Brighter Mornings in Trafalgar Square!

Today I sit here writing this at a desk that overlooks Trafalgar Square. There, a huge, luminous orange sun installation is on display. It's what brought me here, and it made for a fantastic start to the day!

My journey started yesterday, coming all the way from the hills and valleys of South Wales to the bustling metropolis that is central London. The journey here was pleasant and quite straight-forwards, with the sun low in the sky creating a beautiful, crisp winter day.

I set off at 11am and got in just before 4pm, where a taxi was waiting to take me to my hotel. I had a lovely chat about all kinds of different things with my driver, and after making it through all the rush hour traffic and diversions I made it to the hotel safely.

I was able to check in while meeting and greeting some of the other faces that were also there for the installation and from various other blogs. I got up to my room and was so excited - it was huge! It really is fantastic and I have a wonderful view of the square and all the London buses and Taxi's going past. Big Ben is just around the corner and Chinatown is nearby, which I might head into later seeing as it's Chinese New Year!

I thought I might have trouble getting up, but I had no issue at all, thankfully. I slept rather lightly (I always seem to on the first night in a hotel) but I was extremely comfortable throughout. I kept checking outside my window after I got up for signs of how far along the installation was, and it went from not inflated to glowing in what felt like 10 minutes! It's huge - 22m in diameter, and very hard to miss if you're passing by the square. It has lots of circular lights that shine from within and fade in and out a bit like fairy lights, so it's quite relaxing to watch.

It came to be thanks to collaboration between Tropicana and their "Brighter Mornings" campaign and Greyworld, a collection of artists based in London. Their aim with this installation is to cheer people up during what is apparently one of the most miserable times of the year. I think they succeeded!

Tropicana spokesperson, Pete Charles, said: "Sunlight is something many of us crave mid-winter. We hope that this stunning art installation will both amaze and enthuse those who see it, whilst brightening their mornings on a miserable January day. We hope people will be able to come down, relax in our deck chairs and enjoy a glass of Tropicana whilst watching the spectacular sunrise. The perfect start to a January day."

Free Tropicana juice was being handed out to the public and deck chairs were set up in front of the glowing orb so people could take a seat and bask in the warm, mood boosting rays. 250,000 people are expected to see the unique installation throughout the day. Some have even turned up in summer clothes and swimming costumes! I took photos of them while all wrapped up in my furry hat and warm coat; it was pretty chilly out there!

The Trafalgar Sun took six months to create and is 30,000 times bigger than a football. It has a surface area of 200m and weighs over 2,500kgs. Its internal light source produces 4-million lumens of light, which is the equivalent of 60,000 light bulbs, making the artwork visible from space!

Andrew Shoben, founder of Greyworld said: "There are very few moments more spectacular and uplifting than watching an early morning sunrise. We have tried to capture the evocative nature of this natural phenomenon with the Trafalgar Sun, which has been unveiled to help boost the mood of those who experience our latest piece of public art."

If you haven't seen it yet and you're around London, head over to Trafalgar Square! The sun will be up all day until it sets at 7.33pm this evening. For those who wish they could come to see it but can't, here's a video of the sun rising this morning.

Have a good day, wherever you are!

Tron

This was an idea that came to mind one evening, just for a bit of fun and something different. It morphed a bit from the original idea, which was to have the eye with the pattern peeping out between some hair. I messed my hair up to give the image more texture, and decided I liked it better this way :) View it larger over at Flickr!

Planning page is here -

Behold, my rushed handwriting.

So, as you can see, quite different! Natural lighting also morphed into studio lighting using just one light. I used my favourite modifier - the huge beauty dish. It gives a wonderful quality of light. It was positioned about 30 - 45º from me, almost right next to the camera. I played around with the settings until I got a brightness I liked (I forgot the exact settings, sorry!).

The pattern that I used in the eye can be found here and is by Patrick Hoesly.

Focus on Imaging 2011

It's been a couple of weeks since I went to this year's Focus on Imaging, and I had such a great time there. It was absolutely exhausting, but I learnt a decent amount of stuff, met people I'd met the year before and got some great new equipment! It was non-stop laughter, and we had lovely weather too as an added bonus.

Taken at the Bowens stand at Focus on Imaging

I was shocked when I heard that Canon had pulled out at the last minute, their only reason being "reconsidering marketing strategy", but thankfully Nikon were still there and I was able to play with two of their lenses. The first one I took a few snaps with was the 70-200mm f2.8. I've been considering getting it in future to compliment my 24-70mm f2.8. It was a really fun lens to play with and very quick, sharp and zoomed a fair distance!

Taken with Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8

I was quite happy with it until I got to the second lens on my list - the 85mm f1.4.

Oh. My. Word.

It was love at first click, basically. I fell in love with it and never wanted to take it off my camera. The way it separated the subject from the background was mind-blowing and the quality, colours and sharpness left me speechless. I liked it so much in fact, I started to almost wish I'd gotten this one instead of my 24-70mm, and I love that lens. My dilemma now however is wondering which to get - a D700, or the 85mm!

Taken with Nikkor 85mm f1.4

Sadly I can't afford either right now, but I did get two things while I was at FOI. I'd been considering a graphics tablet for a few months, and was debating which kind to get. Everything seemed to be pointing towards an Intuos4, and I eventually bit the bullet and bought one. So far, everything is great! I really enjoy using it and I think I even prefer using that to my multi-touch trackpad on the MacBook Pro. I kinda miss the gestures, but ease of use compensates for that. The nibs seem to wear down quickly though, which is a problem I'm trying to resolve. I knew it when I bought it, but after I'd heard friends say they had no trouble, I figured I wouldn't either. Thankfully, the nibs are cheap enough to replace.

The second thing I got was some software called Perfect Photo Suite by OnOne Software. I watched a demonstration of its abilities by chance as I was leaving on the first day, and was blown away at what it could do. I also found out I could get an education discount - more than half price! So after sleeping on it, I decided to get it. I'm incredibly glad I did, as it's so useful, works brilliantly alongside Photoshop and makes everything a lot easier. It makes the bridge between your creative vision and using technology to show it a lot smaller, and just speeds up your entire workflow. It's very powerful (you can remove the background behind things such as veils for example, and then put a new one in) and just a joy to use. I recommend it to anybody who's considering getting it.

PhotoTools v2.6, part of Perfect Photo Suite

As some of you may be aware, I'm now also writing for a great website called Light Stalking. I'll still write posts like this in this blog every now and then until I get my website up (where I'll have a different blog carrying on from this one) but check them out, they have a load of inspiring posts and useful hints and tips for beginners, all the way to professionals!

Something new to fill the gap :)

If you've been following me on Twitter, you'll know I've had an eventful couple of days in the studio. So eventful in fact, I managed to really strain my legs, abs and pretty much everything else and spent most of Thursday walking around like an extremely ungraceful extra from Thriller. It's all because of my jumping around the studio (almost) tirelessly in a floaty white dress, all while potential students were herded around the college being told how awesome it is (to my ignorance).

They were being shown the sights, till they get to the studios, and then there's me in the nearly-but-not-quite-opaque dress, jumping around in the studio, alone, with music blaring. I heard a knock on the door at first (as I'd locked both) and after cautiously opening the door and peering out into the darkness of the second studio I see not only the tutor, but a gaggle of people I don't recognise wanting to come in and join me. This happened again ten minutes later, from the other door, but this time I was poking my head around the door frame and telling them all they can't come in, the tutor asking me "Why, are you a bit naked?"

Of course I wasn't, so I ended up letting them in and explaining that I didn't always look like this.

Slightly embarrassing at the time, but funny now!

Anyway, this is one of the photos I took on Wednesday. I quite liked all the white space. I find it interesting how so little can say so much.

Curled Up

As I've also mentioned before, I'm heading up to Focus on Imaging on Sunday! I'm really looking forwards to it and can't wait to go. I'm heading up there with a friend, and I'll take some pictures and tell you all about it after I get back on the following Monday. It should be a blast :D

New ideas, and what to expect when arranging a photo shoot

It's a bit of a long one this time, so grab a cup of tea and snuggle up and get comfy. Also, this is just how I do things. I've no doubt that other photographers work differently! Enjoy!

*****

Coming up with ideas for fashion and fantasy themes is always fun. It's even better when one jumps out at you and gives you a dose of inspiration so large you end up grinning like an idiot. The most recent idea I've had that I'd like to carry out came to me out of nowhere after seeing a recent photo of one of the models I'm in contact with. I realised in some roundabout way that she'd make a fantastic Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland. It actually turns out that she has some stuff we can use for it too, and she's more than up for it. It's great because I've wanted to do another, bigger Alice in Wonderland shoot for a while! Next in line is finding a location and getting down to taking photos. Before I can do that however, it requires some other preparations too.

Fortunately, I love the entire process from start to finish. To begin with, you have your idea. You might want to start sketching your ideas at this point or writing them down, but don't consider them set in stone. More than once I've had ideas for a shoot and come out with something entirely different, whether it be a mood, pose, styling idea or location - you will come up with ideas as you go along, it's all part of working as a team - something I'll get to later. I keep a journal for ideas I get so even if I don't do them straight away, when I'm lacking in inspiration I can go back and look through it to see if anything new strikes me or if there's an idea I could carry out that hasn't been done yet.

After you have your idea, you need your model(s). If you're just starting out, you might be wondering where on earth you're going to find people you can get to model for you. Don't worry about it. Ask your friends if they'd like to model for you, or consider using yourself! If you're in a school, university or college, put up posters for a casting call. People will probably turn up. How do you hold a casting call though? 

It seems daunting, but it's not so bad. First, you make a poster or announce it to the world somehow. Keep it as short as possible without leaving any details out, and let it grab their attention. Type it out in a nice, simple font if you're making a poster to stick up - it's easier to read. I'd recommend doing this at least a week or two before you plan to hold your casting call. It gives just enough time to garner some interest. You don't want to leave it up for too long though, or people will get used to seeing it and might get bored of waiting.

So it's the day of the casting call. What now? First, arrive there long before you've told your potential models to arrive. Set everything up if anything needs setting up. At least make sure everything is working. When your models arrive, get them to fill in a piece of paper with their name, contact details and anything else of use to you. Make sure the entries are numbered. Then give them a sheet of paper with the number on it, photograph them, and then you won't get confused as to who is who when it comes to deciding who to use. Take a full body shot face on, full body shot side on, and a head and shoulders shot from the front and the side to see their features better. Then move on to the next model. Keep an eye on how they react in front of the camera - are they awkward? Shy? Stiff as a board? Or do they act like they were born to be photographed? How do they take instruction from you? How do they look photographed? These are all things you're trying to find out, and is the purpose of the casting call. Keep doing this until you work your way through them all. Review the images in your own time and let the models know if they're needed or not via the contact methods you collected, thank them for their time too. You might come across one or two people who aren't any good for your current idea, but are good models and could be used in future. Let them know this if that's what you think. And that's a casting call. It really is that simple!

As you progress and build a body of work, you'll be able to use sites such as Model Mayhem if you want, which simplifies this process. You'll still probably have to do a casting call every now and then though, so it's worth knowing how to do it. Test shoots are also recommended if you use the Model Mayhem method, so you can see how you get along with different models.

Right, so, by now via some method or other you've found the perfect model(s) for your idea. This next bit is a really fun part. Many models like having a say in what they're participating in, and may have ideas that previously you hadn't thought about. Talk to them either over coffee, via email or the phone, and just discuss various ideas for poses, costumes/outfits, locations, anything! It should be an inspiring and exciting part of the process, so enjoy it and make the most of it. On the plus side, you also get to know your model a little which is something I consider important if you're going to work well as a team.

Now, what about outfits, makeup and hair? Well, you could try and find a makeup artist (often abbreviated to MUA) and a hairstylist, but in the beginning it's often best to keep it simple try and do things yourself until you're used to organising shoots. The model may be able to do a lot of things themselves or be able to recommend somebody they know who can do what you're after, so discuss this with them. Make sure you can get to and from whatever location you choose to use safely.

It's the day of the shoot. Problems will arise in some shape or form, I can almost guarantee it. I've yet to have a shoot where a piece of equipment doesn't have a funny five minutes either down to user error or plain murphy's law. Don't worry about it though. Have confidence in yourself in being able to solve it. Treat it like a puzzle and try and enjoy sorting it out. Most importantly, prepare for it. Take extra batteries if you need them. Take sticky tape, scissors, a torch, pliers, rubber bands - anything you think you might need. Chances are you won't, but if you have them you'll be a lot better off than you would be without them and they don't take up too much space. I can't stress this enough. Also, make sure your phone is charged and you have enough money if you need it (this is all assuming you'll be away from home, but it still doesn't hurt to have these things to hand to save you time hunting for them.) You might want to take a friend who's willing to help with you too, to help you out and to look out for you. Make sure people know where you are and don't put yourself in any danger.

Aside from all this, enjoy yourself! You're doing what you love. Make the most of it, and make sure you take breaks for a cup of tea/coffee and some biscuits every now and then. Your model(s) will thank you! Take care of your models, and they'll be more inclined to work with you again. Not only that, but they'll probably tell other people about you and how great you are to work with. Networking is something you'll want to encourage - as time moves on, you'll find it easier and easier to find people work with because of building contacts, keeping in touch with people you've worked with before and a strong portfolio. You might even have an address book just for people like that! 

Something else worth noting is don't be afraid to tell the models what to do. They rely on you for instructions. Even if it's something as small as moving their left thumb up a little, ask them to do it! Be polite though. Nobody likes an impolite, bossy photographer. Talk to your model(s) and let them know how things are going. Got a good shot? Tell them! Like a particular pose? Let them know, they might come up with more of the same. You're giving them feedback and keeping them in the loop, plus you're making them feel even more involved. Communication is very important, don't underestimate it :)

After you have the images, then comes the editing. Chose the best ones - don't put every single one online! There's a good reason for this. Every photographer takes dud photos every now and then, even the most famous ones. I know, it's hard to believe! But they're human and it happens, you just don't see them. Look at your work with a critical eye. Ask yourself what makes you go wow, and what doesn't seem quite right. If you're not sure, get somebody to look over it with you who's opinion you trust. If on the off chance there aren't many photos you like at all (I hope not!) then learn from it. Don't get put off. It might happen from time to time. It's certainly happened to me, especially when I was starting out. Ask yourself what you could have done to improve. Write it down, make a note of it. This way when it comes to doing another shoot, you'll know exactly what to avoid and how to make things work out even better. Consequently, write about what really worked. As before, this could be anything so don't limit yourself. It could be poses, it could be a model you worked really well with, it could be a location, certain lighting, camera settings. Jot it down, keep it safe.

How you edit your photos is up to you, there's no right or wrong way to do it. There's plenty of tutorials on how to achieve certain looks in photoshop/gimp/etc, so don't be put off by frustration or a lack of technical understanding. A good site to use is Lynda, but you might have to pay for a membership to see some of the tutorials. Personally, I think it's worth the money if you're just learning for the first time or even if you just want to learn a more effective way of doing something. The tutorials there are of a high quality. If you'd rather not pay for tutorials though, good news! There's absolutely loads on the internet available to you for free, you just have to look for them. They're easy to find :) There's even magazines with tutorials and the like - one of the ones I get is Advanced Photoshop.

Anyway, process those photos you thought had the wow factor and give them a little boost if need be. Of course you don't have to do any of this, it's entirely optional. From here though, you should know what to do :) Make sure you let your model(s) and anybody else involved have a finished copy for their portfolio - not only does it mean double the exposure but it's a nice way to say "Thanks!" (It's often good to work on a TFCD/TFP basis to begin with to build up a strong body of work. TFCD = Time for CD, TFP = Time for Prints. It basically means "I'll give you my time and work with you on this in return for a copy of the final outcome") 

So, there you have it. A photoshoot from start to finish. As you can see, taking the photos is only a small part of it, but no less important. 

Now get out there and take some amazing photos!

Transience

I'm a bit spoilt for choice as to what I can write about today, as so much is going on in my life right now it's starting to wear me down a little! Thankfully most things will be out of the way by the end of this week, but the tiny light at the end of the tunnel are the new ideas and projects that I can't wait to get started.

Firstly, today myself and a few other second, third and first years went to Narberth in Pembrokeshire to see an exhibition in the Queens Hall Gallery. There were some lovely photos by rather exotically named photographer Dragos Lumpan. It was all about Transhumance and documenting this ancient tradition that's slowly dying out in many parts of Europe and beyond. One of the main reasons we went there however was as part of our professional practice brief, to get us to learn how to get our work into galleries if we so wish. As it turns out, a few of the second years photos from the cinematography brief are going up in the gallery soon, including one of my own, which I'm rather excited about!

The image in question that's going to the gallery

I started to wonder what else I could do to submit to galleries, what I'd enjoy. My mind wandered back to the days when I was absolutely obsessed with pinhole photography. I couldn't get enough. I'd make my own cameras and experiment with various methods and materials. I even made a matchbox pinhole camera, which turned out pretty well. I'd spend hours developing things in the darkroom with the trays and the enlargers, seeing what worked and what didn't. It got a little lonely at times but I was addicted.

One of the matchbox photos

Shoebox photo

More of my old pinhole images can be found here :)

Anyway, back to the present day. I wondered if I should try it again, only instead of using light sensitive paper, maybe I should use film? I'd used 35mm film before for pinhole photography, but cutting it up into little squares proved difficult to develop (I resorted to putting a load of double sided tape in the tank, sticking the film to it emulsion side facing the centre of the tank and giving it a good shake. Seemed to work, but it was very fiddly!). I was recently re-introduced to 5"x4" cameras and I have to say, I love it.

I was a bit reluctant to try it out at first. I was feeling lazy that day when the tutor said we should give it a go. I didn't fancy spending forever focusing it, least of all on a bunch of bottles as a still life, but when the tutor suggested I do some portraits instead "Since that's what you're into",  my interested was piqued. I loved seeing the image upside down at the back, and having to hide under a black sheet is pretty funny, and the tilt shift effects you can do with it are pretty neat too. Not only that though, the image quality is second to none. Here you have a huge sheet of film, ready to be exposed. The worst part is making sure your subject doesn't move - it's difficult getting the eyes right on the focus plane, because once you've focused you have to close the shutter, put the film in the back, and then release the shutter. In that time the subject may have moved a little. But I think I did ok, all things considered!

Photographed and then inverted, not sure why it's blue but I like it! :D The black dots are my ceiling light.

My idea for this new project was simple. Paper was too limiting - you can't enlarge it unless you scan it in. 35mm film is too fiddly. But what about 5"x4" film? I could easily make a camera big enough to take that size film, and it wouldn't be much bigger (width wise at least) than a regular point and shoot. It being on film means I could enlarge the image to whatever size I like, plus I could scan it in at a high dpi if I really wanted to. Perfect! Why hadn't I thought of it before? I now had this excellent method of capturing an image, but what should I capture?

The beauty of film pinhole photography means you can create very long exposures without worrying about whether the sensor will get too hot, or if the batteries will last. You just open the cardboard shutter and let it go. If the hole is small enough and the film is a low enough ISO, you can get incredibly long exposure times, which is something I plan on taking full advantage of.

This project will cover several different places, usually busy areas, but I'll be using a long exposure. This creates a very eerie image, where nothing but the streets and buildings can be seen. Atta Kim did this too, somebody I discovered as part of my research into the subject as a foundation student, and his photo of 57th street has a strange, almost uncomfortable atmosphere to it. To me, it points out how we're all so busy in our lives that we don't pause for breath - only ghostly colours and figures appear, shadows of life. We're all so busy we hardly see life happen. It whizzes by so quickly we can scarcely take it in - even the camera only captures traces left behind.

This carries on from the project I started on my foundation course that I called (if I recall correctly, I'm going back a couple of years!) Transience. It'll be like falling in love with it all over again.

Tomorrow I'll be telling you about another project I'm working towards, this time more fashion and fantasy orientated!

Wedding Bells

I'm really happy as I write this as I've received my first two jobs to shoot weddings! The first is a wedding evening-do that takes place next week and the other is a ceremony in September. I'm so excited! I'm also a little nervous, but I know I'll be ok. They're all very lovely people and I can't wait to meet them.

I'm really looking forwards to building a big portfolio of beautiful wedding photographs and visiting wedding fares and the like, I've reached an exciting time in my life. I really love weddings and relish the idea of being given the opportunity to take beautiful photographs of a couple's big day. It's an honour to be asked to capture something that they'll cherish forever.

My website will be worked on some more once I have a bit more free time (my workload has exploded since I started my second year in uni) and I'll have to include a new section for weddings - I'll be adding a separate gallery exclusively for wedding orientated photographs I've taken along with package descriptions and prices.

I've not turned my back on fashion photography and self portraits though! As much as I adore weddings, portraits and fashion are my first love. I was skimming through my ideas book recently for inspiration and happened across an old idea I had for the "Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" proverb. I couldn't help but laugh as it's such a silly one and I can't wait to do it once I've completed my cinematic brief. It involves a forest clearing, a map and a tree - and that's all I'm saying about that!

My new lens! A mini review.

So, as some of you may know already, I recently got myself a new lens! I saved up and got the lens I've wanted for a while - the Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8. So far, it's worth every penny I paid for it, and it keeps getting better and better. I decided to give you my thoughts on it so far, a mini first impressions review I suppose :)

So what prompted me to get it? Well, aside from the obvious, recently my kit lens broke a little (well...maybe a bit more than a little). I was doing something for my 365 project at the time when I tripped on a wire near my tripod (which also stopped me from being able to work tethered, I need to get a new one) and the tripod, complete with camera and lens went crashing forwards and landed lens-first. What a nightmare! Thankfully, it landed on my shaggy rug, so the damage was minimal.

I didn't actually notice any damage until a few days later when I felt that the zoom was acting up and getting stuck. It wasn't until I was having to force the zoom to go where it was meant to and I heard a loud SNAP that I realised there was a screw or something loose and the front element was wiggling around rather happily to itself. The good news was it still auto-focused, but it wasn't quite as accurate anymore since the element was droopy and looking at completely the wrong angle (i.e., down). So on the upside, I'd accidentally created a tilt shift. On the downside, it wasn't good for much anymore. It wasn't worth replacing (kit lenses rarely are) so I figured a lens I'd had my eye on for a few months would do well as a replacement.

Enter the Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8. I did a lot of research before getting this, but everything seemed to point towards me getting it. It was perfect for what I need it for, and after saving up I was finally able to buy it on Wednesday! The guy in the shop smirked as I put my card into the machine and said "I love the smell of burning plastic!" I couldn't help but laugh. It's true what they say - you forget how much you paid for it as soon as you have it. 

So far I've been in awe of what it can do. For the first time on my own camera I can actually count the stitches in a piece of fabric when not even my eyes can manage it from that distance. It's incredible at picking up detail. It's smooth, quick to focus and very well built. It looks pretty funny on my little D5000 though, it makes it look even smaller! However even with a DX sensor, the focal range is fantastic and very useable.

It's pretty heavy, though not in your hand. When it's mounted on my camera the leverage it provides makes my wrist ache after a while if I don't support the lens too, but I think that's because it's so much heavier than the body. Once I upgrade to the D700 I think it'll be pretty well balanced. I'm used to using the Phase One for hours on end in the studio without sore arms or wrists so I'm fairly sure it's just a balance issue. It's a solid lens worth every penny, and I highly recommend it.

Once I've had a chance to take some proper photos with it I'll post them here for all to see. I can't wait to put it through its paces!

Bag Lady Part 3, and other recent stuff!

This blog is well overdue for an update. I was so busy with my AoP project "Bag Lady" and getting it finished in time that most other things got pushed to the wayside. I had another project going on at the same time (group cinematics) which didn't help matters at all, as I had to juggle my time and be in two places at once. But, it got done in the end!

I was also really, really ill when I was editing the final photographs. I think I was rundown from too many late nights which didn't help things, as I'd caught the bug that was going around. All I wanted to do was curl up and sleep, but the deadline was fast approaching and merciless.

After a few days of ruthless editing getting 663 images down to the final six and then editing those six, I had the final images at long last. I was so pleased with how they turned out! I would liked to have included more, but the brief only allowed six, so six it was. I'll be working on a couple of others that I liked and uploading them soon too.

So here they are, the final six! (Click for larger version)

Isn't she gorgeous? :D

My entry has been submitted so I'm hoping for some good news soon. Even if I don't get through though, I'm very happy with what I've achieved. I learnt a lot about organising a fashion shoot from the ground up, what to expect, what can easily go wrong and how to prevent it, and working with others was a lot of fun. From start to finish, the project was intensely satisfying to see becoming a reality.

I recorded myself working on one of the images too using a screen capture program, as I've had requests from readers who enjoy seeing the behind the scenes type things, so I decided to include this as an insight to how I work in Photoshop. I was using a trackpad at the time, not the best thing to use I know, but I couldn't use a mouse as I was curled up in bed coughing and spluttering and had nowhere to put it. Eventually I'll try using a tablet, but I'm still looking into which one to get. Does anybody have any recommendations? I'd be interested to hear about them in the comments if you do!



Tomorrow I'll give my thoughts so far on my new lens - the Nikkor 24-70mm f2.8. Stay tuned!

Bag Lady - Part 2

I'm currently curled up with my laptop, listening to Arcade Fire and writing this after a hard day's work. Today, while not entirely planned to pan out this way, was the first day of my Bag Lady shoot. I had to bring it forwards since the studio was pretty much all booked up for next week, and I'd already booked the large studio for today in case I needed it. Thankfully I found out about this a few days before today, so was able to alert people to when it'd be and when I'd like them to be there.

The model I chose was Lenka, and I'm ever so glad I did. She's such a lovely person and a wonderful model! Finding a model was a bit of a nightmare in itself - my first point of call was within the college. I made posters and put them up everywhere in my college and the university next door. Then came the casting call. Four people turned up, which wasn't bad. One of them was Lenka, and upon seeing her I had the feeling I'd found my model.

For curiosity's sake, and for the benefit of my assignment (I have to do as many things as possible) I decided I'd search on Model Mayhem. I contacted 4 models about an urban winter fashion test shoot in Swansea a week from that date. Two of them got back to me. One said she worked full time during the week but would otherwise be interested which was unfortunate, another said that she was fully booked that day but might be able to turn up later on in the day. Uh oh. Not looking good. The other two never got back to me for whatever reason. I asked when the second could turn up but by the time I found out I'd already abandoned all hope of doing a test shoot in Swansea and had decided Lenka was the right woman for the job! I definitely made the right choice, judging by the images :)

Moving on from the model situation I came to assistants, a makeup artist and a hairstylist. I found some assistants, but only two were able to turn up towards the end of the day since they were busy with college work unfortunately. It's ok though, we managed quite well without them :) I'm quite hands-on in my approach so if something needs doing I'll tend to do a lot of it myself even if assistants are there - it's nothing against them, it's just a force of habit. I couldn't find a MUA or a hairstylist in time, so I did the makeup while the lovely Lauren turned up quite by chance and in a matter of minutes had Lenka's hair up in a fantastic beehive-nest-like construction. To quote Lenka, "Is it really that big?!" It was amazing :D

For this brief I have to get around 6 different looks since I need 6 different images. So the dress is being altered as we go along. Today it went from being knee-length to floor length at the back, dragging on the floor. It's absolutely amazing! Matt is a genius when it comes to these things, and that's exactly why I chose him. Katie made some fabulous jewellery - a bracelet made from betamax tape and a necklace also made out of the tape plus some black and white plastic things. She also made a great hairpiece made from a petri dish, what looked like tissue paper and I'm assuming glue of some sort to harden it. Very simple, but stunning. Lenka looked incredible.

Unfortunately, I don't have any final images to show for this just yet! They were still converting from one file type to another when I left the studio to go and catch my bus home. I'm going in to college tomorrow though so I'll be able to pick them up then. I can't wait! We're also doing another shoot on Monday to (hopefully) finish this off. I'm aiming to shorten the time we take this time, so maybe we'll finish earlier that day. Everybody involved has been absolutely incredible and ever so creative. It's so satisfying and almost magic seeing something that was just a mere thought bouncing around inside my head become a reality before my very own eyes. This is one of the reasons I keep doing what I do - that, and it's a lot of fun!

Bag Lady gets a thumbs up from Lenka!

Bag Lady

My latest projects are the AoP competition and a cinematic brief for college. The AoP is the one I'm pretty excited about, since it's a live project with a chance of winning. I didn't have a clue what I'd do for a while, and was busy with 365 Days jotting down ideas in my sketchbook. I did have one idea come to me however one night after looking through a friend's halloween dressing up photos on Facebook. They'd dressed up in black bin bags, only they'd made them look like clothes. Some of them looked rather nice, too. The cogs in my mind started grinding and before long I ended up inspired for what was originally going to be a self portrait - I called it "Bag Lady". As you may have guessed, it stems from people telling each other usually on a night out and to somebody whining about their outfit "You'd look good in anything - even a black bag."

I thought about this for a little while, sketched things in my ideas book, and figured it'd be really cool and edgy if the bin bag actually looked like a stunning couture dress. My original idea for AoP was nothing like this however. To put it in the words of my tutor, it sounded like a Timotei ad. It also started out as an idea for a different self portrait that I may still do for a laugh, but for practicality's sake and how much more interesting my second idea was, I decided to follow plan B's route and take on Bag Lady.

Not only is it cheap and fairly easy to make, it's one heck of a lot of fun. I looked for a stylist and a jewellery designer, and I found them pretty quickly. They're just as enthusiastic as me about this and I can't wait to see their designs. We went to this shop in Carmarthen called "Trysordy" which in English means "Treasury". It's a shop that sells a load of recycled things from plastic bottle tops to (unused!) tampon applicators (which I found hilarious). You think of it, they probably have it, and dead cheap too. So I bought the jewellery materials there, and then later on bought the heavy duty plastic bags for the stylist. They should be ready sometime this week! I can't wait!

Next on my list was to find some assistants, a hairstylist and a make-up artist. I went for the easiest one first since we're all in college today: assistants. I got a much greater and enthusiastic response than I imagined I would! I said I was looking for one or two people who'd like to help, as it really would be a great opportunity for them to see what a fashion shoot is like, what second year is like, and to learn lighting techniques and the like. It's generally a lot of fun for them and an excuse to bunk off a bit (in an educational way! Win!) :P I got one person interested straight away, then another, and then two other people. So I now have at least 4 people from first year who would like to help and join in. Awesome! I hope they have a great time and learn plenty of new things.

The casting call is this afternoon, and last night I got a little nervous. I'm not as nervous anymore, mostly because I know Rick is in and he said he'd help guide me through it. It shouldn't be too difficult. I'm wondering how many people will turn up, and if anybody suitable will turn up too. The posters I put up in The Quad (coffee shop in the uni next door) kept getting taken down despite there being no indication of it not being allowed. Thankfully however they've stayed up elsewhere, so I'm happy. I'm just glad I can speak Welsh as part of their policy is that the poster has to be bilingual, even though not many there actually speak Welsh. So after being told by a couple of different people I could probably find a translator, I was able to say quite happily "I can speak Welsh!" I even got all my mutations correct. Awesome.

So, sometime this week, I'm going to have to find a hairstylist and a makeup artist. I might have to do this by phone as the only time I can realistically get to Pibrlwyd's campus on the other side of Carmarthen is on Thursday, and I'd like to start planning things out by then. I don't have much time left - a week or two. I need the model and I need everybody else I've mentioned. Things are getting a little tight. Plus there's my cinematic brief that needs sorting, so I'm even more pressed for time. I'm quietly confident I'll pull it off though, one way or the other. I don't have much choice but to succeed since my grades are depending on this. The question is if I'll do it well! :)

I've kind of put 365 on the back-burner for now too. It's a lot of time and effort and with two major projects on the go (one of which is live) a third is really pushing it. I've thought about this somewhat and have decided that I will make images as and when I'm able to. To do it every day is really taking its toll on me and I can't always manage it, so to preserve my health, enthusiasm and sanity, it's going on a semi-hold. I'd like to make each photo interesting and not just a shot in the mirror with my camera, so expect at least one or two a week, maybe more depending on how busy I am. I'll still be doing 365 images though. It might just take me longer than a year to complete :/

I'll include some of my latest images later on, as they're on my external HDD which is at home, and I'm currently at college. In the meantime however, you can see them over at my Flickr. Enjoy! :)

A creative use of flowers

Well, it's the second week of 365 and I'm still going strong, I love this project so much. It really tests you and drives you to do better pictures. So yesterday, I was in the studio again, large tea and toast nearby while I got ready to set up. It was a lot of fun, and involved flowers, petals, glue and my face. And a ring flash. I've included images of the setup I had, along with failed photos with reasons as to why I consider them failed, so to give you insight into my thought process as I work.

First of all though, here's some recent photos from the project:

More can be found over at my Flickr photostream.

As you can see, I'm having a lot of fun with it.

Now, on to yesterday!

First of all I acquired the roses, which was no easy task. There's only one florist, and she was a bit reluctant to sell me the sorry-looking roses. In the end however I managed to get them for a very cheap price and made my way back over to college. I bought some artificial flowers too as a backup plan but they weren't needed. I'll use them for something else.

I set up, and figured a beauty dish and a reflector (read: bit of polystyrene) resting on my chest would give me the best lighting.

Vignette due to me trying and failing to remove flare with lens hood

Neat huh? Well, not really. It gave me this:

Incidentally, this type of lighting is called "Butterfly Lighting"

"What's wrong with that?" I hear you asking. "It looks fine to me, nice soft shadows, good tonal detail and even coverage. Am I missing something?"

No, you're not missing anything. But the photo is. Sure, it's fine from the front, and would be great for some portraits with dramatic lighting, but it's not what I'm after. Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to the rim-light.

It really is a flash. Not a gun.

See that flash with a snoot hanging behind the chair like a spider? That's the rim-light. This is where it gets interesting. Using a rim-light, as above, gives me this effect:

Ooh!

The edge of my head and shoulders have been illuminated in a subtle way, making me stand out from the dark background rather than blend into it. This little pop of light isn't powerful enough for me though, so I tweak with the flashes, get myself ready by curling my hair, putting on makeup and gluing on the petals and leaves. I took a load of photos, but before I show you the final image, here's an unaltered (apart from cropping it down) version with a ring flash. I was curious as to how it looked, and it was clear from the get-go that it wasn't going to work:

Uhh....no.

So, why doesn't it work? It's too harsh for the atmosphere I'm after. It's great for no-nonsense "I've got attitude" or "I'm really happy" portraits, though not so great for times when you've constructed a flower on your face. So, away the ring flash goes for another day.

I had a bit of help from the technician, John (who is amazing at what he does and very helpful), we altered the light setup a little bit, moving the rim-light off to camera left and bringing it closer. We also moved the beauty dish around a bit but I decided I liked it in its original position.

After tinkering around in Photoshop I came up with this:

Click for larger image!

So that's how I did that!

Oh, and just for laughs, here's a video of me removing the petals and leaves. It was just as much work taking them off as it was putting them on! But it gives you an idea of how I attached them, and it might give you a giggle.

365 Days Challenge

Some of you may have heard of the 365 days challenge, and others might not have done. For those who don't know, there's a group on Flickr called "365 Days" where the sole aim of the group is to show a collection of images from several people all over the world who take one photo of themselves each day of the year (or as many as they can manage) and then upload it to the group. It doesn't have to be of your face, it could be things like your shadow, footprints, an object that's dear to you - though they prefer it to include some part of your body more often than not. I'm currently on day 6 and have managed to take all 5 previous photos and upload them. I have to say, I never expected I'd latch on the way I have. I've become slightly obsessed. I thought I'd try it out for a laugh but I really enjoy it. I love the fact that it forces me to think about new ways to take a photo and to keep it interesting somehow, and I learn something new every day whether it's about myself or the techniques I use. It really is a lot of fun and I've even inspired my friend Andy to take part too! Some days I'm bursting with ideas and have to write them down, other days it's like I don't feel a shred of creativity in me. I carry on regardless though, driven by the determination to upload one photo to the group a day. My first milestone is 7 days - tomorrow! It's gone by so quickly and I'm really loving it. Here's a few of the ones I've done so far. A lot of the time I'm just playing with lighting conditions and seeing how they come across in the photograph. Different angles give different moods, as do different intensities of light.

I'm curious to see how this project holds up when my workload gets heavier, since right now I'm not really doing a lot in the way of college work. I'm finishing off my summer project (I don't have a lot to do) and I'm getting introduced to AOP tomorrow in college, and after that I have the rest of the week off. Anybody would think I'm a part-time student...it's incredible the amount of days we have off sometimes. This could be seen as a good thing or a bad thing - the good thing being you have more time to yourself to be creative, you can come in and use the studios if they're free, you can book out equipment to take with you anywhere, and you can also get direction and feedback from the tutors. The bad thing is that if you're in the wrong frame of mind you could end up doing the bare minimum and scrape by, and I also sometimes wonder where all the money goes...it's a very good course though with excellent facilities, and the tutors are great and don't mince their words when it comes to helping you improve. I love the fact that I have access to a PhaseOne camera, RB67s, Bowens lighting equipment, a huge studio with infinity curves in several different colours, iMacs, printers the size of a small car, a dark room, black and white and colour processing, toning, and many more things besides...so it all adds up in the end. I'll also go from being in 1-2 days a week to three before long, with the introduction of critical and contextual studies on a Monday before long.

So, everything is settling down and I'm keeping myself busy :) The Margam Park shoot should happen in about 2 weeks, since that's the only time we're all free. I'll probably do a few things inbetween then though. It's gonna be a blast :D