Ok and i am back

Well i have been somewhat poor at keeping up with this blogging stuff. My work work has been pretty dominating as have my studies, but everest has been conquered and i should have my life back to some form of normality for a good couple of months. So what have i been up to...... well i have moved away from the pursuit of technically perfect images. They were too clinical and scientific in approach, no feeling means no subject, i have moved on to develop this ethos further and i think i have found a comfortable footing.
I have also started to experiment with the modern fad that is the long exposure, and that leads me to my first couple of images.

Following some inspiration from the golliath of posts on the subject of long exposure i decided to get out there and give it a go, so here are two experiments that have helped me get a better understanding of what the basics are ready for my holiday trips later in the year.


Llandudno Pier



In this shot i had the idea that a long exposure would bring out greater texture of the boards on the deck and that a long exposure would smooth the sea and distinguish the outline of the pier more from the background. I waited for a crowd to move within the foreground of the frame so that they would appear as faceless ghosts with no definition about their presence not even colour just reflection of ambient light. Of course such a contrast rich scene makes for a decent black and white and so i chose this path.


This shot was taken on Talacre beach, North Wales.


This lighthouse has been a target of mine for the last few years but i just never got out there to shoot it. This was the first proper long exposure for me, the moment i took i knew it would be a B&W image, again strong contrast and textures with a minimal colour palette. The long exposure while allowing a blustering sky to push the clouds also allowed for the smoothening of the water surface in the residual pool that always seems to remain when the tide goes out.
This brings me up to date with the most recent outings, but there is still a gaping hole of the river work i did early summer. I shall try and post this soon.

One last thing. Recently i had some good news, a free offer of a place in Cornwall for just over a week. I haven't been to Cornwall in the last 10 years and it holds a special place in my heart from my childhood. I hope to get a few decent shots down there, and later in September i have two weeks in Northumberland which i am super excited about. I shall try my best to keep the blog updated this summer with my latest experiments and learning.

So what have i been up to lately

Well i have been somewhat busy with my studies, but now that is out of the way i have been out for the spring/summer wildlife. Rivers have been my main focus of work as have woods. I have noticed that i have been less concerned lately with nailing detail, which meant i became overly cautious about exposure, this lead my images to become largely clinical and cold, that is they lacked empathy with the subject matter. I looked to the art world for inspiration and i see now that i must strive to become better engaged with the subject. I always thought that i was intune with the subject but perhaps this has suffered through a focus on technique. I will concentrate in future on addressing this imbalance.

Here is what i have been up to lately.

A studio first for me......

I have joined a local photographic society and have attended most evenings, to be honest i was getting a little bored; talking is nice and seeing what others are capable of, but there is only so much talk i can take. But! this week just gone saw the first practical evening of the calendar, an indoor portraiture night, two set ups form a line and take your turn. I enjoyed it, hard work thinking quickly, in hindsight i should have been a little more bossy with my time in the limelight and perhaps given better direction to the models but thats all chalked up for next time.
Anyway these are the best of the night. Any feedback- feel free to comment here, or on flickr or on email.

Wow, its been such a long time

Well what have i been up to? Well spending alot of time driving around Snowdonia national park, taking landscape photographs and doing some studying as well as you know working.
So without further ado here are the images that i have done since i last posted.

I have decided to change format of the blog from here on in. This will mark the beginning of posting larger images, i just didn't like the smaller shots, what is the point of a photographic blog with small images? Enough rambling, this is what i have been up to.

New conversions

I was going to save these for later, but i might as well post them now. Essentially i wasnt all that happy with the way the colour of these came out, so i did some conversions.


View On Black


View On Black


View On Black

Its been a while

I keep forgetting to up date this, but i have a lot on lately.
Anyway this weekend provided opportunity for me to go on a little adventure; so off i went to the local walking spots in the woods.
Here are two of my favourites. I have recently been inspired by the work of the late Peter Dombrovskis; though i am far from his level i think his work is starting to come through in mine.

New processing technique

Lately i have been working on a new processing technique to replicate the effect/ shooting style of colour infra red film. These are a few of my efforts so far.

Couple more edits

A couple of different shots, both B&W conversions with staining process applied. I have decided to mix things up from the Autumn shots and NYC collections. The first one is a shot of Bamburgh in the distance as a storm approaches, the immediate foreground is sand dune vegetation with crop fields in the centre.



This shot is part of the old industrial works in Runcorn.

More New York

Here are a couple of NYC shots, more to come, i know i falling behind on the one a day pledge. The above was an exhibit in the Met Art Gallery, it was a fantastic display hung from the ceiling, what must be over a hundred shields, with fantastic colours shapes and textures. This is a crop of the original image as i like the idea of all the shields filling the frame.



The above is a crop of a larger shot, i like how it focusses your attention on the masonry detail, something that passes you by when you are stood in front of this building. Any way thats it for now will post some more tomorrow.

New York

Right well, i have fallen somewhat behind on these NYC posts. Here are a few more recent edits, trying out a new editing process, i hope you like it.



I particularly like this one, as it has the appearance of good old film, the highlights are strong but not completely blown.

Sunset

Yesterday ended with an incredible sunset a true spectacle of nature topped off by they sight of thousands of birds hunting for insects above the river Mersey. The birds dont shot too well in this pano but the colours sure do.

Last weekend

I visited fountains abbey in yorkshire, a national trust property that really is a beautiful spot to shoot a memory card or two any time of the year, but Autumn is really special.

Latest edits

I keep forgetting to upload new work. I am that busy editiing that i seem to fail to recognise that no one will see it in my aperture library. So here without further a do are a a selection of my latest edits.

Here is a shot of Holy Island, Lindisfarne, Northumberland, with the Lindisfarne castle to the left and Bamburgh caste on the horizon.



An autumn fall shot, processed in Nik softare



Here is a series of three shots taken a couple of months back showing a setting sun over the pictureseque Conwy.







This was shot driving on the bridge, only a quick snap shot but i like the look of it and the colours.