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chromasia.com

Well, on the basis that it should be possible to take a half-decent photograph of most things, I thought I might try and document some of our kitchen building activities this week.

So, to put this shot in context:

Our house was built in 1875, and this room would have been the original kitchen, although more lately it's been the dining room. The room you can see through the hole in the wall (which appeared mid-afternoon today, and through which you can see one of our daughters) is our current kitchen: it would originally have been the scullery. The hole is so that we can run some water into this room and some electrics and a waste pipe into the other one.

To the left of this alcove is what would have been the range cooker and the two pipes you can see in the top-left of the shot (running in front of the chimney) were the feed and return for the back-boiler. Up until yesterday most of this was hidden behind a false wall and some rather dated cupboards, but by the end of next week it will all be hidden away again behind a false wall, from which will be hanging some nice shiny wall cupboards, with downlighters, and some more cupboards underneath.

Oh, and if you're on a dial-up connection my apologies for the size of this image but I did think that this one benefitted from being scrolled.

And this one looks best with the black theme.

capture date
camera
lens
focal length
aperture
shutter speed
shooting mode
exposure bias
metering mode
ISO
flash
image quality
RAW converter
cropped?
4.47pm on 31/3/05
Canon 20D
EF 17-40 f/4L USM
19mm (30mm equiv.)
f/4.0
1/8
aperture priority
+0.0
evaluative
100
580EX (fill flash)
RAW
DxO Optics Pro
yep
 
no print
comment by chris at 08:37 PM (GMT) on 31 March, 2005

you've got a nice "what these walls have seen" / "if these walls had eyes" thing going on.
Very cool.

comment by twb at 08:52 PM (GMT) on 31 March, 2005

I love all the colors and texture in the top half of this photo. In fact, I probably would've cropped it just above the spool of wire(?). Even so, I do love that you can see your daughter peaking through.

comment by djn1 at 09:08 PM (GMT) on 31 March, 2005

twb: I know what you mean, and I may well shoot the top section again, but I was in a documentary mood when I took this one; i.e. I wanted to capture the scene rather than just a textual aspect of it.

comment by owen at 09:11 PM (GMT) on 31 March, 2005

i love this - it's good to see a decent DIY image - this one is surprisingly colourful. reminds me of al lot of the work my wife and i did on our house a few years ago. It's great once everything is plastered up again and all the dust has gone from the house!

comment by Adriana at 09:14 PM (GMT) on 31 March, 2005

lol. When I first saw the top of the picture, I thought it was some abstract painting. But then I scrolled down to see your daughter through the hole in the wall and then I found out that it was a picture about your plombing work. I know is just and old wall but, look at the covination of color that's formed at the top. :) Well done. Show us how it ends.

comment by Kjetil at 09:38 PM (GMT) on 31 March, 2005

Well this was a photo not expected to see on chromasia! Congrats on the change! And also on the award! You really deserved it.

comment by jasonspix at 09:47 PM (GMT) on 31 March, 2005

Cool...I love remodeling! it's so fun and it makes the house "yours." Great shot.

comment by VPra at 09:51 PM (GMT) on 31 March, 2005

Now THIS is what I'm talking about. GREAT photo, possibly your best composition so far. Good work mate.

comment by TTrain at 09:57 PM (GMT) on 31 March, 2005

The progression from 'what is it' to reality is awesome. The little face at the bottom is startling after focusing on the details from the top, an excellent touch.

comment by Chang at 10:16 PM (GMT) on 31 March, 2005

Have you ever shot with the 16-35 f/2.8L? Do you find the 17-40 f/4L to be sharper too? Thanks.

comment by Alex at 10:20 PM (GMT) on 31 March, 2005

Wow. I didn't think very much of this photo until I got to your daughter's eyes peering through the hole. That MADE the scene for me. It's just fantastic.

comment by mark at 11:22 PM (GMT) on 31 March, 2005

this photo freaked me out...as i scrolled down, the whole with the child peering through made me shiver......its like a scary movie!!

comment by tobias at 11:37 PM (GMT) on 31 March, 2005

Hang on a minute, what is this, I have just come off the photoblog of the year site which also has a stitched image and this is the first time I have seen one. Who started it, huh, come on.

Between you and I, I think I prefer this one. The other is grand in scale but this has such depth. Really rustic, earthy colours. Life has breathed all over this image.

The top half has the depth, I mean how many colours and textures are there in the first 7 inches? And the bottom half the human perspective, great balance.

Stroll on Dave...

comment by Max at 11:55 PM (GMT) on 31 March, 2005

I didn't see the face on the bottom till I looked again. Wonderful photo!

comment by djn1 at 12:00 AM (GMT) on 1 April, 2005

Thanks everyone.

Chang: no, I've not used the 16-35mm but from what I've read it's no sharper than the 17-40mm.

tobias: thanks, but this isn't stitched, it's a crop. I wish I'd had time to go for a stitched shot (it would make a better print) but I just cropped this to 6x2 rather than 3x2.

comment by bob at 12:02 AM (GMT) on 1 April, 2005

FAN TAS TIC --- great shot.... You have your work cut out for you! ...

Oh -- congrats on the bloggy! -- First pint on me!

comment by Juice at 12:07 AM (GMT) on 1 April, 2005

Yup, that's some ancient looking plumbing.

I was surprised to find it was cropped because it seems to cover such a large area. Most evident by the size of your daughter's head. But I guess she's one of the younger of the four (three? five? sorry I'm not sure).

comment by Fellow Eskimo at 01:27 AM (GMT) on 1 April, 2005

Intresting pic...but I just realized something more intresting...the comments window changes colors too! Yes, ok, im a very slow learner...

comment by fernando at 01:31 AM (GMT) on 1 April, 2005

seems that a little of that ddoi "scrolling fever" as arrived here...:)

comment by ori at 02:19 AM (GMT) on 1 April, 2005

AMAZING!

comment by hungaro at 04:46 AM (GMT) on 1 April, 2005

this is a bit more work tha I could handle
interesting shot, I had to look for the eyes, though

comment by Jon Clark at 05:10 AM (GMT) on 1 April, 2005

Probably the coolest shot I've seen on here in the short time I've subscribed :o

comment by Chantal at 10:19 AM (GMT) on 1 April, 2005

The upperside of the picture looks like a painting, artwork...... until you scroll down and then see what it is, GREAT!!!

Congratulations on winning a bloggie. That where I found your site, I will start following it from now on, keep me intesrested!!

comment by David H-W at 11:22 AM (GMT) on 1 April, 2005

Good shot and well cropped. Somewhat of a departure for you and works really well, does prove that it's not always the subject matter but your approach. Congratulations on winning a Photobloggie - well deserved!

comment by bjorn at 05:25 PM (GMT) on 1 April, 2005

the middle section somehow dosn't fit in this photograph, the top part and the bottom part are two great shots

comment by paul at 05:26 PM (GMT) on 1 April, 2005

it did look like a painting for just a moment as it loaded....and the sneaky look through the hole ;) ....now all that work :(

comment by Josh White at 05:30 PM (GMT) on 1 April, 2005

As usual, masterful.

comment by Markus Hartel at 07:14 PM (GMT) on 1 April, 2005

the kid makes the shot brilliant

comment by flygirl at 08:00 PM (GMT) on 1 April, 2005

If these walls could talk, hmmmm.... Wasn't sure what I was looking at until I read your description. Loved the surprise when I scrolled down...

comment by djn1 at 09:39 PM (GMT) on 1 April, 2005

Thanks everyone, and my apologies for not replying to any of the points raised but I haven't had a minute today.

comment by PIXELPRINTS photography at 11:23 AM (GMT) on 2 April, 2005

on the top portion i thought it was a painting, and then i saw the face peeking through and the wire and knew it was a photograph. it's like having so many elements combined into one picture!

comment by Joseph Spurling at 03:26 PM (GMT) on 2 April, 2005

It's not even funny how good this shot is.

though, congratulations i suppose. i love it.

comment by Don Colin at 09:14 PM (GMT) on 2 April, 2005

Wow! Chagall hiding in your interior walls? Some plumbing job.
Don