tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69253360709514456112024-02-02T19:48:50.451+00:00Minute FilmMinute Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07976087943332121750noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6925336070951445611.post-90229638491252091422010-11-07T14:25:00.009+00:002010-11-07T15:55:25.131+00:00All Over Bar The Fireworks<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">If you have been following me on Facebook you may know by now that I have decided to shut up shop with Minute Film, I gave it a go but I have to be realistic, I am probably a little too narrow minded in my ideas about photography to be able to make a living out of it. I love photography for the things that it can do that other media cannot, there are a number of things that come into this category:</span></div><div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">the possiblity of choosing where the focus is</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">the possibility of choosing how light or dark the result will be</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">the ability to choose the perspective of your scene</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">the capturing of movement</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">the contrast and colour of the result</span></li></ul><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">None of these things is, in itself, going to make a good picture but the intelligent application of these things to your photography is like having an infinite number of tools in your armoury.</span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg97A69GUBkNIuE9xYyUQjqSqPEF4GnV1ZEUkDZmhq9ztdRjNxn9v5hYXZw9791HQydS_EzYIiXVvJk-Nc8RAPUs90-VJctts9IlyszwkAGJ1ocglusqT9R6FgmzDLKTmuVUiCSuyRC4mI/s1600/light-sabre.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 271px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg97A69GUBkNIuE9xYyUQjqSqPEF4GnV1ZEUkDZmhq9ztdRjNxn9v5hYXZw9791HQydS_EzYIiXVvJk-Nc8RAPUs90-VJctts9IlyszwkAGJ1ocglusqT9R6FgmzDLKTmuVUiCSuyRC4mI/s320/light-sabre.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5536814815637715506" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">So what now? Well, I guess I will carry on with my little private crusade, to promote - quietly - the idea that knowing about what makes photography 'work' will inevitably make you a better photographer - and get a job! </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Crusade first: Photographically one of the really great cliches is Fireworks. They offer a wonderful spectacle but it is really difficult to be innovative since the technical restrictions imposed by the circumstances mean that you are going to get very similar results to everyone else. So what can you do? The best bet is to enjoy the fireworks and not take it too seriously.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4pL25q2JDdpPyERjoqD0QV6-5-e0kNlzdgoYfrieLcKYjzKgWuX-rAkiEQHXZTRER-8Ugvir7v8NEL3srY2wfEa0nBfWhwS-PbDg9hSTmnocUx7JjDlLWw5P7K6Uih6F17rE3cJDoM08/s1600/firework5.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4pL25q2JDdpPyERjoqD0QV6-5-e0kNlzdgoYfrieLcKYjzKgWuX-rAkiEQHXZTRER-8Ugvir7v8NEL3srY2wfEa0nBfWhwS-PbDg9hSTmnocUx7JjDlLWw5P7K6Uih6F17rE3cJDoM08/s320/firework5.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5536814812234416210" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7lCW-KyoOjD0jdq_GXoqX_P7D8p0erWCYqUyiGcLxXoQdcNOMhUXCpD9qJi8m0-LyPvaIV2Wn70I2Teis5sf90dsMYTQoLy2Mz6IBjTCGMAA4HLMJ2gjUxKZhYybuC5UIriQl8xnOAPg/s1600/firework4.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7lCW-KyoOjD0jdq_GXoqX_P7D8p0erWCYqUyiGcLxXoQdcNOMhUXCpD9qJi8m0-LyPvaIV2Wn70I2Teis5sf90dsMYTQoLy2Mz6IBjTCGMAA4HLMJ2gjUxKZhYybuC5UIriQl8xnOAPg/s320/firework4.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5536814802134909074" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">My fireworks were near my home, a very professional display put on by the local 'Lions' club. I agonised for ages about what equipment I would take with me, Epson RD1, Nikon D100, Olympus XA, Holga 120 or even a pinhole camera? I even thought for a while that I might see what I could do with just my iPhone! In the end I opted for the Nikon since I thought that it would be the easiest to use in the dark. I was also struggling to remember the correct settings for shooting fireworks and I knew that if I shot digital I'd be able to see that I was doing alright during the evening.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHDgHfhqIoq0vYNe5_R7pad1hJK935rNu65R7w2QmiwtuQwJel93wSMb96o7UfCnFpgJtATOx2mlyagJ-NO9as7Lr6XI-pH9xhaaNCqw8MTtnwDr4XsEe6yABmruu9bVeAK7E234744Gc/s1600/firework3.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHDgHfhqIoq0vYNe5_R7pad1hJK935rNu65R7w2QmiwtuQwJel93wSMb96o7UfCnFpgJtATOx2mlyagJ-NO9as7Lr6XI-pH9xhaaNCqw8MTtnwDr4XsEe6yABmruu9bVeAK7E234744Gc/s320/firework3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5536814794514654386" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">The next big question... Tripod? Well, no. I admit to preferring the crispness of the lines you get with a tripod, but actually it is much less bother in a crowded field to just hold the camera as steady as you can and sometimes the movement adds a little something to the picture. so all of these pictures were shot hand held at 2 seconds! Not something to do in any other situation!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicMEjy_lPAy0YdzhrpCJV3eTgzSh9JWG4fv4rrG-0xi3ozCzegxKboFtxtlgqIYrcT7_3ztWWqSyT7pqmiz7rPCPLEZ9gmrwKVx08vrZzZYRL2ouyvG21pDwos91J19wIg6yepmOaMrdw/s1600/firework2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicMEjy_lPAy0YdzhrpCJV3eTgzSh9JWG4fv4rrG-0xi3ozCzegxKboFtxtlgqIYrcT7_3ztWWqSyT7pqmiz7rPCPLEZ9gmrwKVx08vrZzZYRL2ouyvG21pDwos91J19wIg6yepmOaMrdw/s320/firework2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5536814791278490434" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Fireworks are fun because you cannot really fail to get something as long as you know the basic rules, they are really bright but for only a short time in any part of the sky. Even if you get the exposure wrong then the pictures will probably be exciting. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglClZWoZw2RYianGKtvd8xalOr8uoERUm2naJiBngTJPHHfhV7ovyRVUS8WP8KPaxJ57zg9FVPMi73WZQUi_uFxGNWTftJSHGIhiiO2kdBmsq_T-aAWQgK2e5Iun7MIjewCZJTqfVC2zE/s1600/fan2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglClZWoZw2RYianGKtvd8xalOr8uoERUm2naJiBngTJPHHfhV7ovyRVUS8WP8KPaxJ57zg9FVPMi73WZQUi_uFxGNWTftJSHGIhiiO2kdBmsq_T-aAWQgK2e5Iun7MIjewCZJTqfVC2zE/s320/fan2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5536814523908141970" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">My biggest problem was that I filled my CF card before the action had finished but I had such a great time anyway and was glad of the choices I had made regarding equipment.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">The first picture is of a child waving an LED 'Light Sabre', there were Light Sabres, wands with a star on the top and spinning things with LED's on strings. I liked what happened to these in the dark with the long exposure. The final picture was of the fabulous bonfire they had just before the fireworks began, just pointing the camera at the sky above the fire, these are all the glowing embers making lovely swirling patterns in the sky. I was initially slightly disappointed that I could not get a clear shot without the tree but on reflection, especially in the picture with the multicoloured 'fan' it works quite nicely!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0cVbGESIAAVb1ZgzqR_d_IB3mmUUZNR0y3WfpUKUrv8iWHc_4qByU4lV6913lmiA29fGeueM2T8tBX324sSih6eRZ02TmqRRbIPBtZEQir4LxdU6iMloOY1_7vN7Zsq3GglqcQtt56Gw/s1600/fan.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0cVbGESIAAVb1ZgzqR_d_IB3mmUUZNR0y3WfpUKUrv8iWHc_4qByU4lV6913lmiA29fGeueM2T8tBX324sSih6eRZ02TmqRRbIPBtZEQir4LxdU6iMloOY1_7vN7Zsq3GglqcQtt56Gw/s320/fan.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5536814519373088322" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Minute Film as a business was a failure, I suspect that someone more agressively businesslike might have managed to squeeze a living out of it but that isn't really me. However, I have been involved in the photographic business for nearly 30 years, I got into it because I loved photography. Over these years though I have taken less and less photographs and had virtually given up taking pictures for fun.<br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8qE51f9VfIpR3IIPN76dbl7CWSmoxM9S6IyDIh_4aM3EB__6knsiAbbHJJySAXOtWmreQhdWJIXiCxH1OkXKChiMc3C-oLyc3tvtHn3P64XgbSpKdQHrFHjld2PSkXfBgBJ0L9IbAMrg/s1600/cross.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8qE51f9VfIpR3IIPN76dbl7CWSmoxM9S6IyDIh_4aM3EB__6knsiAbbHJJySAXOtWmreQhdWJIXiCxH1OkXKChiMc3C-oLyc3tvtHn3P64XgbSpKdQHrFHjld2PSkXfBgBJ0L9IbAMrg/s320/cross.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5536814513881992242" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Minute Film made me take pictures again, it made me because I needed examples to go on my website, firstly of Polaroid pictures and then of Holga pictures but as I took these pictures I started to see how the limitations of the equipment I was using made me think differently about what I was doing. In a very short time I had become fascinated by what I had undertaken and started to analyse what it was that was so compelling.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">In short, I started Minute Film to earn money but it repaid me in a different way, it gave me back the love of photography that had dwindled away. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv6XV-Z9Y4mtmoK4hECO-vBW1cMbV2HQiP2cP3QSSkSIvyAIYnjZ_m-qDEGt8-uWknOP0RKPJGxD8Gw9MjTer_IUrUCGPnT-NLivzK0dxlhvcR2Ox2-W1mJFWQ6bH9f3BsebMrNihCjWw/s1600/bonfire.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv6XV-Z9Y4mtmoK4hECO-vBW1cMbV2HQiP2cP3QSSkSIvyAIYnjZ_m-qDEGt8-uWknOP0RKPJGxD8Gw9MjTer_IUrUCGPnT-NLivzK0dxlhvcR2Ox2-W1mJFWQ6bH9f3BsebMrNihCjWw/s320/bonfire.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5536814515724425986" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">I don't know what job I will be doing in a month from now, I hope I will be doing something that I find interesting and rewarding - but what I know I'll be doing is that I'll be taking pictures and writing about my love for the magic that is photography.</span></div>Minute Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07976087943332121750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6925336070951445611.post-5764364191484088712010-10-03T17:48:00.013+01:002010-10-03T20:53:57.782+01:00iFauxtography<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGRz4nLwa8HQ3ZJf8zw4mNvJeJ_eigGIPR_aPsmcxDJOtuD7DFhdrsS2fcru4Ib14PfGWBFSyJGxMk7zO7-80W6XDyX5-gqxIeeb3oGUt6oD-8mKCeDiaPgMJrghyphenhyphenW154q7vBBZrsE-WQ/s1600/TiltShiftGen_Si.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGRz4nLwa8HQ3ZJf8zw4mNvJeJ_eigGIPR_aPsmcxDJOtuD7DFhdrsS2fcru4Ib14PfGWBFSyJGxMk7zO7-80W6XDyX5-gqxIeeb3oGUt6oD-8mKCeDiaPgMJrghyphenhyphenW154q7vBBZrsE-WQ/s320/TiltShiftGen_Si.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5523869832718908898" /></a>I have been meaning to write this blog for a while now, though I originally conceived it as a comparison between Fauxtography Apps for the iPhone and 'real' Polaroid and Toy cameras. What changed my mind is that there is really no comparison, iFauxtography is basically post processing, something I strive to avoid if at all possible, all the apps I tried use the camera and the library built into the iPhone so basically you take pictures as you would normally with the phone and then they add effects.<div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgugbukp7Hjf49vcyUBbHElS3I9fcAKXra_z8HlDvowIlaDWFb8Pa-1ftO7CJr-Fshmx2IowgSxia4v_lm_8BVh-8ZQn_E9xiByGUkUw9wTJYA7_6NjTAV9DYZFtjV7EudE8PMwCSOFY5A/s1600/TiltShiftGen-spot.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgugbukp7Hjf49vcyUBbHElS3I9fcAKXra_z8HlDvowIlaDWFb8Pa-1ftO7CJr-Fshmx2IowgSxia4v_lm_8BVh-8ZQn_E9xiByGUkUw9wTJYA7_6NjTAV9DYZFtjV7EudE8PMwCSOFY5A/s320/TiltShiftGen-spot.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5523863339348067474" /></a>The effects are quite varied, but they all have one thing in common, They take the data available and degrade it by adding effects. Now some of the effects are quite interesting, <i><b>TiltShiftGen </b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">allows you to select a point or plane of sharpness like using a view camera, if you know what you are doing then you can make some quite convincing results but I think it probably helps to know what a view camera does to get the most out of it (it only has tilt though, no shift!).</span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></i><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdYmZloR2abRNEZWvDTJ-Fe8IniX2HhYFyRI9i3ocllNN43Tpajcii8V6kGS8N8XHN7IkkV35Bdln-UzPZ7rrGetul05E4rh7LZ17wIJDPY9IOZt9aqXME603UExF9i4CbW74zVhCtNNU/s1600/TiltShiftGen-Line.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdYmZloR2abRNEZWvDTJ-Fe8IniX2HhYFyRI9i3ocllNN43Tpajcii8V6kGS8N8XHN7IkkV35Bdln-UzPZ7rrGetul05E4rh7LZ17wIJDPY9IOZt9aqXME603UExF9i4CbW74zVhCtNNU/s320/TiltShiftGen-Line.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5523863339984818450" /></a><b><i><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 312px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1u4qyr3IXT7bLd8MKqGphLZNBfYkE9foRYNLQ3DCYnDZBZN3VrQE6yFzA7gsrYCsDHs5oQNP8Y4ey48Q2oqRLxZAnNcpjXklXU40CpAHT6ioqRQvpkU-H9NkWwSqrpou9XN13tBkD3p8/s320/ShateItPhoto.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5523863328427357490" /><br /></i></b></div><div><b><i><br /></i></b></div><div><b><i><br /></i></b></div><div><b><i><br /></i></b></div><div><b><i><br /></i></b></div><div><b><i>ShakeItPhoto</i></b> (which was recommended to me by Doc who runs the Impossible Project!) produced pictures that look like Polaroid 80 pictures, not the integral prints that seem to be so popular but the older peel apart type. The interface though shows the picture emerging like an integral picture. Oh! The danger of a little knowledge...</div><div><br /><b><i><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgrecddSA0vMzslm3Ms2Oi0XX0gmD9BUzyq9EC0Me_280R9ihg5kkWFsXjx5KJH4sXIpAV1z0ciVzC4rN_CrcwAnkBctYEgZoADDGkOzloMWgQSRiCNU3JCDRQr3tGUIvbbl0kjLSUXyQ/s320/Plastic-Bullet.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5523863331256390706" />PlasticBullet <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">is interesting in that it will give you a seemingly infinite range of versions of a picture, all of them variations on a theme of Diana Mini: light leak, different levels of saturation, contrast, exposure etc. It generates 4 versions for you to choose from and if you don't like them it will do you 4 more - and another 4 and another - until you like one at which point you save it (you can save as many versions as you like...).</span></i></b></div><div><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; "><br /></span></i></b></div><div><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; "><br /></span></i></b></div><div><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"></span></span></i></b><br /><b><i><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 270px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9dvumld8k1Nd-Rr28Xs6IAaCUwoo5K5piWWeDSnIfIai9P7mt_kFFd1q2HIgnJYdZbDX7PXbj9WNrpzSnoKn8YaBnm7gVOsf816WiSFuSuO-hMn4_1TcuSe19jzxy3GtGimzlTyKIm8U/s320/Lo-Mob_SX_Back.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5523862970087475058" />Lo-Mob <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">had probably the widest set of pre-set filter and frame sets, 39 possible looks and it allowed you to crop and position your original in</span></i></b><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"> the 'frame' which made it much more versatile than the others. The possibilities included Holga and Lomo, many different emulsion looks and some interesting Polaroid looks too. The worst was this 'back of an SX70 one! What on earth were they thinking... </span></span></i></b></div><div><b><i><br /></i></b></div><div><b><i><br /></i></b></div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXVKUYrtVqQHf255UdEYR4oPydHWvqMtMbWXjHREnE9Oo_jaTK1QcDE1-Zt3rHTZNfPYDC8ZGWaY5E0Mp4cukUjvs3SnhV_3MC_F7VXUG451vS3Vq5JZBH-tS03opgj72yXoke4HkQJTI/s320/Lo-Mob_LF_Pola.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5523862966505025634" /><div>But they did have this which seems to be the frame from a Polaroid 20X24 print, not something that most people would recognise! (but I have one on my wall at home).</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 284px; height: 289px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVPFOcWZARC1J6tXIuGvzjAqur4wZUwDfTxYne8FNOjSGQbifC6YWavCrZg0q43ZLdGwbAj7SVNa3IJgn57otJjVcZtCo_RA2Q2i4qZJ-knLUo2iWFWaFiBfmkfRWuq0IWHLIvntHvd7U/s320/InstantCam.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5523862959648829618" /><div><b><i>InstantCam is <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">heavily branded as Polaroid and</span></i></b></div><div><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">produces a sort of Image system Fauxlaroid, rectangular pictures with the broad band across the bottom. You can have colour or black and white or you can 'colourize' - big mistake. Strangely all the pictures come our really small, well under 300px and I couldn't see a way of changing that. Both InstantCam and ShakeItPhoto use the iPhone's movement sensors and you have to shake the phone to make the picture 'develop', more fun - but hold tight!</span></i></b></div><div><br /></div><div><b><i><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghKrZeGyc2nSQME4I8lIgtjOOFDo9ZCBGC4GNKiBvcVZWazkBPFKL62hDyx1R0CFC2pfCYaYeChB7fQR6DVAHkFjg9AsrY33M_-C1SGFvXX8FLyz19Gdp5BKN_BFteceHWfwp2QftqmkU/s320/Hipstamatic-basic.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5523862961904468338" />Hipstamatic</i></b> stands alone among the others I tested since it is the only one that actually makes you choose things before you take your picture and it won't re process pictures from your library. In an odd way this makes it better than the others because it isn't just a 'post' product.</div><div><br /><b><i><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 216px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9EoATxPPsGahhArhDLkQqC4A3QMcAQ_jJfmarPH3iyp8yx1Cf2MQ_H8Sx6VppOZLkFv7c9DeXtF3cObPKpUicYXRBcNxqCrtr9Rfi5v5undoOBUtwgNqakbZrN2mynuegCk7apf4-cRw/s320/CameraBag_Magazine.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5523862954653947010" />CameraBag</i></b> I thought was very disappointing, 14 pre-set 'filters' which can be used on new or existing pictures but there is no editing available and the cropping is arbitrary. I quite liked this version though...</div><div><br /></div><div>So what did I really think? Well I think that some of the results from these apps are really neat, they look edgy and exciting, I really enjoyed going to a museum of telephones to take pictures with my telephone (just in case you hadn't noticed). However, with the possible exception of the Hipstamatic app, it really isn't photography. What these apps are is digital art - and art of course can be good or bad. I had fun, I produced pictures that I was very pleased with but all of them were fauxtography.<br /><br /></div>Minute Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07976087943332121750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6925336070951445611.post-76823186656575708752010-09-23T18:23:00.003+01:002010-09-23T21:03:31.165+01:00PhotokinaWhenever you go on a trip you have to start somewhere: my trip to Germany started in Milton Keynes. Photokina is a massive trade fair for the photographic industry that happens every 2 years in Köln (Cologne). It seems like the entire industry clambers aboard a plane, a train, or an automobile and descends on the city like a gang of unruly school children. Unlike the school children these individuals don't have their teachers and most of them have expense accounts!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgty1JFFJAgDb_ppIbNsNyB068f2IymvCHoKap6olAPfYMvTyjpxi8OhB_qS7iLYduBfKYxlqdC5K7lNfHz_cUugsY6HkK5TBEt2mRGqgW1FAcc4JnOAeeXbW4mah6Ve02Jzdfis1HogI/s1600/PK-mk-station.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgty1JFFJAgDb_ppIbNsNyB068f2IymvCHoKap6olAPfYMvTyjpxi8OhB_qS7iLYduBfKYxlqdC5K7lNfHz_cUugsY6HkK5TBEt2mRGqgW1FAcc4JnOAeeXbW4mah6Ve02Jzdfis1HogI/s320/PK-mk-station.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5520161174980647026" /></a><br /><div>If a photographic company has something to launch they will invariably time it with Photokina in mind, either just before so everyone comes to look or during when all the press are there. It is a BIG DEAL! I have been going for the last 14 or 16 years, every other year and I am over the glamour of the event, it's work. This time it was some long overdue meetings (but I'm not going to talk about that because it would be boring). </div><div><br /></div><div>I have loads of friends in the photographic industry and this for me was an opportunity to meet them, to catch up with some gossip, to distribute some gossip and to see who has changed camps. So even though the following blog might suggest that I hate every minute I didn't at all, it was tiring but I had a great time.</div><div><br /></div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1dduyFa7qE6TXkFPPLBO3ECf36aInNlJRt5ho5FRXKbVEkh_LgTqjRgeJNSRuXTVSaMJHvB1qzQV0-QEU08rjomxDb-AsdF60cywUKntz31yBZ6O_Lv7MxBqjTeLreXcbP3Zugilaqa4/s320/PK-foyer.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5520161158712857122" /><div> I was there for a couple of days. One of the mornings I took this picture of the foyer of the huge Kölnmesse (exhibition hall), the view was the same in every direction, it took nearly an hour for the queue to get through the turnstiles! Just inside there were loads of photographers shooting the throng forcing there way in. I resisted... Photokina is not about photography though: it is about equipment and it is about software and it is about materials. There are relatively few photographs on display and many of those that did make it are not all that good. Photokina is about money and commerce rather than photography. Don't get me wrong, it is the commerce that makes Photokina possible, the exhibitors would not put on an altruistic display of beautiful photographs because they couldn't afford to. What I'd like to see though is a proportion of them making some acknowledgement of the photography that their equipment is used for.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9YpwauoL_zum_DyAEzPL1kIwmYGgTV5FCMpUhlMBDnuxaCQaePpOorFp2l144p3NKzcsCrLYOND8dGONXydpzf3S4BIknLhQ8FL5psJK2Z01cRALtVJ2Pu6iTfaQlbXXJHORc3NfXNNU/s320/PK-canon-rig.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5520161150927710706" /></div><div>The commercial world is driven by innovation, it is the new stuff that sells, bigger, faster, brighter, smaller... this cycle means that the R&D departments are working all the time to think of what they can do to innovate their companies' products. In my view they are often doing a great job, innovation is fantastic - but... Every time they come up with a new idea they should stop for a while and assess whether it is actually worthwhile: does it do something that is aesthetically pleasing or technically useful. Or have they just created a gimmick. A case in point is 3D. As an entertainment medium I do see the point, I saw Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland in 3d and it was enchanting. but what happens when you squeeze it into a consumer video camera is that the whole world comes out looking like bad CGI. There were even pieces of software that claimed to make your 2D videos into 3D. I chose 3D because it is representative of the appalling lengths that some manufacturers will go to to 'add value' to their products at the expense of quality.</div><div><br /></div><div>I have very unfairly illustrated this last paragraph with a picture of a rig designed to take multiple stills to be combined to create a static subject that can be digitally rotated, you see it in the telly quite a bit! The rig was very impressive and I think could shoot video too!</div><div><br /></div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhronI4b5QZSt0DkrkDunK87nfUswGA3DZXMt-T11sgS74EIqgUzJA5CxEUpec-AmNQd1Bzj7dWcRolTa7PMhOvTf4saCBEUiVgpa5JilidsJw6H0SIguFGQ8gUb12Ty1o6gJNufnBhyphenhyphenmY/s320/PK-seashell.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5520161180681791570" /><div>Most of Photokina is made up of small booths selling more or less obscure products from around the world. I was tickled by this since it seems to suggest that you can take Polaroid 600 pictures underwater! I think they should sack their creative man!</div><div><br /></div><div>My journey started on Milton Keynes station and the return journey started on Köln Hauptbhanhof, the central station which is immediately adjacent to the cathedral which you can see through the roof. Köln station is a little like St Pancras, a beautiful arch and the new bit they have added over the last decade is wonderfully in keeping both with the surrounding buildings and with the rest of the station.</div><div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBUqCw3oYCfDXRyqbR1oPHHfWOnktdATTZZeBh9uZXBtPk7bgYcdWanmZ5ZVeJWFKWevLs8tOCnnixAs_LNPk0iJl0Sz_D3jHDjc8JUjAkd57wFXWnqhNmhhH4u3CpcsvdGn0VqUdWQtA/s320/PK-koln-station.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5520161160411994322" /></div><div><br /></div>Photographically I have an admission. All these pictures were taken with my phone. I took a 'real camera, my little Olympus XA but I have not yet processed the film - I hope there may be another blog in there too. But I am not really embarrassed by using a phone, photography isn't about equipment, it is about photographs. Or did I already hint at that...Minute Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07976087943332121750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6925336070951445611.post-55226801152439505472010-09-03T12:42:00.007+01:002010-09-03T13:30:28.902+01:00A Way of Life<div>I was hunting for something in my house recently (I don't now remember what it was, or if I found it) and I came across an old camera of mine, an Olympus XA. I had bought it second hand at some point in the 80's and much enjoyed using it but it hadn't been used for ages, in fact the last time I remember using it for sure was at my wedding back in 1987!</div><div><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPyQMrtrxMPauCkvSDFcFSza3pCkfEdulXT-v2lUXYTqRDFD9-l7gvapOhi73pRNmHVodZO44v90VDOoyjFWkE3SQ7xa_qGslWf-lXUiZC71nurokZIsXa8DrT08FOCk2xdMAceMyLwcY/s1600/Missing-Horse.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 193px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPyQMrtrxMPauCkvSDFcFSza3pCkfEdulXT-v2lUXYTqRDFD9-l7gvapOhi73pRNmHVodZO44v90VDOoyjFWkE3SQ7xa_qGslWf-lXUiZC71nurokZIsXa8DrT08FOCk2xdMAceMyLwcY/s320/Missing-Horse.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5512651674516433458" /></a>I bought some new batteries and fitted them and the camera burst into life, I could hear that the shutter speeds were changing as I fiddled with the apertures (yes it has a full range of apertures!) so I loaded it up with some of the out of date Konica 100VX film I have and went off to the Winslow Show.<div><br /></div><div>It really focusses the mind to have a limited amount of film, I went out very deliberately with just 24 exposures, partly because I wanted to make sure that the camera worked OK before running too much through it and partly to focus my mind a little on getting something worthwhile without shooting too much.</div><div><br /></div><div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaiwAZEI4wKKQMvsI_Fam8GgOOiKqPodpEO9GY30cE_CMvBlNY9jUZo0snctYoMYNbY0kLAs9-bzNU_jeDIEfDVO9rQwPodRKYB7Pe17l1qAtB7MeSkkOzUmsejLCIQC40sOmZpCSV7HM/s320/Jazzersize.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5512654788466433410" /><div>Winslow Show did not disappoint! It was a marvelously good natured event in which everyone played their part brilliantly. The little Olympus played its part well too, producing sharp and well exposed pictures in spite of the ancient film.</div><div><br /></div><div>There are more of the pictures I took in the gallery of <a href="http://www.minutefilm.co.uk/gallery.html">Minutefilm</a>, have a look, there are some funny sights to see!</div><div><br /></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8MQ_ISC0SBjbHqg0dcNOaRv0V8Ngde-hs4ToxavsQrf1osAk7Ps50Z8Bx4KD6ZejVfQzUMYJR25oKbS_CxXbnXwAzALz3WspvoilBDjNNsKn3g29SvGSZA50OslCs_GLIOEtd15sr5no/s1600/Now-Look-Here.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 252px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8MQ_ISC0SBjbHqg0dcNOaRv0V8Ngde-hs4ToxavsQrf1osAk7Ps50Z8Bx4KD6ZejVfQzUMYJR25oKbS_CxXbnXwAzALz3WspvoilBDjNNsKn3g29SvGSZA50OslCs_GLIOEtd15sr5no/s320/Now-Look-Here.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5512651670502517394" /></a>So why would I have been using the Olympus at my own wedding? Well, Laura and I had a quite extraordinary wedding - for the time. The majority of the guests were involved in photography in some way or other and we gave everyone film and asked them to take pictures. This was long before disposable cameras were available so people brought a huge range of different cameras including a 360<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Book'; font-size: 13px; ">º</span>Panoramic camera, and a home made tilt and shift camera fitted with a fish eye lens!<br /></div></div><div><br /></div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 222px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzFPsH-2fEfRgaPNMLawzuBBrJjqaruom1VYMAx5TLT_JQyBoQw1WF4o5AdtPkWks8lr91zi-_xhkh5x1r1fXpp1pGIdopXIGtUmvjXo3DsyH6ZyrtHxWgJ8DNJHTqLGjLL6HTbfT3uRk/s320/Wedding020-prep.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5512651666068863986" /><div>This black and white picture is one that I took with the Olympus while a friend and collegue Gwilym stage managed and took the 'official' pictures. The last picture is of me taking the black and white one!</div><div><br /></div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 306px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSgRtjGaD3ZLm1ZUUOp3ZP9BKXbdKySnBXAKoi3b4sBTyIjZJFME65rlsvOh232EDxucnHBqbyMAZ1ARWwdDUrwleNSZcm-319Nshr0lUAAD3Q2Uy8RqRuu-yp5WGf686rsfecSx5px_Q/s320/Wedding019-prep.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5512651662578050402" /><div>For most people wedding pictures are primarily a record of a hugely important day in their lives and this is true for us too but our wedding pictures are more than that, they are also a collection of imaginative and original photographs taken by people for whom photography is a way of life.</div>Minute Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07976087943332121750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6925336070951445611.post-17820292573722356832010-08-24T08:38:00.004+01:002010-08-24T22:06:07.115+01:00Getting the Message Across<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikIdBuDGplzKNXwIdY_5X3EiuLoXGG7VnZkRyXD-9d85Jx9MqwDPRAefjq2k9YrT1uEZ6P5n9i6DnmYIDnmCzEM-1oAAsA39OycCCppZMH7-EGVDicygW6J4WzfdeVasorzdLQ82KElhA/s1600/des-at-MK2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikIdBuDGplzKNXwIdY_5X3EiuLoXGG7VnZkRyXD-9d85Jx9MqwDPRAefjq2k9YrT1uEZ6P5n9i6DnmYIDnmCzEM-1oAAsA39OycCCppZMH7-EGVDicygW6J4WzfdeVasorzdLQ82KElhA/s320/des-at-MK2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509083259619984866" /></a>I started blogging at the end of last year because I had started a new business and I thought it would be a good way to promote it, talking about the things in photography that I feel are important. What I have found though is that the writing has become a fundamental part of what I now do, it has helped me to identify some of the things that excite me photographically in a way that I had not expected and it has given me a new direction (all be it only a slight diversion).<div><br /></div><div>I do not claim to be a great photographer, I know what I like though and I do have the skill to capture it most of the time. The skill came from a variety of different sources, foremost being my dad who was both patient and encouraging when I took my first pictures back in the mid seventies. He told me where I was going wrong and praised the occasional decent picture I took and for the most part I ignored him and did what I wanted. Much of what he said though forms the basis of my photographic thinking now. I learned most of the technical stuff 'on the hoof' while I worked in a pro retailer in the eighties - but I always checked to make sure I had it right and I made a point of learning the underlying theories because if I understood them the application of the theories was a piece of cake. The third element in my photographic education is that I like to look at pictures and we live in a time when I can do that almost anywhere.</div><div><br /></div><div>I have realized that the things that have gelled into my personal preferences are predominantly things that photography can do better than other forms of visual expression and that in fact we, as human beings, cannot do easily ourselves:</div><div><ul><li>Manipulating focus - choosing what will be in focus, how deep the focus will be and how soft everything else should be.</li><li>Manipulating exposure - letting things be burned out if it works visually, making a choice about how light or dark a print should be, allowing a subject to float in otherwise very dark surroundings.</li><li>Manipulating perspective - either using movements on the camera or selecting lenses to deliberately distort perspective making it wider or flatter.</li><li>Showing (or not showing) movement - choosing to freeze the action or to allow it to blur, panning or even moving the camera to make a static object 'move'</li><li>Selecting contrast levels - to change the look of the picture.</li><li>Selecting colour intensity (including black and white) - muted or vibrant, warm or cool or monochrome.</li></ul><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQPxm849Gfm1N65jkCVFSP4AcsSmIaDGRKv-PKYiEUcuDmzaGmEhpP4oyGrwoYm7-vRhkZjXZGz6jGGeSe_PF_rdGLIBfJZUejV8ZIBtVvpNxDUv_l0PiDYzlY3dz4cSnHDnbVLvNpx2Y/s320/Betjemen.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509083258416276482" /><div>None of these things is in itself going to make a good picture, nor is it a substitute for having a good subject. What these things are is the language of photography, the things that we can use to express ourselves and to interpret the subject in the way we want to.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>If you want to write a story you use all the linguistic skills at your disposal to make the story interesting, entertaining or shocking - you do whatever you need to to communicate your meaning. Photography is just the same, to say what you want to in a photograph you need to use the language eloquently if you want to get your message across.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Minute Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07976087943332121750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6925336070951445611.post-61155796070924061732010-08-18T17:08:00.005+01:002010-08-18T18:26:53.486+01:00Perspective<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD986kkNTiBb8eGuAeQC08Pnn0cm_Xw7M-c0AEdrmGCjrov0w8vp1uFiPrH8OPAH7bd2SZEz1ingx1iaR8Rkx2KkhXlODl9yrYglFKgWpI0olzq72qC23bK85CKycOKJ6hxad9L06T8E8/s1600/Parliament-and-gull.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD986kkNTiBb8eGuAeQC08Pnn0cm_Xw7M-c0AEdrmGCjrov0w8vp1uFiPrH8OPAH7bd2SZEz1ingx1iaR8Rkx2KkhXlODl9yrYglFKgWpI0olzq72qC23bK85CKycOKJ6hxad9L06T8E8/s320/Parliament-and-gull.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506783126546779554" /></a>Here is another of those things that you can do with photography that are particularly 'photographic' - playing with perspective.<div><br /></div><div>When you look at a scene with your eyes you see it as 'normal', you interpret the perspective and the relationship between objects in a completely natural way and are very unlikely to notice it unless you are specifically looking for it. Photography adds another dimension but it isn't the one that immediately springs to mind, what it adds is a frame.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTVhOiLSjEqXD1Jak6yGZVPxI2YuN4Z9jmOEMztO4OPWb5f7fgA5Km0lzy8hZZDzRSEJb8tcL0M6M2ROBjdZ8oHJt_Gj17YAe18gDlCbrum-Kk-bmt1ZehksA564fom7sbSPRhGDsAeik/s1600/Haig.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 274px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTVhOiLSjEqXD1Jak6yGZVPxI2YuN4Z9jmOEMztO4OPWb5f7fgA5Km0lzy8hZZDzRSEJb8tcL0M6M2ROBjdZ8oHJt_Gj17YAe18gDlCbrum-Kk-bmt1ZehksA564fom7sbSPRhGDsAeik/s320/Haig.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506783110889827906" /></a>From any given point the perspective you see in a scene cannot change but when you frame some part of the scene you emphasise the relationship between objects in the picture. Photographically this gives us another thing that we can manipulate without resorting to retouching. We can alter the amount of the scene either by cropping the frame or by changing the lens for a wider or longer one - or we can change the perspective by moving ourselves closer or further away. Altering the relative distance and angle between the camera and the different subject elements.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5AxpUOjhMVyeKA6TMUhyC3_bMZBL333PbGTWzRdC4lCKTE3wjj8yAEXhxRElMCfn0vrjaFd1ym-0IsAg4OG2U0BRE6xUJN74Wneze38DbswHKygiphBfxqW6HTVETmFBlb2JmB-eaU-Q/s1600/st-pauls-and-milleneum-bridge.jpg"></a></div><div><br /></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5AxpUOjhMVyeKA6TMUhyC3_bMZBL333PbGTWzRdC4lCKTE3wjj8yAEXhxRElMCfn0vrjaFd1ym-0IsAg4OG2U0BRE6xUJN74Wneze38DbswHKygiphBfxqW6HTVETmFBlb2JmB-eaU-Q/s1600/st-pauls-and-milleneum-bridge.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 206px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5AxpUOjhMVyeKA6TMUhyC3_bMZBL333PbGTWzRdC4lCKTE3wjj8yAEXhxRElMCfn0vrjaFd1ym-0IsAg4OG2U0BRE6xUJN74Wneze38DbswHKygiphBfxqW6HTVETmFBlb2JmB-eaU-Q/s320/st-pauls-and-milleneum-bridge.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506783106143727938" /></a>The most obvious examples of this are in the use of very long lenses and very wide lenses. I have a preference for the standard and wide end of the range but when the need arises I am quite happy to play with longer lenses too. These first few pictures were all shot with a 300mm lens and the foreshortening of perspective is what makes them work as pictures.<br /><br /></div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV_Lzunn72kam1fyDUE6bcDHxW9JQEKXNx4ncyxxK0OHbPKJLMAbkihGASQUgYSVdS4SJftclH9Gd9ykzgltdVzoaA1_jfWMc6t6IqLQFNKtITLig5l1CY6PWK8-3HnuTDSI6G2Them8w/s1600/London-Eye-and-shell-building.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 205px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV_Lzunn72kam1fyDUE6bcDHxW9JQEKXNx4ncyxxK0OHbPKJLMAbkihGASQUgYSVdS4SJftclH9Gd9ykzgltdVzoaA1_jfWMc6t6IqLQFNKtITLig5l1CY6PWK8-3HnuTDSI6G2Them8w/s320/London-Eye-and-shell-building.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506783096371154530" /></a>It takes a different eye to see what is going on and a little practice especially to get the pictures sharp. You could just peer through the lens and see what it looks like but you have to know where to point and learning where to point is the bit that takes time.</div><div><br /></div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxzVhYN4EAXh-KZw7Y_Rx9HfoQER1HwVuBmjP9yW0cdOHKaFFA5p_013bwwPVxadY3RFMeJgVMdclNcS7uB1X9pk-E4-gqhtPH00QrXY26TIaMQe7a5MFhV1AkShR8ZmAaFlyD7OaGp5I/s320/Lincolnshire.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506799832379689090" /><div>The other extreme is to use a wide lens and make the perspective a major feature of the picture. </div><div><br /></div><div>This is just another opportunity to exploit when taking pictures, a long lens is not just for photographing things that are too far away or too small and a wide lens is not just for photographing things that are too big to fit in otherwise. Sure these uses are perfectly valid but the creative use of focal length can give your photography a whole new perspective.</div>Minute Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07976087943332121750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6925336070951445611.post-74209746546499728472010-08-08T15:26:00.006+01:002010-08-08T16:49:58.145+01:00Intentionality.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxCciSUN_WJzgwpK2XLyYib2X6lLswQBUnrjLuzFWfY5kh-YgYDwg8S4Vo9K9YN-FNicRy0nNtE2UmyI7pTDynVM4IzT-13Gv3z8pRTL-xjnHQQ2yLbNx11YptPYQatn6GijBaEhC9ZwM/s1600/Whitehall-blog.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxCciSUN_WJzgwpK2XLyYib2X6lLswQBUnrjLuzFWfY5kh-YgYDwg8S4Vo9K9YN-FNicRy0nNtE2UmyI7pTDynVM4IzT-13Gv3z8pRTL-xjnHQQ2yLbNx11YptPYQatn6GijBaEhC9ZwM/s320/Whitehall-blog.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503053599818603378" /></a>In photography as with many other arts and crafts there is often a fine line between what works and what does not. It is my belief that the position of this line can be determined to some extent by 'Intentionality'. What I mean by this is that if it is clear to the viewer that a picture is meant to look the way it does then they will view it differently.<div><br /></div><div>This concept crops up mostly when things that are traditionally seen as faults are included in the picture; things like softness, grain, over exposure, blurring or vignetting. </div><div><br /></div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 208px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj46iqze_-Xml0jT5U9dUWeM-6VSyOIdetVVbC73yVN4vRg7l7K-gHOPjpLUGliIQ9Tdbt976od3E1LYyJmZjo3xXZcCUJ9Npsr92Zio3y8nm-Q7mt7RBU7H8vzC-vVANj8t4OcebpF5-Y/s320/stipa-blog.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503053589770240930" /><div>The fact is though that these things have a look about them and, personally, I feel that if the 'look' I am looking for will be better achieved by using them then that is what I will do.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL_4Tq9VhOfjEnV6nkE1-vIGks1s5fsaw7BAGkXCFBPtOMCR-GHlNL3Q1otwbEWtmCm0aKE-PUBp26IX8-xsSYgmNHW-lUEzCYS93ZEFGliGyt6LruCTBgDipg_7rOXmgxN7PcxbNtH7Y/s1600/Horseguards-blog.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL_4Tq9VhOfjEnV6nkE1-vIGks1s5fsaw7BAGkXCFBPtOMCR-GHlNL3Q1otwbEWtmCm0aKE-PUBp26IX8-xsSYgmNHW-lUEzCYS93ZEFGliGyt6LruCTBgDipg_7rOXmgxN7PcxbNtH7Y/s320/Horseguards-blog.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503053586860663394" /></a>Obviously this needs to be done carefully though, sometimes it needs to be done to make a visual point, sometimes to evoke an emotion and of course sometimes it just makes a good picture. It is vitally important if you want to pull this off that it is clearly intentional - that is what 'Intentionality' means.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you are going to have deliberately out of focus elements in your composition like in my picture of Whitehall above, make sure that they are out of focus enough (but if they need to be recognizable then not too soft). If you want to make grain an important feature of your picture don't go half way, use a really grainy film and if necessary a grey filter to reduce the light, the Grass seed was shot with Portra 800 on 35mm because I knew it would go far enough.</div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSGtuuLpdr8-B7SS1D08che7Q743Y9fFiHZDHbSE6UzFYx3XVTOnDOoeMOMx5zVkDYT-8Jj3xcEUwKQHO0llnlleLM0XPgG_3LobdZ-1N2yh57EH6wweOjh3tZLPSHDWQHclFbVciUEy0/s1600/hojp-blog.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSGtuuLpdr8-B7SS1D08che7Q743Y9fFiHZDHbSE6UzFYx3XVTOnDOoeMOMx5zVkDYT-8Jj3xcEUwKQHO0llnlleLM0XPgG_3LobdZ-1N2yh57EH6wweOjh3tZLPSHDWQHclFbVciUEy0/s320/hojp-blog.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503053580867203058" /></a>Movement is one of the hardest things to do well, but it is also, to my mind, the most important since a moving subject photographed pin sharp and frozen in time looses all of its dynamism and photography is so good at catching that. The picture of Horseguards was taken with a Holga 35mm Pinhole camera using about a 4 second exposure - I think it captures the cold, wet January day fairly well and the swirling mass of tourists contrast nicely with the horse and rider - nothing is sharp but it does not look like it is meant to be... The concert was something arranged by a friend of my son Jim, this guy performs as 'The House of John Player" and he was pretty amazing, sampling and mixing live. I could not hope to capture the music photographically but with a little imagination I think I have caught the atmosphere, in this case using an iPhone and some lateral thought.</div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS3NXDdlVDWnRB6c0M9hSyXBJeoA2TUHyKncxGmVfKNIyqXe62dlBG_bqK3buIfDXkhRdbZt5zorFF2gOp8XgDZh_Wng-W2a2UQu6fbhiobzbCs_kDmtGzluo2O3JUe6rhToXgG7SBN2U/s1600/Guildhall-blog.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS3NXDdlVDWnRB6c0M9hSyXBJeoA2TUHyKncxGmVfKNIyqXe62dlBG_bqK3buIfDXkhRdbZt5zorFF2gOp8XgDZh_Wng-W2a2UQu6fbhiobzbCs_kDmtGzluo2O3JUe6rhToXgG7SBN2U/s320/Guildhall-blog.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5503053578471906978" /></a>If what you like are photographs where everything is sharp and technically correct then that is absolutely fine by me. I have a different view though: Photography is brilliant because it allows us to capture things in a way that we are not able to do with our eyes. We see, if we are lucky, everything in focus - photography allows you to choose what is in focus. We see everything correctly exposed - photography allows you to choose. We see movement as a smooth series of sharp moments - photography allows you to choose how much motion blur you want AND wether the background or the subject is blurred. We see a single quality - and photography allows us to choose: fine or coarse grain, high or low saturation and contrast, black and white or colour. </div><div><br /></div><div>For me this ability to exploit things that are fundamental to the photographic process is what makes photography so interesting - Intentionality is what makes the photographs so interesting.</div>Minute Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07976087943332121750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6925336070951445611.post-15507333872456705242010-07-23T11:40:00.005+01:002010-07-23T12:34:00.013+01:00(Not) Focussing on the Background<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjel4z4anRNobf15FyUxwlKl5H2gUgASBqEiAL9q-9qmca2hE_PMqejZh6K2x-ivPtRoTrW3JdtVFFBLTC7dfdLwYivfyxgZMMFaxNwbz3nO8OAkFjFYN-w3zAndkzdqbHSjY_dJIHLYU/s1600/Holga135BC-Poppy-Seedheadblog.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjel4z4anRNobf15FyUxwlKl5H2gUgASBqEiAL9q-9qmca2hE_PMqejZh6K2x-ivPtRoTrW3JdtVFFBLTC7dfdLwYivfyxgZMMFaxNwbz3nO8OAkFjFYN-w3zAndkzdqbHSjY_dJIHLYU/s320/Holga135BC-Poppy-Seedheadblog.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5497050212673158898" /></a>It is pretty well impossible to take a really good photograph that does not have something in focus. Something sharp to give meaning to the picture. I have suggested in the past that this could be just the visible grain in the picture but I could be clutching at straws with that idea, trying to justify some poor effort on my part... No, I really think that there needs to be something to grab the viewer's attention.<div><br /></div><div>However, the presence of something sharp in the picture does not make it a good picture, often the parts of the photograph that are out of focus do more to elevate the picture into something really nice.</div><div><br /></div><div>Out of focus stuff is more likely to be important in terms of shape and colour, I could tell you that the yellow behind the poppy seed-head is a pair of marigolds (the flowers, not the rubber gloves) but it is irrelevant to the reading of the picture. In the picture of the roses it is obvious that the colour behind is more roses but it really helps to highlight the stems.</div><div><br /></div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 206px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHp85UlsH3b2nZIM1eTK6TI6cRQnYxY9gGOPGGtytoNYZ6YAAhSg0567JpJZ7Q2MxI4H2KCdzMUAGOOzPdd8xcG-ceaF7ta4ARmcsrSnLFnsMH2tUjJzE3RQ1VlTn69aNLHiR2V-8AXvc/s320/Holga-135BC-pink-rose-blog.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5497050207018774850" /><div>When you take a picture you need to think about the layers, the foreground, the focussed areas and the background: will the aperture you are using give you enough depth for the subject and at the same time allow you to soften the fore and background? If you are shooting with toy cameras you often don't have the luxury of choice but you can still be aware of what will happen and choose the angles to put interesting stuff in the out of focus areas.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfky58b2nypqQCyd-h5eh3x8Lg0fcEyFLBoUzOWg6iiuPImkzoaZXT6yhtFIJcHzgy93Vw2evaCTxV0KEOuL5zwAFvHCC_gk6oYwxeRU0w7U8uBiLy4YyQ7bvL0wg9v0WFFovsCLZ9mn0/s1600/Holga35bc-Pylon8-blog.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 215px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfky58b2nypqQCyd-h5eh3x8Lg0fcEyFLBoUzOWg6iiuPImkzoaZXT6yhtFIJcHzgy93Vw2evaCTxV0KEOuL5zwAFvHCC_gk6oYwxeRU0w7U8uBiLy4YyQ7bvL0wg9v0WFFovsCLZ9mn0/s320/Holga35bc-Pylon8-blog.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5497050210336684818" /></a>In my Pylon picture I would have liked to get the wires themselves slightly further out of focus but here the softness gives height to the pylon where sharp wires would have created confusion - did I get away with it? Just, I think.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is one of the most fundamental skills to learn as a photographer, knowing - preferably instinctively - how much to get sharp and always looking at what is going on in the background so that you can accommodate it into your picture - or avoid it.</div><div><br /></div><div>Photography, for me, is exciting because of the things you can do with it that are not normally visible, and the juxtaposition of sharp and blurred is among the most thrilling.</div><div><br /></div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJJe_ElQKQNrmzIOtuGiqey5Z33R2x7otfrRHH0meT1UW-Y4va-5As8gasjDqVlRbsiyCvUxfk2U8y_evvLrzrZ0MUbpDdB15X4kwKXiv-6lp6WGDIsMsrbfaerOhm9nRCbJ79FIx3bLk/s320/Jean-Marsh-by-Brain-Shuel-blog.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5497050197922201938" /><div>This final picture is not one of mine, it couldn't be since it was shot in the very early '60's, around when I was born. It is a portrait of actress Jean Marsh taken by my father Brian Shuel. I knew as soon as I decided the subject for this blog that this picture should be included to illustrate what I mean. If the tree were either sharp or not there the picture would be the poorer for it. I really love this picture and I'm grateful to my dad for letting me use it.</div><div><br /></div><div>When you are taking pictures look at everything, and let you mind focus as well as your camera, not only on the subject but also on the picture that the subject will become...</div>Minute Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07976087943332121750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6925336070951445611.post-77894947602530236412010-07-18T15:54:00.004+01:002010-07-18T17:17:28.377+01:00Playing at Being a Photographer...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio_gjj-P5sJWgOlARLZkd-GublAd5so45toQOEclg6h6UAfIzde0n640QBhEdQEgysjhjgr_X5-Z4YsRamP8KNsfS9KRbjcRuH0fUlISAnTCgDfFXtuBBP6Pq3XlYmhWJhLiDY1JSg06I/s1600/printing4.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio_gjj-P5sJWgOlARLZkd-GublAd5so45toQOEclg6h6UAfIzde0n640QBhEdQEgysjhjgr_X5-Z4YsRamP8KNsfS9KRbjcRuH0fUlISAnTCgDfFXtuBBP6Pq3XlYmhWJhLiDY1JSg06I/s320/printing4.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5495259963734025314" /></a>I bang on in my blog about learning the fundamentals of photography from using basic equipment and materials because I think it is the best way to learn. However, I know that for most people the film and Holga concept is a bit of fun that they will dabble with from time to time (if at all) so I thought it would be a good idea if I were to explain why I feel it is so important.<div><br /></div><div>I am not a commercial photographer but I do have one commercial client, my lovely wife Laura. Laura is an artist, specialising in lino and woodblock printing, though she also works in vitreous enamel (<a href="http://www.lauraboswell.co.uk/">www.lauraboswell.co.uk</a>). I designed and maintain her website and also produce all the photography that illustrates it, and any other marketing images that she needs. In some ways Laura is the dream client, she does not 'art direct' me and lets me do my own thing - though sometimes I get too arty and she asks for more straightforward pictures. In other ways she is a poor client, she never pays me, she hates every portrait I have ever taken of her and she does expect me to know what she has in mind to illustrate what she is doing...</div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjECaxFk92rk92-soRbypm2JD85k4L8SFBw4BnwociqR0IYNrnhvK48M3DPJbJpfZD5W5Nyd2fGCrmMOuLhmvpgpS4e-37mg7olEQMxsTytEia_EgAV3ICjSWJFxC8k7RB0wLNXAIE2m-M/s1600/printing3.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjECaxFk92rk92-soRbypm2JD85k4L8SFBw4BnwociqR0IYNrnhvK48M3DPJbJpfZD5W5Nyd2fGCrmMOuLhmvpgpS4e-37mg7olEQMxsTytEia_EgAV3ICjSWJFxC8k7RB0wLNXAIE2m-M/s320/printing3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5495259958991935282" /></a>None of these four pictures is of Laura, they are of Rosa who works for <a href="http://www.handandeye.co.uk/">Hand and Eye Press</a>. Laura recently produced an edition of one of her prints with Hand and Eye, they are a fabulous Letterpress printer in London producing beautiful work. We both felt that this needed recording so I went along to photograph the work.</div><div><br /></div><div>These pictures were taken with an Epson RD-1, a camera I love, it has a 6 Mp sensor which produces files of a good quality, I wouldn't blow them up huge but I have yet to reach the limit. The nice thing about the RD-1 for me is that it handles very like a Leica, I had those in the past but sadly sold them. It does have automatic and I do use it but it is as near to a mechanical digital camera as you are likely to get... My own, self imposed, brief was to capture the setting, the machinery and the process in a dynamic way whilst still demonstrating just how 'hands on' the procedure is. If I had just set my camera to 'Program' I think it would have been very difficult to do this.</div><div><br /></div><div>The first picture is of Rosa mixing ink to the correct colour, this will have been hand held at a 15th or possibly a 30th, slow enough to get a little movement in the hand and with enough depth of field to show the pallette. The next picture is of one of Laura's prints being dragged into the proofing press, guided by Rosa's finger. this will have been on a table-top tripod held against the wall probably at 1/2 or 1/4 of a second. Plenty of depth of field, enough sharpness in the hand whilst the print is almost fully blurred. Picture 3 is an almost abstract motion blur of Rosa turning the handle on the press. And the final picture shows what letterpress is really all about, moveable type, set and ready to print, deliberately photographed with the aperture wide open to get minimum depth of field, drawing attention to the type in the foreground.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjRnDFKDd_eEy1nqpj7oPPqdctyprb_YMMSkBhbmaway-Sr2nEvXEYkhZyoQHcubpnokH3bqEba7gYbfUy8exZlkqyd8H2VjzHRTjqnrSFNVlWrZF9i1pckKiE1BmmFtQBSbDuGnA0MzY/s1600/printing1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjRnDFKDd_eEy1nqpj7oPPqdctyprb_YMMSkBhbmaway-Sr2nEvXEYkhZyoQHcubpnokH3bqEba7gYbfUy8exZlkqyd8H2VjzHRTjqnrSFNVlWrZF9i1pckKiE1BmmFtQBSbDuGnA0MzY/s320/printing1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5495259951449991810" /><br /></a></div><div>None of this is difficult to do, it is all basic photographic technique but if you have not had a good grounding in the fundamental 'craft' of photography it is unlikely that you would stumble on any of these pictures accidentally. Knowing what it is that the controls on your camera do - not just that they put more or less light on the film or sensor, but just what a wider aperture will achieve or how well something can be illustrated with a carefully chosen amount of motion blur - these are the things that make photography such an immensely powerful illustrative medium.</div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjRnDFKDd_eEy1nqpj7oPPqdctyprb_YMMSkBhbmaway-Sr2nEvXEYkhZyoQHcubpnokH3bqEba7gYbfUy8exZlkqyd8H2VjzHRTjqnrSFNVlWrZF9i1pckKiE1BmmFtQBSbDuGnA0MzY/s1600/printing1.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><br /></span></a><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGNiWUQx9yuHmZnn7k3vaUwJdLc0I6NwHps1ZMaqLuUIZBJIkP43-rRehux86u-dPL-WyVA-R4Rrsmcvf33Re1y0eFoS3u2PeXzhN4oa9vdEUi6WGGfoNnUuxlNvzOEXQe6zBUTULerHY/s320/printing2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5495259956535880146" />All of this can be learned from digital equipment, none of it is the exclusive domain of film, but I promote playing with film and 'toy cameras' because they force you to learn whilst most digital cameras allow you not to have to learn. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>So the crux is, what is better, living in a blissful but bland ignorance or learning through play?</b></div><div><br /></div><div>I just hope my wife doesn't catch on about my playing with my toys in the office - and make me grow up!</div>Minute Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07976087943332121750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6925336070951445611.post-38144497658292767342010-07-11T21:12:00.002+01:002010-07-11T21:48:17.342+01:00The Wasp's Nest Bloggette<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZEyIt9ur_ZLgZyL76evrWGM29ZWDrF8YU5SN54QloG5aSF_04awwQEYiPbV-7fdXfpiOr2daumJzuXb3KFGAHerfPzV42my9NoZcKl1kCFax_Wzsi3joioQBqG7U7c76WRLJOioL-764/s1600/Holga-120N-paper_wasp2_blog.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 314px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZEyIt9ur_ZLgZyL76evrWGM29ZWDrF8YU5SN54QloG5aSF_04awwQEYiPbV-7fdXfpiOr2daumJzuXb3KFGAHerfPzV42my9NoZcKl1kCFax_Wzsi3joioQBqG7U7c76WRLJOioL-764/s320/Holga-120N-paper_wasp2_blog.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5492744713408305986" /></a>I was looking for something in the attic this morning when I found what looked at first to be a screwed up tissue. What it actually was was the nest if a Paper Wasp. I believe they are made by the wasp from chewed up wood pulp but they are structures of incredible fragility and beauty. Needless to say I thought it would be interesting to try and photograph it. This time out I used a Holga 120N, the most basic camera Holga makes, a plastic lens and no flash (just £28 from <a href="http://www.Minutefilm.co.uk">Minutefilm.co.uk</a>!). <div><br /></div><div>This time out though I felt that pinpoint focussing was essential, I could not rely as I have done in the past on taking pictures of subjects that are at an angle to the lens in the sure knowledge that somewhere they will have to be sharp. No, for this I had to be able to get the focus accurate using the magnifying paperweight I used before. The nest is 36mm across, so the picture is not far from a 1:1 reproduction ratio.</div><div><br /></div><div>Using a tracing paper focus screen again I got the camera set up with the comb sharp and measured carefully, My paperweight has a focal length of exactly 80mm, you cant get a ruler in to measure because it is too long and the camera will be in the way. The way to do it is to cut a strip of card or wood to the right length. Before you load the film you check the sharpness on the focussing screen at the measuring stick distance from the subject.</div><div><br /></div><div>I think I have demonstrated here that it works, using the stick I have got the inside and the top of the nest sharp, it only needs care and enthusiasm.</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, what I cannot decide is which is better, I like them both, the first because of the way the delicate internal structure is sharp and the second because that same structure is just a soft pattern.</div><div><br /></div><div>The pictures were taken on Ilford Delta 3200, again the grain really lends itself the both the subject and the method. I'll be writing a short 'how to' guide on starting out with closeup photography to put on my website, I'm just a little concerned at the moment that the results are actually rather better than most people seem to expect from their Holgas but that is a hornets nest I'm quite happy to kick!</div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxgA-JU5m3Bx-O9aJnSO42rWmGtOiMYX0wfn0NPZAq79zmW_zft8_pfoCbqIWYJs2lok4SqZVFUvpzEaInfajiF5W2z71y1LooSxJb38dkjQkz7NHBsW3MxCNUVPZdF_iGp2iu1DeyTuU/s1600/Holga-120N-paper_wasp1_blog.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 316px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxgA-JU5m3Bx-O9aJnSO42rWmGtOiMYX0wfn0NPZAq79zmW_zft8_pfoCbqIWYJs2lok4SqZVFUvpzEaInfajiF5W2z71y1LooSxJb38dkjQkz7NHBsW3MxCNUVPZdF_iGp2iu1DeyTuU/s320/Holga-120N-paper_wasp1_blog.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5492744710093100146" /></a><br /></div>Minute Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07976087943332121750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6925336070951445611.post-50250208644892314722010-07-09T13:46:00.007+01:002010-07-09T14:55:35.702+01:00Photography as an Event<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnYks0CFe34jEIXoz8xCO0JzImA1JCT626uX7wqC4rnRf_1ITpFjOC2Ae_Bn5d7AKDV8PVPOHRgc7bLICwqMCSjQHwyVDgRUs6DRWwWHKrA2v2iO7Ihyphenhyphens9BnL9ZhIEodwOEs3fiQHI2fs/s1600/Annah_Legg_Posted.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 281px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnYks0CFe34jEIXoz8xCO0JzImA1JCT626uX7wqC4rnRf_1ITpFjOC2Ae_Bn5d7AKDV8PVPOHRgc7bLICwqMCSjQHwyVDgRUs6DRWwWHKrA2v2iO7Ihyphenhyphens9BnL9ZhIEodwOEs3fiQHI2fs/s320/Annah_Legg_Posted.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5491887449476672834" /></a>I'm sure you can imagine my delight when my son Jim shared this image with me on facebook. It was taken by a friend of his called Annah Legg, she is at the same university, the picture is of her and her flatmates at their 'digs' (over a diner where you can get obscene stacks of pancakes with bacon and maple syrup!)<div><br /></div><div>For me there is a delicious irony in the fact that this polaroid picture has been photographed with a mobile phone in order to share it with a wider audience via Facebook. If one were to be strictly logical about the situation then obviously the picture would have been taken with the mobile phone in the first place. If it had though then I for one would probably not have given it a second glance. There is something so very special about Instant Photography - Polaroid in particular - it makes an <b><i>event</i></b> out of photography.</div><div><br /></div><div>I honestly do not believe that most people would go to the trouble of setting up a photograph like this one only to take the picture with a phone - no, this required the arranging of the flatmates at their respective windows, the enlistment and briefing of a photographer (Jim tells me that it was a complete stranger who happened to be walking past! - which, if true, makes the story even better) and a clear idea of what could be expected, in short <b><i>planning.</i></b></div><div><b><i><br /></i></b></div><div>Then, when the Polaroid has been taken you have that excitement of waiting while the picture emerges from the chemical soup between the layers into some approximation of what you had hoped for. In this case I'm sure Annah and her flatmates must have been dead chuffed!</div><div><br /></div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 265px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0wtwfm52E75yJZOvFJLuDQZ8aFkxHX6ToOosVLLQzw5w8gW69fkFT_yu7vBZdwRA1T6CJfhiiUnaIK7F9RXpsRGI07R2pvDxD_MY42_amO9fl3lkHFpJc_Q_LkGl0nowd729vlombhKA/s320/Annah_Legg_Scanned.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5491894881105688610" /><div>Having seen the picture on Facebook (currently Annah's profile picture) - I got in touch with Jim and asked him if he could get the original, or a scan so I could write about it. Well there do seem to be some differences... I tried to figure out from the pictures which one was the wrong way around and which was the closest to the correct colour but in the end I felt that it didn't matter...</div><div><br /></div><div><b>It's a great picture and it celebrates the fun side of photography.</b></div><div><br /></div><div>I could have left it there, with a huge vote of thanks to Annah for agreeing to let me write this stuff about her - without discussing the circumstances with her at all so I hope the actual 'event' was not too far from what I have described... However, I thought I should have a look at her pictures on Facebook. This one was such fun I thought there might be more - and there were! plenty and of a great standard. </div><div><br /></div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 293px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4lnQ2RwVdzP16Wgqri9BdW82v1AGyJCZbUtPhg4lA8PbowglX0hlIkLLXPEH8KXteURdiY8_iwuW_qhJ8a9yLYZA5PhZNaITyaaMSaXduucLoQr521U0MJobVOmZ85VPrGUxjD20kWPw/s320/Annah_Legg_Portrait.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5491887443601080642" /><div>I chose two more, the first here because again it is a picture of a Polaroid - a very nice Polaroid. I like this on several levels, I like it because it is both a nice Polaroid picture and a nice picture of a Polaroid, in a way this makes Polaroid both the material and the subject. </div><div><br /></div><div>The last picture so beautifully illustrates another great charm of Polaroid I just couldn't resist. Four friends recording their having been together. A Polaroid taken, by the looks of it, with a great deal of hilarity and then inscribed by each of them. That is a real 'Polaroid' thing, the possession of a physical object straight away, not a list of binary code that needs to be extracted by a computer but a proper photograph.</div><div><br /></div><div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp7_g0O8qP87PI8HR7a0_X04nyqg6eJToMSum6B9P_Ebc9R_d9_tPyDcou2LQixEoz_6qEFa4p9Y7CiK2iiGgr7i3lWFNeCX0gXXpsa-wE-IOd8UDwUzLkJzCZ-3qlvzVI2ii3AySkfi8/s320/Annah_Legg_Group.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5491887436297860194" /></div><div>So, thank you Annah for so beautifully illustrating my thoughts about Polaroid, making an event out of photography and for enjoying photography with such abandon!</div><div><br /><br /></div>Minute Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07976087943332121750noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6925336070951445611.post-16908816172850862672010-07-06T16:27:00.006+01:002010-07-06T17:47:45.643+01:00Worth the Weight...<img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw8g3kFN24_Fhfmpy9JR373sJo4ZWhUpRC5F1T26zBL1TOCM3lbDXkrJw_-Q_sxzwIvnGMOloYt0DeaEoBBN5PfUEt_Zg2lp5fawg6bGuoBYoGaTBPOD5K_6NQeYPqyYN1lAwPhdENz4M/s320/Holga135bc_rose2_blog.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5490815955423271906" />As a further development of some of the ideas I have blogged about over the past few months I wanted to play a little more with close-up photography with a Holga. I have been enjoying the Holga 135BC (Black Corner) camera that I have - and which you could have too for just £40 from <a href="http://www.minutefilm.co.uk/">Minutefilm.co.uk</a>. The combination of the Holga and a fast, grainy film gives a 'feel' that I really like. Until now the lens I have been adding to the Holga to get closer has been a 'Linen Tester' a sort of folding magnifying glass much used by old fashioned graphic designers like my brother... however I found an old paperweight that had been given to me years ago and I thought I would give that a go instead. It is a lens, a 'plano convex lens' for the techies - that is a lens that has one flat side and one domed side - but it is also a piece of marketing handed out by my former employers: Hasselblad.<div><br /></div><div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 205px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh5-OvdhXJBEK99FmVVIBbyjF_5yqgZoJeZGJznj2Ut2UvG8agB2zn4SxAii-RC7DpWRBcrWHB11PITOeZEAa9BfKqx9dYka9IrXLM-1UGIfxs-2OkTk3Gb5uLu52yRMtnbH2ZEbdTAJY/s320/Hasselblad_Lens.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5490815975694870514" /><div>Its main advantage over the linen tester is that the focal length is a little longer so the close-ups are not quite so extreme. I like extreme but one can have too much of a good thing... The paperweight is also a bit bigger than the linen tester so there is no cut off (which with the linen tester slightly added to the black corner effect).</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 244px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxH-4SAp_I1_l3YcFHlKmlQ_nsRr0vCtb6XbKedeIWHQaeuZ2ytXBsn7Xn8e6mWxXWi4ROk8-Jg5KDIxgic_LpBltF_feiSJ9e5yzUbRhFfgQDKvILw8BJQ_XXuCL5cwDCE1cYYauzZpo/s320/Close_up_tools.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5490815967481413506" /><div>So, having assembled the things I needed:</div><div>Paperweight - to use as a lens.</div><div>Tracing paper to check the focus distance before loading the camera.</div><div>A roll of masking tape for attaching both the paperweight and the tracing paper.</div><div>A small piece of wood to measure the fixed focus distance during the picture taking.</div><div>A camera, a tripod and a cable release,</div><div>and of course half a brick and some more masking tape to hold the subject in place!</div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 212px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv_P27ClhwIb2cz002H2WZMYp4hgH7PiGhr58RpT8dCTZiER0YWYWZgVhVkphqSvuqVd1j0UFizE3yA5N0kk8JA8zMox1TWo8TQdQtI6hFd_caELn6GFQT70Fak30aoXg675qj8x4e4Eg/s320/Holga135bc_fern4_blog.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5490823642350062514" /><div><br /></div><div>This may all sound rather hit and miss and the first time I did it I did get it wrong more often than I got it right. However the more I play with it the more often I get something like what I expect. Really the only serious problem I have with this process is that it is not possible to frame accurately since the viewfinder bears no relationship to what the lens is pointing at so you have to do the best you can aligning things by eye.</div><div><br /></div><div>The 3 black and white pictures you see here are full frame 35mm, scanned from TMAX 3200 negatives. I have adjusted the contrast, and spotted them in Photoshop and sharpened them slightly so that they work at this size. Otherwise this is exactly what I got! </div><div><br /></div><div>Little did I suspect when I left Hasselblad that I would end up using a Hasselblad lens on my Holga! But it has been worth the 'Weight' (sorry about that one...).</div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 212px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj34BbQOb5OZnHQbUqgy8WN9OaAUcRpxyga35V1YaP8GZisVzjf1mkv3gBxkrKAFoFX2FQE1W3bFMTLi4_RDkyJvHTmE5rarudTskDKciMZUPyEe8ST8I2k0-xqGZeawSXc8kFVji_5xn4/s320/Holga135bc_fern5_blog.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5490823636273214354" /></div>Minute Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07976087943332121750noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6925336070951445611.post-76397907761659221792010-06-30T09:27:00.006+01:002010-06-30T09:56:30.083+01:00Anticipation<img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivwejt9vXuRHLni-IUu7pHEuAlePMLs14IsoDv5-o194y85KaAp-EMQkjCmnLSXxJkbcgKdhwEAWa5TJGZFvxKmBBGpnWcGofETWHfMDJ4bUHYVO_DzG-CAPXYrhGetCdy3mLlnJexpyk/s320/Iphone_mist1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488480849673120834" />There is another thing that some photographers are good at: <i>Anticipation.</i><br /><br />Knowing that something is going to happen and preparing yourself to catch it with your camera. Of course this is not always the way but for the thinking photographer there are loads of things that can be anticipated: the weather, the light, the season, things that are scheduled or as in the case of these pictures, things that naturally follow on from one another...<div><br />This is 'Mist' my son's cat, personally I believe him to be solar powered since he spends so much of his time recharging himself in sunny places.<br /><div><br /></div><div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJKGVjslfaEAjaqH8cRBUDkaLVksMCUcu0DoyLHsdyC1xSbyB-KyKxsgEme1_ujeSLskA47tAdfRpscvJysWBFgVx4UDvfD_6YS1nmpmmswY2CzQ6wbvPmiQQgyc5-v36JUiFEr9z0tkA/s320/Iphone_mist2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488480851415034674" /></div><div>He is very friendly and loves human contact but after a while he will get a little feisty. Then, if you persist he will do his utmost to disembowel your hand.</div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAUubjyMvBMd3W17g24dZ5S4FsRRi1-7vCRXNmzuu8OxsUZo3PRZSv4wT5j2LazF-v_-CWWv6fEOCIGs5pS2z97U9-8JZihURPn-qSlRnrTYdPJfYaYVrtafvBkmWoLpvDkYpHXYkuk-o/s320/Iphone_mist3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488484698412660626" /><div><br /></div><div>Without the knowledge of this sequence of predictable events it would be difficult to catch these moments. I don't profess to have taken great pictures but they illustrate a point...</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Part of being a better photographer is planning, planning what you need to take with you to ensure that you are able to get the pictures you want. Planning not just the equipment and materials but also the ideas - and I don't mean that you have to know exactly what you are going to come home with but that you should have an idea of what you hope to achieve. </div><div><br /></div><div>And finally - if you want to photograph a cat like Mist - Take plenty of Elastoplast.</div></div>Minute Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07976087943332121750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6925336070951445611.post-19786456822005668532010-06-17T11:45:00.006+01:002010-06-21T21:47:56.090+01:00My Pylon Challenge<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8UqxjinlwENJynOfjqMVZlyk-n3QzJLLYcpexd4rzh9VKA1V6hscb5FuG7Qsmjq2hlnZTqNtWesphsXkSxP20u9lzrnR56_yNXSxv-PvLX6Kjac3Gg_UP8FhIReiOHTx1pe4pknJPauo/s1600/Holga35bc-pylon05.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 210px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8UqxjinlwENJynOfjqMVZlyk-n3QzJLLYcpexd4rzh9VKA1V6hscb5FuG7Qsmjq2hlnZTqNtWesphsXkSxP20u9lzrnR56_yNXSxv-PvLX6Kjac3Gg_UP8FhIReiOHTx1pe4pknJPauo/s320/Holga35bc-pylon05.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483692137391575714" /></a>There are all sorts of reasons to do photography, it can be a record of something that has happened or a place you have been, it can show how something is done, or how it shouldn't be done. Often it is a way of capturing the essence of a person or a thing, either in isolation, or more editorially in an appropriate environment. Photography can also be an end in its own right - art? Well I wouldn't always say so but sometimes...<div><br /></div><div>I really enjoy taking pictures, I like the way that the photographic process translates the ideas I have in my head into a 2 dimensional representation. My experience helps me to exploit the medium so that the pictures I take do not look like simple records but look instead like photographs. A good friend of mine has recently taken some very interesting landscapes which contain, as a fairly major feature, electricity pylons. I really like the pictures (and hope that I will be able to show some in my Gallery soon) and in a spirit of 'homage' I though I would shoot a few pylons myself. It is absolutely clear to me that your choice of subject matter is not the important thing in photography. The important thing is the way you approach the subject. </div><div><br /></div><div>A pylon is not a beautiful thing, it is very utilitarian and usually placed in a location that would be vastly enhanced by its removal. However they do have a strange graphic interest and can, if photographed with a little imagination make very interesting pictures. These two pictures were taken using a Holga 35BC (Black Corner) camera - which I think does justice to the subject pretty well. The pylon was in a field just along the road from my house, a field inhabited by 2 young horses who seemed to have a keen interest in photography and kept nudging me while I tried to get the framing just how I wanted it. </div><div><br /></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ8cqQ7CLAUTffKwJ-XySVji10emL5mmxm63L3JdxHQmSYXjkEVsU9zHpAxU32H7W9W1jNbjDUvlnFcBEQyNrZvzyiP3cLkaSS3PyP2FiZMEWCwrVT9jMn7q-uFRPA0raR8G8LPvFpV_4/s1600/Holga35bc-pylon03.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 210px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ8cqQ7CLAUTffKwJ-XySVji10emL5mmxm63L3JdxHQmSYXjkEVsU9zHpAxU32H7W9W1jNbjDUvlnFcBEQyNrZvzyiP3cLkaSS3PyP2FiZMEWCwrVT9jMn7q-uFRPA0raR8G8LPvFpV_4/s320/Holga35bc-pylon03.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483692129519391506" /></a>There are some more of this set (including a couple featuring the horses) in the gallery on <a href="http://www.minutefilm.co.uk/gallery.html">www.minutefilm.co.uk</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>I don't have a 'thing' about pylons, I have a thing about photography, setting yourself a challenge can take you to places you might not otherwise go, to photograph things you might otherwise ignore. Whatever your challenge it is also likely to throw up additional problems that you had not envisaged - in my case a pair of inquisitive horses - it is resolving these problems and coming home with the picture 'in the can' that makes photography such a wonderful thing to be involved in.</div><div><br /></div><div>(As usual, the pictures here are 'as shot' I have used Photoshop to adjust the contrast, as I would have in the darkroom in the past, and added a little sharpening to make the pictures work at this size on screen. The vignetting is a feature of the camera and has not been altered. Shot on Lucky SHD100 135-36 and developed in Rodinal) </div>Minute Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07976087943332121750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6925336070951445611.post-8484563518268619052010-06-14T14:25:00.005+01:002010-06-14T14:55:19.312+01:00A Pic Up the Backside<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEPAOG0evbcNBH1LW0HVyyQm5A2_uB63uMQ25vyoJrZszUpDjtNYM0AE4DkF8_whT21v-7NmfjVICKzlwFvrBfNXuFM0lVvUocNjMN2VUihKlYANGP1l_Ltr5Th4dOYTTHG9DAgcddD2k/s1600/Curry.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 288px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEPAOG0evbcNBH1LW0HVyyQm5A2_uB63uMQ25vyoJrZszUpDjtNYM0AE4DkF8_whT21v-7NmfjVICKzlwFvrBfNXuFM0lVvUocNjMN2VUihKlYANGP1l_Ltr5Th4dOYTTHG9DAgcddD2k/s320/Curry.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482620113127944722" /></a>I try not to repeat myself too much in my blog but the post this morning brought me two unsolicited pieces of mail that made me so mad I couldn't resist. <div><br /></div><div>Along the lines of my blog "Fauxlaroid" a few weeks back regarding the enduring charm of the format of a polaroid print, the post contained two examples that show how badly the format can be misused. </div><div><br /></div><div>The first is for a curry by phone service based not far from where I live, 'Dial-a-Curry' offer the opportunity to 'supercharge your tastebuds' - a great pity then that the designer of their leaflet should have had so little taste... Maybe he had had a few too many Cobra Beers! The 6 'fauxlaroids' seem to have several different formats, in some the chemical pouch is bigger than others and on one seems not to be square. Given that there is such a wide precedent for this use of images I really think that designers could do better...<div><br /></div><div>However, the next one really takes the biscuit! This is a page out of the Aylesbury Vale and County Times, a free info magazine distributed to residents of Aylesbury Vale. In this issue there is a touching piece about a group of young people with special needs being taken on a trip to Finland - to an outdoor activity centre. The piece is wonderfully upbeat about the achievements of the participants. Shame about the achievement of the designer then - The pictures used to illustrate the article are a montage of three photos taken during the stay - overlaid on a scan of the <b><i>back</i></b> of an SX70 print! Where the black square would be! Not even centered! Oh dear, I think the designer has given himself a pic up the backside... <br /><div><br /></div><div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 278px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-5_etetwGC1jtTK8bPawYrDFob8IEN-q6V32v34Preq39SshgoWome-L36rJerdYufP0Qfg9_iPGPdlZfKV0EZ2grJPR74wIyfNbwzUyE5m4YVrk_SeEWES5OJeijrH-Mc0O-WGWl23g/s320/AVDC.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482620114033633362" /></div></div></div>Minute Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07976087943332121750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6925336070951445611.post-89834650695354785822010-06-08T12:14:00.008+01:002010-06-08T14:59:26.756+01:00Slow Photography<img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 189px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBLB0K8X_9GntmRQJA46z-bXVc4EOG5NIVhYIlhsBwWIFHtEBD0P-lwhQn1pR1eJvBHHoWt0yoCmJTTSyD_WpbP_f_TU-E_pYUsFxwHOvqWVk4Jabs83qIPF8gbhwEsgDmxArGyPdps90/s320/MK-Cows2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5480360268668897890" />I cannot claim to have thought of this first because a quick 'Google' comes up with other mentions but I did arrive at this idea independently... What we need is a 'Slow Photography' movement. <div><br /></div><div>To be pedantic, the 'Slow Food' movement, which prompted this idea, derives its name from the fast food industry and photography doesn't have a 'fast' - what it does have though is an 'unthinking'... </div><div><br /></div><div>QED - we need a <b><i>'Thinking Photography' </i></b>movement.</div><div><br /></div><div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 285px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGllkfDD1ifWzm3AnNkqdnZAd4bagP2n2HlSQHiTbYm1Cbdtog2oZQgzXW34SGiXlEiwYHww1N21-0pbeLTftxARhenUXoG8UBAnRSXka43WiwL4xf2t0MtjWGKw-aPQ3jTucwN1cGHHo/s320/ZI6x1205Windmill6.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5480389244164358434" /></div><div>What I am getting at is to do with having more involvement in the results of your photography, right from the start, from when you choose your camera, your film (or ISO speed - because this goes for digital photography too) and the focal length of lens before you take a picture, choosing an aperture and speed during the picture taking and deciding how best to process and present the pictures you have taken.</div><br /><div>The more you do this the easier it becomes and the more instinctive. It does not necessarily mean that taking pictures takes a long time, but each time you stop to think about what your photographic choices are you significantly increase the chances of getting the picture that you thought you would.</div><div><br /></div><div>Of course 'slow photography' means other things too, these pictures were all taken with pinhole cameras, the first two with a 6x12 Zero Image camera, a beautiful wooden camera with brass fittings from a range available from my website <a href="http://www.minutefilm.co.uk/">www.minutefilm.co.uk</a> the other two were taken with a Holga 6x12 Wide Pinhole, a less beautiful but still very effective camera; also available from Minutefilm. Pinhole photography slows you down in several ways:<br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><br /></span></div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 172px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHK_xizrvqshRGtyX-8wD1liLUWY9Fg1LZ3yMyO9rhaztnT3tW29oMRsjWNHZ9pwo03nL0cLuCNVAA3iDaEAcY3Jf4eQ4dLen9gpqt9tOQZc-ZVm-BLvhqsWEm7e6e7o_73I9p3idhbx0/s320/Holga120wpc_hedge.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5480392329861876258" /><div>It takes time to calculate the exposure</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><br /></span>The exposures take time...<br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><br /></span></div><div>You have to carry a tripod and set the camera up carefully<br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><br /></span></div><div>Framing takes longer because you don't have a viewfinder<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFya46n4ZMp0KSijEhfvhNXUYdagIcZRBTDvZVlR8jz2nIX8i1-I_qO1HQlV5MfF7qH1LEcV5RLanlmHHcBzX8M-3r5Q_9P0iDn_Ps4qVAnKLIA48WaaiwBt6wxuAZgV46eAPuYT22cCw/s1600/ZI6x1205Windmill6.jpg"></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><br /></span></div><div>Etc.etc...</div><div><br /></div><div>However, the difficulties that the process throws up are precisely what make pinhole photography such fun (that and the eerie look of all that depth of field). There is another thing though, pinhole photography highlights an important photographic truth, which is that with photography you do not capture an instant on film, you capture a period. Manipulating the period is one of the most powerful choices available for anyone engaged in <b><i>'Thinking Photography'</i></b></div>Minute Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07976087943332121750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6925336070951445611.post-23885754588585109492010-05-18T11:58:00.006+01:002010-05-18T12:08:54.747+01:00Against The Grain<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5PzxjkZisqYM1gWZehsZqhmZncuCRMp4X6uvffUGei7HokjYtpYh1BZierrh2w5_LxjIjeUwQ4HiCWOd2TDS5Z8c6hZ6W1wGk-WpgayxQUpVAgfFCbBAuGk_sJigU7K4RJeRMLr1nVdc/s1600/holga35bcHosta2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5PzxjkZisqYM1gWZehsZqhmZncuCRMp4X6uvffUGei7HokjYtpYh1BZierrh2w5_LxjIjeUwQ4HiCWOd2TDS5Z8c6hZ6W1wGk-WpgayxQUpVAgfFCbBAuGk_sJigU7K4RJeRMLr1nVdc/s320/holga35bcHosta2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472563291529841490" /></a><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">I have never been one to conform to any particular fashion, I like to mix things up: a pair of polished brown 'oxfords', jeans and an Oswald Boateng suit jacket; an old triathlon T-shirt under a cardigan with a pair of chinos... There is a constant though, I like quality. That does not mean expensive, it just means 'right' : the right materials, the right cut and the right colour. It simply goes against the grain for me to wear something that I do not feel reflects who I am. Photography is the same, it does not matter what the technique is, what the equipment is or what the materials are - if they are the right technique, equipment and materials for the job in hand.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Over the years the big film manufacturers have launched many new types of film, there are even now new products appearing (though not nearly as fast as others are disappearing). Almost every time over the last 28 years that one of these announcements has been made, the phrase 'new finer grain' (or some variation of it) has been included in the marketing - and each time my heart sinks... What is wrong with grain? It is the stuff of photography in the most fundamental way. Grain is what we expose, it is the magic stuff that captures the picture that we have imagined - we hope. I always longed for the time when one of the big film companies would say "we have developed a new film that has a coarser grain structure but is just looks really good so we decided we would put it into production anyway" </p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Interestingly there was not universal acceptance of their 'progress', many of the old favorites endured despite new films coming out just because people liked the way that they looked in the final result. TriX and HP5 are still popular despite the availability of TMAX400 and Delta 400. Ektachrome 64 lasted for many years after Ektachrome 100 and Ektachrome 100 plus came out. That does not mean that the new films were not better, they were just different and change is not always what people want.</p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 226px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXnhFu9lyzX6cXoclbNaTguJ1WAYYgb2o8ymrot4ymr9kcvsPl_lve2nAsKBLkDJrBM8gcVJYo6yevF6pNNI6W5AXQy-93IyvzlXi603tA89a6mwRKOmSDpjqO18F-TM30lUjqegnyp3I/s320/holga35bcTulip2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472563289722453026" /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Now of course grain is disappearing for another reason. Digital photography does not have 'grain' it has two other things: pixels and noise. Pixels are not like grain in that they have symmetry, once they are big enough to see there is no escaping from them, their ordered rows become dominant until you 'process' them away. Noise is much more like grain, it is irregular and it increases as the light levels decrease but it is not as pretty as grain. No, for digital grain you need to launch Photoshop, to deliberately degrade your image with a layer or a filter to give the 'simulation' of grain. That, for me at least, goes against the grain.</p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">These pictures here are totally genuine. I have used photoshop to adjust the colour slightly, the contrast slightly and the sharpness because if you don't they loose what they had in the original. I also 'spotted' them because my scanner gives me very spotty results. The grain though is Kodak Portra 800 35mm, shot with a Holga 35BC camera and processed by www.wedevelopfilm.co.uk. I cannot deny that when I looked at them I was both delighted and rather surprised at how well they had come out. </p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><br /></p><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 198px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTF5I1cDcLoN4vT_3OX28slgPKlSy5SbYS4VYrfCbEXBNjCCt-ba1EJGWBprH9q5khlgo8f0kWyHTh091TrfvfvdIu8IoJtN4PwurnoSs25IG4WS962jUBJ3CSre_-VbNRchp7ydFv0Ag/s320/Holga35bc051.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472563285830217890" /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Grain is the</p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">photo- grapher's friend. particularly when the subject is abstract, I have always felt that a photograph needs something sharp in it, this does not have to be the whole image but the eye needs something to latch onto before the brain can say "hmm that's a nice picture..." But just once in a while the sharp thing can be the grain itself, it takes a little bravery to show someone a picture that is not sharp but if you get it right there's no need to feel that it goes against the grain...</p>Minute Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07976087943332121750noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6925336070951445611.post-20625808272746046662010-05-09T16:04:00.011+01:002010-05-09T16:22:04.043+01:00Fauxlaroid<img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 160px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_m0zfm3B478P0CrmRTgw9syNKiKHoK10nZq1qPvX5x12_-nKSJhYsS_1Gs2daYc_GwcAqQzMfqHUJjChYGwD5O8WWN2KX38e0NaDFpa3QMgYmOrS5b4gn0pvCOBih-LjKRFOHiQ3Hhlc/s320/BloodDonors.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469287023747405218" /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">I have been surrounded by polaroid pictures for many years, having sold both cameras and film since the early 80's. The 'Polaroid look', three narrow edges and a broad bottom as a frame around a square picture has become an icon of the times, instantly (pun intended) recognisable to everyone. It is only recently however that I have started to really take notice of this in advertising. In just a few weeks and without any effort I have seen a poster on the back of a bus advertising a recruitment agency, this leaflet from the Blood Donor Service and a bit of marketing on the back of the food we buy for my cat (of whom we will see more later).</p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">I confess to having made my own 'fauxlaroids', images cropped into a frame in Photoshop, mine were required for the layout of my website which needed to have a polaroid angle to it.</p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">It is clear that there is an enduring affection for this layout, it cleverly gives the designer added freedom to tilt images, to put captions on the white border, to stack them on the page, even to graphically 'paperclip' or 'staple' them to the page, overlaying all the other design elements. </p><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 293px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJI3MGqLTMg9ohNs5AestoVKI1mt3u8g8emojtjnmhC2VV4VVQuFivTsp3eKPaR4boF049Xi1P9q5xYBEUYhKrC9oyn-JJBE1kLPLwbQbRE9Oh7V2z0eosq78jF5J0QqADs2X7Hm4DoxI/s320/Iams_pack.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469289817696534658" /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">It certainly makes for an eye-catching spread. I'm not entirely happy though, this is graphic design and it really shouldn't be confused with photography, I certainly didn't intend that when I designed my homepage, that was design. </p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Try Googling 'polaroid frames' however and you will see that the idea of putting digital images into polaroid frames returns 235,000 images. These range from simple SX70 style frames (with or without coffee stains) to the most elaborate and in my view hideous montages.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 306px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihy2tus3qTbKyTCa0ALMTqgk1D_EZlURE-aXNsUiSTR_TWd9yzp0V6J_srCy3O27b8lY6NF7pqa7DNj92FvE5XBSqTGQWQi6fwNGWkSRGmUBCm7bqKuNR3ubtrfm-fuujIMb8ka9gQz7Y/s320/Polaroid-frames.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469288271910324290" /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">My two favorites (I am joking) are one that is made up of about 15 polaroid frames scattered over a page with a black background, each frame has a transparent square where the picture would be and you overlay this over a single image! It just looks silly!!! From the same source </p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">'Vintage Effect' stacked SX70 shaped frames with deckle edges (the rough edges you get from handmade paper) and sepia toned pictures. </p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Those of you who have been reading my blog will know that I am no great fan of this sort of 'creativity' involving Photoshop. Photoshop is a fabulous programme in the hands of a commercial retoucher but for a photographer it is for sorting out colour, sharpening cropping and exposure, the fact that it can do all those other things does not mean you have to!!!</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Anyway, back to 'Fauxlaroids' - but now a completely different interpretation of the word. I am finally selling Impossible Project's new PX100 and PX600 films from my website: www.minutefilm.co.uk. These seem to be universally referred to as the "new polaroid films" but they are so much more. PX100 fits in SX70 cameras and PX600 fits into Type 600 cameras. They are both black and white and require a little care in use but the results are really interesting, I have only taken a few pictures so far but I am liking what I see, this one is my son's cat. </p><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 270px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkeq34uIsKjPQNAEQfwUwEP9WIsJreTIewYpqu044PQR7wFCJGxUh9zD9SzsMdqS2LS6la1mzuY6-blK3lMHuIroY730nhMpXpy56BQ-O-X9063Q3yEbIVo4x1mxdkok27yMoqtbl6Xpw/s320/PX600Mist.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469287032806558642" /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">I'm not sure that 'fauxlaroid' is right for these though, in the past they were Polaroids - made by Polaroid so should they now be Impossiblaroids...</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Minute Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07976087943332121750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6925336070951445611.post-91297353234033811792010-04-12T11:57:00.014+01:002010-04-12T13:38:18.140+01:00When Photography Goes Bad<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvy3vwV3mL-A7QXyYfe1yAx9kwjrV_-OIMVW39DwPjicn9yzPpSaXyqY4f4S97cOfdIPrXFOdFIvmV4EISBbTF7y0uYC83c1wrS_A1y4tNQr9Rktk0G29jIHpig2Qp0oF2Qwkx7WAjo34/s1600/holga-pan-120full.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 420px; height: 241px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvy3vwV3mL-A7QXyYfe1yAx9kwjrV_-OIMVW39DwPjicn9yzPpSaXyqY4f4S97cOfdIPrXFOdFIvmV4EISBbTF7y0uYC83c1wrS_A1y4tNQr9Rktk0G29jIHpig2Qp0oF2Qwkx7WAjo34/s320/holga-pan-120full.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459205224114878386" /></a>Throughout my career in the photographic industry I have found a particular satisfaction in solving problems. Sometimes the problems are mine and sometimes they have been my customer's but looking at the photographic evidence and trying to figure out what went wrong has been a recurrent past-time that I thoroughly enjoy. <div><br /></div><div>I went out the other day to take some pictures with my Holga 120 Wide Pinhole in Milton Keynes, I had hoped to capture some interesting views of the Snowzone, a building that dominates the skyline in MK. I did not quite get what I wanted. The snowzone is really too long and low and I just couldn't frame it right in the format. I did get a couple of pictures of the Station though that I really liked, these will be on the gallery of <a href="http://www.minutefilm.co.uk/">Minutefilm.co.uk</a> shortly. What I got of the Snowzone though was this picture. Something had gone wrong. Time to get out my 'Deer Stalker' hat and my 'Calabash' pipe', set aside the opium and the violin and see if I could find a logical explanation for the problems I was confronted with. </div><div><br /></div><div>There are numerous things going on in the image but the 5 most obvious are:</div><div><ol><li>Vertical banding of slightly different exposure.</li><li>A corner of a completely different picture.</li><li>A white crescent.</li><li>Completely out of focus areas (with pin hole this should be impossible...)</li><li>Appalling scratching of the film.</li></ol><br /><div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 183px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqZ_tWaS8VPwAlZy_n1AU0eFoLyxWpP3Z7E2RtqrmpsLbqtBTNe6wxqzPeYXPfgSN771PIJ06VXrUGyXik2UnPGxgoze0tp9geJ3tDS_Bp-mt0_eBzYzGG_oSLY4HsMM8PQNDT16Yip8M/s320/holga-pan-120numbered.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459205327825939890" /></div><div>Actually I know what happened but even knowing, I don't understand quite how all of these things were captured on film. I had my first ever dodgy roll of 120 film. When I was processing it I found that the film was folded and it had torn while I was winding on after the first frame. I think that there was a loop of film forward of the focal plane and I captured this exposure on that loop. </div><div><br /></div><div>(1. I don't know how this happened... 2. This was where the torn piece of film would have been and I guess that it's from the previous exposure. 3. this kind of crescent is caused when the film gets kinked, in this case before it was processed. 4. This is what I want to find out about, it should not be this out of focus. 5. the extra thicknes due to the folded film caused the additional scratching.)</div><div><br /></div><div>In the end though what I am most interested in is wether it is possible to recreate the rather dreamy quality of the in and out of focus areas which I had thought impossible with pin hole photography. I will have to experiment some more to see if I can get it again or wether I will have to wait for my next dodgy roll of 120 - how long might that take?</div></div>Minute Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07976087943332121750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6925336070951445611.post-69413046789619355662010-03-27T16:24:00.004+00:002010-03-27T17:40:55.791+00:00Gerontolepsy<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYcewCyHP6tuKLwzUBIV5jllEug77Wm7HdNjKI14sYNZV3G1CrqQY5o0K66pajqucMDb6W3cgIPQdRvPGveEVgQyJ-F50dww6J12rUnCl4TGike5nnToy-HNZk-TLyc4f_ZMArpraMhKQ/s1600/jim_pola010.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYcewCyHP6tuKLwzUBIV5jllEug77Wm7HdNjKI14sYNZV3G1CrqQY5o0K66pajqucMDb6W3cgIPQdRvPGveEVgQyJ-F50dww6J12rUnCl4TGike5nnToy-HNZk-TLyc4f_ZMArpraMhKQ/s320/jim_pola010.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453350522189853986" /></a><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">For a long time I have wanted to launch a new word on the unsuspecting public. It is not a word I invented myself, I think that honour was Jim's, though I was instrumental in coining it the word is GERONTOLEPSY. It comes from 'geronto' meaning old age - from the greek... and '-lepsy' meaning seizure. In essence it is another way of describing a 'senior moment' - a fit of being old...</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Jim is responsible also, for my thinking of this now: A week or two back it was my father's birthday and I stayed with him and my mother for the night, we went for dinner at an excellent fish and chip shop. Knowing that I was with my dad, my son Jim called me, on my iPhone, late in the evening to wish his grandfather a happy birthday. I handed the phone to my dad, telling him it was his grandson . He held the phone at arms length looking at it with complete incomprehension - why was I telling him that this elegant piece of consumer electronics was in fact his grandson? I prompted him "dad, you put it by your ear, like a telephone" The moment passed but gave us all, including dad a real belly laugh.</p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><i>The Polaroid here is of Jim, rather younger than he is now, though even then there was a connection with telephones - I found this in a file of old family pictures.</i></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Technology is fascinating, it imposes itself on us in so many ways. My dad is not a technophobe, he is however very good at selecting which pieces of technology he will allow to be imposed on him. Brian has spent his entire working life immersed in photography, both as a photographer and running a picture library. He has a marvelous eye which I have tried to emulate in my own picture taking. He is also a fine black and white printer though now the darkroom has been dismantled to make room for more computers. What has interested me though is to look at the way that he uses Photoshop. Watching him at his screen with one of his own pictures my dad uses Photoshop like an extension of his darkroom. He adjusts contrast - as he would have selected the most appropriate grade of paper. He slightly lightens or darkens selected areas as he would have dodged or burned. He adjusts the exposure a little, and he cleans up dust spots as he would have spotted prints with a sable brush in the past.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 215px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6zu6LaqmvPqi18xj69rJDIPipXvsMdTtW6KCBzUd45LJn01R894DB_pU8KwPaH3C3ItNiPpMxWMMSaEgSQkGWcY1H4lK5zR4BWKBNKjxLNdkWSIk7Ty5X_uWRYiNIo2aGyKAsjz7dHp4/s320/simon_by_brian012.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453350714170088002" /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">I find it so refreshing to see such an immensely complicated computer programme used like this. though I cannot deny that it is more costly than even the most beautiful sable spotting brush. What I like though is that my dad knows what a good picture is, he captured it in camera and the negative sits in a file waiting for a time in the future when it might interest someone to have a look. It is his experience as a photographer that made it a good picture and not clever post processing. The experience he has was gained through taking pictures and processing them and printing them without the safety net of knowing that he could create a montage of the good bits of twenty images if he needed to in Photoshop. </p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><i>The black and white picture is of my brother, Simon and our whippet Tulip, taken by my dad in 1969 (</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:'Franklin Gothic Book', serif;font-size:13px;"><i>© Brian Shuel 1969)</i></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Lets not embrace technology before we have decided what we want it to do for us, do what my dad does, when you have to achieve something use the technology that will get you there. If the technology decides what you are going to be able to do I think it will often be the technology that should take the credit for the result.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><b>Sometimes gerontolepsy is a fit of being wise...</b></p>Minute Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07976087943332121750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6925336070951445611.post-59321096911487364402010-03-11T16:58:00.006+00:002010-03-11T17:37:18.445+00:00Focus<img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 311px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZl1CRfY9FGKP0sTkqmSC8IVR1ePzq3dmHlpZ4QilLPpAlMMXA3PWOrI5bSFblDZoCzIXBarwdMxkh45qpSsx3UYfXe_9y1uO-r3TK3Wdh4T5o9O-_efFKWcNs6sXJaLQZOYG-Jq5SejU/s320/image_becca_panda.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447421827284316098" />In the context of photography 'focus' is a very broad word. I have just spent the last 4 days at a trade fair called Focus on Imaging - known to all as Focus. It is a great place for people like me, who have been in the industry for a long time to meet up with friends. it is also a great place to go if you are a photographer of any level to learn what is new (sometimes the two get horribly in the way of one another!). What I learned over these last few days though is that the 'focus' is very much on the hardware and the software of a digital industry; with the exception of the press, the trade organisations and the schools there was little focus on photography.<div><br /></div><div>I think that the focus should be on learning the skills of taking pictures with your head and your heart instead of with a camera that requires in many cases no more involvement from the 'photographer' than that of aiming. I am delighted to say that in discussing this with visitors to the show I found that I was not alone in feeling this way and hopefully I will have plenty of opportunity to expand on this in the future.</div><div><br /></div><div>The pictures in this weeks blog have little to do with the subject except that they were taken at Focus... The panda faced girl is Becca, author of the brilliant sunset pictures I blogged about a few weeks ago. Becca is a friend of my son's and came to have a look around the show. </div><div><br /></div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 314px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMSm3buKLm6Cf5_XnQuOiEW6G9O6MF6CN-E6UgFQQow0q21To7NqNvjtlJ-sCn5qxrA2r1rAi4m1S1-KNWVwUbKHlsXmELfYNRxwKP5r_DJf1Tvckef99OBpGhlFZR52P01dwPmVbTnyc/s320/image_glasses.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447422025914022818" /><div>The fellow in the glasses is here for no better reason than that he had the best suited pair of glasses I have seen for ages. they were the perfect match for his face! He is (or was?) a student at University of East London. I hope to be doing something with his Tutor, Ralph who I have known for nearly 30 years!</div><div><br /></div><div>The final picture - well, I have seen pictures like this passed off as art - very conceptual... it was taken by my lovely wife who is indeed an artist but the truth is that the focus of this particular picture was a failure to find the correct button to press to close the camera.</div><div><br /></div><div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVh2odMZA47_JpkSRQVLHhFKBO_N574EbWQz1kIjUuH9KwC9omPsw9fkcLqxUc1HPjiMAqC8Vh7PLAaFoOQsPVFdFcv7o9xJHTDV_IM0ne7MijRcsoCGiqzw1iS7CScJXbQWUAdOpPDOc/s1600-h/Image_Conceptual.jpg"><img style="text-align: center;float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 320px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVh2odMZA47_JpkSRQVLHhFKBO_N574EbWQz1kIjUuH9KwC9omPsw9fkcLqxUc1HPjiMAqC8Vh7PLAaFoOQsPVFdFcv7o9xJHTDV_IM0ne7MijRcsoCGiqzw1iS7CScJXbQWUAdOpPDOc/s320/Image_Conceptual.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447421921638643682" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></div></div>Minute Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07976087943332121750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6925336070951445611.post-34544182284321292202010-02-26T16:17:00.003+00:002010-02-26T17:25:24.902+00:00The Linen Test<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhroewBHmwlfPYLbhoufhHvUkEcKwxW7yrGMlcZcVfzzktRoEwFAhcVRuLsukaKsWhBmzPLm4pXwgC1XqaqwGvICCr6TYBEYTz3hyXafwhBiSCLBZnAhYEF3A9dYMy4oJtM3t2uimgytP8/s1600-h/snowdrops_4.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 315px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhroewBHmwlfPYLbhoufhHvUkEcKwxW7yrGMlcZcVfzzktRoEwFAhcVRuLsukaKsWhBmzPLm4pXwgC1XqaqwGvICCr6TYBEYTz3hyXafwhBiSCLBZnAhYEF3A9dYMy4oJtM3t2uimgytP8/s320/snowdrops_4.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442588253876973698" /></a>I have always rather enjoyed closeup photography, I like the fact that you see things that you might otherwise not see and I especially like the shallow depth of focus. Well, our garden is just coming to life and as ever the first sentinel is a fine crop of snowdrops. Could a Holga 120 be used for this kind of challenge? I set out yesterday to find out and I discovered that it can!<div><br /></div><div>The two big problems that arise are how do you get close enough to take a meaningful picture and how do you know that it is going to be in focus? For the first, essentially all you need to do is find a magnifying glass that will get your eyes to about the magnification that you are hoping to get - and then figure out a way of attaching it to the front of your Holga. In my case the answer was a linen tester, one of those natty little folding magnifiers, it is slightly too small but unless you know that you wouldn't notice in the pictures. Attachment was a very technical affair, consisting of two small squares of masking tape - the professional photographer's solution to fixing anything - unless its weight requires Gaffa tape.</div><div><br /></div><div>So now I have a functioning closeup camera capable of focussing - close... just how close though was a mystery. In order to see how close I could have resorted to mathematics, or trial and error but I suspect that I would have given up long before I had worked it out either way. No, what I needed was a focussing screen. Holga, in their wisdom actually supply the main component of the focussing screen with the 120 camera, they supply a 6x6 mask and a 6x4.5 mask. The application of a sheet of tracing paper to the back of the spare frame completes the screen. Fitting it and opening the shutter on 'B' gives you a dim but useable view of the scene and you are ready to get measuring. </div><div><br /></div><div>I am not going to pretend that this is an accurate closeup camera but for a Holga enthusiast this will not be either news - or a problem, it is the essence of the challenge and great fun.</div><div><br /></div><div>The linen tester gave me a focus point at about 3cm in front of the lens. It was a good job that my intention was 'arty' rather than super sharp, at these sort of distances a movement of a couple of millimeters equates to sharp or soft, however sharp was not the plan so I thought I'd just have a go and see what I got.</div><div><br /></div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 311px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWvHf3SSFz2mTAK02oRfZwn2OjZzbYABkhmBTlCfLdxHK3UKy5JkGY72LNfzP0LFggbdorYIPUqGIt00oZedwvCQVzny2NotdeUeoPVTwIyb4awYmPo7jrZ5mNj-TiW2ptSsQiFBxMWeI/s320/Image_holga120_CU_Mod_Blog.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442600445059637122" /><div>I did use a tripod, exposures metered at about half a second which I did by guesswork on 'B' setting. I shot off a roll of Lucky 100 120 and processed it as I did last time, using my fleece changing bag and one of the resulting pictures is above. I did clean the pictures in Photoshop, the inevitable scratches did nothing for this subject but otherwise they are pretty much as scanned.</div><div><br /></div><div>This Polaroid shows the linen tester taped to the camera and also the focussing screen.</div><div><br /></div><div>There are 4 other pictures in the Gallery at <a href="http://www.minutefilm.co.uk/gallery.html">www.minutefilm.co.uk</a> along with other pictures, both Polaroid and Holga.</div><div><br /></div><div>They are also on my <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/minutefilm/217800504843">Facebook pages</a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Minute Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07976087943332121750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6925336070951445611.post-22918530984478256562010-02-24T15:18:00.005+00:002010-02-25T14:29:34.229+00:00The Cutting Edge<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7aftwJCKc4j7Cwr0ReHnEIu8CPBUhX1OVncAgzpPymwZDsKRyz3fDHuXqpIGVS7jw5YTXZLd6mYhz0g_O9dVxOtwvtYASmc0NyvosLRpTp5vN76A56eBb3l6y9I9UyGBn0Iwf_WlJzrI/s1600-h/Holga120_laura_cutting_blog.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 306px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7aftwJCKc4j7Cwr0ReHnEIu8CPBUhX1OVncAgzpPymwZDsKRyz3fDHuXqpIGVS7jw5YTXZLd6mYhz0g_O9dVxOtwvtYASmc0NyvosLRpTp5vN76A56eBb3l6y9I9UyGBn0Iwf_WlJzrI/s320/Holga120_laura_cutting_blog.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5441830802892376002" /></a>Technology is a wonderful thing, I have always thought so, but it does not always need to be new. I was amused to see on the side of a roll of cling film that it had cutting edge technology, here though they meant that they had applied technology to the business of attaching a cutting edge to the box. My lovely and accomplished wife (pictured here, photographed with a Holga 120), who is an artist, working in linocut and woodblock printing has an entirely different take of 'cutting edge' technology that mainly revolves around beautifully made, razor sharp steel cutting tools.<div><br /></div><div>I started thinking about this though because it seems to me that we are constantly told that things are better because of technology and often this is true, however sometimes technology merely makes things easier and easier does not necessarily equate to better.</div><div><br /></div><div>I could pick up a modern camera and pretty much guarantee that I would be able to get sharp and correctly exposed images with a fairly accurate colour balance. What I might find harder would be to make the images reflect my own personality. Shooting without the technology is more challenging but the effort you put in is repaid because the pictures reflect what you have had to do.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm not a technophobe though; I just like to be involved with the process. I find that much of the technology we are presented with removes our involvement because it does the 'work' for us. We should think about the motives of high-tech companies and see who really benefits from their 'cutting edge technology' because I don't necessarily think it is the aesthetic quality of the pictures.</div><div><br /></div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT3zdHpvQgxrebXQ9M1XmeCkcQpz0__MR_05TepjulAv0OehldD7b9fkFc1bJuSOAYFguJQhHPlbeGIicpGU35-G-a9TZg38q9rUTM8HMFisKLbHhyphenhyphenR7N9v_1xnXEJy5W25SWcIneBhZc/s320/Bus_window.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442180259146837442" /><div>Just to prove that I do use technology, this picture was taken with an iPhone, I love my iPhone, I use it as a weather-man, as a web browser, for e-mail, as a spirit level, a calendar, a notebook and a sat-nav, an address book, an alarm clock, a store for music and photos, and a currency converter. I have even been known to use it as a telephone! Having a camera in your pocket all the time though is one of the most interesting things about modern mobile phones. I don't think that for the majority of people is is an alternative to a camera, certainly not me, because the 'phone is with you when you would probably not have taken a camera. What it enables though is that when you see something you are not necessarily kicking yourself for not having taken a camera with you that day.</div><div><br /></div><div>This picture is invisible to the human eye, I knew it was there - through experience - but the eye sees both the foreground, the rainy window - and the background traffic, quite distinctly. Neither does the eye register the movement, generated by the joggling of the bus. I am delighted with this picture because it celebrates photography - it could have been taken digitally or analogue but it could not be anything other than a photograph. </div><div><br /></div><div>What I am really saying here is that photography is not as dependent on technology half as much as it depends on the ability of the photographer to see. The cutting edge in photography is in the photographer.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><div><br /></div></div>Minute Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07976087943332121750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6925336070951445611.post-65679069283981914442010-02-17T12:07:00.004+00:002010-02-17T17:24:06.723+00:00The Mother of Invention<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8eT9zOFxRMN8TWtryiLfUf_HaaqVQ5XdUrk6xYudiCxiFRrtH9tPGSRLG4mSgDDe8F4xbdIONvrUP2YQiGI1uhE5f6wown57FVtBaz2_-DVz18LlMVXUCugbfgKSp60l0vYq390IIyrs/s1600-h/Holga120_fern_blog.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 316px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8eT9zOFxRMN8TWtryiLfUf_HaaqVQ5XdUrk6xYudiCxiFRrtH9tPGSRLG4mSgDDe8F4xbdIONvrUP2YQiGI1uhE5f6wown57FVtBaz2_-DVz18LlMVXUCugbfgKSp60l0vYq390IIyrs/s320/Holga120_fern_blog.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439183258329942066" /></a>It must be 15 years since I last processed any film, I used to do quite a bit and had favorite ways to get what I liked. In particular Tri X developed with Rodinal which gives a grainy but very sharp result. However in the past I had the use of a well equipped darkroom courtesy of my long suffering father who made his living as a photographer and is still involved in a picture library. The darkroom though has long since morphed into a computer room, housing scanners, servers, printers and all the paraphernalia of a modern picture library. <div><br /></div><div>Selling Holga cameras gave me a reason to want to have another go. To see how easy it would be to get results without having to resort to a commercial lab (I did ask in a supermarket minilab if they processed black and white film only to be asked in return "is that digital"). </div><div><br /></div><div>So first, I needed a tank and spirals - second hand from Mr Cad for less than £16, the same sort I used to use - Patterson. Chemistry? I asked Mr Cad since they were shipping me the tank and </div><div>about 3rd in the list they reeled off was my old favorite Rodinal! I had no idea it was still available. Plus some Fix and I was all set. I had a roll of film ready to dev and no further excuse not to give it a go.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 319px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm-GGhQYGPignvMma11urE8doIeyX02InM5BlLk3J55u84HyOAKdT9sQIO9uSd4mNdaWHF2Gsi57BZrYx2xHGMi6zRmhDi5ya5LHf25ZDGQub94eCBCjkTvZa0KUSYyOyIZTyUM5N-pOM/s320/Changing-bag.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439188354593356914" />The darkest place I had to work was my office and I thought it was pretty damn dark but just to be sure I sat there for a minute or two and gradually realised that actually there was plenty of light! Even after switching off at the mains all the computers and peripherals with little LEDs on them. So dredging my memory for a solution I came up with the 'Fleece Changing Bag' A thick Fleece and a load of pegs, it worked a treat!</div><div><br /></div><div>Now I have a roll of film, loaded on a spiral, in a tank and its time to get wet! I had found all the times for the development in the internet but suddenly realised that I had no way of checking the temperature. I am rather impatient and by this time couldn't wait another day to go and get a thermometer. The medical thermometer we have only goes down to 36° - way too hot for b+w so I had to guess. I worked on the basis that a swimming pool is usually just a little over 20° and as an enthusiastic swimmer I prefer to swim in coolish water so I stuck my finger in and asked myself "would I like to swim in this?" When I felt that I would I took the plunge, metaphorically and poured the dev into the tank... Much agitation later (timed on my iPhone) and after the fixing and rinsing I removed the lid and had a look.</div><div><br /></div><div>Well, I don't think I will win any major prizes but I was pretty chuffed. With very minimal outlay and a little improvisation I now feel that I can produce photographs that I can be proud of. More importantly though, anyone could do this - nothing I did required expensive equipment or any special skills - if you discount the swimming!</div><!--StartFragment--> <!--EndFragment-->Minute Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07976087943332121750noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6925336070951445611.post-27420573767258187222010-02-11T18:37:00.007+00:002010-02-11T19:38:15.780+00:00Becca's Polaroids<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKNVIxspF_Pe4qWDbxjK6-ruayHQ-t_NfcGv71Uhs2o0fY4UYBu4cVsCRRXC8sIA_B-S-05DpkOEtGA7th6KTcjr7GwMwshrPX1e8SnziGrCOl5AND99W9K0yfr6i1ofKO4Yecqwto5fI/s1600-h/Becca_Chapman_Pola_600_blog2.jpg"><br /></a><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 263px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvN21ueJOhGzrZ_xidy6E6HHvQCavFkKyILMx7_srttmT6cA0t7rT0EsAZttN3VT_K-wkL3ndk4vfojzBItYjvPpOUudxc2_jVqo7xSyHIefbUfhlKnFEWwqfLkK9wvc7DbppfDizaKOI/s320/Becca_Chapman_Pola_600_blog2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5437057026301049650" />These two pictures were taken by Becca Chapman, she is an art student, like my son Jim (who is hiding behind his cat), though they are at different universities, they were at school together. Becca, like many of my friends and family, is very visually aware, and pictures of whatever sort are important to her, she loves Polaroid and was delighted to find that it was not going to disappear after all.<div><br /><div><div>Photography can be so many things, a record, a memory, an aspiration. It can be art and or craft, it can be exciting or calming but it nearly always means something to someone. Having a physical entity, a print makes that meaning so much more enduring.</div><div><br /></div><div>I have looked afresh at my attitude towards photography, it had become a part of 'work' for me, a part of the life I led but not something I really felt passionate about. Developing this business has made me look at it with different eyes though. Photographs exist as a part of our cultural history, a record of what makes us what we are. Not only in the sense that they record those events in our lives when traditionally the cameras come out but - to me at least as importantly - they are a record of what stimulates us visually and a snapshot of the way we interpret our surroundings.</div><div><br /></div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 265px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYPO8E9sVX_1_2683N6WuQmsCx8jgX9S9CGCdlqsrIfTDf0_QGoptbbpNPsu411lsWMCVYZ-2VFIu7-Mz8airHfA7vfVJx4Tgb7KYICqmUvwH43mbX8F0m2fWuATo35fetUXoHnRpwxQQ/s320/Becca_Chapman_Pola_600_blog.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5437057301700806994" /><div>Personally I love movement in images, a blurring that cannot be seen with the eye but is captured so excitingly with a camera and I love grain, I guess it brings me back to my favorite theme, they both have a really 'photographic' look to them. </div><div><br /></div><div>Becca's Polaroids are equally 'photographic', moments seen and captured, recorded in a way that is not reality but is an extraordinarily pleasing representation of it.</div><div><br /></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvN21ueJOhGzrZ_xidy6E6HHvQCavFkKyILMx7_srttmT6cA0t7rT0EsAZttN3VT_K-wkL3ndk4vfojzBItYjvPpOUudxc2_jVqo7xSyHIefbUfhlKnFEWwqfLkK9wvc7DbppfDizaKOI/s1600-h/Becca_Chapman_Pola_600_blog2.jpg"><br /></a><br /></div></div></div>Minute Filmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07976087943332121750noreply@blogger.com0