I'm Back!

Hello All!

This is my first post in a couple of months, something that I am rather ashamed off!  Things have been incredibly busy of late, I've been helping my Grandpa move house, and he very kindly gave me his old Bolex cine camera!  Although I probably won't run any film through it, its just nice to have on my shelf!   I'm surprised at how well it works after not being used for so long!

I have also been on holiday, both with Sarah, which was my last post, and more recently with Mum, Dad and Henry to the south of France, near the Pyrenees.  This was a fantastic holiday, very nice house, great views, and wonderful drives up to the top of the mountains!  The photos from this holiday can be seen on my Flickr.  As I am writing this posts, I am scanning some 5x4 film from France!  Keep a look out for these on my Flickr.

I have also been working on a new project, photographing a woodland that is very near to my house.  A few of these photos can be seen on my Flickr, but I am unsure of what I am going to do with them yet.  I will probably make the series into a book, or post cards, but I have a feeling this is going to be a fairly long project.

I am also looking into re-designing my website, whether this be on the current host-site I am using at the moment, or choosing a different host and starting from scratch.  I will certainly keep you updated with any changes.

And to top it all off, I have now moved back up to Leeds, and started my second year at university!  I definitely feel old now!  I will be given my briefs next week, which is very exciting!  As I have more control over my briefs this year, I am going to focus much more on landscape photography, and hopefully almost exclusively use film, depending on the project/brief.  I really want to improve on my darkroom skills, mainly the printing side of things.

Thats all for now, I have feeling that I wont be doing as many posts this year, due to an increased work load, but when I do get the chance to write a post, I will try and make them worthwhile reading!  and include lots of pics!  Also, keep an eye on my flickr, as I will probably be uploading there more often.

Enjoy!

G

Keswick...

Apologies for the large absence of posts recently, I have been rather busy of late.  Moving out of my uni accommodation (passed first year with a 2:1!), packing my stuff away at home, shooting a conference over a couple of days for my Dad, and I have been on holiday with Sarah in Keswick, which was amazing!

So Sarah and I looked at the weather forecast for the week in Keswick and it didn't look too good.  Rain every day and a tiny, tiny bit of sunshine.  Oh dear.  But we weren't going to let that stop us!  The first day took us to the bottom of Derwent Water, so we could walk from the village of Grange, past the Bowderstone, through Watendlath, then on to Lodore falls and catch a bus back into Keswick.

Bowderstone.

The Bowderstone is a 2000 ton stone, 300 feet high, carried here by glaciers of the Ice Age.  Quite impressive!  Having climbed onto the stone (I say climbed, I mean walked up the steps...), we walked on for a fairly long time, taking in all the wonderful views, until we came to the beginning of the Lodore Woods.  We spent a while working out which way was the right way to go and we were on our way again.  We then came to a part of the river that feeds Lodore Falls, which was very fast flowing.  I made my first exposure of the holiday here.  I also used the 5x4 for the first time at this location.  It took me a while to set up, and for my trouble I got attacked by bugs!

Up from Lodore Falls.  

The next mountain that Sarah and I conquered was Skiddaw, the fourth highest mountain in the lakes.  The day started off fairly warm.  It was a good day to climb to the top, and the views were spectacular!

 The views from the ridge on the way to Skiddaw.  

Unfortunately, when we finally made it to the top of the summit the weather turned and within 10mins of reaching the top, we were in the middle of a cloud!  It wasn't all bad though, before the cloud covered us, we could see such fantastic views! We could see all the way to Scotland!  Even though I didn't manage to get any photos at the top, I did manage to get some on the way up, and it was still a very enjoyable walk.  

The third walk that Sarah and I did, was the Threlkeld Railway walk, followed by a trip down to the lakeside.  This was an easy walk compared to the previous walks that we had completed, but the old railway line offered views and scenery as spectacular as the views from the mountains!  Along the way there some information boards. These boards had info about how the railway line was constructed, the towns it went to and came from, and it also pointed out interesting things to look out for along the way, including mile markers, old level crossing gates and signal posts.  

The Threlkeld Railway. 

Having completed the Railway walk, we went to the lakeside.  Here I tried lots of compositions, trying to incorporate the rocks in the lake, Derwent Isle, and other things that I found interesting.  I found some interesting posts that were jutting out of the water.  These must be the remains of an old pier or jetty.  Having made some exposures with my 7D, I decided to set up the 5x4.  Whilst I was setting up, a photographer who sitting down the beach noticed the camera I was using and came over to have a conversation about equipment, approaches to photography and other things.  

Derwent Water

The fourth and final walk that Sarah and I completed, was the Ashness Bridge walk.  The weather was perfect for walking.  It was sunny and warm, with a nice breeze over the tops of the fells.  We got a bus to the bottom of Ashness Bridge, and walked up the lane to the bridge.  We stopped to rest and cool off, and for me to do some photos.  

Ashness Bridge.  

I felt that this view warranted me to use the 5x4, so I set up and shot one slide of film here.  After I had packed up, we walked up and over to Walla Crag.  On the way, we had some stunning views across Derwent Water, to Catbells and Maiden Moore.  

We carried on over to the top of Walla Crag, stopping for lunch on the way.  At the top of Walla Crag, I shot images to stitch into a panorama.  I also set up The 5x4 here too, and had another photography related chat with some fell runners.  We set off again, down from the top, down to the river that runs through Springs Wood.  We then walked through town back to our flat, where we soaked our feet in cold water! 

The 5x4 on Walla Crag.

Later that evening we headed down to the lakeside for the last time this holiday, and we were greeted by an amazing sunset.  This was the perfect end to a perfect holiday.  Sarah and I were very lucky with the weather.  The days we decided to walk we had lovely weather; sunny and warm, with some cloud cover which suited us both! I like the clouds for my photos, and Sarah like the sun!  The days that we decided not to walk, there was some light rain, but it was still warm.  

Sunset over Derwent Water.  

The gorgeous Sarah and I.

I would just like to say thank you to Sarah for being so patient with me when I was in the 'zone' taking photographs, and for all of your support and suggestions of what to photograph when I had one of my many 'photography blanks'!  And I would also like to say thank you for an awesome holiday!

Thats all for now, I'll have the film developed when i'm back at uni and share the results on here.  More photos from the holiday can be seen on my Flickr page 

Enjoy!

G

Ribblehead...

I recently took a trip to Ribblehead, the famous viaduct in the Yorkshire Dales.  However, it wasn't the actual viaduct itself that interested me.  In this area are some stunning limestone pavements, like the ones that you can see above.  Some of the shapes are fabulous, having been carved by the wind, rain and snow.

I took with me my 7D, Bronica and 5x4.  I wanted to give myself the options of shooting digitally, but also on film.  Next though, I think I will limit myself to just one format, as the bags I was carrying were just a little too heavy!  Needless to say, setting up the tripod on this surface proved very tricky. I had bend the legs in all kinds of directions in order to get a stable platform.  It was also quite windy that day.  This has led me to realise a few things.  I need to invest in a bigger and sturdier tripod.  I also need to invest in a bag to carry my 5x4 camera in safely.  Of course, a good sturdy tripod is expensive, as is a big sturdy bag, so it looks like I have some saving up to do!

I am fairly pleased with the results of the day, the digital files turned out nicely, no clipping of data in the highlights or the shadows, which is good.  however I feel i can probably do better, so no doubt I will be heading back soon!

Unfortunately I am unable to to develop colour film until next term, so you will have to wait to see the results of the 5x4 slide!

Enjoy!

G

Just a very quick one today.  I am currently sitting in front of a £10,000 Hasselbad scanner, for which I am entirely responsible for when I am using it.  I am scanning all of my 5X4 negs, some 120 negs, and maybe some 35mm negs.  I will process these files over the next few days, and I will post the results on Flickr, here, or my website.

Just a quick one today, I have been shooting a lot with my 5X4 recently, and this week I was able to get the film processed at college.  However, I have only been able to book a slot on the Hasselblad scanner for next friday.  The image above is only a rough scan, and therefore very low quality.  I am currently working on organising the images that I have shot for the Batty's Wood project to put up on my website.  Hopefully I will be able to do this over the weekend.  

G

New Things....

Hello everyone, sorry for my lack of post's recently, I have been busy getting my work done for the end of uni, which is now over! First year of uni done! Anyway, I have a few things to tell you.

I have started a new website, which you can see here.  The website will be updated with recent work, and on going projects.  I am still tinkering around with it, so it might change a little over the next few weeks.  This will hopefully get my work out there a bit more, so I would be grateful if you could show your friends/family!

Also, I have started a couple of new projects now that I have more time off.  The first is called Spaces.  With this project, I am looking at how ordinary spaces look and change when viewed through the lens, and ultimately, how they look as a photograph.  I like the idea that that one photograph is a record of how that particular space looked at that particular time, and it will probably never look like that again.  This is an ongoing project, which is already on the new website, so take a look!

The Second project is still in its infancy, I suppose more like a 'foetus' actually...Anyway, I went on a walk with a couple of friends recently, and we wandered up to a strip of woods at the back of a playing field near where I will be living next year.  Immediately I was struck at the beauty of this place, I had no idea it was there, and I certainly wouldn't have thought it was in Leeds! We spent a good couple of hours in there, just exploring and taking photos.

After returning home, I realised that I could do some sort of project involving these woods.  I don't really have any reason for the project, or even a name, but I know that I am drawn to this place, and I want to take photographs there, and make a record of how it looks at this time.  I will keep shooting and I will let you know of the progress.

I have got tonnes of film to develop, so keep your eyes open for more posts coming soon!

G

I came home for the Bank holiday weekend, and amidst the all of the work that I was doing, I managed to get out and about and shoot some photos.  I went out in the evening, and the light was perfect.  I took my 7D, 35mm, and Bronica with me, and managed to shoot a roll of film for each of the film camera's (which hopefully I'll be developing today) and a few shots digitally.

I am working on a new website which should hopefully be up and running soon.  I'll put a link to it on here so you can all see.  My deadlines for my last projects are looming, so I probably won't be posting as much, but after my deadlines I'll have more time to shoot and post on here.

Enjoy!

G

A Night On The Town...

This evening I went into town to get a shot for one of my briefs.  Having got the shots I needed, I made a quick detour into a car park near by.  I was struck by how calm these empty spaces seemed, amidst the still busy city.  Also, the ambient light was just right, it wasn't completely pitch black, but the street lights had come on, which made for an interesting blend of natural and ambient light, as well as fluorescent light.  I had to play around with the colour balance to get the images looking realistic.

I have a lot of work to finish at the moment, but also some days off coming up.  Hopefully if the weather is nice I'll be able to take a walk and see if I find anything to shoot.  I also have film to develop and scan, so I'll be sharing those with you soon.

Enjoy,

G

A Day in London....

Just a quick post today.  I recently went to London with Mum, Dad and Henry for Henry's birthday surprise, which was a lovely outing!  I managed to shoot 4 rolls of film, and around 100 frames on my 7D.  I found that I could 'see' more photos when shooting film, than I could when shooting digitally.  I will hopefully get the film developed by the end of this week, so keep looking!

Enjoy,

G

Sunny fields

Its been quite sunny in Milton Keynes recently so a couple of days ago, I decided to head out into the countryside around Milton Keynes to see what I could find.  I took my 5x4 and a couple of sheets of film loaded into a dark slide.  I knew that there are oilseed rape fields nearby, and I knew that the colours will be nice and saturated on the Velvia 100 I used.  I took me a while to find a suitable place to stop and setup  my tripod, in the end I had to go through a gap in the bushes and place my tripod through a fence which was rather had to work the camera! I also managed to shoot another panorama further up the road, but the file is too big, but you can see it here.  This is a stitch of 6 portrait orientated images, overlapping by 30%-40%.  This is to make it easier for the software to stitch the photos together.

I am hopefully going to be able to shoot some more soon, and i'll share the results with you.  I am also going to London with the family for Henry's 21'st birthday day out.  I might be able to get a few shots there too.  That's all for now!

Enjoy,

G

Rain Rain Go Away....

Today I went out with my camera's to see what I would find.  I looked at the map, and chose an area that I thought would be interesting and headed off.  The weather was perfect today; it wasn't too cold, some sun, but also excellent, well defined clouds.  I took this opportunity to try out my 5x4 camera again.  Just as I put the camera on the tripod, the rain started to come down.  The rain the was very light to begin with, so I didn't see it as a problem, and carried on shooting.  Then, as I started to work out my exposure, the heavens opened, and it started pouring down.  I had to rush my light metering, so i'm not sure if its 100% correct, but hey ho, we shall see.  I shall post the results when have them developed.

I have really gotten into panorama's lately, I tend to shoot one every time I go out.  I mainly use wide angle lenses for landscapes.  This is fine 90% of the time, but sometimes, you just cut get wide enough, and if you go too wide, then you get lots of distortion, and things start to look strange.  I like how panorama's create and natural looking wide angle effect.  I normally shoot my panorama's in portrait orientation, and overlap by 30-40%.  When the photos are put through Photoshop, the software can easily stick the photos together.

Enjoy!

G

An Evening in a Field.

Apologies for my severe lack of posts recently, I have been incredibly busy with college work deadlines and such, so I have been unable to go out and work on personal projects.  As I am now at home, I thought I would take the opportunity to have a few days to relax and chill out.  As I also had access to a car, I thought I would drive out into the country and photograph somewhere a bit further afield.

I have bought a new camera too, so this was an ideal time to try it out in the field (no pun intended).  The camera I have bought is a 5X4 view camera, an example of which can be found here.  I have been shooting on Fuji Velvia colour transparency, which is an amazing film, although rather expensive.

The photo you see above is a digital shot, I won't be able to develop the film until I get back to uni after Easter, but I will be sure to share the results with you.  I also shot a panorama at another location just up the road. Unfortunately I couldn't upload the photo here because the file was too big, but you can see it here.  For the most part, i am very happy with the results, of today's shoot, but there is just one part of the panorama that bugs me.  I didn't use a strong enough filter in the shots to the right of the picture, so the sky is blown out.  I feel that this really draws my eye to this part of the image.

I think I will go back and re shoot this panorama at some point.  I hope to have a lot of photos to share with you over the coming weeks.

Enjoy!

G

Disposable Colour....

I have been shooting a lot on disposable camera's and colour film recently, and I really like the look of the photos.  There is a colour film processor at college, and I have cross processed some colour negative film in colour transparency chemicals, and I think they look fantastic!  I will post them on here when I get a chance.

Hopefully you'll be seeing some more posts soon, I'm fairly busy with work At the moment, but this will all change in the near future, i'm starting to battle through the work!

Enjoy!

G

Flying Home...

This post concludes the images from Berlin.  I have finally finished editing the mountain of photos that I took.  This is the last image from the trip, taken somewhere over Germany.  You can find more photos from Berlin here.

Enjoy!

G

A Foggy Afternoon.

I went to Ribblehead today.  The trip was a bit disappointing, as soon as I got there, the fog rolled through the valley, and within half an hour, I couldn't see the viaduct anymore.  Also, it was raining lightly, which made keeping the filters and front lens element clear a nightmare.

However, I did get some good experience, both in taking the photos, and in post production.  I borrowed a Tilt/Shift lens from college, so I could try out the different camera movements that are found on large format/view cameras.  I also wanted to try and achieve Schiempflug.  You can read more here.
A tilt shift lens works with the same movements as a large format camera.  The lens can be tilted; forwards or backwards, side to side, to adjust the focus plane within the image.  The lens can also be shifted; up or down, side to side.  This moves the image circle that the lens produces around on the sensor/film, therefore adjusting what the camera 'sees'.

Anyway, enough of the technical mumbo jumbo.

In post production, I had a challenge with producing the image above.  The image is a blend of three landscape orientated photos, Top, middle, and bottom.  I wanted to include all of the viaduct in the shot, so I used the shift movement (up and down) to adjust what the camera saw, without distorting the perspective of the verticals.  As I had three different photos, I had three different exposures.  The white balance was also off in each of the images, as I forgot to use manual white balance.  Rookie mistake I know, but this was easily fixed.  Before I could do overall adjustments to the final image, I had to do a lot of colour correction to each of the three images to get them to blend well.  Although I spent a considerable amount of time doing this, I didn't manage to get it quite right, but I suppose that'll come with practice.  If you look closely, you can make out the blend line of the images.

Overall, its not a very good image, the composition is poor, not focused very well; I know you shouldn't blame your tools, BUT, the lens had spots of water on it, and the soft focus at the top and bottom of the image is due to the image being made at the edge of the image circle, where focus fall off is unavoidable.

Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed my ramblings,

See you soon!

G

Ribblehead...

I'm going to Ribblehead tomorrow! I shall hopefully bring back some good photos.  I shall continue to edit and share photos from Berlin too!

G

Brandenburg Gate.

Berlin Wall

Berlin Wall

    Revaler Straße/Warschauer Straße.

    Grunberger Straße.

    Warschauer Station.  It was stupidly cold this day, -15 at midday.  The steam just hung in the air.

                              Berlin Wall on MuhlenStraße

    Warschauer Station.