Choice Photos.

I've included here some of my favourite photos that I've taken over the years. I'm not a pro by any stretch of the imagination but every so often I've snapped something that I've been truly proud of. So in a totally vain manner, I've decided to make an entry dedicated to them, with a short blurb for each. Click on a photo to see it in its full glory. Feel free to let me know your thoughts.

All images are ©Steff Parry 2003-2009

Campus Tree
This was taken at The Reading University’s Whiteknights campus (hence the bits of trash lying around). I was really lucky with the light, I love the way the white is totally burned out but only fragments filter through the branches. The digital camera I used for this shot was such an old brick that it’s amazing it captured the detail it did. This photo was actually used as the basis for a photography competition by a website once. They spelled my name wrong on the application form. Bastards.

Burial: Havana Style!

This is my favourite photo of mine that I’ve shot in recent years. There is an amazing cemetery in Havana, Cuba which is full of burial tombs such as this. I barely had to crouch for this shot, it was so tall. The sun was shining but it became slightly overcast when I took this, which really lends a moody atmosphere to the shot. I have no idea who was buried here but my respects to his family for giving them such an impressive monument as their final resting place.





Stop
Taken in Long Island, New York. This sign really appealed to me. It’s weathered, beaten, but still authoritative. It’s like an ageing mobster saying “Hey, yooz better stop that automobile right now or I’ll slam yerz head in the door” Maybe. What the hell does ‘All Way’ mean?

Beaded Lady

A very new one this. Taken a few months ago in Calamonaci, Sicily, this features my darling fiancée on a dusty Mediterranean street (hence every car visible is a Fiat). This was harder to capture than it looks, the beads are actually cunning devices for keeping insects at bay and, being constructed of a modern, lightweight material (circa 4000BC) tend to blow around like crazy in the wind. Worth it though!

Buena Vista Pub Social

I snapped these chaps in Santiago, Cuba. It’s a very musical city and it was a regular occurrence for bands like this to strike up out of nowhere. What was more of a surprise was when they packed up and hit the bar as soon as a I dropped a two peso coin in the hat! Didn’t feel like I got good value for money there. Anyway, I love the colours in this shot but mainly I dig the dude on the far right. Look at him rocking those sticks!

Rustic Wagon Wheels
A farm house near Gaillac, France is the scene for our final shot in my choice pics. I really love this area, it’s full of great, rustic scenes. I think the autumn setting is perfect for this, the general theme being decay. I shot this on an old 35mm SLR camera, which again is in keeping with the mood of the shot. The farmer probably still gets some use out of this bad boy.

Well I hope you enjoyed seeing a few of my favourite photos. I am a hobby photographer mainly. I hardly ever shoot posed photos, preferring to snap random pictures as I see them. I should probably mention that apart from some slight cropping, I haven’t done any post production work on these photos. With the technology available in today’s compacts, it’s really easy to shoot some great photos very easily. Let me know your thoughts below.

Steff Parry.