June 1st, 2010
When I took this picture, I had a split second to get the image before she moved. But I was thinking that it would make a great portrait becuase although half the face is covered by the bars of the cot, it enphasises the eyes and makes them even more prominent than usual.
Kate Day of the Telepgraph said, “I really liked the composition of this image, which seems to emphasise the vulnerability of the little girl and draws your focus to those big brown eyes. It is also an interesting example of how putting something between you and the subject can actually make you feel closer to the person in the picture.”
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May 1st, 2010
Kate Day of the Daily Telegraph said of this image, “The viewer feels like a observer, watching a private battle – with the rain, with the runner’s body, perhaps even with their mind. And the reflected light around the hunched figure puts them in the spotlight even more. Beautiful.”
That was very nice of her. I was working with a manual 500mm lens and it is difficult to keep it from wobbling. So I grabbed the image as best I could, considering it was a moving target, and then played a little with photoshop. I turned the grain and the contrast up and made the image seem grittier. It was quite a bright day, but the picture looks like it might be raining and it looks dark which is probably why Kate mentioned the priovate battle. Overall, I’m quite pleased with the image because it shows that you can work a picture into something better than the initial exposure.
Posted in Monochrome, Sport, Weather | Comments Off
April 24th, 2010
A groundman keeps the lawn neat and tidy at St. James’ Park, the home of Newcastle United since 1892 with a current capacity of more than 52 000. It’s currently called SportsDirect.com @ St. James’ Park Stadium by the ownership but not by anyone who matters. The stadium has hosted England Internationals and will be one of the venues for the 2012 Olympic Football tournament.
Here’s an exterioir shot to show how the stadium dominates its part of town. Probably one of the few top flight stadia actually in the centre of its town/city. the council have blocked plans for any more expansion due to some complaints that the stadium is a ‘monstrocity.’ On the other hand, the club has some of the biggest crowds in England and if it started to win trophies, it might just need another 10 000 seats. At the moment, its the third biggest football stadium in England, with only Manchester United and Arsenal being larger.
This shot, of the outside of the stadium, was taken using my LC-A. This is an example of lomography, more of which at a later date. Note how the side of the wall has distorted and how the lights are over exposed. The LC-A has a light meter and once you press the shutter it simply stays open until it has collected enough light for the picture. I’ve heard reports of people holding the button down for half an hour in the pitch black.
Posted in Architecture, Lomography, Monochrome, Sport | Comments Off
April 20th, 2010
Here are ten golden rules of lomgraphy from The lomography site:
- Take your camera everywhere you go
- Use it any time – day and night
- Lomography is not an interference in your life, but part of it
- Try the shot from the hip
- Approach the objects of your lomographic desire as close as possible
- Don’t think (william firebrace)
- Be fast
- You don’t have to know beforehand what you captured on film
- Afterwards either
- Don’t worry about any rules
Lomography started when some students in Vienna started to import Soviet era cameras and sell them round the world. Since then a wide range of obscure and plastic cameras have joined the canon.
While there are some gems on sale, it should be noted that:
- Some of the cameras are crap
- All of the cameras are over priced
- The rules of lomography seem to be designed to encourage you to use as much film as possible (which the website also sells)
- The accessories are generally cheap tat (bags, colour filters, lens mounts, etc.) are expensively priced
If you want to be a lomographer, then shop around on the web for the best prices and be remember that many pictures will be out of focus, under exposed and unusable, so be prepared to use a lot of film to get the best results. A lot of film.
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April 16th, 2010
Posted in Abstract, Monochrome | Comments Off
April 8th, 2010
These photgraphs were taken at Tynemouth and are cross processed. It’s an effect that you can’t so with digital photography directly, you have to simulate it. All film is processed through a batch of chemicals but the chemcials are different depending on the type of film. These pictures are taken on slide film which is normally used to produce slides for projection. Instead of using the usual chemicals, I used the ‘wrong’ ones and processed them as if they were normal colour film. The resulting error is a strange contrast in the colours. The beach scene below looks as if it is an old print or as if it has been hand coloured.
The picture below is another cross processed negative but it is teamed with a long exposure which made the fog take on an unusual illumination. Sort of apt for a Victorian mental hospital.
One of the things I like about film photography is that you can mix it up and use film in ways it wasn’t designed for. Here is a more detail description of the process although I didn’t read too much about it and just tried it out.
Posted in Abstract, Architecture, Colour | Comments Off
April 2nd, 2010
Acone is a pyramid with a circular cross section. A right cone is a cone with its vertex above the center of its base. However, when used without qualification, the term “cone” often means “right cone.”
Posted in Abstract, Monochrome | Comments Off
March 30th, 2010
Statistics and figures give us a version of reality but which way is up.
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March 21st, 2010
Too much colour stuff but I only had colour stuff on me that day.
I think this lot are called The Stillwells.
They play an interesting acoustic guitar rock with a female vocalist.
Posted in Colour, Musical, Portrait | Comments Off
March 16th, 2010
Linking the City of Newcastle with the town of Gateshead, the Tyne Bridge, here pictured from the castle keep.
Webcam
Posted in Architecture, Bridges, Monochrome | Comments Off
March 13th, 2010
Nairobi is the capital city of Kenya. The name comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to “the place of cool waters” but it is locally known as the “Green City in the Sun.” Founded in 1899 as a simple rail depot on the railway linking Mombasa to Uganda, the town quickly grew to become the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and eventually the capital of the Kenyan republic in 1963 and is now home to an estimated population of 3 million.
Things about Kenya
- They use shillings.
- If you haven’t got diarrhoea, you’re not eating enough.
- Potholes are covered over with grass. And there are a lot of them.
- If your car breaks down put a branch twenty feet behind you in the road (not many cars have fully working lights).
- Hire Maasai as security guards because they’re allowed to bring their own knives.
- You can never get too many people in a matatu.
This is a building in downtown Nairobi. I was told by ex pats that its called the toilet roll building. It’s more formally known as the Nation Center, headquarters of the Nation Media Group.
Posted in Architecture, Colour | Comments Off
February 11th, 2010
Nothing wrong with men having long hair, but you have to know when to stop.
Jesus had long hair, but he didn’t have a hair drier.
Tags: Hair
Posted in Monochrome, Portrait | Comments Off
January 31st, 2010
Gone but not forgotten, the Jesmond Picture House.
It was active between 1922 and 1993 and was raised to the ground last year. A cinema has been lost to an office development because, it is claimed, old cinema buildings with balconies are too expensive to redevelop.
Admittedly, the building had become an eyesore over the last two decades. Part of the roof had collapsed and it was full of pigeon droppings. Perhaps its out of town location counted against it in the era of multiplexes but it was right next door to a metro station.
Shame buildings like this don’t seem to fit anymore.
Tags: Cinema, Jesmon, Picture House
Posted in Architecture, Monochrome | Comments Off
January 29th, 2010
This is actually the bridge from the car park to Selfridges in Birmingham and the rest of the Bull Ring which has undergone a massive rebuilding programme over the last ten years or so. Designed by the late Jan Kaplicky, it’s a fantastic landmark but a bit disappointing when you find out its only a shop.
Perhaps it’s an example of pre-recession celebration of commercialism, the shopping experience as a work of architectural art, rendered an extravagence by the economic downturn. In any case, it looks fantastic and its the sort of building which often needs justification if you build it outside of London for some strange reason.
Tags: Birmingham, Shop
Posted in Architecture, Landscape, Monochrome | Comments Off
January 24th, 2010
I’m not incredibly happy about the crop on this image, mainly because I clipped her head a little bit. There was a lot of movement at the scene so I had to set the shot up quickly. The image appears to give her a detached air but she was very involved with talking to people about the birds. It’s the freeze frame that creates this effect.
I am pleased with this picture of a falcon because I managed to keep its eye in focus while the wings were moving. Apparently, these birds can spot the ultra violet glow of a trail of mouse urine from the air and then use it to hunt.
Tags: Bird, Falconer
Posted in Animals, Monochrome, Portrait | Comments Off
January 20th, 2010
Unusually for me, a colour picture.
A dancer taken at last year’s Chinese New Year celebrations. The cloth is a stark contrast to the rest of the costume which is quite ornate and the striking make up.
This year it’s the Year of the Tiger starting on 14th February and festivities can go on for up to fifteen days in some parts of the world.
Tags: Chinese, Dancer
Posted in Colour, Musical, Portrait | Comments Off
January 15th, 2010
Reflected on the waters of the Tees is the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge. This Grade II Listed building was erected in 1911 and is one of the few bridges of its type in the world still in daily operation although it frequently gets shut by high winds, bad weather and just about anything else. The bridge is 851 feet long and the passenger gondola, which also takes cars, travels on steel cables160 feet above the water.
It’s an icon for the Tees region and visible for miles around and built out of two halves which lean into each other across the river.
To me it looks like a giant dinosaur stretching across the river.
Tags: Bridges, Middlesbrough
Posted in Bridges, Landscape, Monochrome | Comments Off
January 10th, 2010
As the temperatre plummets across the UK, there is four inches of snow in my garden, foot long icicles hanging from my roof and the car can’t go anywhere without a shovel.
The problem is that I can’t be bothered to go and buy snow tyres and then jack my car up four times to fit them and then do the same in reverse when the snow goes. The whole country is only ready for a few days’ snow not four weeks and we just don’t want to spend the time and money on grit, ploughs and whooley hats.
It’s only frozen water but it can close roads, make snowmen and it’s fun to throw at people.
Tags: Snow, Weather
Posted in Landscape, Monochrome, Weather | Comments Off
January 1st, 2010
The reason angels can fly is because they take themselves lightly. ~G.K. Chesterton
In Heaven an angel is nobody in particular. ~George Bernard Shaw
I’m no angel, but I’ve spread my wings a bit. ~Mae West
Tags: Angels, Monochrome
Posted in Landscape, Monochrome, Statues | Comments Off
December 30th, 2009
Appearances can be deceptive. These dice are actually five foot high concrete blocks painted red and white. I photographed them on the beach at Bamburgh with my Canon EOS5.
Tags: Dice
Posted in Landscape, Monochrome | Comments Off
December 29th, 2009
This medieval reenactment enthusiast is walking around the grounds of a castle playing a period instrument. I’m not sure what it is but it might be simply called the Medieval Bagpipes – I should have been paying more attention.
This medieval babe is playing a lute. This gentleman is also dressed in period costumer. He appears to be taking a sly glance at his peers, perhaps thinking up some intrigue at court?
Tags: Medieval
Posted in Medieval, Monochrome, Musical, Portrait | Comments Off
December 28th, 2009
A cloud is a visible mass of droplets, in other words, little drops of water or frozen crystals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of the Earth. The condensing substance is typically water vapor, which forms small droplets or ice crystals, typically 0.01 mm (0.00039 in) in diameter. When surrounded by billions of other droplets or crystals they become visible as clouds.
This particular cloudy sky was photographed at dusk over a corner of the new city library. I used my Canon EOS5 and Ilford film.
Tags: Clouds
Posted in Landscape, Monochrome | Comments Off
December 28th, 2009
These lights were taken from a moving car late one night. I kept the shutter open for a few seconds and this is what it recorded. Canon EOS5, Ilford Film.
Tags: Lights
Posted in Abstract, Monochrome | Comments Off
