Inspiration for writing is like grain of sand, slipping through my fingers. It is golden; this inspiration. It has a golden glow is so pure and warm but once I try and take a hold on it, the glow becomes dimmer and grains of sand become smaller. I must hold onto it before it goes...
As you can see my inspiration runs out quickly, no matter how beautiful and important it is to me.. What inspired me this morning was my research into Black and White Photographers that I'm currently procrastinating as I my urge to write this post came to me. I have spoken a lot about Black and White recently and for this research, I have to analyze some of the work from my favourite Monochrome photographers. Mine personal favourite would have to Robert Freeman who Photographed the Beatles around the time of the Rubber Soul LP in 1965. I love his high contrast tonality between the black and white - shades of grey would seldom be conveyed. I have to talk about why I find the Photographs work interesting and how it inspires me. I also have to mention, how it would influence my work. That is the thing. I love Monochrome but I could never re-create Robert Freeman's style. It is his. It is original. I want to be original. I am original.
On my lecture in Digital Photography on the Thursday just been; my lecturer said that "everything has been done before" and he is right. It has. In a way it is discouraging because how can anyone be original when at least someone has tried to do something that is already done. On the other hand, it is an exciting challenge; this being because every person has a unique perception on life-I learned that the other day. We may be similar but even the same object we may look at, everyone will have different way of associating themselves with it. This could be from a still life to a person to a landscape and so on. A Photographers job, as well as capturing light, it is to show to the world how they perceive it. It is hard because these differences can be very similar but I think I can prove a difference in my Photography, it will show what a successful Photography I am.
I must get on with this research now. What a perfect introduction.
Want to visit my Flickr photostream with the featured photos in my blog and more then click the following link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brown_eyed_dreamer/
Sunday 23 October 2011
Saturday 22 October 2011
Practice makes perfect..
I do love that sense of improvement and development really paying off.
Looking back over my Blog I have seen how much I progressed in my Photography. Though the first milestone for me was getting into University and starting my course the real beginning was much before that. It's strange how much I didn't know. I suppose I possessed some natural Photography skills. I could already frame my images and take pictures of interesting compositions but I have learned so much about Photography in the last five weeks at University than I ever thought I would. This knowledge is just making my confidence soar and make me really feel that I am getting somewhere. I have been quite skeptical in my abilities in the past as you have something in your work that makes it stand out. As I am writing this I am feeling very silly about why I was so skeptical and I can't really put my finger on the main reason. It's in the past now, so not worth worrying. I suppose progress can be a bit daunting; there will always be times when things will be great but without those mistakes we make, we can't improve, so in a sense even the negatives spell good too.
I have been an Assistant Photographer for about eighteen months now. I believe I have done eight weddings. That is pretty good going, I think. I remember the first time when I was given one of the professional cameras and thinking "How on Earth do I use this?". I was set up for me, by the Photographer I work with. I was very quiet, just stood at the back of the church and I think my pictures were blurry as I didn't know how to focus, on this high tech Digital SLR. To be hones, I was still unsure how my SLR worked at this time and I had it for six months. I enjoyed the day though and there is a blog post back in May 2010 if you want to read more about it. I never imagined I would have the confidence to get involved and talk to guests about posing for the camera and getting me to take their photos. The social skills in Photography seemed unreachable.
Yesterday improved my social skills in Photography. Stuart could sense an improvement in my work; it has begun to be used in some of the wedding albums and he said my compositions and timings are much more precise so I had to move a step up. My task was to get in closer with the guests and interact with them. I am a Photographer now. It is what I should do. I can't just stand from a distance. I took up as much courage as I could to look for the golden opportunities and I found them. I got some wacky poses, some requests from parents to take pictures of their children running around (to be honest that one was hard, they really don't keep still, but I'll work on that) and I got a group of around ten people to smile at the camera for me. They were taking pictures of themselves using their amateur cameras, so I thought "Hey, I could take their pictures", which is what I asked and achieved. I felt so good about myself and even Stuart seemed impressed.
I'm loving this industry, this freedom of capturing light more than ever. I just fits with me!
Want to visit my Flickr photostream with the featured photos in my blog and more then click the following link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brown_eyed_dreamer/
Looking back over my Blog I have seen how much I progressed in my Photography. Though the first milestone for me was getting into University and starting my course the real beginning was much before that. It's strange how much I didn't know. I suppose I possessed some natural Photography skills. I could already frame my images and take pictures of interesting compositions but I have learned so much about Photography in the last five weeks at University than I ever thought I would. This knowledge is just making my confidence soar and make me really feel that I am getting somewhere. I have been quite skeptical in my abilities in the past as you have something in your work that makes it stand out. As I am writing this I am feeling very silly about why I was so skeptical and I can't really put my finger on the main reason. It's in the past now, so not worth worrying. I suppose progress can be a bit daunting; there will always be times when things will be great but without those mistakes we make, we can't improve, so in a sense even the negatives spell good too.
I have been an Assistant Photographer for about eighteen months now. I believe I have done eight weddings. That is pretty good going, I think. I remember the first time when I was given one of the professional cameras and thinking "How on Earth do I use this?". I was set up for me, by the Photographer I work with. I was very quiet, just stood at the back of the church and I think my pictures were blurry as I didn't know how to focus, on this high tech Digital SLR. To be hones, I was still unsure how my SLR worked at this time and I had it for six months. I enjoyed the day though and there is a blog post back in May 2010 if you want to read more about it. I never imagined I would have the confidence to get involved and talk to guests about posing for the camera and getting me to take their photos. The social skills in Photography seemed unreachable.
Yesterday improved my social skills in Photography. Stuart could sense an improvement in my work; it has begun to be used in some of the wedding albums and he said my compositions and timings are much more precise so I had to move a step up. My task was to get in closer with the guests and interact with them. I am a Photographer now. It is what I should do. I can't just stand from a distance. I took up as much courage as I could to look for the golden opportunities and I found them. I got some wacky poses, some requests from parents to take pictures of their children running around (to be honest that one was hard, they really don't keep still, but I'll work on that) and I got a group of around ten people to smile at the camera for me. They were taking pictures of themselves using their amateur cameras, so I thought "Hey, I could take their pictures", which is what I asked and achieved. I felt so good about myself and even Stuart seemed impressed.
I'm loving this industry, this freedom of capturing light more than ever. I just fits with me!
Want to visit my Flickr photostream with the featured photos in my blog and more then click the following link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brown_eyed_dreamer/
Sunday 9 October 2011
Digital vs Film - My First Assignment...
With every aspiration there is a goal you want to reach. Within that goal there are mini achievements that get you closer to that goal. My first goal is completing my first ever Photo shoot.
Portraiture. Monochrome Portraiture, infact.
There is something about black and white photography that I just adore. It could possibly be the delicious tones of deep greys and blacks in contrast with the soft greys and whites. I think enhances the beauty of Photography and really goes back in time to when it all began.
It was around the '70s when photographing with rolls of film came into the world. People would buy their film, go on a holiday, take pictures of their familiar etcetera . Being born towards the end of the 20th Century, I was in the midst of change, the process and development of Digital Cameras. Film wasn't used as often but it was the Photographers back in the day would use to make a living and how they learned to use a camera. There is Mathmatics and Science to Photography and being one of the most artistic and creative people known to mankind I knew this would be a bit of a struggle understanding these terms that are computerized Mathematically within the Automatic setting of a Digital Camera. Being a University student now on a Photography Degree it is about time I leave behind the Auto mode and really take some real photos with some real knowledge and real technique.
I was given my first assignment last week to use two rolls of film and a Pentax K1000 (a vintage 35mm camera). That is the model they have at University but for me I wanted to take this seriously and purchase my own. Which is exactly what I did. Then choose my subject. It is always a good tip to use a friend or person you know well to create an easy-going environment to practice directing skills and building confidence for going into the Photography Industry.
Being quite new to film cameras, I took my Digital SLR on the shoot and programmed in the Aperture and Shutters Speed beforehand to test if I had achieved a balanced exposure. Using my Pentax K1000 was an interesting experience and comparison to the Digital World. I really had to think about the composition, the lighting, the focus and everything that goes into making a good picture. Well this was the exercise; to learn these key techniques. It just goes to show how easy it to is to point a camera at an object or a subject and then to shoot. I really understand the idea of "point and shoot" that is actually all it is and I know how obvious that sounds.
I think I have always been a bit scared about using the manual setting on my Digital SLR incase the picture would come out completely overexposed, blurry or just down right hideous and it effected my Photographers Confidence. I really needed to use film to get away from the temptation of using the amateur technique. One of the most frustrating barriers to pass was the lack of a preview screen. You can tell I wasn't brought up 40+ years ago. You don't realize how much you rely on a screen on the back of your camera to confirm the picture that you have taken is fantastic. If not? You then can throw it away and try again and again. It's not same with film. You can take as many pictures of the same composition many times but the film runs out eventually, actually very quickly. You need to get it right first time and the only time you can see it is when you are printing and developing in the dark room.
Now, I haven't done that yet. I have never used a Dark Room in my entire life, though I have been in one. There is that fear that I have messed up, but I can't know that for sure with every photo. I have a feeling of some good ones and some bad but this is only my first task out of my three years studying Photography. I have plenty of time to succeed if it all goes wrong.
From my digital pre-film photo shoot pictures (right hand side) I'm quite proud of the compositions and Monochrome tones that are present. I suppose that is the great thing about Digital; you can view the photos straight away.
Photographs taken by: Zoë Bull
Special thanks to George Gillbard for taking part in the shoot.
Want to visit my Flickr photostream with the featured photos in my blog and more then click the following link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brown_eyed_dreamer/
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There is something about black and white photography that I just adore. It could possibly be the delicious tones of deep greys and blacks in contrast with the soft greys and whites. I think enhances the beauty of Photography and really goes back in time to when it all began.
 |
 |
 |
Being quite new to film cameras, I took my Digital SLR on the shoot and programmed in the Aperture and Shutters Speed beforehand to test if I had achieved a balanced exposure. Using my Pentax K1000 was an interesting experience and comparison to the Digital World. I really had to think about the composition, the lighting, the focus and everything that goes into making a good picture. Well this was the exercise; to learn these key techniques. It just goes to show how easy it to is to point a camera at an object or a subject and then to shoot. I really understand the idea of "point and shoot" that is actually all it is and I know how obvious that sounds.
I think I have always been a bit scared about using the manual setting on my Digital SLR incase the picture would come out completely overexposed, blurry or just down right hideous and it effected my Photographers Confidence. I really needed to use film to get away from the temptation of using the amateur technique. One of the most frustrating barriers to pass was the lack of a preview screen. You can tell I wasn't brought up 40+ years ago. You don't realize how much you rely on a screen on the back of your camera to confirm the picture that you have taken is fantastic. If not? You then can throw it away and try again and again. It's not same with film. You can take as many pictures of the same composition many times but the film runs out eventually, actually very quickly. You need to get it right first time and the only time you can see it is when you are printing and developing in the dark room.Now, I haven't done that yet. I have never used a Dark Room in my entire life, though I have been in one. There is that fear that I have messed up, but I can't know that for sure with every photo. I have a feeling of some good ones and some bad but this is only my first task out of my three years studying Photography. I have plenty of time to succeed if it all goes wrong.
From my digital pre-film photo shoot pictures (right hand side) I'm quite proud of the compositions and Monochrome tones that are present. I suppose that is the great thing about Digital; you can view the photos straight away.
Photographs taken by: Zoë Bull
Special thanks to George Gillbard for taking part in the shoot.
Want to visit my Flickr photostream with the featured photos in my blog and more then click the following link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brown_eyed_dreamer/
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