Projects
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.
Just to start off with a look over some architecture this month, with some brutal 1970's car park design amongst others As well as an old and faded art deco veneer shop front face which used to once be the Co-op.
Just a couple to update this project gallery this month as it has not been having much love for a while. These were taken on a trip around town, primarily to snap some clothing on location, but as an opportunity to grab some sound of the suburbs stuff.
There has not been an update for this project for a while, so I thought to grab a few snaps of the Penthouse Suite we booked for the 'Good Times' Fashion Shoot at the splendid St. James Hotel in Nottingham. Chairs, lampshade, mirrors and cups of tea make this update with a backdrop of some expensive wallpaper. I should have also shot the bedroom as that was great, but by that time I was too tired.
Maybe next time ?
Amy and I took a day trip so she could visit the Chinese Supermarket. So while there we took advantage of the local architecture, snapping away and seeing if we could get anything worth showing. It was a bit hit or miss, but I think we got some good photos in general. My particular favourites being of the side view of the Theatre Royal. It has an Art Deco feel and look about it.
Just a few images this month that I nearly did not bring you.
Let me explain, I took the liberty of photographing my local general hospital, because it has an interesting design. Little did I know that you have to have permission to do that until some man mountain range ape of a security guard informed me rudely and with thuggish glee. So I tossed him a few lines of well placed expletives back, just for his troubles. It then fell to him and three of his thug mates to escort us both to the front of the hospital . From there the gang of four stood loitering around giving my wife and I the stinky eye stare as we waited to catch a taxi home. They obviously had nothing better to do with their time than to harass a disabled man innocently taking a few shots of NHS property? Apparently not, so it would seem.
Maybe they thought Amy and I were a major criminal threat, planning the down fall civilisation … or the Health Service at any rate, using only my walking stick and digital camera? . Who knows. Still, the results I did manage to get I am reasonably happy with, so please enjoy them.
During the visit to rainy Northamptonshire this month, I finally got to go back to Sywell Aerodrome and capture the Art Deco designed buildings. Doing this fulfilled an on going desire I had since first seeing them before the lockdown. I had literally dreamed about it countless times. A note to add, there are more pictures published in this blog than on the ''Architectural Metaphor page due to repetition issues. Thanks to Amy and my parents for their help on the day
I know its probably a little odd photographing lamp shades but I could not help but admire the textures of the light, as well as on the shades and wallpaper.
Here is another I found hidden away in a cupboard. Its an old hand developed print of a view on one of the beaches at Hayle in Cornwall. I remember this view mesmerized me when I took it as the eye is led down to the sea by the poles and cable supports. I had to give it a sepia tone in Photoshop as the original print was made on a very unstable paper called 'Oriental Seagull' which turns a nasty colour over time.
Viewed here are some new and old mix of images I recently took of the Nottingham Contemporary Art Gallery along with some really old architecture shots from a shoot I did decades ago in Rock Cemetery.
I am happy to bring you a random mix of old images for the landscape project. They are not new and many are from transparencies and old print film scanned in and brought up to date photoshop. Still old as they maybe, I do think they are worth another good look.
This is a new gallery project all about buildings and architecture that have a symmetry about them. In point Art Deco design, which sadly they do not have in my town. But they do have some great modern buildings that a designed with thought. It is all in black and white for effect, thank you to Amy for her support.
After a brief time away from this project, I finally found the strength to go out and do a bit for the sound of the suburbs gallery. Thanks to Amy for her help on those days.
A few new pictures for this project, this month. A drawing of my wife that hangs on my living room wall. A fan. A door latch to the back door and some fetching marigold gloves. I know, not the most exciting stuff, but it is supposed to be a gallery of the everyday in black and white.
Here is a one of Project image for the ‘Noir et Blanc’ Gallery. I was taken in my front room with me on my couch looking up at the ceiling. The light you see highlights the picture of Amy just below to the bottom right.
