Daily Photo – a new beginning?

Not sure I’ve mentioned it on here, but I periodically try to do a “Daily Photograph” over on Flickr, and it’s usually just a random thing of my own choosing. Well, once again my latest attempt has fizzled out.

So… this time I’m jumping in with a suggested theme for each day, following this set-up by Australian Blogger Fat Mum Slim.

She suggests a whole host of places to publish your photos, but I’ll be sticking with my tradition of using Flickr. Not sure if I’ll post them here each day, but links will no doubt go out on Facebook and Twitter to annoy everyone who follows me there. (You do, don’t you?)

Seeing as I’m here, this is my Day One:

“I bought this”. (Well, it was the only thing I bought today!)

Latest university update. More pictures!

There are just a couple of weeks until the first year of my degree course is over. Can you believe it? I hardly can. Two modules are already finished: we all waiting to see how well we’ve done with the essays that we submitted just after Easter, and earlier this week we submitted the last assignments for a second module.

Now, just two deadlines remain. One, for the “Digital Environment” module, I’m pretty much completed. We had to design and layout a photographic book showing a portfolio of our work. All laid out using InDesign (which I loved), my book is here and I’m really pleased with it. Just a few more notes in my workbook, evaluating the project and the results, and I’m all done. You can see – and even purchase – the book on blurb here.

The one I need to work on more is the last of the “Photography Practices” module. Architecture, Portraiture and Still Life are all behind us (though we’ve not had grades back for Still Life yet as our main lecturer for this module has sadly been off sick) and the last one is Fashion. Not really my thing, but I’ve done a couple of shoots for it, taking a simple approach of using my son as a (willing!) model showing him in “different clothes for different activities”. Out of several hundred shots, these are the four that I’ve just sent off to have printed up large.

You can see larger versions here:    Print 1   Print 2   Print 3   Print 4

[EDIT: I picked up the prints today. It's amazing how much less forgiving an A3 print is than a screen. Will need to re-edit a couple, and possibly change my mind about one of them. Grrrr.]

As well as the studio shots I also borrowed a lighting kit and did a shoot in the woods with him, and got some shots I really love, but – however I tried – I couldn’t get them to work as a ‘set’ with the studio ones. I have used one of them for the ‘becoming nature’ assignment that was submitted this week, and have some great shots to print up for family, so it wasn’t a waste of time.

My favourite shot from the woods.

But anyway, as you can tell (by the fact that I’ve posted this on here) I have loads to do before deadlines next week: I may have got my prints ready, but my workbook for this assignment (fashion ‘inspiration’, lighting techniques, research and so on) is decidedly empty just now and needs to be filled. Of course in an ideal world, I’d have done the research first. 

Maybe next year…

Oh, okay, seeing as you asked for it…*

That essay I’ve been on about? As so many of you have asked*, here’s a copy of the version I *think* I’ll be submitting. I’ve never put a pdf on here before. Let me know if you can access it. Click on thumbnail and wait for pdf to load. It may take a while.

(*Disclaimer: No one has asked for it really.)

I’d love to hear your opinions. Really.

I need your help. I’m trying to write an essay, and I’ve chosen myself a subject and title that there doesn’t seem to be a lot of research on. Which was daft.

So here I am doing a bit of research myself – by asking you all for an opinion. My title is going to be something on the lines of

Does a light-hearted recreation of an iconic photograph compromise the power of the original image?

My main example is Eddie Adam’s 1968 photograph from the Vietnam War, showing the execution of a Vietcong Guerilla by a South Vietnamese General.

Adams was awarded a Pulitzer prize for the photograph, which was seem as instrumental in changing public opinion about the war and helped lead to the American withdrawal from the conflict.

When researching an entirely different assignment, I came across this by Mike Stimpson

and have since found many other renditions of the original, which can be found by clicking here.

But while there may, perhaps, be something inappropriate or distasteful about treating such a serious photo with a humorous touch,  I’m no closer to answering my essay question. So I’m throwing it open to anyone who reads this…

What do you think? What’s your reaction to seeing Stimpson’s Lego version, or any of the others? Seeing these recreations, do you feel any differently about the original?

And any other comments you care to make. Seriously, I’ve not got a lot to work with here and I have an essay due in next week.

(Note: I should state that I love Mike Stimpson’s work, and that he is aware that I’m using his photo as an example for this essay.)

Lego Still Life assignment: The final shots.

Well, I said I’d put the final shots up here, so I’ve scanned them and here they are.

No time to write much about the assignment now, but just a quick technical summary: these were shot on medium format (Fujifilm Reala ISO 100) using a Mamiya RB67 Camera under studio flash lighting. Film developed by Peak Imaging, but enlarged and printed by my own fair hand in the colour darkroom here at The University of Hertfordshire. Models and backdrops made by me with my son’s lego and poster paints! (Gene Kelly’s hat made with modelling clay.)

Some of you may have seen my test shots over on Flickr and be wondering what happened to the Italian Job. Well, it turned out we only needed three final prints, not four as I’d thought, and though the Italian Job photos turned out okay, they only served to show up my very amateur Lego building! 

Police Chase! The story so far…

Imminent deadlines inevitably mean I find myself wanting to do other things. Over the last few days I’ve started a little photo project of my own, utterly unconnected with any universtity coursework. Well, I say it’s unconnected. When learning about studio lighting for still life, one of my shots came out like this:

And people seemed to like it. And since then I’ve seen some amazing Lego photography (seriously – google it. You’ll be amazed at what you find) and thought maybe I should do something with these guys and see where they end up. The chase is underway…

PC brick was sure he’d soon have this job cleaned up.

The fugitive’s biking skills would soon shake off his tail. Or so he thought.

The fugitive will do anything to avoid facing the music.

This beat was nothing like PC Brick’s usual traffic patrols.

The fugitive hoped the next corner would let him shake off the cop.

God only knows how long the chase will go on. You can follow its progress here.

Oh, and for those of you who are wondering: yes, university is going great so far. Pleased with my grades, not so pleased with my time management, having fun, learning lots. Still life project – which also involves Lego – is nearly complete and I’ll scan some final prints soon and let you see them.

Choosing an icon. Help me decide.

We’re embarking on a new photo-shoot assignment. This one: Still Life. To be specific, “Four Still Life Photographs utilising controlled studio flash lighting”. Having done a few test shots in the studio I started to think about my theme, and have decided I’m going to re-create iconic movie scenes in Lego. (I’d taken a couple of my son’s Lego Minifigures as props, and this shot vaguely made me think of the Great Escape.)

It’s not all that new or original (go on, just Google “Lego movie scenes”) but I’ll see if I can do it my own way. But here’s the thing: I haven’t chosen which movie scenes to attempt. And that, my dear readers, is where you come in. I’ve drawn up a list of suggestions, but want more opinions before deciding which ones to do. So, here you will see this blog’s first ever poll.

Please vote! You can select up to three, and there’s space at the bottom to make new suggestions. Remember, I’m looking to do four photographs. There will be technical limitations that mean some things just aren’t feasible, but any and all suggestions are welcome. Just don’t forget my main criterion is that the scenes I choose should be instantly and pretty much universally recognisable. I belive the word I’m looking for is iconic.

For those wondering how I’m planning ot do these, I’ll be looking at creating a painted or photographic backdrop and placing lego figures and models appropriately. Kind of building a set, really. Oh, and for the technical among you, I’ll be shooting on medium format film using a Mamiya RB67 camera.

 

Glad I followed advice.

A couple of times recently I’ve read that you should always keep a lens hood on your lens to protect it. And I’m glad I decided to follow that advice.

It was only the smallest of drops: from about knee-high. But as my camera’s strap slipped from my hand while I was lowering it to the laminate floor below my heart skipped a beat.

Crash!

The lens hood took all the impact, breaking into three pieces. And the camera and lens are – to the best of my knowledge – undamaged.

So, in case you’re not already doing so, I pass on the same advice. Always keep a hood on your lens.

Back in one piece thanks to the wonders of superglue.

Next assignment due in…

Quick uni update…

We’ve submitted four assignments so far, two of which we’ve had results back for. And I’ve been dead chuffed – and at times a bit smug – with the results in both cases. Next main deadline is next Thursday 24th, when our portraiture assignment is due. Historically I’ve not really taken many photos of people, tending to mainly shoot inanimate things. (With the exception, of course, of family snapshots and events.)

The brief for this assignment was to produce three black and white portraits “using controlled studio flash lighting”. I’ve never been in a studio before, and never used proper studio lighting so, once again, there was a lot to learn. And before hand-in, I still have a heap of work to do, writing up my workbook and annotating everything to show what I’ve done, and how, and why, and what’s influenced me, and all that sort of stuff.

But I have finished the actual shooting and editing, and these three have been sent to print today.

To view larger, use these links: shot one | shot two | shot three

Early on in the course we went to visit The Printspace in London, to look at their facilities and learn about photographic printing processes. We do have photo printing services available on campus, but as it happens I’m going down to London next week, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to try them out for real, so for this assignment The Printspace is getting my custom. I had to download their print profiles so Photoshop could optimise the files for the particular printer and paper they’ll be using (C-type Fuji Matt, in case you’re wondering) and that, again, was a new process to learn: allocating the profile changes the depths and tones and you have to adjust other settings to compensate. I’m working on a calibrated screen, so in theory what I’m seeing on my screen should exactly match what the prints will look like.

I’ll find out when I collect them.

Flickr REALLY want you to be sure

I only occasionally delete photos from Flickr, and don’t think I’ve ever tried a ‘batch delete’ before. Boy, they don’t want you to make a mistake.