Tuesday 26 February 2013
Miss November
Just had a phone call today that I am Miss November in the Wainwright Society 2014 calendar - I am thrilled :) - this has been a personal ambition of mine ever since I discovered their existence!!!
Friday 22 February 2013
Ill Form and Void Full
Ill Form and Void Full - an exhibition by Laura Letinsky at the Photographers Gallery visited last Saturday on an OCA study trip.
To begin with, I found it quite disturbing to look at the images. The ambiguity of where the planes lie made me feel uneasy. Once I'd understood that Letinsky is playing with light and shade and showing the relationship between positive and negative space I began to imagine how the scenes were created. Not sure about the subject matter - she is playing with time showing food in various stages of consumption and decay, but why?
To be honest, I found the exhibition interesting, particularly looking at the composition in each and examining thirds, quadrants, bisections, and receding centre-pieces, but I can't say I liked it. Intriguing but not pleasing. I'm not a big fan of still life photography, so may be this has something to do with it - I'm more interested in outdoors subjects - but it has given me some food for thought for TAOP As4!
I did like the white and shadow of white though and particularly with the use of orange in the exhibition and OCA people!
To begin with, I found it quite disturbing to look at the images. The ambiguity of where the planes lie made me feel uneasy. Once I'd understood that Letinsky is playing with light and shade and showing the relationship between positive and negative space I began to imagine how the scenes were created. Not sure about the subject matter - she is playing with time showing food in various stages of consumption and decay, but why?
To be honest, I found the exhibition interesting, particularly looking at the composition in each and examining thirds, quadrants, bisections, and receding centre-pieces, but I can't say I liked it. Intriguing but not pleasing. I'm not a big fan of still life photography, so may be this has something to do with it - I'm more interested in outdoors subjects - but it has given me some food for thought for TAOP As4!
I did like the white and shadow of white though and particularly with the use of orange in the exhibition and OCA people!
Sunday 10 February 2013
Photography Monthly - February 2013 edition
Very interested in the article about Steve Landeros and his "negative space" style of photography. In fact, I had
commented yesterday on an photograph I saw at the Ansel Adams
exhibition that was about minimilism rather than the usual dramatic
landscape. The article describes the techniques Landeros uses to create monochrome images of mist, fog, blurred water and very little detail but maximum atmosphere. The images often have very subtle and only slightly visible background detail - stunning!
Negative space is created by placing the subject of the photograph to one side of the frame and using the direction of the sky to enhance the composition. Using landscape lenses, Landeros favours very high ISO (50-125), a very slow shutter speed and varying apertures - f/4-f/16 depending on the image. I noticed that with images with blurred and subtle background details, a wider aperture was used. Landeros also uses N-grad filters to darken the sky (I have a set of these :-) !)
I really want to try some shots like these and I will do at my next opportunity to get out on my own and take my time with what I'm doing!
Saturday 9 February 2013
Morning Light
One day last week, the morning light on my way in to work was incredible. And AGAIN I didn't have my handbag camera with me.....
From now on - I am going nowhere without one camera or another...
There is a photo in this shot definitely - the graphic elements of the bridge are very strong - just a matter of being organised! This was taken with my ipad, and St. Paul's is a bit blown out, but you get the idea....the shadow on the bridge was very striking!
Ansel Adams - Photography from the Mountains to the Sea
Stunning exhibition housed at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich; this is a "must see" for landscape lovers! The exhibit ranged from small photos shot at a young age to enormous prints - so big you feel that you are in the landscape itself. This exhibition was particularly interesting for me, as I am trying to master photography in the Cumbrian Mountains. Being close up to such incredible talent, I understood more from this exhibition about what a landscape needs to be captivating. Darker skies for one thing: this adds a sense of melodrama, some detail in the foreground, tonal contrast (particularly if black and white), frozen water, silky water, drama, reflections, leading rivers pointing to summits, repetition of shapes in the landscape and lakes, something connecting the foreground with the background e.g. water ripples - many many things. I noticed that in many pictures, Adams had the horizon in the middle - particularly when a reflection is involved - so I'm going to stop worrying about this! I also noticed that his viewpoint was either higher or lower, but rarely at human eye level. In some images (presumably using a good zoom) - it seemed as if Adams was in the water.
Watching the films - interviews and documentaries - that accompanied the exhibit, Adams spoke about how taking the picture is only one part of the equation - developing (or processing now) is the other bit. It's rare that you can take a picture and it will miraculously be perfect! You have to add tone, contrast, darken the sky and so on... Adams likened this to the relationship between an original music score and a conductor's interpretation.
My favourite image of the exhibition, was strangely one of minimilism and not the landscape drama I was expecting: Submerged Trees, Slide Lake, Teton Area. I find that I am increasingly becoming more drawn to images representing space - particularly of water. (Am anxious to get to the sea and find some groynes!). I also really liked his pictures of barnacles and wish I had seen that when shooting patterns for Assignment Two!
For more information on the exhibition see:
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