From The Recesses of My Mind…

WARNING: This post is a little step inside my head. It involves my thought process, a little rambling, some bad spelling and some questionable grammar but hopefully it will be coherent enough to allow you to see how I work. Here we go (hopefully this works!)…

I walk by this image at least twice a day, everyday, in all conditions, at various times and from a verity of different angles. In fact I think the only way I haven’t seen this scene is from above!? It took me a while to figure out what I liked about it and it is by no means finished but I thought I could use this image and the thought process behind it to let you understand how I work.

For a while I was very shoot and run in my approach to street photography, never hanging around long enough in the fear of being caught or singled out but over the last few months I decided to change all that and now I feel more organic in the way I make my photos. This is down to two things changing, 1: I changed my camera and now I have a machine I am extremely comfortable (and slightly (read definitely) in love) with, one that I can sync very easily with my hands and my imagination and 2: I slowed down! When I think about it now it’s simple really. Instead of rushing off and later debating “should I have crouched?” or “maybe Landscape would have been better?”, I now stay and get as many shoots as it takes to get it right.  After those changes happened everything else just started to fall into place, the shot above is a good example of this.

As I have said I walk by this scene everyday but once my thought processes had adjusted I started to see the scene in a different light… so to speak. Now instead of seeing a lamppost, a bench and a tree I now see two parallel but opposing objects. One is of nature and absorbs light and the other is of humanity and emits light, both are planted within squares and both are almost connected by the bench but they are not…like neighbors over fences. Two separate worlds coexisting. The scene is pulled together by the one thing that everything has in common, the shadows. No one can hide nor deny their shadow, its one of the cool things about them. They are so… definite! and that is it really. Now I know why I like the image, now I have seen and explored the scene to my satisfaction all I need to do is actually photograph it and maybe add a person? Nothing extremely visible, a shape or silhouette possibly, just as a sign of life…maybe?

And that’s it! It doesn’t always take a year, in fact it rarely takes a year but you get the gist of how I work. A little time, some exploration, watching how the shadows lie and continuing to photograph until the scene is right for me. Reading that last bit back I now realize that this whole post could have been a lot shorter! Oh well, what you gonna do?

All thoughts and comments, critiques and questions are more than welcome

Happy Viewing.

Nautical Miles

Mast… Put simply a very easy and effective way to divide an image!

I have an urge (every now and then) to let slip my steady shackles and escape off to tranquility which, for me, is usually anywhere next to the sea. The combination of the of endless sights, lapping tidal sounds and fresh smells helps me lazily drift off into my own personal Avalon… hence the semi nautical themes that can crop up in my imagery from time to time.

What a view right?

Next post maybe a trip inside my own mind!? Maybe…best beware just in case!!

Happy Viewing

Shortly Silhouetted

Bold, strong silhouettes, a pitter pattern of reflecting light and a few unsuspecting victims very willing participants and you have yourself a wonderful little recipe for some lovely high contrast imagery…even if I do say so myself.

Finding it a little difficult to form a coherent sentence just now so think I will quit while I am ahead.

All thoughts and comments are more than welcome.

Happy Viewing

Coupled Again

The couple from my previous post but in a completely different scene. I should explain they are actually my friends and not a couple I’ve decided to stalk!

Short post today, the weather is fantastic and not a day I want to be inside for long… and that is all he wrote.

Comments and queries are always welcome.

Happy Viewing

Shady Lane

UPDATE: Thank you to all for your comments and ideas on the previous post. As it turns out it is an issue with the camera… rookie mistake!… but it is a very fixable issue so it shouldn’t be to long till I am back on the road to double exposure film goodness. I think that sentence holds up?

Until then please feel free to enjoy this shaded lane.

As always comments, questions and/or queries are more than welcome.

Happy Viewing.

Peaked

I watched the casting shadows dancing with the wind. The patches of light, a vivid mix of grey tones, and the almost symmetrical nature the surroundings was hypnotic and instantly interesting. Seeing the point at the end of the road I knew that the image was almost complete. All that was require was a little balance and seasoning, which the man adds very neatly indeed.

I have been running a 35mm double exposure project in the background, a little bit of fun and something I enjoy but recently it has come to an abrupt halt. The last four films that have been processed have come up blank and it has started to become a little frustrating! I am unsure of what or where I am going wrong but any information or ideas anyone has on the subject would be more than appreciated.

As always comments are more than welcome.

Happy Viewing

Down Suits

We shall start at the best possible place to start, the beginning.

Sometimes I come up on a location and instantly I like it, I don’t why I like it or what part of me was drawn to it but I know there is an immediate connection. As my curiosity takes control I explore every possible angle, high, low, backwards, forwards, left, right, right-way round and upside down… did I miss any? and when I am satisfied I have the right scene it’s just a matter of waiting for a touch of humanity (or any other manity) to enter the frame. I must have spent an hour exploring these stairs, walking both up and down them, just to understand why I like them!

Incidentally an hour was exactly the right of time to end up with this image. Funny how things work out…

All thoughts, comments, critiques, questions and/or queries are more than welcome.

Happy Viewing

Primary

There are elements of this image I am unsure of but they are over powered by the mix of architecture, color and the big, cutting segment of light that dissects the image, slicing the tension of the dark… all of this I like!

A little injection of colour today. It has been a while but I felt that this image was much stronger in colour than in black and white, something about the primary colours I think, the blue, the red and the yellow all in such close proximity to one another. It makes me wonder… if it was to rain in the image, would the colours all start to bleed and blend together to make a technicolor wonder of a scene?

Also as a little thank you to all you constant, and more recent followers out there, I thought I would post another street scene. The setting may look familiar but that is only because it is.

All thoughts and comments are more than welcome.

Happy Viewing

Of Pyramids and Men

It was the little triangle silhouettes that first drew me to this spot and then when I saw how innocently they placed themselves with, and against, the rest of the geometric shapes throughout the street I was hooked. I must have shot ten or fifteen frames (at least) in both landscape and portrait orientation, over the course of as many minutes just waiting for the right people to walk by. Then, from out of nowhere, these two extremely helpful gents sauntered into the frame and voilà, a full house.

I feel the men add a little sense of urgency to what is a very cut, still and angular image. The men chase the triangles as they shrink and fall off the end of the world, all the while being chased themselves by a dark and overbearing shadow set to engulf the entire scene… that is how I thought of it but you are more than welcome to your own opinion.

Feel free to leave you opinions below, all are welcome!

Happy Viewing

Lane Before The Bridge

I like having a human element in my images. I’m not too sure why if I am honest but I do think it adds a touch of life, like the photo is being lived in. A feeling or sense of oxygen in the lungs, blood in the veins and skin on the bones… yeah, that makes sense.

Now, when people won’t walk through my shot (I know, what a problem to have! Polite people waiting for me to finish. Sometimes I wonder on my own sanity if that’s an issue.) then Boss usually steps into help. What a gal!

What you think? All thoughts, comments, queries and kind words are more than welcome.

Happy Viewing