Wednesday 7th December 2011
Having my new Mamiya but lacking a battery and any quantity of film it was obvious I'd need to acquire both. Ian Turner contacted me whilst I was deciding how to progress with my numerous tasks and issues and between us we decided to meet up. Ian came to me, and then I drove to the camera shop and acquired the battery, film (HP5) and some chemicals for my dark room.
With Pastiche images printed off and having scouted some locations previously, we headed to Maidstone via Rochester (here I got to try the new (secondhand) camera out a couple of times) . It's always worth testing gear out, and this seemed like the ideal opportunity. I'd seen the locations previously only in daylight so it was interesting to see the amount of light at each location at night.
As usual I took a couple of reference photographs to record the lighting etc at each location, and tried the bulb setting on the RZ for the first time. Once thing that the new camera has highlighted is my increased need for a better tripod which is the next equipment based issue to resolve.
None of the locations were perfect (Christmas lights, to much light, parked vehicles, street furniture and a general lack of the original feel of the Paris streets) and of course none of the streets were wet but for testing purposes it hopefully wasn't a wasted day.
Wednesday, 7 December 2011
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
Free day Tuesday 6th December 2011 (Environment Printing)
Tuesday 6th December 2011 (Environment Printing)
Decided after yesterdays session printing the contact sheets and experimenting with a few prints that today would be a good day to try and print further.
Starting off quite early so that I could use one of the more superior easels I set about printing off the first three images for the initial Environment project. This is material that I had re-shoot and changed completely from my initial concept (from play areas and missing my son-to graves and how we return to the earth and remain there until we are a mere distant memory,).
Eventually I moved onto printing a further images for the second 'Cityscape' Environment. Three of the bridge series, and a couple of the subway images (I took at the same time to support my city space concept).
It still takes me an age to print, I try and be methodical and produce all of the required wedge and test strips. And I think if a jobs worth doing, it's worth doing right. So I attempt with my limited experience to get each image as right as I can. Using multiple grades to attempt to creatively bring out both density and tone.
I really do love the whole process and find myself getting into a zone whilst making the work, I just get frustrated at the odd beginners mistake or silly errors that create wastage of the expensive paper. But with the old adage, practise makes perfect I can see that it only gets easier!
Decided after yesterdays session printing the contact sheets and experimenting with a few prints that today would be a good day to try and print further.
Starting off quite early so that I could use one of the more superior easels I set about printing off the first three images for the initial Environment project. This is material that I had re-shoot and changed completely from my initial concept (from play areas and missing my son-to graves and how we return to the earth and remain there until we are a mere distant memory,).
Eventually I moved onto printing a further images for the second 'Cityscape' Environment. Three of the bridge series, and a couple of the subway images (I took at the same time to support my city space concept).
It still takes me an age to print, I try and be methodical and produce all of the required wedge and test strips. And I think if a jobs worth doing, it's worth doing right. So I attempt with my limited experience to get each image as right as I can. Using multiple grades to attempt to creatively bring out both density and tone.
I really do love the whole process and find myself getting into a zone whilst making the work, I just get frustrated at the odd beginners mistake or silly errors that create wastage of the expensive paper. But with the old adage, practise makes perfect I can see that it only gets easier!
| Environment Cityscape |
| Environment first (re-shot) section |
| New Camera |
| New Camera |
| New Camera |
Monday, 5 December 2011
Day 44 Monday 5th December 2011 (Perception)
Day 44 Monday 5th December 2011
10:00 Perception Unit Lecture -Exploring Time
Micheal highlighted several aspects of photography that could be discussed in relation to time and it's relationship to space within photography. Those headings selected included;
History (Photographers such as) Alexander Rodchenko
Psychological (Photographers such as) Franchesca Woodman (committed suicide at 22)
Memory (Photographers such as) Nan Goldin
Classical (Photographers such as) Andreas Gursky (geometric lines) and Scott McFarland (idyllic landscapes)
Mythology (Photographers such as) Tim Walker
Metaphor/Symbolic(ism) (Photographers such as) Ori Gerst
11:20 Printing B&W. I decided to do some contact sheets, and realising the dark room was free decided to attempt to progress and do some printing
14:00 Talk with Foundation Students (Room 803) Myself and fellow student rep Lucie made a very small contribution to the talk Caroline gave to the foundations students who might be considering joining the course in the future
14:45 Printing B&W. I ended up getting very frustrated at the poor quality easels that made it almost impossible to get a strait edge on a print. I wasted numerous sheets of paper before deciding to return again tomorrow when I'll select one of the decent easels (that require much more setting up. but that actually give a presentable edge. I suspect the easels will be an issue to carry forward as a student rep. It's frustrating and expensive to waste time and paper due to equipment failure.
16:00 Perception Seminar. A continuation on the lectures earlier discussion relating to myth and mythology within the world around us and it's expression in the world of photography
16:40 Returning Enlarger lens to stores/putting away equipment
On returning home I've photographed the contact sheets and prints produced today and I'll insert those in the appropriate blogs.
10:00 Perception Unit Lecture -Exploring Time
Micheal highlighted several aspects of photography that could be discussed in relation to time and it's relationship to space within photography. Those headings selected included;
History (Photographers such as) Alexander Rodchenko
Psychological (Photographers such as) Franchesca Woodman (committed suicide at 22)
Memory (Photographers such as) Nan Goldin
Classical (Photographers such as) Andreas Gursky (geometric lines) and Scott McFarland (idyllic landscapes)
Mythology (Photographers such as) Tim Walker
Metaphor/Symbolic(ism) (Photographers such as) Ori Gerst
11:20 Printing B&W. I decided to do some contact sheets, and realising the dark room was free decided to attempt to progress and do some printing
14:00 Talk with Foundation Students (Room 803) Myself and fellow student rep Lucie made a very small contribution to the talk Caroline gave to the foundations students who might be considering joining the course in the future
14:45 Printing B&W. I ended up getting very frustrated at the poor quality easels that made it almost impossible to get a strait edge on a print. I wasted numerous sheets of paper before deciding to return again tomorrow when I'll select one of the decent easels (that require much more setting up. but that actually give a presentable edge. I suspect the easels will be an issue to carry forward as a student rep. It's frustrating and expensive to waste time and paper due to equipment failure.
| Four of the prints have border issues (despite swapping easels). So I'll try to be more selective with the easel tomorrow, failing that I'll print without a border. |
16:00 Perception Seminar. A continuation on the lectures earlier discussion relating to myth and mythology within the world around us and it's expression in the world of photography
16:40 Returning Enlarger lens to stores/putting away equipment
On returning home I've photographed the contact sheets and prints produced today and I'll insert those in the appropriate blogs.
Sunday, 4 December 2011
Free day Sunday 4th December 2011
Sunday 4th December 2011:
Today has been a day of 'odds and sods'. I awoke with a pretty bad back today so that's restricted me somewhat. I've also been assisting an ill friend.
I did manage to read Ansel Adams 'The Camrea' further.
I've watched a further episode of 'The Genius of Photography' via e-stream
I've corresponded further with Andrea Still at the Salvation Army regarding some of the details relating to the shoot this coming Friday..
Today has been a day of 'odds and sods'. I awoke with a pretty bad back today so that's restricted me somewhat. I've also been assisting an ill friend.
I did manage to read Ansel Adams 'The Camrea' further.
I've watched a further episode of 'The Genius of Photography' via e-stream
I've corresponded further with Andrea Still at the Salvation Army regarding some of the details relating to the shoot this coming Friday..
Saturday, 3 December 2011
Free Day Saturday 3rd December 2011
Saturday 3rd December 2011
Made progress on my study/darkroom today with help and assistance from my roller wielding friend Jenna.
Also had confirmation my medium format camera will be delivered on Tuesday so I'm happy about that.
Did a number of mundane/routine tasks such as logging on and renewed library books, and also had an eye test today which has resulted in a new prescription.
Made progress on my study/darkroom today with help and assistance from my roller wielding friend Jenna.
Also had confirmation my medium format camera will be delivered on Tuesday so I'm happy about that.
Did a number of mundane/routine tasks such as logging on and renewed library books, and also had an eye test today which has resulted in a new prescription.
Friday, 2 December 2011
Day 43 Friday 2nd Dec 2011 Workshop
10:00 Studio practice workshop:
We started the day by being assigned lighting plans with sets that needed to be built correspondingly. Once the sets were built Jonathan and Emily demonstrated how they worked, deconstructing lighting by demonstrating each aspect
Following on from building the sets, we were asked to deconstruct them and return the materials to stores.
We had a small task to do over lunch which consisted of supplying our lighting reference image(s) and a quick lighting plan based on that image and our proposed visual style for our portrait shoot.
Once we returned and Jonathan collated them we were grouped roughly into four groups based on the lighting style we wanted to test. For me this was Set three (above) and we were tasked with re-building the lighting sets and completing some test images, which we did during the course of the afternoon.
Like most people I HATE making mistakes, especially when they affect other people and today after getting home I realised that had made such an error. It's most annoying but after scanning today's negs this evening it was obvious they were underexposed and soon the penny dropped.
Upon checking my light meter I realised I'd left the ISO set at 100, when I'd loaded 400 ISO film (because that is what i had to hand), bugger!
A School boy error and worse still since I shared my film and light meter with Nikita it's affected her images too. So I 'll apologise for that.
On a plus side, as test shots they still demonstrate the main effects we attempted to achieve. The whole process would have been perfect if the ISO had been correct on the light meter.
The image is underexposed (by two and a half stops since were where supposed to be overexposing by half a stop, and I underexposed by two stops) which is the outcome of my error. But you can see see the effects of the inclusion on a front reflector for example.
In conclusion I learnt a great deal from the mistakes.
The incorrect ISO setting on the light meter (first time I've done that, and a careless oversight). Secondly in the last image I included a reflector, but I never took a new light meter reading (another oversight always take a light meter reading!! Preferably with one that is set up right also!)
We started the day by being assigned lighting plans with sets that needed to be built correspondingly. Once the sets were built Jonathan and Emily demonstrated how they worked, deconstructing lighting by demonstrating each aspect
| Set One (Studio One) |
| Set two (group I, my group, studio two) |
| Set three (studio two) |
| Set three matched the criteria I had perfectly for my proposed Portrait shoot (which I'd blogged yesterday) |
| Set three again |
We had a small task to do over lunch which consisted of supplying our lighting reference image(s) and a quick lighting plan based on that image and our proposed visual style for our portrait shoot.
Once we returned and Jonathan collated them we were grouped roughly into four groups based on the lighting style we wanted to test. For me this was Set three (above) and we were tasked with re-building the lighting sets and completing some test images, which we did during the course of the afternoon.
Like most people I HATE making mistakes, especially when they affect other people and today after getting home I realised that had made such an error. It's most annoying but after scanning today's negs this evening it was obvious they were underexposed and soon the penny dropped.
Upon checking my light meter I realised I'd left the ISO set at 100, when I'd loaded 400 ISO film (because that is what i had to hand), bugger!
A School boy error and worse still since I shared my film and light meter with Nikita it's affected her images too. So I 'll apologise for that.
On a plus side, as test shots they still demonstrate the main effects we attempted to achieve. The whole process would have been perfect if the ISO had been correct on the light meter.
The image is underexposed (by two and a half stops since were where supposed to be overexposing by half a stop, and I underexposed by two stops) which is the outcome of my error. But you can see see the effects of the inclusion on a front reflector for example.
| Background lighting |
| Radio slave system to initiate the flash (transmitter) |
| Radio slave system to initiate the flash (receiver) |
| Overall set up which I'll be using for real next Friday. |
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| Scanned negative. Underexposed (see main body of text for explanation) |
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| Scanned negative. Underexposed (see main body of text for explanation) |
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| Scanned negative. Underexposed (see main body of text for explanation) |
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| Scanned negative. This image is also washed out, due to the poly board reflector that we included as an experiment. |
In conclusion I learnt a great deal from the mistakes.
The incorrect ISO setting on the light meter (first time I've done that, and a careless oversight). Secondly in the last image I included a reflector, but I never took a new light meter reading (another oversight always take a light meter reading!! Preferably with one that is set up right also!)
Thursday, 1 December 2011
Free day 1st December 2011 Body Research
1st December 2011 Body Research
Tomorrow is a lighting test for the following Friday's portrait shoot. Having discussed backgrounds at the tutorial I'm going to test a white background that is lit (two lights one either side) if I'm able, with a single main light and probably a reflector (although the test shots will dictate if a fill is required). I'm hoping to be able to use an RZ67 Mamiya on the shoot day.
I've been reviewing images of a religious nature from different eras and I've blogged a few here to give an idea of some of the techniques and styles used.
I've quoted Brian Griffin as the photographer to influence the look of my images, this is based on a few of the images from his St Pancras series (which I have also added to the blog below).
Also Richard Avadon is the second obvious choice due the the visual style he employs with the bright white background used frequently.
I see the Salvation Army members as 'workers' for their church and Griffins images capture a mostly uniformed workforce in detail.
Avedon shoots a very diverse range of people using the same visual style.
Tomorrow is a lighting test for the following Friday's portrait shoot. Having discussed backgrounds at the tutorial I'm going to test a white background that is lit (two lights one either side) if I'm able, with a single main light and probably a reflector (although the test shots will dictate if a fill is required). I'm hoping to be able to use an RZ67 Mamiya on the shoot day.
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| One of the instruments (a euphonium) I hope one of my sitters will bring with them. Reflections could be an interesting challenge. |
I've quoted Brian Griffin as the photographer to influence the look of my images, this is based on a few of the images from his St Pancras series (which I have also added to the blog below).
Also Richard Avadon is the second obvious choice due the the visual style he employs with the bright white background used frequently.
I see the Salvation Army members as 'workers' for their church and Griffins images capture a mostly uniformed workforce in detail.
Avedon shoots a very diverse range of people using the same visual style.
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| Image taken from Jane Browns book Pillars of the Church |
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| Images from Brian Griffins St Pancras series (images via http://www.briangriffin.co.uk) |
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| Images from Brian Griffins St Pancras series (images via http://www.briangriffin.co.uk) |
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| George Bush by Richard Avedon http://www.richardavedon.com |
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| Lee Friedlander by Richard Avedon http://www.richardavedon.com |
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