Pure Mono

Well I finally managed to get out and get some shots today, Sue picked us up at 9 this morning and we drove to Catterick for the market, while they were looking at the stalls and spending money I was scoping the market for some shots, I didn’t get many as it was very busy and very rough so I kept my camera very tight in my hand and had the strap round my neck, at one point I took a shot of a butcher and he freaked out as he thought I was working for the DHSS, he wasn’t to know but if I was working for the DHSS he would not have even knew I was there ha ha. I decided to do some “in your face” street photography and get in as close as I could to the subjects, most shots were taken at between 50-70mm never once over 70mm so the farthest away I ever was from one of the subjects was about 2-3  feet away.  More photographs to come when I get them processed.

George

Originally uploaded by HotshotsSR1

This is George, when he was a child he was thrown off the top of a slide and landed on his head, the worst happened and he is now brain damaged. He lives just down the road from me but he now has to move back into sheltered housing as he has been getting bullied of a young couple down the road and their friends, tossers!
I’ve just found out that the last straw was when I was in hospital they let him in their flat and they were having a drink together, one of the young lads for no reason at all smashed a plate over George’s head. All forms of bullying are bad enough but for to bully someone who is not even capable of giving back is disgusting, George only has the mental age of a 10 year old so I guess it is at the same level as child abuse, I have moved now and so has George, hopefully George is happy where he is now and in safe hands! I just hope that the people responsible get what they deserve sooner rather than later as behavior like this has no place in a civilised society.

Branch IR

Originally uploaded by HotshotsSR1

I must admit that I have never used IR film before as I don’t have the time for it, maybe I should say I don’t have the patience but the fact of the matter is I’m not one for standing around taking lots of shots waiting for over 30 seconds for it close the shutter. I wish I did have the patience as IR shots can be the most stunning black and white photographs there are, the blackened sky and the white grass can make cracking high contrast scenes. For this shot I used the black and white command in CS3, on a screen there is not much difference and some people can find it hard to see if it was a real IR shot or not, but once it is in print there are a few signs to say which is rel and which is not, the most obvious is the white halo effect you can get on things. You can now convert digital cameras to IR to take real IR images, it is a case of taking your camera to bits and replacing the filters on the sensor, this enables you use the camera as normal by this I mean not standing around for over 30 seconds to take a shot but to use the camera as you would in everyday use, maybe when the D700 gets replaced with a newer model I will get the D200 converted to IR as there will be no point in me having three digital SLR cameras, although I’m sure my wife will argue the case that she should inherit the older models ha ha.

Neptunes armchair

Originally uploaded by HotshotsSR1

You can add a lot of things to a photograph digitally which can enhance the mood of a shot, in this one I used an ethereal glow which softens the light yet retains the sharpness. I called this one Neptune’s Armchair, it was taken at South Shields beach whilst driving past at about 40mph, luckily for me the sun was above it so it gave the edge of the stone work a rim light which in turn lifts it from the dark background. Although the ethereal glow in this one was added in CS2 it can also be done in other software.

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

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!