Pure Mono

20 degs

Originally uploaded by HotshotsSR1

The beauty of Ilford HP5+ is not only the fact that is a fast film that is suitable for most occasions but the fact that it can also be pushed to it’s extreme, all film can be pushed or pulled to some extent but this film has an amazing latitude, in this photograph I pushed it to ISO 3200, I used ID-11 for the development as I didn’t have any Microphen which is a special compensating developer used especially for pushing films, it took 27 minutes in a stock strength solution to develop, yes this is a long time but I feel it was worth it looking at the results, the grain is evident but it is only very slight, the slight toning is caused by scanning the negative in as a colour negative. This cat is my mothers cat and he is a natural poser for photographs, every time I am down my mothers house with a camera in my hand he comes over lets me know he is there and then jumps up onto a chair to pose for me, this has to be a first as every other animal I take shots of seems to run away from the camera lol.

Originally uploaded by HotshotsSR1

Well I’m sick now as I was going to be going down Bolton to watch Trevor’s first pro fight but Sunderland Hospital has decided to put my mothers hip operation forward by a week so I need to be here in Sunderland as she will be getting out on the day of the fight, I was really looking forward to it but my mother has to come first and I have to be there to help her home after the operation as she may not be able to walk properly and my dad won’t be able to manage her up the stairs on his own as he is 78 this year and doesn’t have enough strength to hold her if anything goes wrong. I feel like I have let Trevor down in a big way as it is his pro fight and I feel the more support he has the better, you should be there to support your friends at such an event as it is a big milestone in his boxing career but on this occasion I have to be there for my mother as after all she is my mother and she will need me more than Trevor will need my support. I was really hoping to catch the punch that knocks out his opponent in a photograph as it would not only be fantastic photograph but it would have been great for Trevor to keep as a record of the day, so now today I feel rotten but it is totally out of my hands.

Originally uploaded by HotshotsSR1

I took this image when I went on the annual camera club trip, we went to York for the trip. York has a lot of art installations all around the City centre, there are huge paintings on lots of walls and along the riverside, most of them are very nice indeed you can’t help but just love classical style paintings, there were no skinny female icons in their day only curvy women, I prefer to shoot models with curves as well, the reason is I like the curves over skin and bone. The other great thing is that they were all painted in natural light, the master in my eyes is definitely Rembrandt, I liked his low key work and as you can guess by most of my portraits I love doing low key, the main one that sticks in my mind by Rembrandt in low key is the portrait of Saskia van Uylenburgh she was the daughter of the top lawyer Rombertus van Uylenburgh and the youngest of 8 children, she actually married Rembrandt after meeting him through her cousin the art dealer Hendrick van Uylenburgh whom which Rembrandt lived with in Amsterdam. The painting in this photo is not by Rembrandt but Sir Joshua Reynolds is it titled “Lady Cockburn and her Three Eldest Sons”. I think about another three photographers got this shot, including my friend and President of Washington Camera Club, Ken Henderson, so now you know why group photography shoots are mentioned in the title, the reason I put it in is to tell you that if you want to take a unique shot then you have to make it unique, so not only do you need a creative idea you also need to make sure you go it alone as you could take days setting up a photoshoot and invite other photographers but at the end of the day if others are there they will take the same shot as you, if you are just portfolio building and not wanting to set the world on fire then it is totally acceptable go for it, group shoots make a great fun day out and help reduce the cost of hiring models etc it is a cool social aspect of photography, but, like I said if you want original go it alone!