For the ladies x

Playtime again.

Not often my schedule allows me much time to play these days, but I came across these images while going through the (almost daily) ritual of trying to make space in my pictures folder.

"A rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet" - Shakespeare

Fruit n' Finance

When I get the time, I really enjoy setting up and shooting different still-life images.

Below is a selection from a recent shoot which included tomatoes, pears and, of course, a few copies of the financial times. Well, what sort of shoot wouldn’t include at least one copy of the Financial Times?

:)

Silver Award

I'm delighted to reveal that the image below was given a Silver Award by the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers in the fine-art section of a recent competition.

Well, if I don't show-off for myself, then who will :)

Copies - plain, mounted and framed are available - should you agree with the SWPP's assessment :)

Art .... by the Book.

Trying to make a living out of photography has its serious side: schedules, arrangements, cash-flow, etc. All those things which are probably most diametrically opposed to what I – and I imagine most other photographers – are trying to achieve in their work. But it is a necessary evil if you want to continue making a career of it.

Fortunately, the job also produces a steady flow of light-hearted and occasionally downright hysterical moments, and that helps shine up the tarnish left by the former fundamentals.

There are times – mainly when the business side is a little quieter – that I relish the opportunity to dabble in something a little more abstractly creative. The following are examples: take a well read paperback novel (on this occasion: "All Hallows Eve" by Richard Laymon - deceased), soak in water for a day or so before fishing it back out to allow to dry for a week. It'll go nice and crinkly, and then roll irregular numbers of pages up with a pencil and fix on one side with a paperclip. Then, set up the lights and spend a couple of hours listening to the snap of the camera shutter resound softly from the walls of the empty studio.

Finally, add a few post-production mirrors & flips and, there you have it.

Lovely 

Smoke and Glass.

While I get a real kick from wedding and portrait photography, I love, occasionally, to just lose myself in the studio for a few hours and set myself a few photographic tasks which allow me to work on some of the more technical aspects of photography.

I wasn’t really much of an advocate of science when I was at school and dropped the subject as soon as I could, but I wish I hadn’t now; I get a real buzz out of trying to make light work for me: sculpting, directing diffusing and reflecting it in an attempt to get it to do what I want it to.

It sounds pretty easy but, believe me, light is a pretty uncompromising medium to work with, so you have to be both determined and patient.

The following are examples of the work I’ve been doing recently with coloured glass and smoke:

New Year ... a time for reflection

So I thought I’d take that simple ‘turn of year’ staple in the literal sense of the phrase and went to work on producing a few still life captures with the aid of a mirror.

Teddy is a much favoured – and much admired – model of mine; he’ll sit for hours without complaint while I run around him arranging lights and reflectors. But he knows it’s always appreciated :)

Chillin'

Saturday was one of those days when everything just seemed to go according to plan: I got up, went to the shops, bought some basics, and then set off for the studio.

I spent the next six hours playing with off-camera flash for a still-life set. I didn't even take as many pics as I usually do but seemed, instead, to spend much of the time fussing over shadow-casts and trying out different gels.

When i got home and down-loaded the Raw files, I found I had just one file which was close to capturing what I'd originally intended. But I really enjoyed the day, nonetheless.

On Sunday I had the pleasure of welcoming Brian, Samantha and their little one, Megan, to the studio for a family portrait shoot. Again, I really enjoyed myself and I trust that Mum, Dad and their baby girl also enjoyed themselves.

Today took me to different aspects of Life's vivid spectrum: I attended a funeral this morning - the mother of one of my good friends and, this afternoon, I had the pleasure of having Tom and Scott visit AND the added pleasure of welcoming the vivacious Charlie and her partner Keith who both arrived a little after Tom and Scott. We whiled away the afternoon talking general photography and had a good natter before darkening skies and the sound of rain spitting against the window reminded all that a sodden evening was fast approaching and we all said goodbye.

So. once again, I'm going to busy myself this evening in processing Raw files to Tiff. and then send them of to Brian & Samantha for their perusal.

Weather woes

At the risk of repeating myself - yet again - I really feel I'm deserved in having a good moan about the weather. Honestly, I don't think we've had more than a couple of days in a row where you could actually predict what the weather was going to be like the next day.

Monday was a good example: the weathermen had suggested that we might be looking forward to a few days of clear but cold n' frosty weather. Monday fulfilled that promise and, with the autumn trees looking like they had been spray-painted with such incredible - almost gaudy - golds, reds, yellows, etc, I was savouring the thought of taking my camera and introducing it to fresh-air (it hasn't had much of that this year). I was busy Monday; couple of things in the morning, then coffee with my mate Tom Thomson in the afternoon followed by another appointment in the late afternoon. But the TV weather people had said the weather would remain the same for the first few days of the week, so I planned a walk on the Union Canal for early AM on Tuesday. And what happened: murky, damp and - visually - almost impenetrable fog-come-low-cloud.

It was almost inevitable, of course, as trying to nail down the weather this year has been a nightmare. I'm sure all the weather-boffins at the BBC must be on Prozack, and they do seem to spend the first few seconds of each forecast apologising for the weather.

So, with my trigger-finger decidedly itchy, I packed up my kit - along with some fruit and fruit bowls from the kitchen - and headed off to the studio to indulge my passion for still-life's.

Making up the 'sets' and composing these pictures is, I find, really theraputic; hours seem to slip bye while I'm engaged in this stuff. My thing just now is using a frame to well, I suppose, 'Frame' the picture, then cut out all the exterior stuff in post-processing until it kinda looks like a wall-hanging. Leaving a little of the subject to fall over the physical frame offers the viewer a semblence of a third dimension. I haven't done an awful lot with it yet, but I'm hoping it'll be just nutty enough to rival Tom Thomson's 'Lightbulb' pictures :)

Lazy Wednesday Afternoon

I've sussed the weather: it's decided to skip Summer & Autumn this year and just get right down to the real job in hand - freezing everything!

I had little to do today so, having posted the last of the Ferguson Family shoot, I decided to do a little Still-Life stuff at the studio. The most colourful backdrop materials are lying all over the ground just now - last weeks howling wind and stair-rod rain having pretty much denuded most of the early fall trees.

So, I scooped up a bagful of leaves from the backgarden and took a selection of fruit from the kitchen and went up to the studio to play with some sets.

I ended up staying up there for over five hours. The following pics are some I processed from Raw this evening.