The architectural influence of Antoni Gaudí is everywhere. His most notable mark is, of course the Sagrada Familia - that great, as-yet-unfinished cathedral that's as much a temple to the moderníste movement as it is to the divine.
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| From Barcelona |
Mostly photography
Thursday 30 August 2012
Impressions of... Barcelona
Barcelona is a fascinating city; you could spend a week just exploring the Barri Gótic and La Rambla, but there's so much more to see, especially if you're a lover of art or history.
The architectural influence of Antoni Gaudí is everywhere. His most notable mark is, of course the Sagrada Familia - that great, as-yet-unfinished cathedral that's as much a temple to the moderníste movement as it is to the divine.
The architectural influence of Antoni Gaudí is everywhere. His most notable mark is, of course the Sagrada Familia - that great, as-yet-unfinished cathedral that's as much a temple to the moderníste movement as it is to the divine.
Thursday 21 June 2012
The Colours of... the seaside
Among my fondest memories of childhood are those summer days spent in Margate on the Kent coast. The seaside was a magical place, especially when the sun shone brightly - hot sand between your toes, bright, whitewashed buildings, getting soaked on the water rides. Ice cream, candy floss and sticks of rock. And over it all, the raucous din of the fun fair: the rumble of the roller coaster puctuated by delighted screams as it began its vertiginous descent, the clangs and whistles of various rides, all overlaid on the background chatter of thousands of happy people.
And then you grow up and you start seeing the peeling paint, the tattiness of the souvenirs, the world-weary cynicism of the owners of the rides. And yet... so what? Isn't that the glory of the seaside, that it can be a bit tacky and yet be a source of fun and a good day out? The next time the sun shines, get down to the seaside - forget the grown-up ennui and buy an ice cream, kick your shoes off and paddle in the sea. Wear a 'kiss me quick' hat and go for a ride on the ghost train. Remember, for a while, the simple of joys of being a child...
And then you grow up and you start seeing the peeling paint, the tattiness of the souvenirs, the world-weary cynicism of the owners of the rides. And yet... so what? Isn't that the glory of the seaside, that it can be a bit tacky and yet be a source of fun and a good day out? The next time the sun shines, get down to the seaside - forget the grown-up ennui and buy an ice cream, kick your shoes off and paddle in the sea. Wear a 'kiss me quick' hat and go for a ride on the ghost train. Remember, for a while, the simple of joys of being a child...
Sunday 27 May 2012
The Colours of... Spain
On a recent trip to Spain, I was struck by the way the feeling of being 'somewhere else' was highlighted by the difference in colours from those that I'm used to. Here in the UK, it's mostly green (and grey!), whereas in Spain I was struck by the earth colours (ochre, terracotta), the blue of sea and sky and the rich hues of fresh fruits and vegetables.
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| From Colours of... |
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| From Colours of... |
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| From Colours of... |
Wednesday 29 February 2012
The Axe
Onosa'i Auva'a is a rugby player currently with Sale Sharks, but he's also no mean guitar player.
He recently performed some of his songs at The Boardroom in Wilmslow, so I took my camera down to try to get few photos.
I had expected the light levels to be fairly low, so would need to shoot at at a high ISO setting (1600) to get reasonable shutter speeds, even with the 50mm f/1.8 wide open. High ISO is a prticular problem with the D200, since it gets very noisy. In anticipation of this, I had already decided that I would process any usable images as fairly low-key black and white and turn the noise to my advantage as pseudo -film grain.
The other problem facing me was viewpoint. He was positioned at the top of a flight of stairs on what can only be described as a mini-mezzanine. So, not only was the front view looking up from below, but a chrome bannister rail interfered with just about every other angle. Fortunately, a sofa in the stairwell gave me a bit of a leg-up so that I could poke the camera through a gap at the top of the stairs and get some reasonable close-ups.
So, two basic viewpoints, one of them less than ideal. Sometimes you have to accept that this is going to happen, so I chose instead to go for expression and focussing on things like the guitar to emphasise the nature of the performance. Photographing people singing is always tricky, since they tend to have their mouth open and can end up just looking silly. Timing and lots of rejects are the key here.
The end result was about 120 pictures taken edited down to eight (of which I could probably lose another two or three). The full set is here, samples after the jump.
He recently performed some of his songs at The Boardroom in Wilmslow, so I took my camera down to try to get few photos.
I had expected the light levels to be fairly low, so would need to shoot at at a high ISO setting (1600) to get reasonable shutter speeds, even with the 50mm f/1.8 wide open. High ISO is a prticular problem with the D200, since it gets very noisy. In anticipation of this, I had already decided that I would process any usable images as fairly low-key black and white and turn the noise to my advantage as pseudo -film grain.
The other problem facing me was viewpoint. He was positioned at the top of a flight of stairs on what can only be described as a mini-mezzanine. So, not only was the front view looking up from below, but a chrome bannister rail interfered with just about every other angle. Fortunately, a sofa in the stairwell gave me a bit of a leg-up so that I could poke the camera through a gap at the top of the stairs and get some reasonable close-ups.
So, two basic viewpoints, one of them less than ideal. Sometimes you have to accept that this is going to happen, so I chose instead to go for expression and focussing on things like the guitar to emphasise the nature of the performance. Photographing people singing is always tricky, since they tend to have their mouth open and can end up just looking silly. Timing and lots of rejects are the key here.
The end result was about 120 pictures taken edited down to eight (of which I could probably lose another two or three). The full set is here, samples after the jump.
Monday 5 December 2011
Exhibition time!
I'm displaying some photographs at the Dark Satanic Mills exhibition this weekend (9th-12th December). There will be two (possibly three) sets on display:
The big Bridgewater picture and book that was my contribution to the Mid-Cheshire college end-of-year exhibition. I'm also hoping to include a set of pictures taken in Ancoats back in June - these have been on Flickr for a while, but it's the first time they'll have appeared on a wall (apart from in my house).
Finally, I'm featuring a new set of portraits, taken specifically for this exhibition, called This Is My Face. From the blurb for this set:
This is my face is a kick-back at the convention that 'flaws' and 'blemishes' in the skin should be covered over and denied. The pressure to conform is especially strong for women, as evidenced by how difficult I have found it to persuade many women to agree to be photographed in this style. And yet there is much beauty in the natural textures of the skin: an endless fascination for the body's largest organ, the one that suffers the most to protect the rest from the worst that the environment can throw at it. Rather than deny its reality, let us rather relish the amazing job it does and celebrate the scars it bears from a lifetime of service.
It's interesting how my description of what I was doing has been received by men and by women (I deliberately did not ask fellow photographers). I think every man I spoke to thought it was intriguing and sounded like a good idea. Even those who were in two minds about how they'd look were appreciative of the final result. Also, when I put out a general call for volunteers to pose, only men responded.
When I asked women that I know to pose, there was almost universal refusal (and some reactions of shock that I'd even suggest it). The three that do appear in the set took a lot of persuasion ('Look, it's art!' was, I think, the phrase that sealed it).
Does this split in reaction support my contention? Are societal pressures so strong on women that they continue to succumb to them, even when invited to highlight and comment on them? And how much is it age-related? (I didn't have a significant sample in that respect.)
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