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Saturday, October 4, 2008 -
Creative Digital Photography: Day 1
Today I've attended the first day of the weekend course Creative Digital Photography with Denise Felkin. I've never had any photographic training before so I approached the course with a combination of nervousness and eager anticipation. There are 5 people on the course - 4 with different digital SLRs, 1 with a compact camera - covering different levels of previous experience. I am probably the most experienced with my camera having had my d80 for almost 18 months, others have had theirs for just a few weeks, but others have had previous film experience including dark room work whereas I have had zero so it all balances out pretty well.
The course started with some examples of masters of photography covering inspiring photographers like Diane Arbus, André Kertész, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Mapplethorpe, Jo Spence and Man Ray with examples of their work and elements of their biography.
The next subject was composition, with a brainstorm of what makes a good photograph. Everyone had different points to make during this, with some concentrating on the practical and others on the emotional. We also discussed the building blocks of photography with regards to composition concentrating on colour, tonality and contrast, line, form, shape, negative shapes, texture, perspective and depth, scale and pattern. We learnt about the rule of thirds, and how this can relate to depth in the image (foreground, midground and background) as well as right-to-left and top-to-bottom and the golden section.
We then moved on to getting to know our cameras, listing all the parts of a camera, before finding all the standard functions - ISO settings, white balance etc - on our models.
We finished the day learning about aperture and shutter speed and then were given homework to take a photograph of something which is not man made using the Programme mode of the camera (I would normally chose aperture priority mode). I chose the sea as it is a subject that I enjoy photographing and was delighted to discover that there were some great waves about. I decided to go for a close up on the sea and try and get a feeling of motion - in part because the sky wasn't very interesting and was a distraction. I ended up with 2 photos that I was reasonably pleased with:
and
both of which I plan to submit tomorrow.
The course started with some examples of masters of photography covering inspiring photographers like Diane Arbus, André Kertész, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Mapplethorpe, Jo Spence and Man Ray with examples of their work and elements of their biography.
The next subject was composition, with a brainstorm of what makes a good photograph. Everyone had different points to make during this, with some concentrating on the practical and others on the emotional. We also discussed the building blocks of photography with regards to composition concentrating on colour, tonality and contrast, line, form, shape, negative shapes, texture, perspective and depth, scale and pattern. We learnt about the rule of thirds, and how this can relate to depth in the image (foreground, midground and background) as well as right-to-left and top-to-bottom and the golden section.
We then moved on to getting to know our cameras, listing all the parts of a camera, before finding all the standard functions - ISO settings, white balance etc - on our models.
We finished the day learning about aperture and shutter speed and then were given homework to take a photograph of something which is not man made using the Programme mode of the camera (I would normally chose aperture priority mode). I chose the sea as it is a subject that I enjoy photographing and was delighted to discover that there were some great waves about. I decided to go for a close up on the sea and try and get a feeling of motion - in part because the sky wasn't very interesting and was a distraction. I ended up with 2 photos that I was reasonably pleased with:
and
both of which I plan to submit tomorrow.
Labels: creative digital photography, photo
Thursday, September 4, 2008 -
Largest reproduction of one of my photos
Today, whilst helping the Madgex team unpack the stand for dConstruct I got to see the largest reproduction of one of my photos to date.
The Original - one of my photos from the last Madgex hackday:
The Stand - with imagery created by Oli:
And as Innei had come along to help us set up, I managed to get some interaction shots as well:
and
The Original - one of my photos from the last Madgex hackday:
The Stand - with imagery created by Oli:
And as Innei had come along to help us set up, I managed to get some interaction shots as well:
and
Sunday, July 6, 2008 -
Team Madgex photographer
My position as Madgex Photographer came into play again yesterday when I fired off a load of shots of Team Madgex during a mountain bike race, The Long Good Saturday. The race was held at Stanmer Park, here in Brighton, and was an 8 hour endurance race. We had 3 teams entered, one pair, one mixed team of 4 and one all male team of 4. They chose to raise money for local charity StreetSmart and can still be sponsored.
I arrived at about 11.30 (the riders had been there since 10), giving me half an hour before the race to get some team shots, and pre-start shots. When the race started I headed off with the team videographer, and videographer's assistant to find some places along the route to shoot. Unfortunately for me, that meant being in dense woodland with little or no ambient light. The photos from this section aren't great, but do at least capture our guys in action.
We then headed back down to the start/finish area and spent more time with the team preparing for their changeovers, and recovering after their laps. The teams all worked well, and hard, and there was always someone at the changeover point with the riders swapping over which I think showed great support - admittedly I was also there pointing a camera in people's faces, but hey, they should all be used to that by now :-)
I headed off home at 5.30, leaving them with another 2 and a half hours to survive, but I'd ran out of space on my cards, and also knew that I had 450+ photos to process before Monday to ensure that they could see them first thing. The results for the race are available thanks to TimeLaps and I think that the 3 teams making up Team Madgex did a great job. Well done guys!
Labels: event, photo, photo essay
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 -
Madgex Promotion Cards
Another set of my photos used for Madgex promotional materials. This time for careers cards, and more sales oriented cards.
It's a really nice feeling to know that my photography is helping to promote the company.
More examples of my photos in the wild.
It's a really nice feeling to know that my photography is helping to promote the company.
More examples of my photos in the wild.
Monday, May 19, 2008 -
Lensbaby
I bought a lensbaby last week, and it arrived in a ridiculous amount of packaging.
I'd heard of them quite a while ago, and then spotted this videocast and so decided to buy one.
My first attempts are these:
I'm sure I'll be adding more to my
lensbaby set over the next few weeks.
I'd heard of them quite a while ago, and then spotted this videocast and so decided to buy one.
My first attempts are these:
I'm sure I'll be adding more to my
lensbaby set over the next few weeks.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008 -
A piece of Aral
Aral emailed me a while ago to ask for a larger version of this photo. I sent it through to him and he briefly explained what he had planned.
He's just blogged about it. He has split the photo into 100 moo card shaped images, and has produced a moo card mosaic. So, if you meet Aral in the near future, you might get a bit of his face on a moo card.
He's just blogged about it. He has split the photo into 100 moo card shaped images, and has produced a moo card mosaic. So, if you meet Aral in the near future, you might get a bit of his face on a moo card.
Monday, April 21, 2008 -
The new Madgex website
The new Madgex website has launched, and has 5 of my photographs as the page headers. These photos have all been taken over the past year at various events (our hackday and table football tournament matches mostly) and are a fairly true representation of the company.
It is a really good feeling to be able to contribute to the company in this way, and hopefully I can continue to supply imagery from my ever increasing collection of Madgex photos
It is a really good feeling to be able to contribute to the company in this way, and hopefully I can continue to supply imagery from my ever increasing collection of Madgex photos
Tuesday, April 1, 2008 -
Kit Bag: Nikon S500
After a couple of days on our recent trip I realized that my Olympus Fe-130 was just causing me frustration - it took 6 attempts one day to get it to start up :-(
Time for a replacement then. Annoyingly prior to our trip I had toyed with the idea but dismissed it as unnecessary - I didn't need a replacement secondary camera, the fe-130 would do just fine - and so didn't do much research. Consequently I headed into The Shutterbug in Woodburn Company Stores without a really clear idea of what I wanted. My criteria were:
1) cheap - up to $200
2) small and light - fit into my snowboarding trousers pocket
3) take either xd or SD cards - I have both with me
I explained what I was after and the first camera I was shown was an Olympus tough which is water resistant and shock proof, takes xd cards and small - over budget at $300 though but this wasn't the real killer, after my experience with the Fe-130 I wasn't sure if I was ready to trust another Olympus yet.
We then moved on to the Nikon Coolpix S500 which fitted all the criteria, has easy to use controls and has menus similar enough to the D80 to not send me scrabbling for the manual every other minute. Over the course of the trip, this proved to be reliable, have a good battery life and take a fairly decent snow based picture.
And yes I do remember that one of my tips for photography was to never buy a camera and use it for the first time on an important occasion, like a holiday, but the unreliability of the Fe-130 - at least in cold temperatures - gave me little option.
If you're interested in seeing some of the resulting photos, take a look here
Time for a replacement then. Annoyingly prior to our trip I had toyed with the idea but dismissed it as unnecessary - I didn't need a replacement secondary camera, the fe-130 would do just fine - and so didn't do much research. Consequently I headed into The Shutterbug in Woodburn Company Stores without a really clear idea of what I wanted. My criteria were:
1) cheap - up to $200
2) small and light - fit into my snowboarding trousers pocket
3) take either xd or SD cards - I have both with me
I explained what I was after and the first camera I was shown was an Olympus tough which is water resistant and shock proof, takes xd cards and small - over budget at $300 though but this wasn't the real killer, after my experience with the Fe-130 I wasn't sure if I was ready to trust another Olympus yet.
We then moved on to the Nikon Coolpix S500 which fitted all the criteria, has easy to use controls and has menus similar enough to the D80 to not send me scrabbling for the manual every other minute. Over the course of the trip, this proved to be reliable, have a good battery life and take a fairly decent snow based picture.
And yes I do remember that one of my tips for photography was to never buy a camera and use it for the first time on an important occasion, like a holiday, but the unreliability of the Fe-130 - at least in cold temperatures - gave me little option.
If you're interested in seeing some of the resulting photos, take a look here
Saturday, December 8, 2007 -
Found
When we visited the Photographers gallery in June, one of the exhibitions was a series of images and letters from Found, Ohio and Useful Photography. I've been subscribed to the Found RSS feed for a while now, and today I found my own find.
This strip of photos was resting by a doorstep at the bottom of our street. I left the photos where they rested and just snapped a photo with my phone. Later this evening when I walked along the road the photos had moved from their resting place and were in the middle of the road. I want them to continue their journey unimpeded.
This strip of photos was resting by a doorstep at the bottom of our street. I left the photos where they rested and just snapped a photo with my phone. Later this evening when I walked along the road the photos had moved from their resting place and were in the middle of the road. I want them to continue their journey unimpeded.
Monday, December 3, 2007 -
Schmap Brighton
I was contacted a while ago about whether I would give permission for this image to be included in the new version of Schmap for Brighton. I, of course, said yes and it is now included in the Live Music section illustrating Koba.
Richard also has an image on Schmap Brighton - his is of the peace statue
Richard also has an image on Schmap Brighton - his is of the peace statue
Tuesday, August 7, 2007 -
Weddings...
I've had the pleasure to attend 2 weddings in the last 3 weeks. On both occasions I was a guest with a camera, and so having read the chapters on weddings in both 40 Digital SLR Techniques and The Digital Photography Book I was ready to take my chances and see what I could get.
The first wedding was Sarah and Mat. Part way through the speeches Millie (their little girl) found her reflection in the bar and I managed to get this photo. I managed to get it processed and printed out before we headed home the following day and so framed it and gave it to them as an extra wedding present.
The second wedding was Ash and Mitul. I haven't finished processing the wedding photos yet, but I have managed to work my way through the pre-wedding Dinner photos. The wedding itself was bright and colourful - with lots of sari's and other indian outfits on display, so I'm looking forward to seeing what I've captured.
The first wedding was Sarah and Mat. Part way through the speeches Millie (their little girl) found her reflection in the bar and I managed to get this photo. I managed to get it processed and printed out before we headed home the following day and so framed it and gave it to them as an extra wedding present.
The second wedding was Ash and Mitul. I haven't finished processing the wedding photos yet, but I have managed to work my way through the pre-wedding Dinner photos. The wedding itself was bright and colourful - with lots of sari's and other indian outfits on display, so I'm looking forward to seeing what I've captured.
Saturday, June 30, 2007 -
Paper Crane Project
One of the lovely things about flickr are the strange and lovely ideas people come up with. A few months ago there was a mention on the flickr blog about the Paper Crane Project.
The project was for Liz to make 1000 paper cranes and distribute them around the world. All I had to do was email Liz and wait patiently. My crane arrived a week or so ago, and when the weather improves she'll be going on a photo shoot around Brighton. I've added this photo to the group but it won't be the one that is printed out and posted back to Liz.
The project was for Liz to make 1000 paper cranes and distribute them around the world. All I had to do was email Liz and wait patiently. My crane arrived a week or so ago, and when the weather improves she'll be going on a photo shoot around Brighton. I've added this photo to the group but it won't be the one that is printed out and posted back to Liz.
Monday, June 11, 2007 -
The Photographers' Gallery
I spent Saturday in London, and stumbled across the Colonel's Review of Trooping the Colour - basically a rehearsal before the proper one next week. Immensely colourful, and lots of people wandering around. The squirrels were out and posing (or at least trying to get the tourists to feed them!).
I spent the afternoon in The Photographers Gallery. I found the book store immensely well stocked and somewhat overwhelming, and yet still managed to leave without buying anything. The general theme of 3 of the exhibitions was "found imagery" with Joachim Schmid exhibiting discarded photographs from around the world, including one that he found the day he put the exhibition together.
The 2nd related exhibition was a collection of images from Found, Ohio and Useful Photography and includes a fax machine to allow new imagery to be faxed through and displayed on the wall of the gallery.
I was also quite fascinated by the In Almost Every Picture exhibition - there are 5 books made up of related photographs covering subjects such as non-identical twins wearing identical clothing and a collection of photographs of a photographers wife whilst on their travels - these have all been put together by Eric Kessels from collections of photographs he has found in flea markets across Europe. I think the fascination for me came about because they reminded me of photos that Mum has from her holidays with her friends in the 1960s.
The cafe was a wonderful place to relax, with copies of photographic magazines and books on the tables, as well as the artworks on the walls. I'm looking forward to spending a couple of hours there again soon.
I spent the afternoon in The Photographers Gallery. I found the book store immensely well stocked and somewhat overwhelming, and yet still managed to leave without buying anything. The general theme of 3 of the exhibitions was "found imagery" with Joachim Schmid exhibiting discarded photographs from around the world, including one that he found the day he put the exhibition together.
The 2nd related exhibition was a collection of images from Found, Ohio and Useful Photography and includes a fax machine to allow new imagery to be faxed through and displayed on the wall of the gallery.
I was also quite fascinated by the In Almost Every Picture exhibition - there are 5 books made up of related photographs covering subjects such as non-identical twins wearing identical clothing and a collection of photographs of a photographers wife whilst on their travels - these have all been put together by Eric Kessels from collections of photographs he has found in flea markets across Europe. I think the fascination for me came about because they reminded me of photos that Mum has from her holidays with her friends in the 1960s.
The cafe was a wonderful place to relax, with copies of photographic magazines and books on the tables, as well as the artworks on the walls. I'm looking forward to spending a couple of hours there again soon.
Thursday, June 7, 2007 -
New lens
After posting last week that my new lens hadn't arrived it appeared the following day. I didn't get a chance to play with it until the weekend when we visited Richard's folks in Margate, but I'm very pleased with it.
I'll still probably shoot more photos with the Sigma, as a lot of the photos I take at the moment are low-light evening events, but this seems to be a lovely addition.
I'll still probably shoot more photos with the Sigma, as a lot of the photos I take at the moment are low-light evening events, but this seems to be a lovely addition.
Saturday, May 19, 2007 -
41 Places - All found
Today I completed my mission to find and photograph all 41 of the 41 places.
I've spent 3 focussed sessions out looking, as well as spotting some whilst generally out and about. Today I had Richard's company and help, and he can be spotted in some of the photos from today.
I have enjoyed reading the stories in the locations in which they are set, and as an installation, for me at least, it has worked well combining story telling with a treasure hunt and giving me a challenge with my new camera.
I've spent 3 focussed sessions out looking, as well as spotting some whilst generally out and about. Today I had Richard's company and help, and he can be spotted in some of the photos from today.
I have enjoyed reading the stories in the locations in which they are set, and as an installation, for me at least, it has worked well combining story telling with a treasure hunt and giving me a challenge with my new camera.
Labels: 41places, brighton, brighton festival, photo
Friday, May 18, 2007 -
41 places - 9 to go
Another accidental spot yesterday. I was heading into London for a Google Tech Talk and found myself at the station with time to spare so decided I'd hunt number 10.
I'm still hoping to head out at the weekend and hunt down the remaining 9.
I'm still hoping to head out at the weekend and hunt down the remaining 9.
Labels: 41places, brighton, brighton festival, photo
Thursday, May 17, 2007 -
Crowborough Closure - a photo essay
The gallery was produced using lightroom's web module and requires flash.
Labels: photo, photo essay
Wednesday, May 16, 2007 -
41 Places - 10 to go
I wasn't even looking for any of the 41 places today, and yet there I was just wandering around and I stumbled across number 15.
I'm hoping to head out at the weekend and get some of the remaining 10. In the meantime, you can track my progress or take a look at what other people have found via the flickr 41places group.
I'm hoping to head out at the weekend and get some of the remaining 10. In the meantime, you can track my progress or take a look at what other people have found via the flickr 41places group.
Labels: 41places, brighton, brighton festival, photo
Saturday, May 12, 2007 -
41 places - an update
On Wednesday I found 8 of the 41 places. Today I headed out on a mission and found another 22. Only another 11 to go!
Labels: 41places, brighton, brighton festival, photo
Thursday, May 10, 2007 -
41 places - Brighton Festival
I'd noticed a couple of people with photos of stories in the wild around Brighton (part of the 41 Places installation as it turns out). Yesterday I headed out armed with shiny new camera and downloaded map to see how many I could find.
I headed first for number 13, outside Churchill Square, and found that without difficulty. It wasn't all I found. As I stood there taking photos 2 guys wandered up and spoke to me, offering me a leaflet with the map on - I showed them my downloaded version, and took a copy of their slightly more weatherproof version - ink jet printer + rain = splodgy downloaded map :-(
As we stood talking I discovered that one of the guys was no other than William Shaw, the author. He mentioned that there was a flickr group for the installation, and in the absence of any other way to remember this I handed him one of my moo cards. He recognised my name, and so we chatted a bit more and realised that he is one of my Brighton Bloggers.
We moved on, and I headed off to find some more, and discovered that I was following them. I realised that I'd missed an opportunity and that I should have taken a photo of William with his artwork. Fortunately they stopped at number 12 to make sure I spotted it, and so I shot this photo.
All in all I managed to find 8 of the places yesterday, and I've put together a page charting my progress. I'm hoping to find some more at the weekend..
I headed first for number 13, outside Churchill Square, and found that without difficulty. It wasn't all I found. As I stood there taking photos 2 guys wandered up and spoke to me, offering me a leaflet with the map on - I showed them my downloaded version, and took a copy of their slightly more weatherproof version - ink jet printer + rain = splodgy downloaded map :-(
As we stood talking I discovered that one of the guys was no other than William Shaw, the author. He mentioned that there was a flickr group for the installation, and in the absence of any other way to remember this I handed him one of my moo cards. He recognised my name, and so we chatted a bit more and realised that he is one of my Brighton Bloggers.
We moved on, and I headed off to find some more, and discovered that I was following them. I realised that I'd missed an opportunity and that I should have taken a photo of William with his artwork. Fortunately they stopped at number 12 to make sure I spotted it, and so I shot this photo.
All in all I managed to find 8 of the places yesterday, and I've put together a page charting my progress. I'm hoping to find some more at the weekend..
Labels: 41places, brighton, brighton festival, photo
// posted by Jane @ 6:59 AM
Comments:
In my defense I'd like to say that I don't spend all my time hangning around hoping to find someone photographing the artwork... I'd just been to Borders for a meeting about stocking the book there.
But I still do get giddy with excitement when I see people reading them. For that reason, I love your 41 page.
It's very Pokemon - Catch Them All...
But I still do get giddy with excitement when I see people reading them. For that reason, I love your 41 page.
It's very Pokemon - Catch Them All...
Wednesday, April 25, 2007 -
We're all photographers now
My photo Pebbles has been projected as part of the We're all photographers now! exhibition at the Musée de l'Elysée in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was displayed on the 21st April at 3.17PM Central European Time.
It's a really nice idea, you upload your photo and then wait - 100 photos are chosen randomly every week, and when a new photo is displayed a photo is taken of it being projected and then emailed to the photographer. It's just the kind of exhibition I can imagine happening at fabrica.
It's a really nice idea, you upload your photo and then wait - 100 photos are chosen randomly every week, and when a new photo is displayed a photo is taken of it being projected and then emailed to the photographer. It's just the kind of exhibition I can imagine happening at fabrica.
Labels: exhibition, inthewild, photo
Thursday, March 22, 2007 -
Light and Dark
I just loved the way that the light came into the sun room during our recent visit to La Casa Del Olivar in Spain. Part of a series of black and white images taken at the Casa.
Taken in colour at ISO 200, f6.3 for 1/60th of a second and then converted to black and white using my newly aquired full copy of Lightroom.
Taken in colour at ISO 200, f6.3 for 1/60th of a second and then converted to black and white using my newly aquired full copy of Lightroom.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007 -
Moo Card Holder
After reading one of the flickr: MOO MiniCards group discussions on Moo card tins I discovered, thanks to SgtRock333 the "Aluminium Portable Ashtray" from Muji to use as a moo card holder. It works really well, and should protect them whilst meaning I don't have to carry around the entire box.
More photos:
