An evening

Just sitting around, Fifa 12, drinks and tunes.

Rain Rain Go Away...

Just a short post today, as I have some unpacking to do!  On wednesday I decided to go into town to see if I could get some photos.  Luckily I put my raincoat on, thinking it might rain a bit, and sure enough the heavens opened!  Too make matters worse, there were incredibly strong winds making it even colder.  I also discovered that my raincoat isn't that waterproof....oh well.  I seemed to be seeing red everywhere, maybe its just the colour of the season.

Sorry for my lack of posts recently, I will try to post more over the coming weeks.

Enjoy!

G

Just a few.....

Just a few photos from last weekend.  I shall hopefully be making a project/book with these images, so I don't want to give too much away....

G

Away in York...

This past weekend I went to stay with the wonderful Sarah in York.  The day before I was due to leave (Friday), I learned that I would finish college early, so I changed my coach ticket to arrive a little earlier than planned.  I got up early on Friday, got some work done, then headed to the coach station.  After waiting for the coach driver to finish his lunch break, I was on my way to York.  

When I arrived in York, It was very windy and rainy, and I got a little wet!  I managed to find my way to Sarah's accommodation, and was met with 'What are you doing here, I haven't tidied my room or done my nails!'  I think she was surprised!  

Over the weekend, we watched films, went shopping, and just generally had an absolutely awesome time!  On Sunday, we went on a walk (which was where the photos were taken) and it was freezing!  Both our faces were hurting from the cold, and it was also rather muddy!  I was using a flash and a graduated filter (to darken the sky) for the photos above, besides the one of me.  That one was taken by Sarah, and I really like it! I do look a bit gormless though....

I've had a new idea for a project that will hopefully take a long time.  I will try to document mine and Sarah's time together as best I can, which will mean having a camera, whatever the size or shape, with me all the time.  I have a book module coming up soon at college, and I could perhaps use some of the photos I take for the book.  We'll see!

Enjoy!

G

Colour Calibration......

Sarah came to stay this weekend, and we had a lovely time!  We went shopping, watched films, chilled, and we treated ourselves to some cookie dough ice cream, which was amazing!  We also found a nice little Costa Coffee shop, with a downstairs which had some really comfy sofas, that you just sink into when you sit in them.  I think I'm going to have to get books from the library and do some research there!  

The weather over the weekend was very strange, it was sunny and clear blue skies on Saturday, which was beautiful, and on Sunday it was misty all day, and had that dusk/evening feel.  I love shooting in these kind of misty conditions; it makes for some very mysterious photographs! On our walks, I took a couple of photos of Sarah that she liked, and we saw a coach parked in the middle of one of the parks near Woodhouse Moor.  This is one of the more random things that I have seen since being here in Leeds I must say!

Today in my digital workshop, Paul (the tutor) shared some tips on how to create a digital workflow working with RAW files.  This included; ensuring that you try and do as much as possible at the shooting stage, post production, saving and organising your files, getting the best results from your chosen output (printers) and backing up your files.  Paul suggested, rather strongly, that we all get our computer screens colour calibrated, so that when we work on our images, the colours and tones appear how they should do.  The devices that are used to do this calibrate screens to an international standard, so wherever you go to process digital files with calibrated screens, the colours will render the same within a very small tolerance. I'm going to look for a calibrator that works with OSX Lion, so I can calibrate my screen properly.  I apologise to those of you that do have calibrated screens, as I know that the colours in my photos will probably look funny, and you might think I'm colour blind.  This should hopefully change soon!

Anyway, I need to get on with some work, so I shall stop procrastinating, and get on!  

Enjoy!

G

Halloween!......

Oh my lord.  Halloween was mental.  The party in my block of flats was amazing, there were some very creative costumes, which is what I expected from art students.  These are just a select few photos that I took with my 7D, I was also using my 35mm camera, with the flash gun attached, which was new to me! I can't wait to get in the darkroom and develop them!

Tomorrow I have my first test shoot for my studio brief, which I'm really looking forward to!  I shall let you know how it goes over on my College blog.

Anyway, I suppose I'd better go and help tidy up....

Enjoy!

G

P.S Pinch, punch, first day of the month, No returns!

Featherstone Castle

I recently went on trip to Feather Stone Castle, in Northumberland, with my Photography class.  We stayed for 3 days and 2 nights.  We were surrounded by fields and a river, in the middle of nowhere.  Our task was to experiment with Metz hammer head flash units, and reflectors.  We spent all day taking photos, and editing in the evening.  Here are some of the images that I have edited.

This was shot using a reflector bouncing the light back onto the subject. 

This is me (Standing in the corner) and my group in a camera obscure.  A camera obscure is a very primitive camera.  

This was taken with the Metz hammer head flash.  There was a dead rabbit behind the stone...

Metz hammer head flash to the left.  

This is Tom looking scary holding an axe.  Metz hammer head flash to the left.  

This shot was not part of the task, but I liked how the clouds looked, with the light falling on the right hand side of the tree.  

First post in a week!

Hey guys, sorry for my lack of posts, I've been away on a trip with college (I'll share the photos with you soon, when I get my photoshop serial number through).  I've decided to post the rest of the images from the last few posts all in this post, because I have lots of things/images to post!

Anyway, here we go.....

This is Brendan, my flat mate, who kindly offered to be my subject for the 'Someone you live with' photo.  

This is the local Chinese takeaway up the street from me.  This was a bit of a snap shot as I was walking past, but it won me a roll of film!

I saw this interesting door when I was out in town.  It was the only door in the side of a very long building, maybe I should have got a perspective shot.....

This is a bin.  Bins are disgusting and smelly.  

This was shot in Hyde Park, unfortunately I only had one lens on me at the time, and I didn't want to get too close. 

I tried to get the clouds moving by stacking ND filters, but I couldn't quite get it right, so i went home and had some breakfast!

This cloud was huge! About 5 minutes after shooting this, I got soaked!

I hope you enjoy these, I shall hopefully be putting more photos up soon!

G

A Walk in the Park

Apologies for my lack of posts recently, I've been busy at college, not having any time to shoot anything. I was given a small task to do over the weekend.  I have to take one photo of each of the subjects on the list that was given to me.  

I saw this guy walking up the path, and I asked him if I could take his picture.  He was unsure at first, but told him about my blog, and he agreed!

This was shot at 1/60sec, f/2.8.  

G

Radical Skateboarding

Met up with my good friend James yesterday, who I hadn't seen in a long time.  It was good to see him again, and we had a blast shooting these photos.  This spot is perfect, its quiet, the floor is buttery smooth, and it's easy to light too.  

I shot the top photo at 1/160th, f/3.5.  I had a 3 flashes, one to the left; slightly behind the block for a back light, two flashes to the right, one on a stand in line with the end of the ledge, the other on the floor nearer to me.  

On a different note, I've started to pack for uni! I'm finishing my summer task, and I'm packing clothes and other things.

Also, i'll be scanning the other film prints soon, and i'll be posting those up.  

Enjoy, 

G

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