The gloom of winter and the plans for a summer to come

Oh I wish....

The gloom of winter has started me thinking about the summer to come and what to do.   Well I am starting to research a project that I have had in the back of my mind for sometime - Rutland Water Ospreys.   I am not sure whether I will proceed with this but it is getting my creative juices flowing.

What will this involve?  The first step is to try and work out where the osprey nest and then feed.  The photographs I want to make are based around the osprey catching a fish - this will require a certain amount of luck, patients and research.  It may also require me getting up early, especially in the summer.   We will see what happens.

Notes and planning and FLASH photography

Making notes and reading manuals!

Well it has been agreed.  My next module project is going to be set around flash photography.  The brief is a little confusing - however the essence of it is "...an area new to you ...that should challenge your existing experience and knowledge..."

An example of what I am trying to do - see more goto Flickr

An interesting challenge.  So how to start.   I have spent the day working through the manuals for my flash gun and cameras to see what is what.  As a result of this I have decided to for something simple and perhaps a cliche -  a strobe shot of water.   The reason for this is that this would appear to be something I can easily set up and gets me some experience as to what the flash gun can do.   

To help this development I have decided to shoot tethered so that I can get a better idea as to what the images look like straight way.   I am not looking for some earth shattering piece of work at this time but just some passable result for all the effort that I am putting in.  We will see what happens.

Painting with light - some more links

Interesting search on Flickr - painting with light

Something new

I thought I would try something new today. I am writing this from the Library at the DMU. This is a first as I have never written an entry from outside my home. The first impression about this is that it is not that exciting. After all, a computer is a computer and its location is irrelevant. However, when think about it a bit more it is really more profound than that. It means that you can comment/publish from where you are in the world so long as you have a link to the cloud (I think this is a better word than the intelligent Internet - which has too many geeky connotations). I know I am not the first one to realise this, in fact I am coming very late to this particularly party but for me it is still very profound - probably says more about me than anything else.

Anyway, it did get me think about my Internet career, such as it is. I started using the interent in 1995 with the launch of windows 95. I subcribed to Microsoft Network (MSN) very quickly realised that Microsoft just didn't get the web, infact the early MSN was based on the then market leader of AOL. Boy how things have changed. I launched my originaal website in 1996 - it is still out there in the cloud - click here to see it. This has been slowly developed and is now just the local history I reaserached and wrote at that time - is it really 13 years since I did this???

So what is the purpose of this rambling nonsense? I guess it point is this. Over the last 14 years the cloud has had a profound impact on my life and my family's than anything else that has happened in those years.

Gjon Mili - some notes and links

I am sitting here writing this listening to Takako Nishizaki wonderful piece of music called Street Musician and doing some basic background research on Gjon Mili - a wonderful way to spend an evening.  Anyway, this post will contain links and notes on Mili and if all goes well will no doubt form part of my next assignment.

New York Times - 18th November 1994

Charles Hagan

'From the 1930's to the 50's, Gjon Mili was one of the star photographers of Life magazine, specializing in pictures that used stroboscopic flash to freeze action. Mili became famous for his distinctive photographs of sports stars, dancers and the like, all captured while leaping or twirling, turned by the strobe into chiseled statues....'

Wikipedia Entry

'Born to Vasil Mili and his mother Viktori Cekani, came to the United States in 1923. Fifteen years later he was photographing for LIFE magazine (a relationship that continued until his death in 1984), and his assignments took him to the Riviera (Picasso); to Prades, France (Pablo Casals in exile); to Israel (Adolf Eichmann in captivity); to Florence, Athens, Dublin, Berlin, Venice, Rome, and Hollywood to photograph celebrities and artists, sports events, and concerts, and. sculptures and architecture.

Working with Harold Eugene Edgerton of MIT, Gjon Mili was a pioneer since the 1930s in the use of photoflash to capture a sequence of actions in one photograph. Trained as an engineer and self-taught in photography, Gjon Mili was the first to use electronic flash and stroboscopic light to create photographs that had more than scientific interest. Since the late 1930s, his pictures of dance, athletics, and musical and theatrical performances have astonished and delighted millions of viewers, revealing the beautiful intricacy and graceful flow of movement too rapid or too complex for the eye to discern. His portraits of artists, musicians, and other notables are less visually spectacular, but equally masterful....'

The Winger - blog

Interesting collection of images of the New York ballet made by Mili for Life Magazine.

Getty Images

8000+ images of Mili's

IMDB

Lists the few films that Mili was involved in

Flickr

Search for Gjon Mili - produced some interesting interpretations of Mili's work and also copies of some of his work for Like magazine.

J. Thompson's interpretations of Mili's work - mainly painting with light

The first results

Well they came through the post this morning.  I have officially passed the first two modules of the MA course.   I'm happy with the marks and to my surprise my seminar paper was better than the essay!  However, in the great scheme of things this does not matter.  What matters is that I have passed the first two modules and so on to the next.

I cannot deny that the last few months have been trying in many ways but I have now come through that and can now start to look forward and also to start to ask the question 'what do I want to get out of the course?'   It is far too early provide any firm answer to this other than to say a pass.  I am not trying to get a distinction, although it would be nice if one came my way, and I think for now this will have to do.  What I want to get out of the course is to pass.  Simple and no greater expectations.  The only proviso to this is that I have started to think about what I want to do after the course has finished and I have made some very tentative inquires about a Ph.D. - but this is some way in the future and as the last few months have shown, a whole lot of things can and will happen before then end of the course.

Why do I make photographs?

Dawn - Jubilee Park

This is a question that has just come to me - why do I make photographs or images or prints or what the hell you wish to call them?  For me it starts with a feeling in the pit of my stomach.  I see something, hear a sound read an article and I am gone.   Something fires in my brain, a stray neuron; a synaptic collision and bang.   This satisfaction doesn't always come with the actual capture but by the time that I have produced the photograph I feel it - a strange warmth as I look on what I have produced.  This changes overtime but I still feel it about most of my work. 

Whilst writing that last paragraph I became aware that I didn't want to use the image to describe what I produce. I am instinctively wary of the word image, although it is a perfect description of what I produce it doesn't feel right.  I am a photographer not an imager, which sounds like someone who works at Disney.   I digress.  

The spark, the infusion of a spirt that makes me make photographs is something that it is impossible to quantify, yet it is there.  I have just been watching the movie Broadcast News and bang I am off.  Something connected and I want to produce a photograph but I don't know of what and why.  I am thinking about flash photography at the moment and yet this is not what I want to produce.  I sometimes envy the professional photographer who has a brief and can let loose his or her creative juices on a set goal.  Me I have no such luxury or constraint.  I can produce what I want and mostly when I want and this is fine but sometimes it would be nice to have a small idea to illustrate rather than some grandiose thought, something that you know you won't produce and yet will no doubt lead to something that you will.

So what is the answer - why do I make photographs?  Well put to put it simply I do so because I love doing it.  Nothing more nor less.  I wish I could draw well enough to satisfy this urge but I can't or am not willing to put the hours into improve my meagre talent.  No I photograph and love it.  And that is the best answer to the question I can come up with.

I am not sure where that came from nor whether it makes much sense but I feel better having written it than before.  I doubt whether few will read it and of them if any will understand what I am saying.  Still it felt good writing it and after all, that is the purpose of blogging.

More Flash Photography Links

This is a marvelous series of smoke images by Kyle Scott

Flickr

Canon Wireless Flash setup

More flash photography research.   This is a video outlining how to use the Canon wireless flash transmitter with two Canon flashes.

More Flash Photography Links

An interesting series of images I found on Flickr - the photographer is 

Richard Dumoulin

Flickr

Web Site

More Flash Link from Youtube

More interesting flash videos on Youtube.

div tags, ID and class

Packhorse bridge - Whetstone

Oh what wonderful time I am having mastering the wonderful world of Cascading Style Sheets(CSS).  I have found that I can only take these for a short time and then have to move off and do something else - usually slaughtering opposing armies in Age of Empires.   Anyway I happy to report that I slowly the information is permeating through my befuddled brain and it is starting to make some sort of sense.  Whether this will stick or not is another matter and really must get back into the habit of keeping notes as to what I have done etc.  Oh the fun of web design and coding.

A New Photograph

Bede Island, Leicester

It has been a strange old few days.   I have not made any photographs for over four days - for me that is something of a record.   So this evening I thought I would produce one photograph - and here it is.

When is a pound sign not a pound sign?

When it is a #.  Hardly the best joke in the world but yet another example of the colour color difference that occurs when you travel across the north Atlantic.   The reason why I mention this is because I am starting to work on Cascading Style Sheets and in particular style selectors.   I had seen a video podcast about the ID selector and the presenter referred to the 'pound sign' as the symbol that it must start with.  The pound sign in this case was the #.  Now to us on this side of the pond this is the 'hash' mark rather than the pound sign which is, of course, £.

I have now seen the pound sign mentioned again in the Dreamweaver for Dummies book I am using so I decide to examine this problem a little further.  According to Wikipedia this goes not refer to the currency but rather the imperial measurement of weight/mass.  It also notes that apart from the USA and Canada the rest of the english speaking world calls this the 'hash' mark.

This is, of course, another example of the power of the dominant culture to impose their values on other cultures.  The culture that I am talking about is that of programing languages which are all defined in 'American English'.   One of the best examples of this is the ways that dates are handled within a program.   The default setting is the American i.e. Month, Day, Year - this is why we talk about 9/11 rather than 11/9.

So what is the point of this ramble through the arcane difference in names of symbols in programing languages?  Well I suppose not a great deal apart from the fact that you have to be aware of these differences.  In many ways the American way of spelling is more straightforward with their removal of superfluous letters, again such as the u in Colour.  This difference may become more important as the weeks and months advance in the new Presidency of Barack Obama, who may treat Britain with a little more reservation than previous incumbents.  The so called 'special relationship' has always been about self interest rather than anything else.

Phew!  Moving from difference in programming language to political relationships in three paragraphs - whatever next?

Dreamweaver - The first few lessons

It is like being back at school.   I have decide to work through the Dummies book from start to finish (well almost...I have skipped a few sections that don't reply - for example the chapter on how to create graphics/images for the web by photoshop).   So far so good.  I have  been very disciplined and completed the exercises even if they are very simple and something I would never do.  I am now onto chapter 5 - Cascade Style Sheets (CSS), the heart of modern web design.   The idea is that you separate content, text and images from style, fonts, underlining, alignments etc.  The later is placed in one or many style sheets.  I have some knowledge of style sheets but I want to build on and reinforce this information - hence the process of working through the book.  So far so good and I must say I am finding this really quite rewarding.

One the project front I hope that the staff accept 'Flash Photography' as my subject.  This is something that I have done very little of and this is a real chance to explore what to do and when.   To this end I am including interesting links on this subject in the blog.  This is mainly for my information but should anybody else read this and wish to use them well all the better.

Some Flash Photography Links

I have started to do some very basic internet research on this subject.  The objective is to bring together some of the interesting videos I have found on the subject.  Sorry about the ever so happy American presenters!

Basic Flash Photography - Layers Magazine

So it begins - the great web page upgrade

I have been talking about this for months but I have finally got around to redeveloping my website.  This will take a while as the first step on the way is learn how to use Dreamweaver.   This may come as a shock as the current website was developed in Dreamweaver.   However, this was by more luck than judgement and I feel there are still many things I want to improve on.

The basic design inspiration is that of a blank gallery wall.   My intention is to keep the look as clean and simple as possible but at the same time improve the experience of the user.   I have no idea how long this will take but it is something I intend to get right.

The first step I am taking is to go back to basics.  I have started to read Dreamweaver CS4 for Dummies.   I have always found the dummies series a great place to start when learning about new software, programs etc - this is no different.  So the journey begins.

Something new - Winston Link YouTube

This is my first attempt at embedding a Youtube video into the blog.   This is one of the video's I found useful when doing my research on O Winston Link.

Going through old images

St Margaret's Bus Station - c1980

Over the past few months I have been going through my old transparencies.  This has been a revelation as I have come to appreciate how my photography has developed over the years - especially since moving into the digital domain.  What I have come to appreciate is that my key photographic skills lie in post production.  Here I am able to create the image I envisioned whilst out shooting.

This is also true of the old images I have scanned onto the system.   The image above is a good example.  These three image were taken circa 1980 in an around St Margaret's bus station in Leicester.   They were originally colour, I believe shot on Agfa slide film (21 DIN - that shows my age!).  However, in post production I have been able to make them into a much more impactive set of images.   Each one has a story, however small, attached to them and perhaps one day I will get around to putting them down in writing.   For now I think they show two things;  first, how times have changed in the last 30 years;  Second, as we enter another recession we will not doubt see people protesting about there lot, however, few I guess would be wearing a 'donkey jacket.'

Gjon Mili

A centaur drawn with light - Pablo Picaso, France 1949

Gjon Mili

I spent a bit of frustrating morning in the DMU Library trying to find books on Flash Photography.  There were plenty of books on Adobe/Macromedia Flash but not Flash Photography.  I then realised that I had misspelt photography and then found a a book by Gjon Mili - Photographs & Reflections.  I have only just started to examine the book in any depth but already many ideas about the next project/module/assignment are flooding through my brain.  Many of them are crazy and I am certainly not ready to disclose them to anyone who may read this.   Known the less Mili has been inspirational.  Perhaps this next module will be rather fun than I thought.

Lomography

A new word and a new piece of information.   After publishing a post I always click the next blog button to see what has just been published.   Usually, it is not in english and so is difficult to understand but this time I found a blog that mentioned Lomography.  Curious I Googled this and found a whole brand of photography based around a cheap soviet era camera.  This is worth looking at as there is a whole cultured built up around the camera - hence Lomography.

Images for next weeks meeting

Start and Finish

I have spent an interesting day putting together a series of images for next weeks meeting.  I have been interested in the question of what makes a good photograph (I know that is an almost impossible question to answer as it is always very subjective but it is one I have been thinking about for a while now).   Anyway, what I have been working on is the difference between an image at the start of the process compared to what it end up like.   

To examine this I made a series of prints based on the RPS submission.   They are diptychs comparing the image at the start and end.   I find the result very revealing about how I work as photographer.  I clearly like images that are fully saturated or with strong blacks and contrasts if they are black and white images.  They also benefit from extensive work in Photoshop.  I am going to keep them in a folder of other images that I printed off over two years ago.  This too is a fascinating comparison of how my photography has changed over time.  In short and enjoyable days work.

As this progressed I decide to produce two images based on composite images.  Again looking at the images now after a few months it is interesting to see how I constructed the images for a particular effect.  I think you can define me as a photographer when you compare the raw images with the final product.

To end the day I printed off a couple of images that just took my fancy.  I have to say the printer appears to be working much better compared to with the previous computer.

Thinking about the next project/module

We have to present/bring in 7 to 10 images at the next meeting to show our current work.  I have been working on composite images over the past few months and I am looking at producing something about this.  I am not sure what this will entail at the moment but an idea has been itching at the back of my head for sometime about 'contact sheets'.  Why was a particular image chosen and what lead up to that image.  As you can see this is not a very well formed idea at the moment but it is something I thinking about.  Not sure how this will play out?

RPS Selection Made

Well I've done it.  After what seems like weeks of agonising about the images to choose I have finally selected the images to submit to the RPS Print Exhibition.  I think it is me but I am still not happy but I have to make a choice and so the four have been selected.   I really don't know if they will be selected, my past track record has not been good, but the only way to be selected is enter.

Can I say a warm thank you to all of my colleagues who have helped me with their suggestions.  I really did appreciate your input and is helped me come to my selection.

To view the final selection click here.

The Joys of Destruction and Mayhem

This is going to make me sound like a nerd or geek but I have spent the last two days playing computer games - how sad is that?  Well for me not that sad at all.   I have enveloped myself in Age of Empires (AOE).  I am not claiming I am a great gamer but rather someone who enjoys the destruction that the game allows me wrought vengeance on unfortunate colonies that will not do my bidding.  I enjoy stacking the odds in my favour and then '...cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war...' I am sure a psycho-analysts would have a field day.  This really is shock and awe stuff and it is great fun.

On a more serious note I think it is important to find something to take your mind off your other worries.   For me it is AOE and long may it be so.

Why does it take so long?

"I don't believe it..."

I have just received some paper from Amazon.co.uk that I had ordered Tuesday 13th January (see entry for that day).  This was supposed to be next day delivery.  It clearly wasn't.  Actually I ordered two lots of paper from Amazon.  One was supplied by a HelpdeskIT.biz and the other by Amazon.   The paper from HelpdeskIT.biz arrived the next day - as promised.  The only difference was that the Amazon package was delivered by Royal Mail.   So the question is this - why does it take Royal Mail 3 more days to deliver a package than delivered by a DPD.Co.UK ?  I wish I has an answer to that.

Am I becoming a grumpy old man?  Thinking about it I do have a Victor Meldrew cap.  'I Dont believe it'

Other Blogs

Just a quick note...I have  started to use the 'Next Blog' button at the top of the blog.  I believe this take you to the next blog that has just posted after yourself.  I am not sure about this so I may well be talk nonsense.   Anyway, I came across the Ride the Coast blog whilst doing this.  An interesting expedition for a good cause as well.

I really do need to start to understand the blogisphere a lot better.

Age of Empires - a bit of s distraction

Age of Empires III

Well I have decided that I will not have anything to do this weekend with photography.  I was thinking about going for a nice long walk but unfortunately I have a nice blister on one of my toes so that seems to be out.   Instead I have installed a copy of Age of Empires III.  (AOE) I know this is a bit sad but it is a way of taking your mind off things.

The only problem with this is, of course, I still keep thinking about photography.  Am I becoming an obsessive person?  Possibly or just very dull.  Anyway, back to AOE.  The new game is not really as good as the older versions but there are a couple of problems with the older versions.  Firstly, I sold my copies a long time ago and somewhat pine for them now.  However, the second problem means that even if I still had my copy I probably wouldn't be able to play them.  You see AOE will not run on Vista 64 bit.  Well this is not strictly true.  What happens is that when you go to run the program you are told to download a patch from Microsoft.  Why, you may ask this is not covered in a service release I just don't know.  Anyway, once the patch is installed then AOE III runs fine.  I suspect that this may not be the case with the earlier versions.  Such is the way of life.

Am I turning Green??

Our excellent course rep. Daryl, has asked for for issues for the next departmental board meeting.  I have raised the issue of lack of electronic submission; lack of electronic copies of module guides; and lack of electronic copies of lecture notes on a system called Blackboard which is used by other departments at the DMU.

What I said was '...Why not have electronic submission of essays etc and lecture notes to be placed on Blackboard.   The reason why I am a bit of an expert?? on this is that my son is taking the MSc in energy and sustainable building design at the DMU and all his lecture notes, modules guides etc are all on Blackboard.  Yet what do we have?  Paper hand outs, no lecture notes and paper submission.  In short, the environmental impact of the way that the MA photography course is run is very poor. 

 

There is no real argument against this and, as Bev said last year, the DMU should be setting an example and trying to reduce their environmental impact as much as possible.  Perhaps the killer argument is compare what we do against the environmental policy of the DMU...'

Does this mean I am turning green?   Perhaps, but I cannot see why our course cannot follow the same practices undertaken by other departments at the university, it will save costs for the students, currently we have to submit two ring bound copies of our essays and seminar papers.  Equally, for students who were not at university one week, it gives them a chance to catch up with lectures they may have missed.  

I doubt things will change in a hurry but it is something that does need to be addressed.

Well does this constitute a rant?

A Bit of face lift

Perhaps it was boredom or perhaps the site did need a bit of sprucing up...anyway I hope you like the face lift.  I would love that this was as a result of hours of in depth research, design meetings etc.  It was not!  I just had a look around at other blogs and then the templates available.   The thing that took the longest time was the title graphic.  Anyway, I think it looks a lot neater and I hope you enjoy the addition of the news feed.

One of those days

Do you ever find yourself in a bit of a mood or slump or generally without energy?  Well if so you know how I feel today.   I have tried to get going but everything I have done has been finished or even started.   I have no idea why this is and hopefully tomorrow I will snap out of it (what a horrible phrase and any one who has suffered from depression will recoil from this with a passion).   Tomorrow is always around the corner and I think the best way I can try and get energised again is to get out and do something different.   However, what to do?  I think I will just get out and see what happens.

One of the tasks I haven't completed today is the final selection of my RPS submission.  Still got a few days to go.  I got some interesting response from my colleagues on the course about this.  To my surprise there was quite a bit of interest as to what I had selected.  I will really have to make that selection VERY soon.

The image I choose for this was one I took in the early part of last year.  I just thought I would include something for random today...I suspect this is a reflection of the way I feel.  God I am dreading those essay and seminar results.

What to do?

We had our first meeting of the new year today at university.  Apart from Paul Hill's grumpy old man out burst the day was really a bit of a damp squib.  We were given our next assignments and told to go away and think about it.  After the formal bit- such as it was - a few of us discussed ideas - in truth we were none too clued up as to how we were to progress.  Perhaps the next meeting in 2 weeks might help - or perhaps not!  The staff seemed to think that the next assignment would be the most important we would do as is designed to take us out of our comfort zone - we'll see.

For what it is worth I am thinking about either the use of flash lighting or perhaps black and white film.  Not too sure yet which way to jump.

Cold and frosty morning

Playground just before dawn

It was up with the birds this morning.  Well actually, it was an early start and a lot of fumbling in the dark - yes I was out early taking photographs.   Wasn't too cold this morning - perhaps -2c - still enough for ice to form on the tripod though.   Anyway I was out in the local park just trying to capture the brilliant moon lit scene before dawn wiped it out.  Well that was the plan but then came the mist and the whole scene changed.  However, as one opportunity was lost another took its place.  Hopefully, the results will be worth while.

its back to university this morning.  Time to hand in essays and seminar papers.   Hopefully mine will be okay but you never know until they are marked.  Here's hoping!

Interest from further afield

I always assumed that the main readers of this random collection of thoughts about the passage of my life were fellow students on my course and assorted friends and family.   It seems that I have started making very small strides the world beyond.  Over the pas week I have had comments from Edar Vazquez and an anonymous blog from the Mainstone Press.  May I say hello and welcome and your comments about Eric Ravilious, Paul Nash and my photography.   I wonder how far further this will go?   Only time will tell.  Now if only I could work out how they found my blog in the first place.  Perhaps if they read this they might like to leave a comment to let me know.

Going over old ground

Oriental Poppy

Over the past few days I have been going through my images from last year and picking out some of the raw files I missed.   The above was taken in June last year and just liked the pink leaves.

Printing

I am still looking into the printing issue.  I suspect the paper I have bought might not be the best for what I want to do - look out for it on ebay!   Anyway, I have order some other paper just to be on the safe side.  We will have to see how things develop (I suspect that pun was intended!)

Printing! Printing!

Deep joy - I'm starting to print the RPS submission.  Actually I am starting the process and I am running test with Epson Fine art archival paper.   Once I had worked out how to print on sheet at a time with the printer (the paper is very thick) I then had the problem of trying to get the drivers to align.   The profile set up in Adobe CS4 was ok.  However, I cannot get the printer to see the same profile.  The result is that I have run two test on the fine art paper with different settings using the glossy print driver.  They don't look too good but I will give them time to dry.   Failing this I will have to phone epson up and find out what I am doing wrong.   I suppose this is part of the learning process.

Paul Nash

Wood on the Downs

Whilst wandering around the highways and byways of the internet whilst trying to find more on Eric Ravilious I cam across Paul Nash.   Now I was aware, a little, of Nash's work but having looked at his painting again I find myself being drawn to them.  Both Nash and Ravilious were WW2 official artists, what a wonderful idea; commission artists to record their impressions of the conflagration going on all around them.   Anyway, I will continue to research both artists and others that I come across as it is fascinating to look at how other people see the world and no doubt some of this will rub of on my work.

Eric Ravilious

The Wilmington Giant, 1939 - Eric Ravilious

V&A museum

I discovered Eric Ravilious yesterday and I have to say I find his images fascinating.  I love the stylistic approach to his landscapes, the strong lines and powerful use of very dark and black in line with how my landscapes are developing at the moment.   I always find it exciting to discover a new artist that motivates you - and Ravilious certainly does that at the moment.  The sad thing, of course, is that his images capture the 1930's and the darkening skies of the approaching war which took his life in 1942.  I must find out more about this artist.

More Black and White

As I go through the new year I find myself making more and more black and white images.  Why is this?   Is it because I am getting older?  Is it because my mood is becoming more melancholic? Or perhaps it is because I am appreciating the power of black.  Not just the blackness but the darkness.  This is even true in the colour images I am making of late.  I find myself making images with bold and heavy black.

Perhaps this is the influence of Winston Link.  he made images that were controlled by the darkness of night.  He used this as a canvas upon which he could literally use light, in his case flash bulbs, to illuminate the images he wanted to make.  Perhaps not.  Either way I am making more black and white images.

The above images is a field that will soon become a park and ride car park.  Of the joys of modern life.

Redeveloping my website

This may come as a bit of a surprise to some people but I am looking at redeveloping my web site.  This is a long term project which will no doubt take over a year to achieve.   The key to this redevelopment is the use of Adobe Flash.  At this time I have little real knowledge as to how flash works and how best to deploy it in a modern site.   This is something I hope to overcome in the coming months.   I don't any real changes in the lay out of the site until after the 11th May (the last day of the course this year).  However, sitting next to me on my desk is a document called 'Creating a simple document in Flash CS4' - I started out with even less and I taught myself Visual Basic.  This being said I have no idea if I will succeed but it is worth the effort.

Watch this space - but not just yet...

Just can't help myself

Motorway bridge

I just love taking photographs.  I have no idea why but it inspires and makes me feel very good.  Anyway, I have just spent an hour or so making a panorama of Leicester and another image of a motorway bridge.  Black and white again...is this the start of a move to totally black and white?  I doubt it.

Interesting Response...so far

Yesterday I asked my colleagues on the MA course to pass their views/selection on the final short lists I had drawn up for the the RPS print exhibition.  The response so far has been very useful.   Not for the obvious one of helping me select the final four, but rather helping me understand that there is no right answer and that any competition is, in the end, a matter of luck.  Luck that you produce the right image for the right competition at the right time for the right judge (this of course assumes that you have achieved an acceptable level of competence etc).

Beyond this the response have been very encouraging and made me think hard about what I want to submit.  Thanks to every one who has responded so far - you have been a great help.

RPS Short List - Colour

Now posted the colour short list for the RPS Print Exhibition.  To view click here

RPS Short List

I have just published my BW short list for the RPS print exhibition on my website.   Note:  You can only access it from the link in the blog.   Click here to view.

Essay and Seminar Paper printed and mounted - at what cost?

That's it - I have  finally put the two documents to bed.   From now on there will be no changes.  One thought has come to mind - why are we going to these lengths?   My son is also taking a master, however in sustainable development, and he only has to produce his work electronically - yet we arts people still have to print them off - why is this?

Bev, a fellow student on my course, also teaches in the same department as my son and she has brought this up with our faculty - to no avail.   No reasonable point was made to support our current submission policy; two copies, ring bound with with acetate cover and card board back.   This does not seem to be too environmentally friendly - nor cost effective.   

More about Composite Images

Feeding Time - Staunton Harold Reservoir

I have been working on producing a composite image this morning and the results have been very encouraging.  However, I think I need to reflect on the issues raised by the approach I have taken.

Set Up

The set is very simple.  Find an area where the birds come to feed.  Place your camera nearby with a wireless remote attached and when the birds arrive - take the images.   

Technical issue with this approach

Living in the UK the light is at best marginal.  On very rare days we get brilliant sunshine.  When this occurs then there is sufficient light to mean that you can use high shutter speeds with low ISO.   However, on most of the other days you have to do battle with poor light an high ISO.   This causes the image to degrade.  No doubt the best pro cameras don't suffer from this problem but I haven't got the luxury of this so I have to make do with the technical limitations of the Canon 40D.   At high ISO it starts to suffer.  Also it will only take 6 FPS on JPEG which also adds to the problems.

This brings us onto flash.   I have tried to use a flash before but this has two problems.  Firstly,  it scares the birds - bit of a show stopper this!   Secondly, most cameras are only sync'd to a maximum of 200th of a second shutter speed - a slow speed for what I am trying to achieve.  No doubt there are technical fixes to these issues but I am not willing to spend the money just yet.

I will need to think about this some more and see if I can't come up with some better solutions.

Boy was it cold!

Nuthatch - Calke Abbey

Well I am finally warming up having spent most of the day out in the field taking photographs.  Well, this is not strictly true.  Most of the time I was sitting in my car pressing the wireless remote as the camera took the brunt of the cold.   However, I did spend about half an hour or so standing outside at Calke abbey - that was enough even through layers of thermal fleeces, long johns and coats.   Was it worth it?  Yes and no.  Yes because I was able to capture some interesting studies of the Nuthatch and no because the montage images are a little disappointing.  I relied on the auto exposure and for some reason when shooting at high speed, circa 6 FPS and 100th plus a second the images were under exposed.   Something to ponder about.   For the record I took over 1800 images which I was able to whittle down to just over 300 - these in turn will be used for 6 montage images.  The rest were portrait of birds and the odd landscape.

All in all a good day, with a few reservations.

Progress - I have a short list...

Progress of sorts.  I have reduced my black and white images from last year to a final 8.   However, I have no idea yet how to reduce these to 4 or 2 or 1...now I have got to do the same with the colour images and then come up with some form of selection for the final 4.   Still this is showing progress I think.  I have to submit the images by the 4th Feb to the RPS.

On a more positive note I am off to try and capture some more images of birds for the montage/composite/superimposed series this morning.  The light is looking good so lets hope I get some good results.

My Head Hurts

Great Tit Feeding

Decisions Decisions Decisions.   I cannot choose, I need help! 

Why am I in such a confused state?  Well I am trying to choose 4 images for the RPS print competition.   Do I submit 4 black and white images?  This would be the easiest to print but I have some really lovely colour images and should I not use this as an exercise to raise my printing game to the next level?  Oh I just don't know.  I think I will have to go away and thing about this.  The only decision I have made is to restrict myself to 2008 so this has left me with a long list of 90 images I have to choose from.   I have looked at last year's catalogue and this doesn't really help.  The judges comments weren't much help either.  Oh what a to do.

On a brighter note I have worked on another composite image.   This is really quite interesting to do from a technical point of view.   It also allows you to view bird behavior that, as my wife rightly points out, is over in a flash.  I hope to capture some more images this week.  My intention is to shoot in JPEG format so that I can crank the FPS over the 6 mark compared to RAW's 2 -3 FPS .  This should provide even greater detail.  If only choosing the images were so easy!

Printing and other things

Birds at Staunton Harold Reservoir Car Park

I got around to installing the printer today.   I had to down load the new 64 bit drivers and they installed no problem.  The printer appears to be very stable but is printing a little dark at the moment.  However, I have got to calibrate my screen yet and this might over come some of this.

As I mentioned a few days ago I have been playing around with creating images of several birds superimposed onto one another to make a montage.  The above effort is my first attempt.  I think this shows great promise.   The question is what type of photograph is it?   Is it a photograph at all as this was created with a great deal of digital processing?   In the end I keep coming back to a question that was thrown at me from one of the seminars - Does is matter?   Well in one sense it does matter - I couldn't enter this as an editorial photograph.  However, as I am not that type of photographer that is not a great consideration.   In the end I like it and for me that is all that matters.

Seminar Paper Finished - I think??

A frozen field

Well I have finished the seminar paper.  I am not sure how good it is as the seminar was not too successful.  Well I have completed the paper as per the presentation and so I will have to see how I get on.  This, however, has made me consider what I want out of the course?

The first thing I am sure about is that I do not want the course to be a stepping stone for a professional photographic career.  If this happens then it happens not because of the course. What I want from the course is to experience photography.  What does this mean?  Well for me it means being with other photographers and hearing their views, seeing their images and trying to understand what their world view is.  I may not agree with what is said or done but I hope that this will broaden my knowledge and outlook on photography.   

I am not driven by what mark I get.  Yes it would be nice to get a good mark but I am not really bothered.  This is for personal rather than  professional development so I would just like to have a Master of Arts at the end of the two years.  Anything that happens after that will happen.

Well that is what I think after one semester - I am sure my views will change as I go on - and no doubt they will be recorded here.

Grey Days...

Reflections

I got up this morning with a plan.   A plan to get out early and capture some frosty sunrise images.  What do I find?  It is frosty but there is a thick clump of cloud sitting overhead.  As I look out of my bed room window far to the east there is the makings of a great sunrise but as I write this it is about 30 minutes away.  However, the thick cloud over head is fast approaching and doesn't really help me here stuck under this cloud.   Oh grey days!

Back up Complete

I have completed the new back up for my images.   It took a lot less time than I imagined and now appears to work very well.   It is, perhaps, not as sophisticated as commercial software but I am confident in what it is doing.   Also, it fits neatly into my workflow and so whenever I have finished creating finished TIFF files I will be able to back up my work immediately.  No commercial software would do that.

I have to say I am more and more impressed with the performance of the new computer.   I have just created a panorama out of four full sized RAW files from Lightroom into Photoshop.   This process used to take several minutes before.  Now, just over a minute from start to finish.  It was a marvel watching the blending and alignment take place before your eyes.

Perhaps it was worth the frustration when it arrived.

Welcome to a whole new year

Greylag Geese walking across Hyde Park - London

A happy new year to all.   And how have I been spending my first day of the new year?   Well sorting out my image back up.   I ran the back up last night as I mentioned before and I am not confident that this has copied what I want.   I know it has completed the process but I just am not confident that it has copied the files I want.  Why is this?  Well like most other back up processes the files are locked into a proprietary files system so I am not able to verify that all the files have indeed been backed up.  I am not saying that they haven't it just that I don't trust my set up so i would like to see the file on the back up disk - which I can't.

Given this problem I have decided to rewrite my old back up program.   This is going quite well but will take two or three days to complete and test.   So a few more headache in stall until this is completed.  Ah ho.