Public Telephone Boxes

Red and yellow provide a good contrast and this yellow wall helps the Telephone Box stand out well. Although the box is looking a bit sorry for itself, the image is bright and different and, somehow, rather cheering. This a delightful image which is nicely composed, with good balance and regard for the rule of thirds. Even the wall has interest, if you stop to study it!

I had not seen this telephone box sculpture before and there were several images of it submitted to my “Telephone Boxes” contest. I picked this one out ahead of the others because it has been taken close-up. When presented with a large subject like this, it’s easy to get a wide lens out and squeeze it all in, but this is a great example of “less being more”. There is more information available in the detail to enjoy the prominent boxes, whilst still appreciating their setting behind (which does not quite as attention-grabbing).

It’s amazing how good modern smart phones are at picking out details, even in low light. Being able to capture such great images means that you can have a good enough camera with you, wherever you are. Just owning such a device does not guarantee a good picture however, you still need to develop your compositional skills to get the best out of it. Here, I like the way that you can see through the Telephone box to see the street light shed across the pavement. Then, from there, to wander into the background, to the cars and people beyond. This is an excellent composition. The design of mobile phones is such that one is persuaded to shoot in portrait mode. If that is your habit, may I encourage you to try the landscape perspective more often? It is my view that landscape is a more ‘natural’ format for the human eye.

Telephone kiosks lend themselves to a selective colour shot, especially when entered into a “Telephone Box” contest (and there was a good number of them submitted to this one). After having one’s attention drawn to the box, there is further interest available in the background. To top it off (pun intended) the Gull catches attention. I thought it might be a (carrier) Pigeon at first but the title soon removed that notion. It was probably leaving a message for someone.

I liked the warm sepia-like tones of this image. It’s almost as if the traditional looking street lamp was lit by gas (maybe it was?) but the yellow road markings suggest more recent times. The pedestrian is in the road, rather than on the pavement so maybe they’ve crossed it to access the phone box (but don’t they have a mobile?). A good image catches your attention and then has sufficient content to hold it. This one achieved that very well.

The lighting in this image has made all the difference. Whether created in post-processing or not, the starburst from the street lamp and highlights on the side of the Telephone Boxes draw the eye back to discover a mass of cycles. What would otherwise be an ordinary set of street furniture and some cycles has been brought to life at a time when others may have been thinking of sleep. The subject is clearly the Telephone Boxes, just as requested for this contest.

If Telephone Boxes are used for anything these days, I rather fancy that it’s for anything other than making a telephone call. This is a great illustration of a common alternative use. I was attracted by the bright colours. A defibrillator could be an ominous thing to photograph, especially in the dark, but the colours in this one almost make it inviting! I wanted to highlight a representative sample of the current purposes of Telephone Boxes and this I considered to be the best of the defibrillators.

I find this an almost sinister shot of a street with someone walking out of the shadows towards the camera. It’s lifted by the warm colours of the street lamps and telephone box reflections. I like the leading lines, up the street which pick out the blissful curve of the pavement.

In a country with (tens of) thousands of phone boxes, it’s surprising how many photographers have made this site their choice of image. This is one of the better ones. The choice of selective colour removes any doubt about the subject here, whilst proving a detailed view of their setting in the background.

I don’t know where Atcham is but this image gives me the impression of some dreamy rural location. This image stands out in the way that the background has been de-focussed. We can only study the box, a common-or-garden one, but I found the whole quite mesmerising. It set me thinking about a Tardis, and then I woke up again. It certainly opens up one’s imagination. I’m sure Atcham is a lovely place!

I love the tones of the background in this image. They convey the chill of a Wintery morning extremely well. But the contest was about Telephone Boxes, rather than landscapes and, in this one, the colours are lifted to maintain attention to it. I believe that the official colour of telephone boxes is “Currant Red” and that is captured perfectly here. An excellent Christmas card picture with the welcoming warmth of the box contrasting with the chill of the landscape behind.

The black and white rendition of this phone in a Telephone Box is a wonderful reminder (for those of that age) of distant times (and when colour images were rare). This one includes a telephone directory, although only one. Booths always had at least one red directory and a Yellow Pages, but never mind. This one even has some coins of the realm to compensate. I wonder if these are glued into place? I fear they’d be taken or pressed into the machine otherwise. Or maybe Button B still works!

Almost in the centre and certainly “in your face”, this Telephone Box is the starting point for your journey through some wonderful scenery. The Telephone Box has an unusual (to me) pair of doors, rather than a single one. It’s placed on an isolated lay-by, from those days before a mobile phone existed. From here, leading lines invite you up the winding road towards some outlying properties. I wonder where it takes you after that?

This wonderfully crisp and bright image was high tech in its day. Time has moved-on, however, and we can only marvel at how folk managed when a phone required wires and then reflect on the “improvement” that modern “smart” technology has brought us. It’s great to have such a fine reminder of those “good old days”. Shame that the directories are no longer there but the condition of the rest is exceptional, as is your image. Well done!

This is a gorgeous shot of a Telephone Box landmark. Nowadays, boxes can be bought and placed just about anywhere but I’m assuming that this one is (or was) connected to the network and was placed at an access point to the beach for people to say a last farewell before venturing off to see (sic). The chance passing of a sail boat in the distance gives another focal point to ponder on and forget any concern about the future of this box, although it does seem to be empty.

You have been rewarded for venturing out in these conditions (probably motivated by another purpose) and have gained from an interesting sprinkle of people and damp highlights (just as well that you had a camera with you). The only improvement I can think of might have been if someone had moved into the centre of the shot to interact with one of the phones – but that may have been a long wait (and a companion may have had other ideas)… An impressive shot to remember a great city by! I’d like to have spent more time absorbing the detail, but there were other images for me to judge!

It’s always difficult to know what to do about people in one’s photo but I feel that they can be a welcome addition. The difficulty can be waiting for someone to oblige in a suitable way. Here, I have been distracted by the two at either extreme of the sculpture and would rather have seen someone in front of it instead. I think this image might be improved if you have the skills to remove those people (I know it then becomes less of a faithful documentary, but such tweaks are acceptable in my book). If you could develop those skills even further, I’d try to add someone passing in front of (or admiring) them. This is only a suggestion; the image is good enough for my Top Ten, anyway.

I like this shot of a Scottish phone box. It looks like a peaceful and enchanting place to live in or visit. This community may not enjoy mobile coverage, as many other people might, so there’s a good chance that the phone in this box is still used by visitors if not some of the residents themselves. The Telephone Box is clearly the subject of this shot and I like the way that its surroundings have been included to give it context. The signs in the foreground provide good balance and I admire you if you actually adjusted their positions for that purpose.

I love this up-close view of a phone kiosk. Whether intended or not, it appears to have been repurposed as a bill board. Inspect the detail of the top corner and you can see that this is in need of some TLC. If not, it could deteriorate rather quickly, and these things are in limited supply, but nothing will last forever…

I commend this inspired shot for its perfect symmetry and the fact that it’s rather different. What else might you do whilst sheltering from the rain inside a phone box? I can understand waiting for something of interest to occur outside but feel that the subject has then become of the passer-by rather than the box itself. A great shot, never-the-less.

Composite images such as this require patience and skill to pull off successfully and you have done it well. I’m not sure that the sky would have commanded such a strong shadow, even though the shape is very credible, so I’d like to suggest changing the sky for one which is brighter. Some may say that this isn’t photography but, so long as it’s not left to an AI robot, I consider good work, like this, to be highly commendable.

This busy image is so full of detail, that I’m not sure where to start. It’s clearly posed but is never-the-less very convincing. Perfect exposure and focus, vibrant colours too, but I wonder what are they waiting for? It’s not appear to be for the phone! This one would have met my brief better if the gentleman with the paper had been entering or using the box.

This image has strong leading lines inviting you to a beach, not so far in the distance. This is clearly an access point and presumably from a car park. I wonder what kind of calls were made from here (and I wonder where the toilets are)?

What a wonderful setting for a Telephone Box and you can hardly miss it! The wide angle helps it to stand out proudly in front of the town memorial. I love the watercolour-like pastel shades of the buildings behind in this quaint town. There appears to be shops, so I’d expect it to be a little more ‘bustling’ at other times, although the days of a connected phone in the Telephone Box must be numbered. I wonder what will happen to it next?

Well, I’ve often wondered about the usefulness of an infra-red camera and here is a perfect example. I’m still unsure what I’d point one at, if I had one, though. This image suggests a photographer with considerable experience of how to use one to effect. It’s a surreal image of a Telephone Box ‘lost’ in a wilderness. Strangely, my brain tells me that the box is red, even though the image is monochrome. It is a fascinating image and I can see details that I’m not sure would have been revealed if it had not been for the IR sensor.