wear shades and insert earplugs then.
Wonderfully creative use of primary colors, Ian! You may be lucky to live in an area with blue skies and brightly colored architecture, but as we all know, that would all go to naught without a talented artist behind the lens. I think my favorites are the one with the black bird and the one titled “Highly Commended”. Kudos!
Hi Nancee, interesting to see all the different personal favourites in the series. As regards the brightly coloured architecture that is a mere illusion of the hyperrealism style of post processing the mundane.
Ina – Stunning series of images … “sunglasses required” not withstanding. Some many years ago I wrote this a part of an artist statement for an exhibition -“My goal as a photographer is to see beyond the surfaces to the profound beauty in the mundane and the remarkable secrets in the commonplace.”
Nice to know I’m in such excellent company.
I don’t think I’ve ever shown any here but my guilty pleasure is Street Photography. The law in Canada is similar to SA – no expectation of privacy in a public place. I get hassled about once a year and invariably it’s by someone completely unrelated to what I’m photographing; only once has it been the subject of the photograph … when I refused to back down he plunked himself down in a sulk and gave me an even better image.
Hi John, I might just steal your quote to make me look educated and experienced in the future. Not so sure you are in such excellent company if Pascal is to be believed LMAO – i mean after all I disregard the rule of ‘turds’ . Its time you contributed your street here to keep the variety alive and well in the group. There is an ongoing ignorance of the laws everywhere and the joy of living in a tinpot country like mine is that even if an irate member of the public decided to waste the time of the police and call them over such an issue they would probably take a week to show up or never – which is around their average response level for general non petty crimes 🙂
P.S. Ina is a girls name and last I looked I hadn’t changed my pronoun nor joined the trans revolution 🙂
A THOUSAND PARDONS SIR!!! Amazing how reversing two letters changes the whole dynamic. Where’s that damned auto spell check when you need it.
Hi Ian, absolutely brilliant set of pictures. I already noticed you do not take no for an answer, and the final note in your post illustrated that to perfection. Food for thought all together. Thank you, it is a genuinely special post. Happy Easter!
Hi Pascal, Brilliant ? in colour only maybe – an interesting experiment though. The world is no longer as it was in our youth and today’s generations far to blindly accept their liberties being infringed upon by ‘officialdom’ Not this grumpy old timer 😉
Pascal – I think it would be fair to say, at this stage, that the “Comments” on Ian’s post are the liveliest and funniest I’ve yet come across, on DS. I hope we see some more rolling in!
While I “wait & see”, I might chase down those films. How on Earth, Pascal, did you ever chase down that road?
Agreed, it’s a lot of fun when photography relates to more than just photography.
Finding the road wasn’t difficult. I did scour the internet for nothing for a long time, but then decided to look at the video comments. Some way down, a guy mentions Izu Peninsula. From then on it was just a matter of street viewing a few spots by the coast with views to the West 🙂 The final location is Cape Aiai. It’s spooky how little it all seems to have changed.
just goes to show you can ignore rules – use a compact ( whimper ) camera – confuse up and down and still beat the pros a run for their money 😉
Well, well, well.
If your hiatus produces such a vast array of obscene, oversaturated eye-candy, then I would suggest you embrace those stale feelings more often!
Splendiferous, Ian!
Hi Lani, A VAST – all 9 – array indeed LOL. It does help to embrace one’s feelings I will take that advice under consideration thank you 😉 But will have to get the obscene saturation thing past my editor though.
Ian, I heard on the radio during the day that you are having terrible storms in SA – I hope you and your family & friends are all OK.
Hi Pete, Yes terrible floods , but that would be in a city 1800 km away that I used to live in 10 years ago. Now currently living in a much drier part of the country which only has winter rainfall, and is outside of the tropical flood areas.