Sony Brief

When we were first given the briefs for Sony and Beauty and The Beast, I thought I would struggle with Beauty and The Beast. I seemed to fly through the planning, test shoots and ideas for Sony but could not, for the life of me, get an idea for Beauty and The Beast. Now with only days to go before the deadline for submission to Sony it all seems to have turn upside down.

Beauty and The Beast is all finished, way ahead of schedule. Final image shot and edited, presentation completed and journal all boxed off. Only thing that remains is to print out my submission. Sony on the other hand has been beset by problem after problem. 

My initial idea and concept of people, movement and our insular lives still holds true but each time I have planned a shoot, it has not come off for one reason or another. It has now had at least three re-thinks on how and what to shoot. I have one image in the bag but not at all happy with it. The concept is there but the execution is poor. 

I came across Christopher selling the Big Issue by Central Station. For a small consideration, he agreed to pose for me at Liverpool One. The only problem was he was from Sri Lanka and his understanding of English was limited. He could not get the idea of staying perfectly still for three seconds. The only usable shot I got with him perfectly still needed quite a severe crop and hence the quality is not great. Hopefully I might get a chance to shoot again before the 4th Jan. If not, then this is my final piece.

Oh my poor feet

A long hike from Heswall to West Kirby today. Seven miles, sore feet and my wife nearly getting me killed resulted in some not so bad images. 

Ainsdale Woods

Went out on a little trip to Ainsdale Woods on Thursday so thought I would share my contact sheet for the day.

Facial Reconstruction

Been having some thoughts on the Fletchers Brief. They said they like pop art and while this is not exactly pop art, it is something I have been playing with. 

Final Decision Made on Beauty & The Beast

I was just finishing of my journal for the Beauty & The Beast project and suddenly decided I no longer liked the version of the image. When I was in the studio doing the shoot I did two versions. Mainly because I was not happy with the first. The predominant part of the image, I felt, had to be the beauty side. However, once I had done the editing, I always felt there was just something not quite right. Today I came to the realisation that it was the eyes. Beauty they say is in the eye of the beholder but in this case it was also in the eyes of the subject. If you view my first full edit versions on earlier posts you will see that one of the eyes is extremely dark and this, for me, was making the image unbalanced. I went back to the original raw files and edited the first shot to the same specs and finally I am happy with the image. 

Been off college today as I am a little poorly. However, never let it be said that I lay beack on my laurels and laze around. I have actually been doing some research for an essay I have to write but also looking at another project I have to do involving black and white film. I have to produce nine images around the theme of mood, atmosphere, light and shade. Was unsure what to do at first and contemplated doing something along the lines of painting with light. Tried a few time to use this technique, with very very mixed results. Then while looking through the web at various artists and photographers I came across Jack Vettriano and Helmut Newton. Don't get me wrong, not like they are completely new to me, in fact I am a big fan of both their works. What did occur to me was how similar they were in style. Even though one is a photographer and the other a painter, their images have the same feel to them and luckily for me,they both use mood, atmosphere, light and shade. Here's a couple of examples for you, wonder if you agree. On the right is Helmut Newton's image Mannequin. Shot in a Paris hotel for Vogue I believe. I love the plushness of the image. A feeling of opulence, decadence and a time gone by. Even though it was done in the 70's there is a definite 1920's character to the scene.
Jack Vettriano's Around Midnight was produced even later (1996) but again has that vintage feel to it, like most if not all his paintings. This painting has an atmosphere of forbidden love. You certainly get the impression that the man in the shadows is not her husband.
So I have decided to do a series of images based around the theme of forbidden love and assignations using these two great artists as my inspiration and try also to get that vintage, maybe film noir edge to my nine shots. I don't make things easy for myself though. This now going to involve finding a suitable location or maybe more than one and a couple of models.

Polaroid emulsion transfer

Polaroid emulsion transfer

Another new technique learned last week. First of all it was a new experience for me to use polaroid. I don't mean the old polaroid thateveryone knows from the 70/80's. Same principle though. This was a polaroid back for the medium format RB67. Can't say that I like them in-particular. Tend to be rather on the warm side for me.
What was fun and also new though was emulsion transfer. This is a method of raising the image off the polaroid paper and putting it on to something else. Could be anything youwanted it to be but I just chose some nice textured paper. All you have to do is submerse the polaroid print into some boiling hot water. Leave to soak for a while and the you can gently take the image off the paper. Comes away in a sort of jelly like film. This then can be put onto any surface that you want.
Still rather a warm feel to the image so again, still not overly keen, but it was fun to do. There seems to be quite a following of this technique with people considering it another art form.

Basic lighting & Beauty and The Beast Project

Basic lighting & Beauty and The Beast Project

Well I was in the studio yesterday and had a model come in. Did loads of stuff but the two main things I wanted to do was; show basic lighting techniques and my Beauty and The Beast project. The lighting techniques are really the most basic ones a photographer will do. Using just one key light and moving it ever so slightly around the model. The first one, known as Rembrandt, named after the artist, is just to have the light slightly above the model and either to the right or left of the subject. The result should leave a small triangle on the unlit side of the face. The next one is called short lighting.
I then decided I would put them all together in a single image. Must say I am quite pleased with the result.
















The other thing I wanted to do was the Beauty and The Beast brief. While this is a set project for college it is similar to the Sony project, as in, it is another competition. This one is for Ilford/Harman and has to be produced in Black and White.

The Brief

We are looking for thought provoking images that show the diversity and contrasts that surround us each day. Who has the right to tell us what is beautiful or is it truly in the eye of the beholder? Draw your inspiration from the world around us; people, places, nature and culture. You can be as experimental as you wish both technically and creatively. We will be looking for images that are original, imaginative, contemporary and powerful.

Single image required for competition. Copyright will remain the sole property of the artist. Ilford reserve the right to reproduce the image free of charge and exhibit any entered image in all media worldwide in connection with the competition.

The aim of the image is to win the competition and receive the recognition that goes with that.

The target audience initially is the judges of the competition. However. If successful then the image is to be exhibited for a short spell and will appear on line and various publications.

The scope of the brief is fairly broad and allows total artistic freedom from the artist both technically and creatively.

The image must be taken on Ilford black and white film, processed by the artist and printed on Ilford paper in the darkroom, again by the artist. The minimum size for prints is 8x10 inch.

Images have to be the artists own work and can not have been published or exhibited by any third party previously. They can not infringe on rights of any third party and a model release form must be completed where appropriate.

Closing date for entries is 31^st January 2013 with a review date on progress 17^thJanuary 2013.

As the brief said, we had to look at people and the context we live today. Not sure I have accomplished it but I wanted to show a beauty of a woman and the beast that is the rage within. Art is subjective so I guess it's down to others to decide if I have managed it.

EDFAT. My latest bit from college. Basically it is a format used by photojournalists and wedding photographers etc to tell a photo story. I won't bore you with what it actually means or entails but I did use it to cover the Remembrance Day parade this Sunday.

My Shoot at Central Station.

My Shoot at Central Station.

Well I did my shoot at Central and all went well, at first. The actual shoot and the help from Merseyrail was great. Escorted down to the Northern Line platform, set up no problem. Angles, composition, metering, all looked good. It is at this point when you do get the strangest events though and something I am sure many photographers will have come across. A, shall I say, reasonably old gentleman, was coming down the escalators and commented "don't you need permission to take pictures here?" Too which, of course, I replied I have. "Not from me you haven't."
Anyway, I transgress, back to the important bit. Shoot, as I said went well. Took a number of frames, waiting till the opportune moments, when a train had decamped. Few at 3 second exposure at f16 and a few at 6 second exposure at f22and I was using a neutral density filter, ND4. Now being my usual over excited self I then thanked all concerned and rushed off to develop the film at College, could not wait to see the results.
Now it is at this point that I feel I have to mention this is my first real attempt at shooting film. From conception, to taking the image, to developing and printing. On the film I also had some other images I had already taken, practicing slow shutter speed for movement. So, off I rush and into the processing room. I know in my mind what I have to do. Feed the film onto the spiral and put it in the tank. Simple, you would think. No, there was I in the pitch blackfumbling around and messing up. Would the film go on the spiral properly? No. I tried again and again in the dark and eventually thought I had managed it. Into the tank it goes and finally I can put the lights on. Fill the tank with developer, agitate for the first minute, then again five times every minute after. Temperature was a bit high so rather than the full ten minutes it was only nine and then in with the water to stop the developing. Still, at this point eager to see the results it was then in with the fixer, agitate again then leave for another ten minutes. Time goes by slowly when excitedly waiting, I know, I know, but I was like a kid with a new toy.
Disaster though. All done I take out the negatives and they are ruined. I did not have a clue what I had done wrong. Rushing off to Steve. our lecturer on film, he tells me. When feeding the roll on to the spiral it had not gone as should. Rather than feeding on with a slight gap, as in spiraling, the film was touching itself. The developer could not get in and around and hence did not develop properly. Out of something like sixteen frames, it looked like I maybe able to salvage two. However, even those, when printed are not perfect.
The concept turned out okay and the movement, especially at 3 seconds is really good. but because of the developing problems, I feel I have not nailed the shots as I should. So re-shoot is called for. Scanned and posted on here so you can at least see what I was looking to achieve. Would be interesting to know peoples opinion in relation to the original inspiration of Titarenko and his work. 

An idea

An idea

After seeing Alexey Titarenkos' work I had an idea to try out the same sort of thing, maybe even do a series of images based on transport. I want to do a multiple exposure with slow shutter speed, from the bottom of some escalators going up with lots of people on. Hopefully people should be blurred and just a mass traveling. Contacted Merseyrail and they have kindly allowed me to use Central Station, which has just had a major facelift. Just spoken to my contact there and shoot is now booked for this Wednesday. Excited.

Southport Comedy Festival

Southport Comedy Festival

My first live brief from college. Southport Comedy Festival runs for about two weeks and has at least on show per night atdifferent locations though out the town.Our brief was to photograph and document at least one of the shows. Not a hard task you might think but you'd be surprised. The lighting in these venues is challenging to say the least. Doesn't help either that my vamera is not the best at controlling noise at higher ISO's. Not that my camera goes that high either with a max of 1600. I decided to take just my 50mm 1.4 prime lens to help as much as possible. Didn't bother with any others as their max aperture is 3.5 at their widest.
Anyway, off I went, camera in hand and results can be seen below. Not overly pleased with them. Noise, as suspected was a major problem.Another was the white balance. Constantly changing lighting conditions and types played havoc with metering. Seeing as I had only taken my 50mm too some of the images need a lot of cropping, which again didn't help with hiding the noise.

If you would like to see the results then posted to my Other Works Gallery. My well at some point start up a new gallery page just for college work.

Well guys it has now been three weeks of college and half term is here. Time I updated on what has been going on and how I am finding it. On the whole I have to say I am enjoying it hugely. Let's face it, it is photography at the end of the day and I will always enjoy doing anything involved in that. The course is basically broken into four sections. Some more enjoyable for me than others. First the bits that aren't so much fun for me. 

Cultural and Contextual Referencing in Art and Design, hmmmmm. This is all about how culture informs art and how it art changes and develops as culture does. The context of why and how the art was produced. How to view an image and read from it the culture and context in which it was made. Heady stuff and not really something I have done before. It is this bit that involves all the essays etc that I will have to do.

Visual Communication. Again something not that good at or done before. This bit is the "why" we take an image. What message are we trying to send, if any. It has been all so far about looking at images that have inspired me in some way. Analysing the image, trying to understand what the image is saying to me. Is that the same message that the artist was trying to give, blah blah blah. Well you get the idea. Yvette, my tutor, I think is trying to turn me into a high brow thinker. Have to say though, she is succeeding to a certain degree. The good part about this side that it involves some practical. So far got two competitions to enter and doing a live brief for the Southport Comedy Festival. Will keep you updated on those as I go along. 

The final two parts of the course are all about actually taking images. The COOL bit. Split into two it deals with digital, photographic techniques and film, darkroom techniques. Not really used film before to any great amount and certainly never used a darkroom, so all this bit is new to me and great fun.

All of it though has copious amounts of homework, which I am ploughing through steadily. Will post some images on here as I go along to give some idea of what I am up to.

So my first day at college yesterday. From what I can gather there only nine people attending the HND but as it was an induction day and all the HE courses were present, I only identified three of them. Luckily and somewhat as a relief they are not all kids. John, who is 42, is progressing from a graphics course at Southport last year. Fiona, not sure of her age, though mid 20's I would guess has come over from Skelmersdale College last year. So at least I will have some people I can talk to without getting bored.

On the down side we were presented with our first piece of homework to be completed by next Thursday. Even worse it is the most dreaded thing for me. I have to choose two photographers, one historical and one contemporary that inform and inspire me and create a presentation explaining the context of why these inspire me. 

It was also announced that there is a planned trip to New York next Easter. Great, however it's £700 without spending money or feeding myself. 

Well I have now enrolled at Southport. Start date is now 10th October but got an induction day at the end of September. All that needs to happen now is for Student Finance to pull their finger out and get my loans sorted. Quite excited to be starting but also a bit nervous. After all, I will be the oldest on the course by a long way. Full of young kids that I will have nothing whatsoever in common with.

Back to School For Me

What to do? Trying to make a go of things as an independent photographer does not seem to be working. Getting a job working for someone else is having about the same success rate. It appears no one will employ you unless you have a formal qualification. Answer? Go back to school. 

Yes, I have decided to get some qualification in photography. Not as easy as it would appear at first glance. It would seem that I made this decision rather late in the day for this years admissions. I have tried a fair few places so far. One of the questions I need to ask myself is, do I want or need a full degree, foundation degree or just HND. Bare minimum needed I think is an HND. 

So far I have had an interview with St Helens College for a full BA(Hons). Not for me I think. From what the course tutor was saying it would appear it would be 3 years spent discussing WHY I want to take a picture, as opposed to how or what genre etc. Anyone who knows me will realise that such pontifications are not my thing. 

I have another interview at Stockport College next Thursday for a foundation degree but Stockport is such a long way out. Course would be good but a long old slog getting there. The good news though is that Southport College have made me a firm offer but subject to availability. This is for an HND and from the looks of things seems to be a fantastic course. If I don't get on the full time course though I may be offered a part time place. Part time is not ideal however, as funding may well be a problem. Anyway, I have decided to give a running commentary on my trials and tribulations as the course unfolds, if I get on it that is.