Backgarden Blossfeldts

Unfortunately I couldn't make the study visit to the Blossfeldt exhibition at Whitechapel, however, thought I'd have a go at the "homework".  What struck me about the Blossfeldt's I've seen online is the focus on the shape and the surrounding space but from a minimalist/simplistic perspective.  So I had a look in my back garden for something that would suit the brief.  As my garden is paved (dog proofed and too lazy to do gardening) I was reliant on weeds growing around the edges, and unsurprisingly this is what I found:

I also tried the image in black and white, but I think I prefer the minimal palette of the colour.

Sebastiao Salgado: Genesis

I visited the Genesis exhibition in April - a fantastic accumulation of eight year documentary photography.  Unfortunately my original write up has disappeared from my blog so I've lost my initial reactions.  This has now been rewritten from memory of what I wrote the first time round :-(

I am actually wondering now if it was taken down because I had added some of Salgado's images?  Although I attributed them to him, and if you are using them for study purposes this is not a breach of copywrite, I wonder if that is what happened...

Anyway, this was a stunning exhibition.  Well worth the visit.  Excellently curated with a section for each geographic region.  Bags of interest for landscape, wildlife and anthropology.  All black and white so really focusing on texture and shape.  Great examples for TAOP Elements of Design!!

One thing I noticed was that most of the pictures were grainy - obviously deliberate - does Salgado add this after or is this a result of very high ISO.  I also noticed that in some pictures the framing was so tight that parts of e.g. a whale tail had been chopped.  Again - assuming deliberate - but why?  I think that if I did that - my tutor would complain!

What I loved about the exhibition was the objective: to show landscapes and communities untouched and unscarred by modern life.   I also really liked the use of abstract in wildlife, which was something I hadn't seen before, e.g. the lizard foot and the iguana tail.

I have put the book on my amazon wish list for Christmas - I will write more then when I can reference the images more easily.

Photography Monthly - June 2013 edition

I love long exposure landscapes.  This is slowly becoming an obsession and even more so now I have an ND filter!  I love love love love love them!  In this month's PM there is an article about Trevor Cotton and how he uses long exposures and minimal colours to create landscapes with a difference - see pages 28 - 32.

These landscapes are about sea and sky and describe how Cotton produces almost abstract effects with misty water and moving skies.  Looking at the meta data published, he seems to favour ISO 100 (necessary with such a long exposure) with a medium aperture f/11 - f/15 and exposures between one and four minutes - presumably depending on available light - and the addition of a LEE 10 Stop and and LEE ND Grad.   The result of this is beautiful with the foreground sharp and the background disappearing into the horizon.  Using a long extension subject such as an old jetty is very effective as the eye is taken into the picture by the subject and further on into the blurred horizon.  The minimal colour is achieved by post processing.    I have noticed recently that I am drawn to landscape images using a minimal colour scheme - not sure why - but I think the simplicity of colour helps emphasise texture and atmosphere - particularly in these almost surreal landscapes. 

For examples of Cotton's work, please see his website, as he has explicitly requested for his images not to be reproduced.

However, I can show my own first few attempts at long exposure landscapes with my ND filter:

Finally.....

After 14 MONTHS OF BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS....and sulking.....I finally got full marks (10/10) in Kingston Camera Club's 5th print comp this year for my street pic (Hackney No. 2) - renamed "Keeping an eye on the children" for the competition.  The judge in question was Rosemary Wilman Hon FRPS former president of the Royal Photographic Society, so it was a result worth waiting for!  :-)