Coming up...

For some time I have been considering doing some personal work - a photo essay based on an area where I spent quite a portion of my formative years. With the alarmingly rapid growth of my son I think a lot about my early years and how and where I grew up. Things are very different for people of his generation. I think there will be a great deal more expectation on him not to mention demands on him and his time.

I never really considered it a great deal but I didn't grow up in the most salubrious part of the world. In an area once considered the worst estate in England in fact. I don't have particularly good or bad memories of the place - rather indifference. Visiting the area again left me feeling very detached. It was almost like I could recall it being a part of my history but not actually recall living through it. Like the episode of a show I once saw. The area is now largely derelict and is in the process of being demolished and slowly replaced. I wanted to capture it warts and all before it vanishes forever.

My life and that of my children's is very different from that of my parents at that stage. I have little doubt that if like me my son is blessed with children of his own that their life will be further removed again.

At times today I felt blessed and sad and often intimidated. I even felt threatened at one point when I placed myself in danger. This is my first attempt at any kind of reportage style photography and I got quite a kick out of it. It felt refreshing and furtive and dangerous and in it's own way was a recording of some personal history. I got a tiny glimpse of what serious reportage style photographers do and it whet my appetite somewhat.

I am planning a number of photo-essays over the coming months - some personal, some more generic. I have enjoyed this as a start of this process. I am documenting them on my facebook page (just light reflected - photo album - Coming up...) and some of them will no doubt appear on my website (www.justlightreflected.com). Please have a look and feel free to comment - your thoughts and criticism would be welcome.

#@*&%#}!...

@$%&*@#! printers!

Day 2...

Day number two of the exam... 3 more to go after tonight. With the majority of the work complete my thoughts turn to the barren period that will be Tuesday nights once college is finished. I have enjoyed the time in the last nine or so months and I am keen to continue. Without the stucture of formal lessons I hope to be able to achieve a little more creative freedom. There is the option of continuing study in the Autumn although this feels a long way off.

I have in mind a number of studies or photo-essays to complete over the summer. I think I will start to plan these in greater detail over the coming weeks and think how best to present these.

Here come the pre-exam jitters...

Calming down...

Wow - two posts in a day! Following the disappointment at the non-starter which was my photography exam I have just about re-grouped. It will give me time to consider my images and choice of medium for this exercise. Whilst I am confident that I am doing the right thing - another week of reflection will be no bad thing. Anyway - back to the pictures....

The above moody looking shot is of one of the benches near the Harbourmasters office in Warsash, England. The light was failing fast and I managed to fire off a couple of semi-usable post sundown landscapes. I had headed out in the car to try and get my young son to drop off to sleep. I was just packing up and walking down the steps when the above composition caught me. I fired off a shot using my 50mm lens at about f1.8. Being relatively new at this game I am still in awe of the power of a shallow depth of field shot.

My lesson for the day - never pack up the camera until you have had one last glance around.

Exam...

...didn't get off to the best start. I was overly prepared and found myself faced with photo-printers that didn't work. I really wanted to see the images to get a feel for how they looked in real size. Never mind - four more weeks to finish it off.

Welcome to the Darkslide...

If you get some time check out the website of Rob Luckins - www.welcometothedarkslide.co.uk - Rob is a talented and creative photographer with a varied range of skills. Rob has been the tutor on my photography course and he has been great. Four days before the course I had not used an SLR or photoshop in anger and I have to credit nearly everything I have learnt in the last 8 months to him. He has been unconventional, supportive, creative and above all PATIENT! Most importantly he has let us actually do and learn from our mistakes and triumphs rather than just talking at us.

Sunshine...

Wow - what a difference the sunshine makes. Some early starts this weekend making the most of the beautiful light. Had some odd creative vs. nerdy moments this weekend. Continuing with my exam shots and I reached a point where I needed some props. The long and the short of it was that I pitched up at a flat calm beach with a surfboard for 'art's' sake and felt a bit of a numpty. I guess that will pass and the results were really quite pleasing so it was worth it. Not sure I can say the same about being caught in the woods taking close up pictures of a mountain bike saddle... hey-ho.

Got the chance to take some fun shots of the family but as you delve deeper into the world of photography you even search for an arty angle on that. Big shout out to my gorgeous two year old son for his seemingly endless patience and his big brother who is entering that awkward and uncomfortable phase of being a young teenager. Yes, I will keep taking pics of you - we need something to remember these precious times!

Website...

So, the website moves at pace! This is all very new to me and naturally my main concern is content and style. However there is a great deal of technical wizardry that goes along with this and that is where I start to fall down... Anyway check me out, add me to your favourites, stumpleupon etc. Would be great to see you!
www.justlightreflected.com

Studio Lights...

So, I got to play with my studio lights properly for the first time. Some fun results - I have a lot to learn - but they give you great creative freedom. More creativity to follow!

Exam Portfolio...

So, I have decided on a topic for my exam portfolio. I just need to take the pictures. I have taken the measurements and done the preliminary sketches. I just need to flesh it out now with real images. There will be a lot of post-image work in photoshop which I still feel is cheating a bit... but it is mostly stitching panoramics and merging for high dynamic range so I don't feel so bad.