Projects
This is a project still ongoing if a bit slow. I use the plastic fantastic lens that Amy made for me, like a pinhole lens. Then some manipulation in Capture one and Photoshop. I hope to be using it again on the 12th July in the studio on Marie Jean Saxton model.
I have purchased an old digital camera that has had an Infrared filter added (or subtracted – I can not remember!) cheap digital camera see the full gamete of light including the infrared scale that our eyes do not see. Normally they have a dampener in the camera to ignore this, but here it has been changed to allow it. This then not only gives the old camera a new lease of life, but allows the photographer to take some weird looking stuff. I tried it in the studio to mixed results, but found it works best when shooting landscapes and vegetation. We used a local park to test it out and it turned all the trees and grass to a bright pink. I like it – I think it is interesting - and so will be doing more as and when I can. So here is a new project to show off the results as well as show some very old Infrared images taken decades before digital using the long defunct and sadly missed Kodak HIE 135-36 Hi-Speed Infrared Slide Film. Pictures taken are from locations as far apart as Cornwall and the West Coast of Scotland. I hope you enjoy this new project.
We have been busy this month with the abstract theme taking pictures of everything from Beavis and Butthead, to playing cards and Children's park swings slides and seating/There is no end of stuff to cover if you have an eye to spot it. More coming soon for this project Thanks again to Amy for her valued assistants.….
Sheffield is not somewhere that I visit very often, which is a shame as its centre has some architecture that would not look out of place in New York. Lots of flat roofs. I had cause to visit Zavod Studio in Sheffield and while waiting to gain access I was in awe of the views around me. So I took the opportunity to snap away and put them on the projects page 'Architectural Metaphor.'
There is also a solitary view of Worksop train station and an street lamp added as a random bonus thrown in.
I have not done any images for this project for a while. So here is a few taken in and out of a train journey I made to Sheffield. Snaps of the vending machine that is card only (no cash allowed !!!!) and the station its at. I have also a picture taken of a scene shot in the early hours one bank holiday Monday of a children playground, before the screaming little brats turn up.
A little Abstract to help the day go on. I captured on film forks with shadows, Amy's glasses and the inside of her Bosch washing machine ! Everyday items you might otherwise ignore (except the washing machine after all who goes around sticking their heads in one of them?). Thank you for my assistant Amy working the lighting for these captures.
Some little beauties this month for you on this project I would love to do more on given the chance. I have a confession to make … these images are not new. They were taken about twenty years ago somewhere north of Chesterfield in Derbyshire. They have been kicking around on my hard drives all this time, with me not knowing what to do with them. Well I finally put them into use and edited them. I hope it saws worth the wait.
Just a few random things I photographed this month like hard boiled eggs and a cheap Coca Cola novelty camera from America to add to the project. There is no rhyme or rhythm about doing these, they were just there and available so I snapped them. Although I do have an idea to see if I am allowed to do a few snaps of an old greasy spoon cafe in town that might be interesting. We will see. Watch this space
In a town called Rushden, there is a great shopping complex called 'Rushden Lakes.' I love going there as there is this shop called magazine heaven or something like that and its the only one in the whole of the UK. Its packed to the gunnels with magazines of all types. I normally buy a few fashion pieces (of which there is a lot the choose from) for future shoot inspiration. Needless to say, it great there. They also have a little cafe on the first floor that serves up teas and coffees as well as food. The cafe has an ambiance and charm all of its own that I tried to capture here in this section, from the counter to the lighting and tea pots.
So another thanks to my parents for introducing us to the shop. X
I had intended to do some more of these styled images at the December shoot with model Mercybongo, but never got around to it. So its back on the flowers again for this time and a new cream background, rather than the old sandpaper I photographed it against in previous sessions.
On the abstract theme again, I snapped some things around my parents house like their kitchen blinds and clothes bin because of there patterns and abstractness. Since that time I have not done any more, but I shall remedy that I hope this February. So more to come I hope.
While being away this last new year time I managed to go out and get some landscape pictures done with the help of my father. I do not get a lot of opportunities to do this, due to medical reasons so it was nice to indulge. Northamptonshire is not the most dramatic of landscapes (unlike Derbyshire), in fact its nearly as flat as a witches tit, but you can still get some interesting views and I hope I have captured a few here?
Thank you Dad for the day out. Loved it x
Here is another new project I have started and its one that litreages me. I have already touched on it a bit in other projects, but here is its own folder. Abstract or Abstractism is something I am drawn to because I like symmetric patterns it can throw up. Featured here are some random stuff to start with like a radiator, some silk cloth and a weird designed building in town, now sadly vacant.
I have added a few more this month from the flowers selection we got from the Brambles Florist to the Lujon Fressoniue gallery. I know this is not to every ones taste as the images are rather dark, but I will go with it some more as I like the outcome. In December I have the added bonus of some fashion shoot extras that I shall be taking in the studio as well as the flowers. So don't miss that.
Work in progress here of this new project and this time with some added Fashion captures from the Marie Jean Saxton shoot. Them mixed with some more flower snaps all using the plastic fantastic home made pinhole lens. Blurred to perfection.
So I have started a new project that will be a mixture of flowers and fashion together
I was inspired by a great photographer on Instagram called Andrew Turner ( check out his page on Instagram at @andrewtuner_art ) who had made his own lens out of cannibalising an old Kodak Box Brownie camera, a body cap and some sticky tape. He very generously helped me create my own , the lens is essentially a pin hole lens at its crudest but can make some interesting blurred images. I then researched a French way of developing in old chemicals a style that is called Fresson. The family in Paris keep it a tightly guarded secret just how they do it, but after a few attempts I found a way to give a similar look in Photoshop, Yes its not quiet the same but its a start. I took some pictures of a few flowers that are all heavy on harsh shadows which can be seen here as well as plan to shoot fashion images using the lens and technique at my October shoot in Derby.
So I would like to say a big thanks to photographer Andrew Turner and Amy for helping make the lens. I know they images might not be to everyone's taste, but I hope you enjoy them.
We took a visit to Newstead Abby a weekend or so ago to have a look over the grounds as I would like to do a location shoot there sometime soon with Monalisa Moyo. It was a nice day and busy. The bulrushes were not out this early in the year, so it might not yet be suitable to do a dramatic shoot in, but that will change as the seasons progress. While we were there I did manage to grab a few shots of the waters they have and what seemed like a huge sky above. So all in all a productive visit.
We were taken to a place called 'Rushden Lakes' to visit this really brilliant magazine shops that stocks just about every publication you can think of. Including a lot of fashion photography magazines I enjoy thumbing through. Also there they have this public right of way and overpass from a busy main road that spirals round in a sweeping arch. It caught my eye the previous time I went there, so this time I took my trusted Nikon and captured it with the help of Amy.
Only one this month and like the Architectural Metaphor gallery it is taken at Rushden Lakes shopping centre. Please enjoy
I never thought I would be doing any updates for this blog, as getting out and about in the deepest countryside is not easy for me. Yet over the New Year break my parents kindly took me on a magical mystery tour of some of the back lanes where they live, and I am quite happy with the results. We had good weather with us. It was am over cast day, but that is fine because it adds drama to landscape pictures.
So thanks Mum and Dad for your help on the day. They know they do not particularly like black and white images as it is what they grew up with, but I think they would agree It gives the pictures more depth and punch.
