BELINDA GROVER PHOTOGRAPHY

STOPS ALONG THE WAY

UNGUARDED

23 Comments

gate

I had driven by this old gated lot many times before but hadn’t paid it much attention. We were returning from a neighbourhood street festival one day and walked by on our way home. I was struck by these wildflowers pushing through the gate and stopped to take a photograph. I wanted the attention of the viewer to focus on the centre of the photograph. To do this I used an adjustment layer in Photoshop to lower the brightness of the stone, and then again for the entire photo. Finally I painted back some brightness in the flower and lock to make them stand out from the background.

23 thoughts on “UNGUARDED

  1. Roger Baker-Utah's avatar

    Gates, fences, doors, windows, chimneys: all excellent themes for photographic and poetic compositions.

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  2. Trail Walker's avatar

    Love this, Belinda. That locked gate makes me curious, and I was interested to read how you processed it to make the flowers stand out. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. Peter Hillman's avatar

    This image makes you wonder what else lies beyond those locked gates. Very imaginitive shot!

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  4. Eliza Waters's avatar

    What an expressive shot!

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  5. Jet Eliot's avatar

    A bold and hopeful message — much appreciated, Belinda.

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  6. Indira's avatar

    Cool work, friend!

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  7. Ellen Jennings's avatar

    Very nice concept and “Unguarded” is the perfect description.

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  8. kathydoremus's avatar

    One of those pictures that tells a story. 🙂

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  9. Brian Skeys's avatar

    The one flower looks as if it is thinking of trying to escape.

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  10. wordsfromanneli's avatar

    The flowers certainly brighten up the gray.

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  11. Anne's avatar

    You have certainly achieved your purpose. This picture would make a good prompt for a story: such a long chain; it appears to have been locked from the outside – as someone left?; has not been used for a long time (why?) since the flowers now fill the entrance …

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  12. Adrian Lewis's avatar

    Yes, my attention falls firmly on the image’s centre, on that central flower to be exact, and the padlock on the gate almost looks as if its pointing down at the bloom, which enhances the effect. Very good to hear your objectives, thinking and processing methods here, too, although I don’t use Photoshop. A

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