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