Family frames

Stranded in the same house as me at Christmas, there was no escaping my Frames project... a huge thank you to Grandad, Dad and Mum for obliging.

Here are the results...

Three more to go...

Festive custom bokeh

As you already know, I love me a bit of custom bokeh :)

Here are some festive shots I took this evening with my nifty fifty, a couple of sets of Christmas lights and some new slides for my makeshift hood...

It's easy as pie; read my custom bokeh tutorial and have a go yourselves!

You've been framed...

Two more obliging models for 'Frames in conversation' - Alec and Vicky - thanks both :) xx

Frames in conversation - progress...

So, I started my 'Frames in conversation' project this week... and much to my surprise, I have fallen a little bit in love with it :)

I think the reason I love this project so much is that the models who have sat for me so far are some of my closest friends - and the next phase will involve my nearest and dearest family members. It has become a very personal project and I never necessarily intended it to be.

Here are the results of the first couple of sittings earlier this week (thank you Emily and Ruth for being so wonderful):






I discovered a similar project this week called '5 second faces' by Danny St and Fleecircus. This is a street photography project which aims to capture the various characters that roam the streets of Singapore. Armed with an illustration board for a makeshift background, they approached strangers with distinct faces, asking "Can we take your picture? It'll just take 5 seconds..."

I love this idea - it's something I might follow up on in Manchester after the course has finished in the spring. If anyone would like to help me out - I need someone to hold the boards at least - holler :)

Second project theme: Street photography

I've been musing over what to focus on for my second project theme for some time now...

This weekend I have finally decided on street photography, party because I've spent a prolonged amount of time gazing out of the window at the soggy streets of Manchester, watching people battle the wind and rain and thanking my lucky stars I didn't have to contend with it myself...

Time to get my hands dirty!

I want to go for something quite different to my portraiture theme but am after another challenge; another area I haven't had much experience with for whatever reason... in this case, the reason being I am too timid with my camera in public - I always feel like I've no right to point it at strangers in the street and also worry that someone will come and lock me away for acting suspiciously (!)

I'm definitely going to have to look into the boundaries of what's OK and what's definitely not OK - I took some photographs on the Moscow underground once and got a stern telling off from an oversized guard with an equally oversized gun.

So, in search of some inspiration I did a bit of research into street photography/ers... here are my 'best bits'...

Danny Santos tends to focus on a single subject in his street photography, featuring them head on and throwing the background street scene out of focus - visit his Flickr stream to see some other super examples in the same style. He even has an album entitled 'women being beautiful'; we like this man... we like him a lot :)

'Where the girls are' by Angela Vicedomini - I really like the composition of this shot and the way the photographer has captured the spirit of friendship between the group on the bench. They look like they're up to mischief! This has given me some ideas around groups of friends at bus stops etc... watch this space...

Olivier Raffy took this from the city walls in Dubrovnik; so clever. I've seen shadows manipulated like this before - Steinmetz's famous camels are just brilliant. Really love this effect.

My absolute favourite! An incredible shot by Fulvia Menghi. Priceless timing.

So there you have it. I'm not sure I'll manage to match the calibre of these photographs but they have certainly provided some fantastic inspiration - can't wait to get started!

Poetry in motion

This week's theme is poetry. I used an old favourite from my bookshelf and took a few photographs creating bokeh from the words, highlighting my favourite lines and manipulating lights in the background of the shot to create a festive glow. I used my nifty fifty lens, set the aperture to f/1.8 to achieve a short depth of field, took the ISO up to 800 and set exposure compensation to -1.

Project theme: Frames in conversation

After weeks of agonising over different themes, I have finally opted for a portraiture-based theme to try to challenge myself and face my irrational fear of working with models.

'Frames in conversation' will be a study in natural reportage portraiture. I've never been fond of posed photographs.

Statement of intent (DRAFT)

Candidate name: Kate Aldridge

Title of the theme: Frames in conversation

Intentions/purpose of the photography to be undertaken
To produce a series of ten images each consisting of nine individual photographs of each subject engaged in conversation. I will ask each of my volunteers to tell me about an event, person or occurrence that made them feel a strong emotion; any emotion at all. I will take a series of photographs to capture both when they are speaking and pauses of thought in between.

Reasons for selection of theme (including inspiration from the work of others)
I wanted to choose a portraiture as one of my themes to really challenge myself in an area of photography I have very little experience of. I have been inspired by Corinne Day's work; Corinne took a series of natural photographs of her subject - Kate Moss - mid-conversation. Her challenge was to present a fresh portrait of one of the world's most photographed faces.

Corinne Day - a study in conversation 

Most people would immediately delete photographs where eyes are shot or a sudden movement has blurred the shot but this is exactly what I'm hoping to capture with this project.

The photo imaging equipment and medium that will be used and why
I plan to use a 50mm prime lens to take the photographs. I will set up a tripod and remote shutter release to minimise the presence of the equipment and allow me to take the shots without hiding behind the camera myself. I will set the camera to manual focus and allow plenty of space around the subject when framing the shot in case they move around - the shots will be edited and compiled in Photoshop CS5.

Techniques that will be used and how they will help convey the visual message
I will produce the images in black and white. My reason for doing this - and I suspect this was the same for Corinne Day - is to remove all distractions and to increase the focus on the subject. I aim to produce a 'stripped back' feel to the images and black and white adds something quite dramatic to the reportage style I am aiming to emulate.

How light quality can be used to help convey the visual message
Light quality will depend on the location of each series of photographs. Where possible I will position my subject indoors, next to a window, to cast light onto one side of their face. I will set up the shot against a light, neutral background, again to reduce distractions from the subject.

Safety considerations
I will ensure my subjects are in a safe environment. Where possible I will photograph them in their own homes, my home or my office. Where I need to conduct a shoot in public, I will seek the necessary authorisation and permissions before proceeding and ensure there are no safety risks in the vicinity of the photoshoot.
_____________________________

So, I now need to find 10 models... who's up for it?! Pretty please!

Colour me happy

This week's theme is colour. I'm a big fan of colour photography. I've been known to whinge at friends and family for obsessing over black and white shots and leaving their digital cameras on mono mode for weeks on end. I just don't get it. 

Don't get me wrong, I love a good black and white shot and one of my projects is going to be shot in mono, but with good reason... anyway, more about that later...

Here are some of my favourite photographs - old and new - which just wouldn't be the same without such fantastic splashes of colour...

India - I have never been surrounded by so much colour; just beautiful, everywhere you look

Indian saris; every single one is a work of art

I love the effect the flash has on this leaf

Double sunflower 

  

Stunning pink poppies in Paris shot with a very shallow depth of field, adding a fluffy softness to their petals

Colour is the heart and soul of a macaron; they have to look as amazing as they taste!

Red telephone boxes on Durham marketplace

Balancing act

Experimenting with white balance in class this week... I used my 50mm prime lens to photograph a simple plastic cup on a pale grey desk at f/1.8 on aperture priority (ISO 200).

Oddly, my auto white balance (AWB) produces a desaturated image; almost black and white:

AWB

I then toggled the white balance presets to see what effect this had on the image:

Daylight

Shade  

Cloudy

Tungsten light

Fluorescent light

Flash

Custom

Bearing in mind the harsh fluorescent lighting in our classroom, it's strange that the most realistic capture (in my eyes) was taken with my (usually horrible) on-camera flash. The tungsten light setting creates a very 'cool' image and the fluorescent setting creates a similar effect to AWB.

Where we live... epic fail

So this week's theme is where we live. I live in Cheadle near Manchester.

It is somewhat ironic, given that this week we could just mooch around at home to fulfil our assignment, that I am away with work for a couple of weeks. So, I have had to take some photographs of my temporary home instead... perhaps you can guess where I am?

    

Fireworks fail

So this week we were supposed to shoot fireworks but I spent the weekend in that London and whilst the rest of the city gazed at fireworks we were enjoying Live at the Chapel near-wetting ourselves at David O'Doherty - if you've never seen him watch this (disclaimer: this has absolutely nothing to do with photography):

So instead of fireworks I am uploading some long exposures I took earlier this year... not using sparklers but using a little torch and some street lights... sorry Dave, mega-fail!