The digital negatives DNGs from which these pictures were made is 233 MB in size measuring just of 40 megapixels. I won’t go into the details of how I produced them except to say I used my F 2.4 Carl Zeiss Flektogon Lens at around f 8.0 on an Olympus E-3 digital camera.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a photographer, or not, if you have a passionate interest you should exercise it. I happen to like taking pictures and if I go a day, or so, without making any images then I tend to get, somewhat, jaded.
Permission was given for an increase in the numbers of buildings permissible in Kumlubük. One suspects that Amos may well fall within that allocation.
A winter landscape image of Marmaris and it’s environs by S. J. M. Bray.
This pill box at Kumlubük was stratgically placed to keep foregners at bay. Today it’s not only unoocupied, but also visitors are welcome whatever their nationalities. ~ photograph by S. J. M. Bray.
Yunus and his mother enjoying some Tai Chi around this time last year! Photograph by S. J. M. Bray.
I snapped this with the E-3 fitted with the 25mm Panasonic Leica Summilux, which is undoubtedly my heaviest but best lens.
There is much to see here for those who have eyes for the simple and miraculous. For example the light on these rocks caught my attention this morning as I walked to Kumlubuk.
Yachts at Kumlubuk Some of my regular visitors are complaining that there’s been few posts recently. The fact is I’m busy on many projects but I did manage to catch this image recently when beachcombing at Kumlubük.
Not A Bikini In Sight! Summer in Kumlubük oozes style. Mick Jagger once played into the night at Hollanda Ahmet’s Yacht Club. Here greased bodies bask to a golden bronze on a pristine beach of fine sand. People from the Dionysus sip Efes and Coke, whilst at Holland Ahmet’s I enjoy a gin and tonic. [...]
The Light and Colours are superb today My old friend and neighbour Tony Parsons writes in ‘The Open Secret’ of how whilst walking in a park he allowed his mind to still, and he found himself simply walking and within his walking discovered his true nature. My current mentor Alex Jeffreys is helping me to [...]
I find taking photographs helps me to really see things better! It’s like an Indian Summer here at Amos. Occasionally we have a storm, but mostly the sun shines. We got out to Kumlubük today and I shot some images with the Olympus E-3 and Flektogon f35 combination. I like the way this lens resolves [...]
Yachts in the Bay of Kumlubük You can’t buy a cup of tea or coffee during the winter in Kumlubük, although in the summer the beaches are full of places where drinks of all kinds are readily available. I got out to Kumlubük today after a few days of working extensively a new project. The [...]
Kumlubük, E-3, Flektogon f35 I’ve only just discovered this colour space in Adobe Photoshop, although it has apparently been there for ever. It has just three channels, Lightness, and a and b. To quote from Wikipedia: “Unlike the RGB and CMYK colour models, Lab color is designed to approximate human vision. It aspires to perceptual [...]
Another Muted Pop Colour Image Gentle reader, fear not, this is my last post for a while featuring this shot. And at last I like the effect. Not a duotone but another subtle spot colour image. I won’t go into the intricacies of how it was made but it involved using the LAB colour space, [...]
That Old Boat at Kumlubük I wasn’t entirely happy with yesterday’s image of that old boat so today I decided to attempt to split-tone it in Adobe Photoshop. It gives the image an entirely different feel, but I’m unsure that I prefer it to yesterday’s image!
Every year I come along and photograph how the weather is slowly destroying this old boat and returning it to nature. This image isn’t really a duo-tone because the colour is concentrated on just the boat ~ I suppose you might think of it as a ‘colour pop’ except there’s little ‘pop’, or even ‘fizz’ [...]
Irem and I spent an hour, or so, walking around Kumlubük this morning. The light has an incredible quality to it and I shot a few frames with the Flektogon 2.4 on the Olympus E-3. Some people knock this lens because when it was released it was aimed at owners of the Practica series of [...]
E-3, Zuiko D 11-22, Lightroom Conversion I really don’t have a good relationship with this lens. I bought it to give myself a super-wide option, and a really good 28mm and it does well at both these functions. On the other hand it’s a large lens for a wide angle. It only really sits comfortably [...]
Kumlubük Again! There are some digital files that just aren’t rescuable. What I mean by this is that the composition isn’t that strong, the exposure is too far to the right of the histogram, (they’re overexposed), and they have too many wires and telegraph poles in the wrong places. Unfortunately Adobe Photoshop seemingly provides a [...]
Yesterday ~ Autumn . . . . . . today ~ Winter!
Sometimes we photograph the same scene . . . . . . again, and again!
A gnarled tree in Kumlubük I didn’t see this image, it was Irem who noticed the gnarled shapes to the branches of this tree. But when I photographed them they really looked rather flat and uninteresting when I looked at the digital file. A few minutes in Lightroom and Photoshop soon had the branches rendered [...]
A crude job! Being brought up on an estate surrounded by parkland I have a natural affinity with trees. Indeed sometimes I prefer them to humans, who can be prone to all manner of irrational words and bad manners especially when they acquire power beyond their social station. This tree has been severely cut back, [...]
Jodrell Bank (Not) This dish has been here as long as I have been walking in Kumlubük. At first I thought it quite ugly but with the passage of time I have come to realize that, compared with much of what is to be found in either Turkey or England, it’s really not so bad. [...]
The Vineyard, Kumlubük I took this image of the vines at Kumlubük at around half past ten in the morning and the picture of the gulet about half an hour later. Using Lightroom to adjust the colour balance of the second image has enabled me to produce a subdued evening effect for the picture of [...]
Kumlubük at twilight We get boats of all shapes and sizes visiting Kumlubük but the yacht on the right of this picture is one of the largest I’ve seen here. It seems to be about the size of a Bosphorus ferry but is just a toy for the rich and famous.
Evening Bathing at Kumlubük Yacht Club This isn’t the cheapest venue in the area, but it sure is one of the nicest. We seem to come here more and more. The service is always welcoming. Indeed you might well have just fallen down a sewer and dropped in for a freshen up but the people [...]
Hannah in the Twilight at Kumlubük Yacht Club Kumlubük Yacht Club is my favourite destination for an evening meal. The service is superb. The food is cooked to a gastronomic standard. The setting is as good as you are likely to find in this part of the world. All in all it’s a ‘no risk’ [...]
Consternation In A Nunnery! Gentle Reader, if you’ve wondered why Bray is going on about microwaves in Amos the source of his concern is the fact that not just one, but two microwave sources are proposed here. The first to be erected is located atop the site’s electricity sub-station. It is an Avea Mobile Phone [...]
The Shoreline At Kumlubük Do you ever wave Mrs? No I don’t mean do you wave to people from the window of a train, or the back of a limousine, what I mean is do you ever take the time to switch off your Blackberry and stare at waves lapping on the shore. I found [...]
The Kumlubük Plain In Monochrome Digital photography rules, O.K! In just a few minutes I can achieve what used to take hours in the darkroom. And imagine how impossible it would be to escape from the reality of business pressures by entering the darkroom, mixing chemicals, getting the temperature right, focusing the enlarger, washing and [...]
Kumlubük As A Digital Kodachrome! After having to stay near the screen all day yesterday Irem and I took to the hills, well we walked to Kumlubük actually. We needed to get out because although normally we sit at home, baking bread and writing rubbish, in the past few weeks we’ve been under pressure to [...]
Wonderful Fresh Air And Clear Vistas Despite the untidy buildings scattered over the Kumlubük Plain it remains one of my favourite, and essentially convenient, destinations for walking. There are some wonderful scenes to be ‘photographed, but mainly I enjoy the peace and tranquility of the place during winter months. Irem’s Favourite Shot Of The Day
An English Country Walk? If you are ever tempted to venture from the beach at Kumlubük and walk up this track you are in for a delight. In the winter it has the potential for a Sunday, (or any other day), trek to delight your family and you. A Red-Setter, Labrador, or similar and the [...]
We all take photographs of family members and friends. Some of us may even venture into photographing the occasional landscape, or a picture of the hotel where we stayed on holiday but photographers tend to eschew such subject matter. This is a pity since photographer’s family albums tend to be filled with dreadfully composed images [...]
Yesterday I was remarking about how the technicalities of photography sometimes seem to impinge upon the art of making images. Make no mistake the technical aspects of taking pictures are important, even in these days of automated cameras. Indeed, unless you always want to produce bog-standard images, some degree of camera control is essential. There [...]
For me photography is a pleasure, but it wasn’t always so. Of course when I first realised that images weren’t something mysterious that could only be developed at the local pharmacy I became excited. I must have been ten, or eleven years old. But then the nightmares began. Firstly there were all those numbers on [...]
Last month I compared a number of RAW editors. A RAW editor takes the file made by a digital camera, but before any processing has occurred in-camera, and enables you to manipulate it on your computer. This enables you to have maximum control of the qualities of your final processed images. With film you have [...]
Target Practice! Just over six months ago I was photographing randy tortoises near the spot where I found this old computer monitor. What was it doing here I wondered? And then I saw the pellet marks! It was used for target practice, no doubt by some city kid . . .
Bonsai! This tree is a natural Bonsai. It must be very determined to have set root here! I just knew this image would look good when I made the photograph. In fact I visualised it as a monochrome image. If I really work on it I can make it as I imagined it. At the [...]
Photographed earlier this year! Here’s another shot for Peter and Pat. It was taken earlier in the year, and I simply hadn’t got around to using it. It was taken as an in camera .jpg and then adjusted very slightly in Adobe Photoshop®. A question is now emerging in my mind about the plethora of [...]
A common site in Kumlubük during the early spring Alper Erkalan the chief aikido instructor at Marmaris Zen-Center recently requested that I shoot some images of his dojo practice. Frankly I prefer taking pictures of local flowers and wild-life, and Peter and Pat have requested more of these here, so watch this space. In the [...]
Kumlubük, Bibble Pro® version 9.3 At last I’m getting to the stage where I can approach making images of my liking in Bibble Pro®, Lightroom® and Lightzone®. But which do I prefer? In some respects I still prefer Bibble Pro®. It has a one click technology which lifted this flat RAW file into something dynamic. [...]
Another View Of Kumlubük After several days of monochrome I was aiming at some true National Geographic style colour saturation in this reportage on Kumlubük. The picture above shows some of the homes built into the hill and probably not even noticed by people approaching Kumlubük using the boat service from Marmaris. It’s possible that [...]
Kumlubük: It’s nice to be in your embrace! It was once a fashion in photography to warm landscape images using an 81c warm-up filter. This emulated the colour temperature of evening light in an attempt to take a mediocre photograph and make it more appealing. It rarely worked, except when done by true landscape professionals [...]
Oya Zorlu and Irem Bray Cleared Their Plates! If you travel to any of the major cities of Turkey you may be able to find an authenic chinese meal. The closest we come to such a treat is to be found at the Yacht Club at Kumlubük. It is not recommended! There’s little to criticise [...]
Why is Amazon all painted up? She’s painted up because she’s at the Dionysos Hotel as the guest of her boyfriend Sinan who was three today. Sinan is the son of the Dionysus owners and today they allowed yours truly to enter the hotel confines whereupon they plied him with jelly and strong drink. Readers [...]
Important Notice Following a long standing dispute that delayed the erection of new electricity poles on the Turunç – Amos – Kumlubük road work has recommenced on the new power grid. As a result sources claim there will be no power in Amos between the hours of eight a.m. and approx. seven p.m. for the [...]
Amazon’s pleased to have me back at home Thankfully I’m back in dear ol’ Amos, and of course rapidly set out to make sure all’s well in Kumlubük. It’s not, of course. This wonderful strip of arable land is simply dotted with too many ‘oribble buildings to have an aesthetic quality. Nevertheless it’s still possible [...]
Irem and Amazon Resting While Damla Swims Some of my neighbours have remarked that they haven’t noticed us going out for walks at half-past five as indicated in this earlier entry in this journal. It’s true, when the summer arrived with its heat and extra cars swimming replaced walking as our preferred form of exercise. [...]
Holiday Magazine A year ago I was criticising the Editor and Publisher of Holiday Magazine for using an unauthorized photograph of Amazon for an article about sun-burn. I still feel that the picture shouldn’t have been used because it implied that Amazon isn’t properly protected from the sunshine by us. The magazine has come a [...]
Living in Amos saps your focus but increases libido ~ read this post, if you dare!
The vines provide a wonderful rich pattern of green folliage and black shadow What a difference a few months can make! In April and early May we were walking to Kumlubük every day at around five thirty in the afternoon. In April there were streams. Everywhere was green, except the small field above which is [...]
Let’s Go Home Mummy! You might have noticed fewer references to our walks in Kumlubük recently? For some reason Amazon’s routine changed and she started to nap when we used to walk. This has been quite a disappointment for Irem and I but today everything went back to ‘normal’ and we were able to walk [...]
Between the gentle rod-and-line and a busy fishing trawler there can be no contest . . . The fish must have been biting in Kumlubük today for as you see not only is there a family fishing from the shore with rod and line, there’s also a full blown trawler in the bay. No prizes [...]
Domestic Nudes, Turkish Style The Hon. Helmut Newton wrote that his ‘Domestic Nudes’ series began by his wanting to photograph the rooms of the Chateau Marmont, Hollywood, where he spent his winters for the last twenty-six years of his life . . . . . “but who would look at my pictures of empty rooms? [...]
A Month’s Worth Of Loving Restoration. Every day for a month on our walks in Kumlubük we’ve watched the renovation of this water taxi, which is part of the Turunç Co-Operative. There’s usually several men sitting around drinking tea whilst an army of women, and young women, [they're children really; school is out by the [...]
Amos Island from the Kumlubük Road We started our regular walk to Kumlubük an hour late tonight. As a result dusk was upon us almost as soon as we reached the highway. After a day or squally storms the air was refreshingly clear. Several intrepid yachts’ persons had risked the squalls and ventured into Marmaris [...]
Uphill And Into The Sun Think of me at half past five, [Turkish time], for most days I will be making my way up this hill with Amazon on my back, and with precious Irem at my side. We’ve taken to walking to Kumlubük most days and it just gets better and better, The scenery [...]
Joiner Photography is a term coined by British artist David Hockney. It involves gluing several different photographs together,
Today in Kumlubuk I too found myself in the company of some consenting adults. Here is my attempt at making pornography!
Although its design resembles a fortress, at least the colour of the late Ayhan Sahenk’s palace blends in to the natural scenery. If only others would follow his example and paint their houses in suitable tones!
View Of The Amos Estate From Near The Ruined City Every day or so Amazon, Irem and I walk from Amos to Kumlubük. Amazon likes to play ‘Pooh Sticks’ in one of the streams and Irem and I just fancy the exercise. On the way an opportunity for a photograph usually presents itself. Sometimes it’s [...]
After several attempts at getting some excercise we finally made it all the way to Kumlubuk.
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Difficilis,querulus, laudator temporis acti.
Sepuero, castigator, cesorque minorum
Stephen Jeremy Maxwell Bray lives with his wife Irem, and daughter Amazon at Amos, Turunc near Marmaris, Turkey..
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