sharnoff

@sharnoff

they/them eggbug forever; hopeful for a kinder world

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sharnoff@sharnoff· 3d

quite pleased with these too for the plane, I was surprised to find that the shots that were *less* blurry actually made a worse composition, because the detail on the plane ends up drawing the eyes to the body instead of the motion and then the flowers were just so so so vibrant :)

Picture of a rusted model biplane on a pole above a painted wood fence. It's slightly shaky, twin propellers a blur, bright shining leaves and sky beyond.

Picture of super vibrant flower baskets hanging off a brick building. They're jumping out in magenta and orange and light blue, dangling green vines, almost hyper-real - surely the photo must be over-saturated, but the bricks are totally normal, pale almost, in comparison. Two sets of windows have been replaced by paintings of windows, one on the bottom with people looking up, and one on the top with a cheery violinist looking down.

sharnoff@sharnoff· 3d

saw lots of trains - it's quite helpful that the town being so small means you can just look up the train timings to quickly prepare a shot (ended up looking up what type of trains these are - pretty sure it's class 170?)

Picture of a train at the edge of a stone viaduct. We're looking at a small vertical slice of the viaduct, the pillar almost castle-like, angled as if eight-sided, little crenellations poking up, while the main track of the viaduct is obscured by blurry trees in the foreground that mirror the ivy climbing up the side. The train's a Northern Class 170, blue with a steep angle at the front. Below and above the start of the viaduct, there's houses to the side.

Picture of Knaresborough train station, looking down platform 2, as the rails curve through trees in the distance. Another Northern Class 170 train is on the opposite side, windows reflecting warped visions of nearby houses, and mirrored by the tight row of pillars stretching down the platform. If you look carefully, exhaust coming out the top of the train adds a gentle blur over the trees and building in the background.

Picture of a train poking out of the trees onto the viaduct. We're looking at it from higher up this time, plants and vines spill over the center of the viaduct at the top of a pillar between two arches. Beige houses below and beyond the viaduct also sit surrounded by tall dense trees. The train is another Northern Class 170, blue with a steep angle at the front, and if you look closely you can see the outlines of the train driver and some passengers

sharnoff@sharnoff· 3d

went to take some photos, a couple of weekends back, at a little town with a big viaduct (more in 🧵)

Picture of a slice of Knaresborough Viaduct, standing tall out of the River Nidd. It's a beige stone viaduct, arches following the surface towards both ends of the frame. Trees line the river, tall and leafy the left, and a draping willow tree behind the pillar. A collection of boats drift along the river, distorted reflections stretching below them.

Flat picture of a brick wall with a "One Way" sign above an embedded glass display of plush toy creatures.

sharnoff@sharnoff· Jul 12

and train stations are awesome, too (some neat coincidences with people wearing yellow & blue kind of matching the trains lol)

Picture of a crowd around an NS train at Amsterdam Centraal. Patches of light coming through the tall vaulted ceiling casts light onto the big green exit sign and a blue and yellow NS train beyondcasts light onto the big green exit sign and a blue and yellow NS train at the platform. A woman wearing a yellow dress & blue backpack steps towards the train.

Picture through the window of a train door. There's benches, a vertical metal beam, and a the end, an NS train that's open for boarding. Out of focus, to the side of the train door we're looking through, someone's just gotten on, holding a handbag as their own yellow top and blue jeans offer a pale version of the blue and yellow from the train beyond.

sharnoff@sharnoff· Jul 12

also saw some birds, of course

Picture of a seagull standing on top of a dirty glass roof from underneath. Its orange feet are pressed up against the glass, with the rest of the bird only visible as if a shadow. Metal beams arc across the frame.

Picture of a grey heron leaning out over pond water, neck extended and coiled, poised to strike. It's reflected in the otherwise brown water below it, and surrounded on all sides by overflowing plant life.

sharnoff@sharnoff· Jul 12

got a few more typical shots -- for the first of these, I ended up waiting for a while to catch the flag at a good angle (it was flapping wildly in the wind) while the people on the street were in a good spot as well did get there eventually :)

Picture down a long Amsterdam street lined with tall brick buildings, the zoom making everything appear closer together. There's a progress pride flag hanging above, gently translucent with the bright sky above. A big tree at the end of the road is catching the light, leaves darker towards the center and glowing softly at the edges. A giant gold faucet hangs off the side of one building, surrounded by vines and other plants down on the street below. A woman walks away from the camera, halfway down the road, as a man on a motorcycle comes towards the camera from the far end.

Picture of a wide road, center taken up by tram lines as cars and their parking are squeezed to the side. A cyclist walks across the street alongside someone and a handful of cars travel in each direction. The trees are tall but not imposing, matching the height of the buildings with myriad small shops and restaurants.

Picture of an Amsterdam canal, blinding white sky above casting reflections on the water and leaving bright shining on the trees leaning over the canal. A boat idly makes its way towards the camera.

sharnoff@sharnoff· Jul 12

folks, I went to amsterdam and now I have Photos to share full set is at sharnoff.io/photos/album... - there's a handful more that I couldn't squeeze in here :) first two are from the metro station at amsterdam centraal

Picture of a dark underground metro station, a small handful of people standing on the escalator going up, lit by bright white strip lighting along the escalators and subtle ambient light from above. Tall slanted pillars cut the frame, leaning on jagged triangles reflecting smeared colors in the ceiling above.

Picture of an exit from Amsterdam Centraal metro station, harsh light streaming in from above onto the staircase and sloped moving walkways. The exit area casts soft reflections on the ceiling, and the blurred silhouette of someone walking by obscures the staircase.

sharnoff@sharnoff· Jun 21

and then also saw this pair being all cute before having a lil back and forth

$Picture of two gannets nestled into each other, as viewed from above. From this close, all the feathers on their heads are visible, and they look almost like fur instead. Their eyes are pale with teal rings around them, and the flesh next to their fractured pale beaks looks almost scaly. Are they secretly dragons? No one can really be sure.$

Picture of two gannets facing each other, wings lowered and necks extended extra high with heads pointing towards the sky. They're sitting at the side of a cliff, one of them partially on top of an existing nest. They were snuggling a moment ago, and settled down moments later - maybe they're arguing about taking up too much of the bed? A few stray raindrops are frozen in the air next to them.

sharnoff@sharnoff· Jun 21

also got this one coming in to land as part of a larger group - at this point, it'd started raining, and the lower light was already making it difficult to get these motion shots, but overall pretty pleased with this one

Picture of a gannet coming in for a landing on a grassy outcropping. Its wings are outstretched, black wingtips bending backwards with as it slows down. Drops of rain around it are blurs of motion.

sharnoff@sharnoff· Jun 21

(here are another couple from that pair - I think they might've noticed me watching...)

Picture of two gannets staring at each other while standing at the side of a cliff. The one facing the camera has a slight high ground, almost looking angrily at the other? Their eyes are shaped with their forehead cutting in, almost like eyebrows angled down towards the middle, cutting off their piercing blue-ringed pale eyes.

Picture of two gannets standing at the side of a cliff. The nearer one is looking directly at the camera, as if scowling.

sharnoff@sharnoff· Jun 21

saw a bunch of gannets at bempton cliffs (🧵) for this first one: spent a while waiting here - I'd already one of the birds come in with nesting material but barely missed a good shot of it, so took the time to wait & catch it coming back again

Picture of two gannets - large white birds with long necks - at the side of a cliff. The nearer one is taking off towards the camera, large webbed feet still pushing against the rocks. Its wings form a V shape, pushing itself into the air. The other gannet is behind it, looking slightly down and almost glaring at it.

Picture of two gannets. One is standing, looking softly, as the other approaches from the air with plants in its beak. The wings of the one landing frame its head, pointing like knives, as the beaks of the gannets nearly touch.

sharnoff@sharnoff· Jun 13

also came across these beautiful flowers in an alleyway, and didn't even notice the little bee until I got home

Picture of soft purple flowers growing out of a brick wall, sun catching them where they grow around the corner. A little black-and-yellow bumblebee is frozen in flight above them.

sharnoff@sharnoff· Jun 13

saw some creatures in the woods :) all quite skittish! just posing briefly before darting away

Picture of squirrels poking out between branches. They're in shadow, leaning over dark branches with dark green leaves blurred in the background. One of them is looking at us, and another is barely visible to the side, fluffy tail drooped over the side of the branch.

Picture of a blackbird perched on a dead tree, head turned to the side, maybe looking at the camera? It's standing on just one leg, and the other's completely hidden (but it is there, don't worry). The sun's just barely touching its neck and beak, and gently touching the tips of dead branches. Trees in the background are in shadow, deep greens with hints of yellow & blue.

Zoomed in picture of a house sparrow on a tree branch, framed and partly covered by bright green leaves, soft and round and out of focus. The sparrow has spots of sunlight hitting it, and its feathers look uncharacteristically sharp, individual barbs sticking out, casting shadows, and overlapping each other. It's unclear where the sparrow is looking - maybe it's seen us, and has turned to look at the camera. Or maybe it's looking elsewhere in its tree.

sharnoff@sharnoff· Jun 10

last* couple photos from vancouver first one: when the sun's out in the evening, it bounces between all the glass buildings & makes the trees glow :) second one: art is food for the soul! *actually lots more, but ya gotta have a limit somewhere

Picture of tall buildings in downtown Vancouver. They completely fill the frame, with evening light peeking through only to brightly light the leafy trees in the middle glowing on some terrace or partial roof from one of the buildings.

Picture of a window with a wooden panel partially covering it. Someone's stuck a black and white cutout of a kid drinking soup straight from the ladle, with a colorful speech bubble reading "ART is SOUP for the SOUL" and then, smaller below it, "4 SALE ...". The wobbly, bright reflection in the window shows another building, tall windows with blinds partly shut.

sharnoff@sharnoff· Jun 9

oh ALSO I saw this crow harassing a seagull (I think in the first one, you can see the crow barely grabbing onto the seagull's flight feathers. kinda vicious, actually!)

Picture of a crow taking a swipe at a seagull sitting on top of a pole. The seagull is twisted around to follow it, as the crow is a blur of downward motion, claws extended and beak open, even its flight feathers the image of sharp spikes behind it. If you look carefully, it seems to have grabbed one of the long flight feathers tucked into the seagull's tail.

Picture of a crow swooping towards a seagull on a pole - right next to it at this point, head turned towards the seagull's while its claws are outstretched towards the body. It's a blur and almost a silhouette of menace. The seagull is facing away from us, beak barely visible as its head is turned towards the crow, so we can't see its reaction.

sharnoff@sharnoff· Jun 9

ok, technically not a bird, but hear me out (did you know that sometimes eastern gray squirrels are neither eastern nor gray?)

Picture of an eastern gray squirrel on a bench, looking at the camera, hunched over with its arms tucked together. Despite the name, it has soft black fur, wide eyes looking at you, as if about to ask you for food.

sharnoff@sharnoff· Jun 9

there was constant activity at stanley park - here's a juvenile bald eagle (carrying a crab!) and also a great blue heron (unfortunately not pictured: the crows were fishing for clams and then dropping them onto the rocks to break them open - very cool, but also very hard to photograph)

Picture of a juvenile bald eagle, soaring above and evidently zoomed in, for us to see it this closely. Unlike its older form, this eagle has splotchy brown and white feathers under its wings and body, and still a mostly brown head. If you look carefully, it's holding a crab, tucked away in its talons under its tail.

Picture of a great blue heron in flight, from a distance. Its head is tucked back, only really its beak poking out from the large lump that is its folded neck. It appears to be gliding, giant grey wings outstretched. The bird overall is small in the frame, against a soft gradient of slightly pale to slightly deeper blue sky.

sharnoff@sharnoff· Jun 9

did I mention I had a lot of vancouver photos? surprise! there's more! this batch is all the birds :)

Picture of an adult duck and duckling beside it in the water. It's a bright day, soft deep blue reflecting off the water, and ripples extending in front and to the side of the ducks, where reflections alternate between the ducks and the sky. The little one, while not in focus, is incredibly fuzzy.

Close-up picture of a female duck. It's hard to say its expression, looking intensely at the camera and brightly lit. Tiny droplets of water are scattered across its head and neck, with a small sparkle in its eye where the sun is reflected against an otherwise smooth brown iris. There's soft waves of blue and slightly sparkling water behind it.

sharnoff@sharnoff· Jun 8

and while this one's technically not right at the port, it's close by, so I think that counts

Picture of a seagull looking over a train yard, bathed in the bright sunlight. There's a couple trains there - one carrying shipping containers and the other carrying unknown substances inside the train cars - but the sunlight glares across them all, and they're all equally hazy in the out of focus distance.

sharnoff@sharnoff· Jun 8

this one's titled "reading lamp" :P

Picture of a woman sitting on a concrete slab at the side of the road, looking into something in her lap. There's a tall blue streetlamp nearby that hooks down at the top to give an almost hanging light look. Mountains in the distance are partly obscured by bright clouds where they meet the pale blue morning sky.

sharnoff@sharnoff· Jun 8

more vancouver photos! this batch is from around the port - took SO many photos there because the light was gorgeous and the cranes look like giant creatures, in a way? no clue if that makes sense. (desperately need to go to more places like this, it's surreal how pretty it was that morning.)

Picture of a vertical slice of the port of Vancouver, edge of a grey gantry crane at the front, layers of shipping containers behind it, and a large shipping crane towering over a dense mass of shipping containers with the morning light casting sharp shadows over the across their ends. Presumably that mass of containers is on top of a boat, but only the top few layers are visible from this angle. The bright light over everything contrasts with the cool blue of nearby forested mountains and the grey clouds above them.

Picture of the main bodies of two enormous shipping cranes, from behind. They're lit so sharply from the sun at the side, almost painfully bright against the grey clouds behind them. They're both a mess of machine, large metal supports and cables going every which way, miniscule stair cases climbing the outside framed by small yellow supports on the parts that humans must be able to walk. One is painted a deep orange and the other a lighter, almost pink orange, maybe ust faded from its original color.

Zoomed in picture at the port of Vancouver, a mess of shipping containers and partial - but not overly harsh - lighting. There's a grey gantry crane in front, straddling what looks like more containers on railway tracks, although from this angle we can't quite see the bottom well enough to tell.

sharnoff@sharnoff· Jun 7

there was also this interesting little alleyway & the crows :) (in the second photo, the other crow is still there, if you look carefully)

Picture of an alleyway with compressed focus. Everything close by is in shadow - a row of trash bins, little ambient lighting, a fire escape ladder. Where it crosses a road, a man walks from one side to another while two crows take off behind him. A bright green tree bends over the end, with an even brighter white sky behind it.

Zoomed in picture down an alleyway from afar, big bright green tree leaning over it, a fire escape ladder jutting out, trash bins scattered to the side. At the bottom, the silhouette of a crow is visible as it picks at something it's got captured in its feet. And, if you look carefully, there's another crow just flying up to meet the edge of the big tree.

sharnoff@sharnoff· Jun 7

spent a while trying to get a shot of this building - the detail on the side is so interesting (and it's got a ring of trees at the top!). eventually caught this pigeon flying by, just barely touched by the sun

Distant picture of a small section of a modern skyscraper, intricate red metal designs running up the side in front of floor to ceiling blue glass. The bright morning sky is off to the side, with a few wisps of clouds, and the sun is just catching the wingtips of a pigeon flying in front of the building.

sharnoff@sharnoff· Jun 7

took forever to get around to finishing the alt text for all the photos from vancouver; now done, and will post the rest of them in batches :) here's a couple morning shots (always interested in the visual of people on their phone with beautiful scenes around them; and then of course, crows :))

Picture of someone walking across an empty parking lot, head down, looking at their phone, closed in by a chain link fence, as the trees just beyond are completely aglow with the morning sunlight, vibrant as can be, and a tall apartment building behind them shows scattered reflections.

Picture of a crow on a power line, sitting between two bright green, leafy trees. The sky's bright, so we mostly see the crow in its silhouette, but it's looking off to the side - who knows for what. Behind and out of focus, there's a modern apartment building and a very pale blue sky, almost white with the light of the morning sun.

sharnoff@sharnoff· May 28

bro wtf is this (I think some AI company's way of advertising?)

sharnoff@sharnoff· May 27

and the deloitte building is, tragically, pretty cool

Picture of the Deloitte Summit building in Vancouver, from just below - off-axis glass boxes reflecting a soft blue sky with patchy clouds. The underside of one glass box has a distorted reflection of the street from above, cars split and warped across the glass panels.

Picture of the Deloitte Summit building in Vancouver, from below. It looks as if someone took a flat glass office building, split it into chunks, and started rotating them apart. Individual glass boxes reflect a soft blue sky, layered on top of each other, reflecting each other and back and forth to the sky or to the ground, where we see a stretched and distorted view of the sidewalk.

Picture of reflections on the side of the Deloitte Summit building. On close inspection, the photo is actually sideways, the bottom of the frame taken up by office windows in shadow, the middle their reflection, and the top a light-grey metal facade that looks almost dithered to appear rocky. In the center of the image, another reflection shows the photographer.

sharnoff@sharnoff· May 27

+ some sights downtown

Picture of a group of pedestrians crossing a downtown street, lines of cars behind them and tall office buildings reaching up to a fading cloudy sky. The sun is setting in roughly the direction we're looking, but out of view except for the way that light bounces between glass buildings, painting their neighbors with evening light.

Picture of an enclosed pedestrian bridge across a street, with big letters advertising parking below. Vancouver's Harbour Centre is behind it, bathed in orange light from the setting sun while the street below is in shadow, a mix of cars with tail lights and those parked at the side. In the far distance, the evening sun lights up North Vancouver.

sharnoff@sharnoff· May 27

finished going through all my photos from vancouver - full set is here: sharnoff.io/photos/album... will be gradually posting them here as well, as I finish writing proper alt text for them starting with this one from the airport :)

Out-of-focus picture of the top of a gate, with a sign reading "NO ENTRY. Gate Monitored and Armed. Stand Clear." and, in the distance behind it, a West Jet passenger plane climbing towards the clear blue sky.

sharnoff@sharnoff· May 24

crow feathers...

picture of the back of a crow, from above and behind, zoomed in closer to the feathers. they're very brightly lit and slightly iridescent, all overlapping and flowing from one feather into the next, with a big flight feather tucked back at the bottom.

sharnoff@sharnoff· May 4

here, I was tickled by the idea of the cctv camera being brightly lit while all the people below were in shadow, but the overall image came out a bit more distracted than I had in mind