“Abandoned”

The photo, “Abandoned”, entered for 13 August

I volunteered in Israel for the month of November 2011, and our first weekend was spent in Tel-Aviv. I am always fascinated by the cycling that happens overseas, and was puzzled by the fact that most of the bicycles that were chained to various posts, all had their saddles missing. I was told that was to stop the bikes from being stolen – in Israel, where they are so security conscious! This bike was definitely not going anywhere again – it had rusted as it stood, and the tyres were flat. So I took the picture with my Nikon D80, using a Nikkor 18-200mm lens and set at f6.3, shutter speed 1/60^th of a second, ISO on auto. I only took the one shot as the other volunteers were on the way to the old harbour in Jaffa, so I had to get a move on. I loved the rusted bike with its coloured plastic bags and the equally rusted bars it was attached to, with the turquoise canvas giving a textured and complimentary-coloured background.

At the old harbour there were huge artworks of children painted onto the peeling walls of some of the buildings, so I photographed them with their accusing eyes in their pained faces, and the lovely free broad strokes of their hair. Luckily there was a building opposite the paintings, so I was able to photograph at the same level as the paintings (2 storeys up) - one virtually straight across from me, and the other at a lovely angle – in fact there was a window ledge just above the child’s head, and there was a dove sitting there looking as though it was nesting in her hair! It was almost midday but remember it was winter, so not too bright, and I shot at f5.6 (a flat surface and at a distance), but this time at 1/500^th of a second. I also zoomed in to crop the artwork and avoid all the clutter. I took two shots of each of the artworks, and that’s when I included the word, ‘what’ on one of them as I took a wider shot.

Back home, working on Photoshop Elements 7, I wanted to add to the bicycle photo as it was lacking something once I’d done the usual manipulations. There had been a great many graffiti-like artworks in Israel, so I decided to use the pictures of the 2 children, knowing that on their own, they would just be ‘someone else’s art’! Working in layers, I cut and pasted the girl at an angle, and she fitted in perfectly to the left of the bicycle. I used the eraser tool and lowered the opacity so that she appears ghost-like behind the bars. But if you look closely, you’ll see that most of her is actually in front of the bars – it just gives a bit more depth to the photo. I did the same with the second photo, and she ended up with the handlebars and brake of the bike following the outline of her eye which I rather liked. The rusted chain seems to be coming from round her neck which adds to the pathos of the photograph. But it was still a little unbalanced, and that’s when I decided to add the word, ‘what’ – and that I placed firmly behind the bars, knowing that text tends to attract the eye and I didn’t want it too obvious or distracting.

So I think I achieved an evocative piece with lovely perspectives...

Ruby Braumann 5*