(Franz Kafka's nightmarish and surreal story of one man's struggle against bureaucracy)

Another 'rite of passage' author, I read Kafka works extensively in my teens. I loved 'The Castle' - the frustration and alienation of the protagonist struck a chord with me, and while The Trial and Metamorphosis are more well known, this is a fascinating and highly readable book by one of the 20th century's greatest novelists

I managed to get out for a bit of a walk yesterday, despite the on-off snow flurries. I wandered around Battledown, a posh housing estate quite near where I live here in Cheltenham. Most of the houses are post-War; they're all huge (this is a monied part of town!) and some are quite beautiful. Slip-sliding down the hill on the way home, I noticed this house - perhaps not a castle as such, but good enough to fit the bill, I think.

The file was opened into Camera RAW; slight adjustments were made to Clarity, Brightness and Exposure. Into CS3, and I cropped to a square, making sure there was enough space around the building for it to 'breath'. Next, I added a Duplicate layer which I converted to B&W via Channel Mixer, using Green preset I think. Next up was a circular vignette, but I thought that lightening it gave the photo an older, more 1900s look - I preferred that to a dark vignette. I added Gaussian blur at 15% to the vignette to help focus the eyes on the subject. Lastly, before flattening and resizing for the web, I Dodged and Burned a bit around the highlights and shadows of the building and on the roof to really bring out the details

Monday 11th's gothic-and-fortress-like entry to the Challenge; click here for other monochromed Pbasers in January