Fillmmmm.....

I've finally got my film back from Jessops! On the 120 roll were photos from a conference that I shot for my Dad (bottom two), and photos from my holiday (top three) with Sarah (see here).  Shooting the top three photos was the first time I'd used filters with film.

For some reason I've always been scared of ruining and wasting film as I've never been sure how the filters would affect the film, if at all.  So before I went on holiday, I did some research, and just decided to go for it! I figured I would just use my 7D as a light meter!

I'll post the 35mm prints when I get a chance to scan them.

Enjoy!

G

Eyes and Hands

Just a quick post today.  Forgot I'd shot this one, it's from the walk I went on with Sarah the other day, which you can see here.

I love the depth of field in this, and the focus. Sarah has such stunning eyes!

This is another self portrait that i've been working on for my task.  You can see the others here.  I've always wanted to do one of these shots, but never really got round to it.  I hung up a white sheet in the conservatory and used a 28mm wide open at f/2.8.  I really like the soft focus the 28mm gives, its probably my favourite lens at the moment.

G

The Man Behind the Camera

Here are a couple of self portraits I am working on for the task that Leeds College of Art have sent me to do before I start my course.  I also have to read a photography book and write a 500 word response to it.  

Anyway, lets talk about the photos now.  The top image, was shot through my Bronica, using my 7D.  I used a 28mm lens at f/2.8, and natural light.  I was looking all over the house to find a suitable place to shoot, asking mum if I could move furniture, which resulted in a look that said; 'Don't be silly'.  I took 2 shots, one to get the exposure right for the Bronica, and one to get the correct exposure for the viewfinder.  I then copied the inside of the viewfinder to the image of the Bronica in order to get a final image that most resembled what I saw looking through the Bronica.  

The bottom image took me most of yesterday to set up.  I had to empty the garage room, then move my kit to the centre of the room, and hang up a couple of white sheets on the walls to block out the shelves.  I then set up my flashes around the kit, and tethered my camera to my mac.  I set the camera to take a photo every 5 seconds, 15 times.  I set the flashes to sync go off when the shutter went up, and just before it came down again.  With a long exposure, the movement of my drumming becomes apparent, which is why you can see two of me in the photo.  By the time I got this shot, I was tired and sweaty, and on the edge of giving up!

Also, I should be getting my film back from jessops soon, which I will scan and post whenever I get the chance.

G

Walking in the Woods

Went on a walk with Sarah yesterday in Salcey Forest.  It was a beautiful day, the sun was out, the birds were singing; managed to snap a few photos :) There was a tree top walk (top photo) which was fun, but I'm not a big fan of heights, so I held on firmly all the way up.  

On the way there we got slightly lost (my fault!), and came across this water tower.  I like this water tower, it has a wonderful industrial feel to it.  

Enjoy!

G

Oldies...

I've been looking through some old photos that my Grandpa brought round today, and these are a few of my favourites. I love the look and feel of them, the slightly faded prints, grainy texture, the creases in the prints make for fantastically aged photos!

G

Lampposts

Over the past few months, I've been looking at lampposts.  I was walking home from school one day and realised that they all have identification tags on them.  I found it strange how something as ordinary as a lamppost could have an identity.  This might sound strange, but each one looked different.  Some had stickers on them, some were rusting and the paint was peeling away.  Others had been 'tagged' or graffitied.  

I used a 50mm f/1.8 to take the majority of the photos, which you can see here.   I used the shallow depth of field to make the lamppost stand out from the background.  Shutter speeds ranged from 1/125th - 1/250th, and apertures ranged from f/1.8 - f/2.8.  

Unfortunately I haven't really had much time to go out and shoot recently, but I should be organising some shoots soon, and I'll share the results with you :)

Hope you enjoy!

G

Universityyy!!

Just a short post today, got my A-Level results today, and I've been accepted into Leeds College of Art to study Photography! So Happy! 

Also, for the first time today I shot some photos (see above) with my camera tethered to my Mac.  Why have I not tried this before!? It's amazing! I can control everything from my Mac, shutter speed, aperture, flash settings, everything!

It's a good day!

G

Big Man, Small Chair

I was trawling through my hard drive today, and found this which I shot around last christmas.  I was helping to clear the loft out, and I found this cool little chair, and I just had to shoot of a photo of it!  I sat on it, and amazingly it held my weight, and I felt like a giant! I like giants.....

Anyway, I think I went a bit too heavy on the flash here, but I kinda like the contrasty-ness of it, and the fact you can't see my face.  

G

Holiday Photos!

I recently went to Keswick with my girlfriend, which was fantastic! These two photos above are just a couple of examples of the photos I took, you can see more here.

Sarah was amazingly patient whilst I shot the photos; luckily it wasn't too cold!  We had a fantastic time, going on massive walks almost every day, and Sarah showed me all the great places to shoot.  We managed to catch a couple of wonderful sun sets, which made for excellent photos!

I can't remember exactly what settings I shot these photos with, but with nearly all of them, I used a 28-80mm or 14-55mm lens, with a variety of filters; ND4s, ND8s, ND4grads.  I managed to shoot a few rolls of film too, which I will certainly post when I get them back from the developers.

Enjoy!

G

Photographic oppotunities

I went to my brothers new uni house today, to help sort a few things out.  I found an old bath full of stinky water in the garden, which was quite random!  I shot this with a 28mm prime wide open at f/2.8 in colour, then converted to black and white in PS CS5.  I prefer shooting colour images to convert to black and white later, as I can tweak each individual colour channel, and have greater control over the tonal range.  I also shot a film version of this, which I will post in a few weeks.

I also shot a self portrait, which is odd as i'm normally behind the camera! If you click it, it goes really biggggg! Again, I shot this with a 28mm at f/2.8, then played around with the colour balance in CS5.

G

Addicted to lego

I took this photo for my brother yesterday, so he can have it printed A2 as a poster.  When it comes to lego, he is obsessed! Like a big kid! His related post can be found here.

It took me ages to get all of the bricks in the right place, so that there weren't any gaps, and the bricks filled the frame.  I started off using natural light with a 28mm wide open at f/2.8, and a home made reflector (chopping board wrapped in tin foil), but the light kept changing so the exposure was all over the place.  So I used two flashes diffused by plain white paper to add some fill light to get an even exposure.

Enjoy!

G

Welcome to my new blog!

Hi, thanks for checking out my blog.  Over the coming weeks I will be sharing with you my favourite photos; letting you know how the shoots go; what i'm up to; and just generally rambling.

This is a photo of me rowing a boat, on a lake, in Keswick.  I can assure you my face does not normally look like this, rowing is hard work!

G