<<< o >>>postage meter 38 comments + add yours
chromasia.com

This, apparently, is a postage meter (despite the fact that it looks like a small tank coming over the horizon), made by The Singer Company. And beyond that I can't tell you much more about it other than that Paul (from skinnybuzzard.com) and I found it behind an abandoned nursing home on the road between Blackpool and St. Annes. There's a shot of Paul shooting it here:

.../archives/postage_meter.php

Paul was in Blackpool for the day so we hooked up for a few hours and went round some of the local areas. I'll probably put up a few of the shots I took over the next couple of days, but, to be honest, I can't say I'm massively impressed with any of the hundred+plus shots that I took. I did enjoy the company though – it made a pleasant change :-)

capture date
camera
lens
focal length
aperture
shutter speed
shooting mode
exposure bias
metering mode
ISO
flash
image quality
RAW converter
cropped?
11.57am on 6/3/05
Canon 20D
EF 17-40 f/4L USM
17mm (27mm equiv.)
f/5.6
1/250
aperture priority
+0.0
evaluative
100
no
RAW
C1 Pro
minor
 
3x2
comment by miklos at 09:05 PM (GMT) on 7 March, 2005

Knock knock..
who's there?
picture..
picture who?
Picture of a postage meter that failed to upload...

comment by Jay at 09:06 PM (GMT) on 7 March, 2005

I don't know if it is just me, but i can't see the photo.

comment by Jay at 09:10 PM (GMT) on 7 March, 2005

http://www.chromasia.com/images/postage_meter_b.jpg
That's the image... he didn't post the link properly.

comment by Jay at 09:11 PM (GMT) on 7 March, 2005

and BTW... the other link he refered to in the post is here...
http://www.chromasia.com/iblog/archives/postage_meter.php

comment by Adriana at 09:42 PM (GMT) on 7 March, 2005

No Jay is not just you

comment by Brad at 09:42 PM (GMT) on 7 March, 2005

Once you get that linnk fixed, I would expect this to be one of your most comments pictures. It's incredible and almost looks fake. Wow.

comment by djn1 at 09:51 PM (GMT) on 7 March, 2005

lol :-) I knew that I'd be late home from work today so set this one to auto-post – I guess I forgot to add the image link ;-)

comment by Adriana at 09:57 PM (GMT) on 7 March, 2005

Well it seems that the wait was worthy. I am always impressed with tha movie feeling that I get with your pictures. Did you use some blur efect with this one? Or how do you make them look like a movie picture :p?

comment by Jorge Lesmes at 09:58 PM (GMT) on 7 March, 2005

Great pic.

Love the sky color. Great! =)

comment by neil at 10:10 PM (GMT) on 7 March, 2005

this is cool. i love shots that you have to try and figure out. I actually thought it was a toy tank... great stuff.

--
www.plushcreative.com

comment by Daaave at 10:20 PM (GMT) on 7 March, 2005

Heh, who needs a macro lens when your 17-40L can do this!

comment by Joann at 10:23 PM (GMT) on 7 March, 2005

This looks like this was shot in a studio with a fake background. Great! The light seems so nicely diffused it doesn't seem it could actually be outdoors. Did you do anything to get the light to look that way in post processing? Did you use fill flash? I find fill flash can sometimes produce that fake set-up look.

comment by djn1 at 10:29 PM (GMT) on 7 March, 2005

Joann: no, no fill flash: Curves adjustment, an exaggerated vignette, and a Selective Colour adjustment to darken the sky a little.

comment by Raffi at 10:42 PM (GMT) on 7 March, 2005

Wow I like the very vibrant colours here, and the level of detail. I always love close up shots. =)

comment by Paulo Ribeiro at 10:54 PM (GMT) on 7 March, 2005

This is so amazing. It looks like something huge coming down the hill! Very nice effect, it looks like something taken from a sci-fi movie...

comment by Alex at 10:55 PM (GMT) on 7 March, 2005

of the many many many photos i've taken (not half as many as you, but still-) i've only ever once managed to capture the detail of rust (yeah - in that post you keep on stealing the title of -.O). but you've done it perfectly. in addition to a truely great - albeit somewhat strange - object, the DoF is SPOT ON which, in turn, gives the postage meter sort of a 'towering' feeling. kinda like that big thing in the desert in star wars.

yeah, you know the one i'm talking about :|

anyways. seeing as though you have that little team thing going on, perhaps you and a few other british photobloggers should sort out a 'capture blackpool' or whatever that thing was called (over on photoblogs.org) where everyone shoots the same spot and then publishes their photos. y'never know - might not turn out half bad..

oh, and thanks for the heads up ;) maybe i won't misinterpret the title this time..

SPOILER // "Great shot, and I enjoyed yesterday. As for what I'll be putting up: today is a shot of the abandoned postage meter (the thing that looked like a small tank), tomorrow will be a shot of the abandoned nursing home, and I'm not sure about the day after - maybe the skate boarder, but I'm not really happy with how any of those came out. As for the rest of the shots we took, most of mine were crap, so I hope you did a bit better."

comment by paul at 12:36 AM (GMT) on 8 March, 2005

It turned out pretty darn good David, just a thankyou for driving me about on sunday, it was fun to shoot with company.

As you posted the additional shot of me shooting this postage meter, I have posted the very shot you caught me capturing..... here , It gives away the bulding a bit but at that angle, its a teaser.

comment by Vincent at 12:55 AM (GMT) on 8 March, 2005

It's reminiscent of Office Space. I thought it was a printer at first.

comment by lisa at 01:05 AM (GMT) on 8 March, 2005

This shot looks like something out of a magazine, though I'm not sure what magazine. Just the depth and richness of the blue sky and the orange rust, makes me think it's about to have words put onto it for some cover article. And I don't think any of what I just said makes any sense except to me. But nice one, either way.

comment by riff at 01:19 AM (GMT) on 8 March, 2005

I would've thought that you'd have used your macro lens for this shot.. I feel so small.

comment by Fellow Eskimo at 01:32 AM (GMT) on 8 March, 2005

The blue sky and the color and fade of the grasses behind adds a nice effect. Not my favorite, but its nice :) (but it does get points for being nothing Ive ever seen before!)

comment by zerosun at 02:23 AM (GMT) on 8 March, 2005

excellent as always. lush detail and color, fantastic perspective. maybe you could hook up a remote control to this thing and drive it around. ;)

comment by Maran at 02:38 AM (GMT) on 8 March, 2005

Bravo. Looks 3D.

comment by tj at 04:42 AM (GMT) on 8 March, 2005

the angle on this is superb! especially with the clouds in the background going in the same direction, nice job :)

comment by mike at 06:01 AM (GMT) on 8 March, 2005

wow, looks huge, i love it

comment by Jesse at 06:29 AM (GMT) on 8 March, 2005

Alex has a good point--the size this picture conveys gives a massive feeling to such a little thing, just like the Jawa transports. I like this picture.

comment by Amy at 06:57 AM (GMT) on 8 March, 2005

This is a very interesting shot. I adore the colors, it looks rich . I love the way you take pictures; I am in awe!

comment by David H-W at 11:08 AM (GMT) on 8 March, 2005

Great shot; the striated clouds behind making it more dramatic. Great colour - really feel as if I could just touch it.

comment by Jorge at 12:10 PM (GMT) on 8 March, 2005

The colors, I just love the colors and the size effect.

comment by Tszecia at 02:01 PM (GMT) on 8 March, 2005

unreal, really.

comment by Amit at 04:20 PM (GMT) on 8 March, 2005

WOW! So amazing, you inspire us!

comment by djn1 at 08:36 PM (GMT) on 8 March, 2005

Thanks everyone :-)

comment by m at 10:08 PM (GMT) on 8 March, 2005

Could be from StarWars :-)

comment by Nick at 09:05 AM (GMT) on 9 March, 2005

This really does jump out of the page!

comment by Andreas A at 03:03 AM (GMT) on 10 March, 2005

A perfect picture of decay!
- love it man!

comment by helenthura at 03:25 AM (GMT) on 10 March, 2005

I looked at this for a while, trying to figure out what it was, now I know, sure looks very interesting, love the colours you achieved.

comment by flygirl at 11:03 PM (GMT) on 18 March, 2005

Beautiful details and colours, great and simple subject too...

comment by Crash at 07:35 PM (GMT) on 19 March, 2005

the perspective is amazing .... I thought it was a piece of abandoned farm equipment !