On Thursday I popped along to The Sussex to attend my 2nd photo group meetup. Myself, and 2 other ladies from the Creative Digital Photography Course, have joined a long running group who all did the same course about 2 years ago.

Every month there is a theme, and you're encouraged to bring along 10 or so photos that match the theme. This month the theme was Triptych, a series of 3 photographs that worked together. I decided to use some of the photos from Lewes Bonfire and headed down to Boots to get them processed (we present them in print form which is really rather pleasant). I only managed one set of 3, but will try and do better another time. I also decided that I wanted to take the photos during the month and not ravage the archives.







As a three I'm quite happy with these as I'm not sure any one of them is strong enough to give a strong enough impression of the sheer madness, and amazingness of Lewes Bonfire. I'm not sure they manage it as a 3 to be honest. I was really pleased with the feedback I got, and I was delighted with the printed reproductions from Boots.

The second bit of preparation we'd done was to look through historic photographers to find a photographer we wanted to emulate for next month. I sat down and went through my Icons of Photography: The 20th Century book and came up with 4 photographers who's work gave me that feeling of wow! They were (in probably loosely chronological order):

• Ellen Auerbach - specifically for the photo Eckstein with Lipstick which I found to be striking and playful
• Manuel Alvarez Bravo - with the photo The Dreamer which made me feel like a first hand observer and is shot with beautiful lighting and contrast
• Erich Salomon, one of the first photo journalists - with Ah, le voilà! Le roi des indiscrets which is a wonderful capture of a moment with a sense of fun and humour
• Alexander M. Rodchenko - for Trumpet-playing pioneer which appeals for its unusual angle and cropping and great lighting

I still haven't got beyond 1955 in my reading of the book, so I'm sure there will be some more to add to this list.

Other people suggested Sally Mann and Henri Cartier-Bresson.

So the themes for the next meetup are images in the style of Sally Mann, Henri Cartier-Bresson and a Christmas shot. I'd better get studying and take some more photos!

Labels: photogroup

// posted by Jane @ 12:20 PM    

I stumbled across Poladroid during the week and promised myself an opportunity for a play, so this morning I downloaded it and experimented a bit.



The application is currently mac only, but apparently a windows version is coming soon. The mac version is really nicely designed. A polaroid style camera is displayed on the screen, and you drag an image onto it. It then thinks for a while and spits out an image. That image starts off brownish, and over a few minutes the picture starts to become visible, little by little. Eventually the photo is ready and a chime sounds. Very nicely put together, and quite fun and silly. I'm not sure I've got any real practical purpose for this application, but I'm going to keep it around for a while and see what I can find to do with it. There are quite a lot of other poladroid images to take a look at in the be Poladroid! flickr group.

Labels: poladroid, review

// posted by Jane @ 2:13 PM    

As part of my preparation for an "Introduction to Digital Photography" talk I'm doing at Madgex next week I thought I'd take a look at my bookshelf of Photography books and see which I'd recommend to others. This is my list of books, ordered according to where they are on my shelf, the most recently looked at are at the top of this list as that's where the new ones or recently read ones end up:

• On Photography by Susan Sontag - bought after recommendation from the Creative Digital Photography course. I haven't read it yet.
• Ways of Seeing by John Berger, as with On Photography - bought after recommendation from the Creative Digital Photography course. I haven't read this one yet either
• Icons of Photography: The 20th Century - a good collection of 20th century photographers with sample photos and biography
• The Photographer's eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos by Michael Freeman - bought after recommendation by Chris Orwig at Flash on the Beach, a really excellent book that I haven't spent as much time reading as I'd like
• Image Makers, Image Takers: The Essential Guide to Photography by Those in the Know by Anne-Celine Jaeger, as with The Photographer's eye, bought after recommendation by Chris Orwig at Flash on the Beach. Similar to the Icons of Photography lots of history
• Portraits by Fergus Greer - a beautiful book with lots of back stories
• Examples : The Making of 40 Photographs by Ansel Adams - how the master did it - a great backstory into how the selected photographs were produced
• Night and low-light techniques for digital photography by Peter Cope - I love low-light photography
• The Digital Photography book by Scott Kelby - an excellent book full of recipes of how to take a different style of photo
• The Digital Photography book Volume 2: The Step-by-Step Secrets for How to Make Your Photos Look Like the Pros! by Scott Kelby - just as good as the first one
• The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers by Martin Evening - a book explaining Lightroom (version 1) in great detail
• Photos that changed the world by Peter Stepan - an excellent, excellent book with lots of examples of photographs that made a difference
• The Complete Guide to Night and Low-Light Photography by Lee Frost - covering low-light photography across film as well as digital
• Viewpoints from "Outdoor Photography" - some of the best photographs from the Viewpoints section of Outdoor Photography magazine
• The Camera Phone Book: Secrets to Making Better Picture by Aimee Baldridge - a great small book of photography from the camera phone perspective - I reviewed this some time ago
• Techniques for Black and White Photography: Creativity and Design by Roger Fremier - a lovely book talking through different techiques for making excellent black and white photographs
• Understanding exposure by Bryan Peterson - a great, not too technical, guide to exposure
• Lonely Planet Travel Photography: A Guide to Taking Better Pictures - a good all round guide to photography, focusing on making travel photos look stunning
• Photos That Sell: The Art of Successful Freelance Photography by Lee Frost - ideas on how to make money from photography - not something I've perfected yet

So, quite a wide selection of books, some I've read (multiple times), some I haven't got around to reading yet. Probably my top recommendation is "The Photographer's eye".

Labels: book, review

// posted by Jane @ 12:37 PM