Jimmy and Matt Photoshoot

I currently have a portrait brief at Uni. As I'm at home I wanted to get some practice in, so I asked my Brother and his friend to model for me in the garden. It was late in the day, sun was setting behind the scar behind the house. Lighting was constantly changing so I had to adapt as I went on. They are not the best constructed images, but they hopefully will help me improve my techniques and knowladge in certain situations. Not only was it a race against time in terms of light but also patience. Both of the lads struggled to be co-operative with FIFA a more pressing matter.

I could have done with a reflector or flash for this shoot. Would have helped me control the light better and would have given me more location possabilites. But I think I navigated well without.

Jumbled Urban Images

I went out the other day with my Lumix G2 and one of College's film cameras. I used the outing to experiment and become more confident with using film cameras, I have never touched one until this year. The photos I'm going to display below were my favourite images taken on the SLR. Film images will hopefully follow soon. These images have no connection, they just caught my eye at the moment. I think I can expand or develop some principles or constraints from them in the future.

Hyde Park Litter

I went up to Hyde Park the other day to shoot. When I got there I wasn't sure what I wanted to photograph. I couldn't find a natural subject or location that was inspiring. I then waded through some long grass and saw a choclate bar wrapper. It reminded me off work by Andy Sewell called The Heath. One image was of some broken glass on lush green grass. I wanted to draw from that image, so for the rest of my time out I captured images of litter or man made objects that have been abandoned in a rural frame. Items that shouldn't be there and look out of place, even when coated by a muddy gloss, intertwined with moss and earth. I have chosen my favourite four favourite images from the shoot and hope to fit this idea into one of my briefs. Hopefully it will develop and progress.

 

Afternoon in the Studio

We were given the opportunity to play around with the lighting gear that the college has to offer in one of the studio's. As a group we set up the equiptment, light metered and then took it in turns to model. We used different lighting styles as influence such as butterfly lighting and split lighting. Here are a few of our results. ISO was 200, Shutter Speed was 1/200, aperture was respondent to the lamp and its position in coordiantion to the model.

Foundation Final Project

Even though I have moved onto my degree course in Photography, I though it would be worth displaying my final pieces of work completed on my foundation that were exhibited and open to public viewing. The foundation course was very rewarding, I learnt alot of useful things that has helped improved my photography practice and theory. Skills I had previously were enhanced and it gave me a decent standing for university. The series of four images were taken at Headingley Cricket Stadium. I love sport and the dream is to one day be a sports photographer. My intention was to document fans reactions to sporting action. I focussed on the fan with a great intensity blurring the remainder of the image, but not so much that it did not become recognizable as a sporting venue. I was very happy with the outcome.

Giggleswick at Dusk

I had a few days during the week in which I went back home to Settle, Yorkshire Dales. With the wonderful heatwave I thought it would be good to go out shooting. I went out at about 6pm when the light was starting to lower and was not at its most instense. I did not go out with the intention to photograph anything in particular, but sheep became a very good subject when I got out there. Here are my three favourite image from the shoot. I think all are very different and have there individual qualities.

Featherstone Castle

We had the opportunity to spend a few nights in Featherstone Castle in Northumberland Castle as part of the course. Whilst being there we were given a brief to create a series of portraits using fill in flash and reflectors. It was a really good chance for me to use equiptment that I was unfamiliar with and experiment with portraiture; a style of photography I don't try my hand at often. Below are a few of the images I captured.

For this image I had Jessie modeling and George holding a reflector. We all took turns to model and holding equiptment. It was a great shoot for me, Jessie was a very natural model and made the rather alien process very smooth. George provided great assistance also giving me useful advice. I think this is strong image. In terms of location I think it was spot on, the contrast in the smooth textures of the river and the harsh rocks and pebbles works well. The autumn riddled tree, with its golden colours provides vibrance.

Tom modeled here. He was positioned alongside a window. I then used a reflector on the right hand side to bounce a soft light back onto Tom. I think the lack of saturation helps emphasis the lighting and tones.

Adam was the subject in this photo. I think the backlighting helps to exaggerate the figure and the colours of the curtain. I had a reflector again to bounce the light from the window back onto Adam. Looking back I wish I had made a better effort to straighten the window frame alongside the photo frame.

One task we had was to build a camera obscurer. Be blacked out the window with card. Then made a small hole in the card and this projected an image onto the wall upside down. Replicating a proper camera. I was suprised how easy it was to create. We also experimented with long exsposure shots with us moving round the room. Great expreience.

Weekend Project

As part of our Photography induction week at Leeds College of Art, we were asked to photograph 10 items over a weekend that were drawn out of a hat. They consisted of: 1.Something Gory, 2.Alchol. 3.A Fence, 4.Trees, 5.People, 6.Chinease Food, 7.The Weather, 8.The Park, 9.Doors and 10.Flatmates.

I have picked out my two favourite images from this task.

8. The Park
This image was captured in Hyde Park. The two things I particularly like about this image is the wonderful architectural forms in the bottom right hand corner and the boy in the top left secluded from the other group. Thought both worked well.

9. Doors

This image depicts a run down, closed, off licence. Think its just a very simple image that can be read differently by viewers. Has a sense of ambiguity and mystery.