First trip stateside last month, been trying to wade through a weeks worth of trigger happy photos. Spotted this on a very dreary day walking down the Highline. A classic photo recreated in an awesome way.

There’s a lot of chat about doing something new and beyond the ordinary when taking photos. Sometimes though you just have to take what’s there. Here are three images of the exceptionally stunning Louvre.

Three long exposures, using the museum itself as a makeshift (and rather expensive) tripod. I felt quite the impostor using the worlds largest collection of the finest pieces of art to make some tin pot photos but now I’ve seen the outcome, I don’t think Phillipe-August would mind too much.

Had a day off today, I had grand plans of taking loads of phenomenal pictures. Turns out that cleaning and laundry is more pressing. Winner.

Turns out the weather was crap anyway so I saved myself a soaking. That didn’t stop me getting the camera out in the flat though. I was going to try out some off camera flash and learn the ropes. I fired a load of test shots and then batteries in the flash keeled over. Off camera flash lesson one: Have spare batteries.

I retired from lamenting my stupidity to the laptop and the David Hobby Strobist site (http://www.strobist.blogspot.co.uk/). A few links later and I saw one of his images on his Flickr page of a Rosary which I really liked and thought I’d try my own take with my chain.

Taken on top of my washing machine which sits in front of the window, I donned the 105mm Sigma and fired off a few frames. Result was this. Not amazing, nor original, but I like the outcome, particularly when it’s come from an uninspiring day in the flat doing domestic.

Cheers

Coops

It’s been a while since my last post but I’ve been fairly busy, I hadn’t forgotten, just lax in getting this written up.

This one is of a recent weekend away in London. Not been there as a grown up for some time so was looking forward to playing tourist and taking it all in. I have to say, it does have soul.

I had two objectives with regards to photography. I wanted to be selective with my shots and get some images that of the sights but from a different perspective i.e. not the “postcard” shots. Therefore, let me introduce to you my holiday snaps (I hear the collective sigh). Fear not, I’ve whittled the 113 pictures to four that I’d be willing to show.

I’ve managed to use some composition rules like repetition, rule of thirds, fill the frame and they were all deliberate. I know that probably sounds daft but I’m trying to be more deliberate with my composition and think about what I’m excluding as well as including.

Exposing was relatively simple due to it being mostly overcast. I found this gave me time to think more about my shots and because I use only prime lens, move around and pick the right composition.

I’m inclined to get some of these printed at a decent size and maybe put them up. Might as well get them out of the ether until I get some better ones.

Hope you like them.

Cheers

Coops

I was feeling like I hadn’t been out and shot for too long so I took a stroll down the road to the sea front. I’ve been there a thousand times before and it never gets boring. Cold yes, but not boring.

I wanted to test the theory that you don’t need to go anywhere fancy to take a good picture and it turns out it’s true. Well, as far as I can take a good picture anyway. 

The first image is a small duck pond. It’s not changed in all the years I’ve come here, the same stone work, fences, bridge. The water could probably do with a clean out but it’s a nice little spot. I captured this about an hour before the sun went down. Yeah it’s got lens flare but I like it, probably kills a little too much contrast but hey ho. Livens up an otherwise standard scene.

The next two are of the pier. I love the tones of the sky, the colour was a little washed out but it still works for me. There’s some heavy underexposure of the pier remains in but that wasn’t the focus of the picture and I’m really not fussed about some under / over exposure so long as it’s not too distracting.

I converted the third into black and white. As I was almost staring down the throat of the sun, the colour was pretty much none existent and the heavy silhouette of the pier smacked of monochrome.

So there it is, some “backyard” shots (sounds a bit wrong but we’re all grown ups…fnarr). Hope you enjoy.

Cheers

Coops

Hmmmm. I’ve just checked my blog and it appears that the link buttons described in my previous post are no longer there. I’m at a loss on how to fix it and its too late to try now.

Bollocks.

For now, sleep. My bed’s siren is too alluring. At least I applied for a new job today. I should probably look at doing a post with some pictures I took at the weekend too. You can’t wait. I can see it. Through your webcam.

Turns out there’s another project in the wings too. All will be revealed in the fullness of time.

Till then, cheers

Coops

These are a couple of pictures I took at the 34th Bristol International Balloon Fiesta down in Bristol. A weekend festival for hot air balloons. When you tell people that you’re going to a balloon fiesta, they look at you a little funny.

It’s basically a gathering of people who own hot air balloons who descend (literally) into Ashton Park in Bristol. The websites here for more information:

 http://www.bristolballoonfiesta.co.uk/default.aspx

Simply put, it was an excuse to go away for the weekend with some good friends, dust off the tent and get drunk. Obviously, the camera came along for the ride. The first picture was taken at roughly 07:00 after three hours sleep and a fair few ciders. We were up to watch the balloons inflate and get ready for the mass ascent. Unfortunately the, the ascent didn’t happen but it was a hive of activity in the launch field.

The light was particularly good, that lovely early morning wash of soft sunshine was catching everything just right. There were balloons just being unfurled, some half inflated and some inflated and ready for lift off. I flitted between my 28mm and 50mm trying to capture the wide shot from further back but the look a bit lost and didn’t really say much. Then I noticed these guys. They’d finished with what sounds like an inflatable bed pump to get things started to firing up the burner. I quickly attached my 105mm and managed to get some shots of them getting the balloon vertical. This is one I was particularly chuffed with. I like the implied leading lines from the ground crew all looking in the same direction of the rising balloon and the obvious graft they’re putting in to keep in under control.

The second image is from the nightglow. After a full day of wandering around the festival, eating food from trailers and drinking increasingly warm beer, the evening sets in. That’s when the music starts and the balloons in attendance, all inflated and stood looming the dark begin a dance of flames, somewhat in time with the music.

This was a challenge to an amateur. Low light, intermittent light but when it was there, there was a good picture to be had. I’ve got plenty of pictures of all the balloons lit up but they were relatively static, not saying much than at f/2.8 ISO1000 and 1/25 second my camera performs pretty good. This one I thought, was a little different. Nothing new, nothing exciting but it stood out from the pictures I captured. Ideally, the phone wouldn’t be dead centre and I’d have more of the balloons in the background to give a better feel of place but it’s something I’ll work on next time.

I’m pretty happy with them, and they’re pictures that I decided I wanted to try and capture and did. There’s certainly things to work on, but not a bad start, particularly as they were premeditated to a degree. Something I want to work on is developing a shot list for an event. I had an excuse prepped that I didn’t know exactly what to expect from a balloon fiesta. In hindsight, this doesn’t wash as there’s plenty of information on the website in terms of schedule, and even if I didn’t have specific requirements, I could have at least had some things written down on a piece of paper to better try and document the day.

Thanks for reading

Coops

Quick one. I’ve been keeping tabs on Zack Arias’ Ask Me Anything About Photography blog right here on Tumblr. This is an awesome blog for various reasons but the three that stand out are:

1. Superb, easy to understand, no bullshit advice about improving your photography;
2. He will answer your question;
3. He’s awesome at ranting, a skill which I consider myself good at, but this guy is superb.

Point 3 might sound daft, but ranting is one of my favourite past times. I have strong opinion on certain things, and I often get in trouble at work for blasting at someone who clearly won’t be civil / gets brave over email / is just generally being a dick because they’re “more senior” and don’t expect to be challenged. F*ck that. Do the right thing or nob off. Read this post and he explains it better than I am.

Take look, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. And if Zack is reading this by some unfortunate stumble over the net, thanks a lot chief.

Cheers

Coops

I’ve just been trying my hand at HTML for the first time ever. Sweet Jesus that was not a pleasurable experience.

The outcome of several hours of messing around is the social icon buttons at the top of the blog.

Extraordinarily satisfying when I got it done but it was a test of patience and my more informal vocabulary. I have a new found respect for those who are dedicated to programming. It also worries me that people are dedicated to programming. I was told by a mate of mine who’s done this sort of thing that its “dead easy”. It would appear in that case that I’m extraordinarily thick.

I might try my hand again but not anytime soon. At least I learnt something new. If we’re being honest, I hacked something together. Plus there was a result so not bad and in fairness, starting this blog has already met an objective. Frightening.

Anyway, for those interested, I found these sites useful:

Icons are from: http://www.iconfinder.com/

The site that taught me things was:

http://internetmarketingformommies.com/adding-social-networking-buttons-to-your-blog-or-website/

And it turns out, you can use Google Docs to host the images. All you have to do is right click on it, select “copy image URL”, and paste it right into the HTML editor. Jackpot.

There are pictures coming, I promise. I did come to the conclusion that there’s no point taking thousands of frames and never showing them. And when you’re thinking about showing them, it makes you think about how best to do it, from the point of capture, to edit, to publish (there should probably be something about planning the capture in there). This little venture was the tail end. I’ll leave you to decide if it’s worth it.

Go forth and fill some time getting hugely frustrated.

Thanks for reading,

Coops

There comes a time when even the most risk averse person decides to do something out of the ordinary.

There’s a lot of dirge out there about risk. The first example is how taking a risk can lead to massive benefits and make you millions so just dive in and do it. It’s the standard business success story that starts with a guy who has nothing, sat in his flat, no electricity, no food. All he has is an idea and a hygiene problem. Then one day thinks, ‘I can do this and I’m going to show the world’. Bam! Multi-millionaire playboy with everything you ever wanted and here’s how to get it.

The second is that risk should be avoided and everything should be assessed and then, by following a simple 300 step flow chart that gets exponentially ridiculous, you can eliminate any and all risks. This lends itself nicely to every health and safety document published that you have to read at work. It’s also the reason everything you buy comes with a warning. Having just bought a coffee from Nero, I don’t need reminding that the contents will be hot. In fact they’d be making me another one if it wasn’t.

Then there’s the rest of us. The ones who sit in the middle, knowing that theres a decision to make about something we want but we’re not sure of the outcomes or their potential impacts. Chances are, if you’re like me, you waylay making the decision. That’s because it’s all a bit too hard, so if you wait long enough, events will take over something will happen and it’s easier to blame, fate, bad luck or some bugger else when it all goes wrong. And you hate the after event types, the “I told you so” mob.

I fall firmly in the category of wait it out and play the long game. Good things come to those who wait. Sometimes that holds true. Problem is it’s not always the case. Hence the reason why you’re reading this.

After being a corporate man for nearly seven years I’ve done nothing more than produce work to either make my bosses look good or be put in a drawer to collect dust. I decided to do something I liked the look of, to wit, start a blog. More specifically one about my photography and how shit I currently am and the learning process I go through to hopefully get better.

The risk for me is that it puts me firmly outside my comfort zone. Whilst I believe myself to be capable of being creative and producing things that make people go “That’s pretty good.” I don’t see myself as someone anybody wants to listen to. Nor do I see myself as someone anybody can learn from. There’s also the notion that I’m putting my opinions out there at the mercy if anyone with an Internet connection. Whilst I have strong opinions, I usually reserve them for what I consider the ‘right audience’. I’m always up for a good debate / early stage argument but I won’t deliberately stir it up unless someone is talking absolute bollocks. At that point, it’s go time.

I looked at blogging, the quality of blogs and the amount of people doing it, particularly in the photography realm and thought that there’s no way I can compete. Then I thought, sod it. I don’t want to compete, just join in. If nothing else it’ll help me learn and at least give me an outlet beyond Flickr to put my pictures out there.

I’m not intending to go professional. I enjoy earning a steady income and having the time to practice something that I enjoy. My ultimate goal is to produce work I’m proud of that I can hang on my wall. This series of accompanying rants is merely me writing down what bores my nearest and dearest.

I fully understand that there will be a lot of people who think what I produce is anywhere from absolutely average to utter pig swill. That’s fine. As long as I’m improving I don’t really mind. And that’s what this is all about. It’s entirely personal, but hopefully, maybe, it might help somebody in some small way.

It will also be an exercise for me in, researching, writing, planning and proof reading. Things which I am notoriously bad at. I may also subject you to the odd rant. But I’ll try and keep it relevant.

You will notice that this post is, for a photography based blog, distinctly lacking in photos. That’s because it late, I hadn’t planned on starting tonight, but I thought I’d take the risk and get started.

Thanks for reading.

Coops