Monday, August 15, 2011

I Feel Gritty ~ Mono Monday!

"Just Your Typical Alleyway"

Gritty back alleys are the theme today. Couldn't tell you why. I think I just needed to forget about flowers and roses, (my personal project, vintage florals) take a break, and plug my creativity in elsewhere. And I came across this shot. And it made me stop. And that was good enough for me.

I love gritty street shots. Lonely corners, shadows from the steel mills beginning to cut across the closest walls, leaving ominous shapes. And the only sign that anyone even knows the alley exists is the tagging on a solitary door.

Took this last spring, with the last of the dirty snow still sitting in pockets of old lots. And it's just the antithesis of the lovely summer day right outside my door as I type. But I was still drawn to it...

Where's all you B&W enthusiasts out there! Let me know if you have any monochromatic images you want to show off... and the rest of you, have a super grit-free day!

5 comments:

  1. I love b/w photography. And really would love to get into b/w film photography! I also love street photography, but don't get a chance to practice, living out in the burbs. I did find this pic I snapped Mar 2010. The light was so nice and I was lucky to be walking past as these kids were practicing on their skateboards.

    http://photographybyardeanblog.wordpress.com/?attachment_id=2553

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  2. Thanks for dropping me a line! Such a cool shot Ardean! Great rim light on the skater. Love it... I hope my readers will look it up too.
    My weakness is including people into my compositions... something I need to work on :)

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  3. Love these type of gritty shots. I have one of an ally way I shot about a year ago that I really like. I will send it to you. I have been following Nikki Sixx of the hard rock group Motley Crue and his blog on tumblr. He is also a photographer. His images are dark and gritty, and some even disturbing. However there is something that keeps drawing me back to them. I think this is something I want to explore in my photography that I really haven't in the past.

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  4. Gosh it's funny... but these ARE the shots that get the most comments and emails, lol. I agree Dave, there's something about those types of photographs that have a pull, that speak to us maybe more honestly than the pretty or fantastical photographs. I'll have to check out that blog... and yes, leave us a link to that image!!!

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  5. Here is the link to the photo I was telling you about. I was just walking around town looking for some interesting stuff to shoot while my daughter was in dance class.

    http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Gallery.aspx?id=167423&cat=0&photoID=10167033&mp=V2

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