Wednesday, December 21, 2011
her morning elegance
Her Morning Elegance by Oren Lavie is stop motion animation. I think its absolutely fabulous!! The entire animation is taken from on angle. It took 6 weeks of scripting, 3 weeks of storyboarding in animation, 48 hours of shooting (2096 still photographs).
Her Morning Elegance from Kenneth Chua on Vimeo.
The behind the scenes / or making of is equally interesting. I'd love to try something like this someday.
Her Morning Elegance from Kenneth Chua on Vimeo.
The behind the scenes / or making of is equally interesting. I'd love to try something like this someday.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Ansel Adams
Ansel Adams was my choice of photographer for our research and writing skills assignment.
He is a world renowned landscape photographer, who lived most of his life on the West Coast of the United States. His images, still today, have aided the conservation effort to save much of California's desert, which we now know as National Parks. With a career spanning more than six decades, there is a wealth of information about him. A couple of youtube videos, I came across while researching him.
It was Adams sublime photographs of Yosemite that first caught my attention, particularly his images of Half Dome and El Capitan, one of the most famous climbing destinations in the world.
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| http://www.ansel-adams.org/images/Ansel_Adams.jpg |
He is a world renowned landscape photographer, who lived most of his life on the West Coast of the United States. His images, still today, have aided the conservation effort to save much of California's desert, which we now know as National Parks. With a career spanning more than six decades, there is a wealth of information about him. A couple of youtube videos, I came across while researching him.
It was Adams sublime photographs of Yosemite that first caught my attention, particularly his images of Half Dome and El Capitan, one of the most famous climbing destinations in the world.
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| http://www.endigorae.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/ansel-yosemite.jpg |
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| http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/ansel/gallery/images/09.jpg |
Monday, December 5, 2011
Flash Photography
Last week in Sally's photographic techniques class we had a very quick introduction to flash photography. It is a subject that next semester, we will be focusing on and I'm super excited about it.
I love photographing people doing what they love to do best. Over the past couple of years that has been climbing, because that is also a passion of mine. While away last winter in Hampi bouldering I had the opportunity to play around with my flash taking photos of my friends. The nature of bouldering (climbing on boulders with crash mats), particularly in the sun, means that we are prodominantly climbing in the shade which can make for some quick difficult images: dark rock and foreground against a bright sky behind. So it was here I some great fun with my off camera flash.
Setting my Nikon D300 to commander mode and using the built-in flash as the master and my speed-light as the slave (synced up through the Groups options), here are some of the images I got. What do you think?
I love photographing people doing what they love to do best. Over the past couple of years that has been climbing, because that is also a passion of mine. While away last winter in Hampi bouldering I had the opportunity to play around with my flash taking photos of my friends. The nature of bouldering (climbing on boulders with crash mats), particularly in the sun, means that we are prodominantly climbing in the shade which can make for some quick difficult images: dark rock and foreground against a bright sky behind. So it was here I some great fun with my off camera flash.
Setting my Nikon D300 to commander mode and using the built-in flash as the master and my speed-light as the slave (synced up through the Groups options), here are some of the images I got. What do you think?
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Projects Projects Projects
Projects, projects, projects - that's all I seem to hear about and not to mention assignments. Unfortunately, for me - its coming from all directions. As soon as I think I get my head above water with my photography course I start to panic about work and my students. Of course, then my work emphasis changes and I attempt to give the other attention and so we're into roll reversal, and I start to panic about the other. Are you confused , yet? Because I certainly am.
Amidst all the panic and confusion, however, I have managed to get to a concert. Thursten Moore, played the Button Factory in Temple Bar last Sunday. Here's a few of my pictures from the event.
Amidst all the panic and confusion, however, I have managed to get to a concert. Thursten Moore, played the Button Factory in Temple Bar last Sunday. Here's a few of my pictures from the event.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Printing
Finally, I've a print that I'm happy with!!
The salt part of the salt n pepper duo on a checked table cloth (in case your wondering). Lots of techniques applied. I shot with ISO 3200 film and developed as appropriate, which gave the super grainy texture. Using the split grade printing technique, the enlarger aperture was set to F/8, I started with a filter grade 0 for a 6 second exposure, followed by filter grade 5 and a further 18 second exposure and then I burnt in the two top corners for 6 seconds at filter grade to draw the eye down. I like it, but what do you think?
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| split grade printing |
The salt part of the salt n pepper duo on a checked table cloth (in case your wondering). Lots of techniques applied. I shot with ISO 3200 film and developed as appropriate, which gave the super grainy texture. Using the split grade printing technique, the enlarger aperture was set to F/8, I started with a filter grade 0 for a 6 second exposure, followed by filter grade 5 and a further 18 second exposure and then I burnt in the two top corners for 6 seconds at filter grade to draw the eye down. I like it, but what do you think?
Monday, November 21, 2011
Dissappointment on the Brownie Front
After taking all eight exposures, I embarked on the little task of retrieving the film from the camera and getting it onto the spool, in the dark bag - a challenge on its own. After much flustering I managed it and developed it according to guide lines I found online. To my utmost dissappointment, the film came back blank.
I'm not sure if you can see, but the strange little track mark on the left hand side was probably me, trying to put it on the reel - as there was no feeder whole (like on the side of 35mm film) - its hard to get onto the reel.
I'm not sure what has gone wrong.
I'm not sure if you can see, but the strange little track mark on the left hand side was probably me, trying to put it on the reel - as there was no feeder whole (like on the side of 35mm film) - its hard to get onto the reel.
I'm not sure what has gone wrong.
- The film definitely loaded.
- The film wound on (you put it on a spool on one side and take it off the other).
- I checked the shutter and it appears to be working.
- Problems with the developing?
Saturday, November 19, 2011
My Pinhole Camera
So, I spent (almost) the entire day in college today, trying to get some success from the pinhole camera. Let me tell you - its not as easy as it looks.
After, spending about the guts of an hour narrowing my times down between 90 seconds and 2 minutes, the sun came out!! My times suddenly reduced drastically - of course, then the sun went in - and I was back to square one!! Arghhh, there were times when I felt like throwing the pinhole camera through the closest window - oh course its a light cardboard box and I was already outdoors... so that would have been none too successful. Eventually, I got a negative to work with. I know, its not pin sharp - I am a little disappointed in that but it was a two and a half minute exposure, so considering that - its not too bad and its certainly recognisably me!!
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| My darling pinhole camera!! |
After, spending about the guts of an hour narrowing my times down between 90 seconds and 2 minutes, the sun came out!! My times suddenly reduced drastically - of course, then the sun went in - and I was back to square one!! Arghhh, there were times when I felt like throwing the pinhole camera through the closest window - oh course its a light cardboard box and I was already outdoors... so that would have been none too successful. Eventually, I got a negative to work with. I know, its not pin sharp - I am a little disappointed in that but it was a two and a half minute exposure, so considering that - its not too bad and its certainly recognisably me!!
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| Paper Negative - 2.5 minute exposure |
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| Paper Positive - F/8 for 8 seconds |
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Environmental Portraits
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| Image by Sukanto Debnath |
For our practical photography course we have to put together a visual communication project of our choice. The advice given was to photograph something in your locality, in an area no larger than 1 mile. I've decided to attempt an environmental portrait sequence of the local people who live and work in Glasthule. I've decided to undertake this as my project as I love to photograph people, but I am inherently shy. I would normally balk at the idea of approaching a stranger and asking if I may take their portrait. I thought that this alone would be a great learning experience.
An environmental portrait is a photograph of a person in the place they live, work or play. The location of the portrait says something about who they are and what they do. Together, I hope that my proposed set of images will tell a little about the people of Glasthule and the type of suburban village in South County Dublin that it is.
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| Photo by Kevin Cruff on http://www.photographyserved.com/gallery/Environmental-Portraits/1039137 |
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| Photo by Kevin Cruff on http://www.photographyserved.com/gallery/Environmental-Portraits/1039137 |
Monday, November 14, 2011
the other
Photographing "the other" and how we feel about it?
I spent December and January of last year travelling through Southern India. I got a sample of both sides of this debate there. I was intrigued by Indians and wanted to take their photographs. I was engulfed in new places, new cultures, new landscapes and new people and I wanted to photograph it all.
But did I feel guilty? - sometimes yes sometimes no!! I don't like to intrude onto people's privacy, but I do love to photograph people. Its a catch 22!
Indians are not aware of personal space - with a sub-continent of more than 1 billion, there is not much room for that. To my mind, they had no problem, just sitting and staring at us or taking photographs of us. In fact they would come right up to you for a proper good look. I had a couple of encounters of seeing an Indian (normally male) pointing the camera in my direction, thinking he was trying to photograph the scene behind me, I would stand to one side - but the camera followed me, I side stepped again and again the camera followed me! There was no mistaking what he was trying to do. To them, we were "the other" and they had no qualms in photographing us - no matter what we thought.
But I chose my situations when to photograph - I had to feel comfortable in my surroundings and feel that I wasn't intruding. Here's some of the shots I took from the first couple of weeks of the trip!!
I spent December and January of last year travelling through Southern India. I got a sample of both sides of this debate there. I was intrigued by Indians and wanted to take their photographs. I was engulfed in new places, new cultures, new landscapes and new people and I wanted to photograph it all.
But did I feel guilty? - sometimes yes sometimes no!! I don't like to intrude onto people's privacy, but I do love to photograph people. Its a catch 22!
Indians are not aware of personal space - with a sub-continent of more than 1 billion, there is not much room for that. To my mind, they had no problem, just sitting and staring at us or taking photographs of us. In fact they would come right up to you for a proper good look. I had a couple of encounters of seeing an Indian (normally male) pointing the camera in my direction, thinking he was trying to photograph the scene behind me, I would stand to one side - but the camera followed me, I side stepped again and again the camera followed me! There was no mistaking what he was trying to do. To them, we were "the other" and they had no qualms in photographing us - no matter what we thought.
But I chose my situations when to photograph - I had to feel comfortable in my surroundings and feel that I wasn't intruding. Here's some of the shots I took from the first couple of weeks of the trip!!
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| Cricket in a Mumbai Park on a Sunday afternoon |
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| Street Sellers in Panjim |
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| Beach Sellers in Candolim |
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| Sunset in Candolim |
Friday, November 11, 2011
Good News ...
... it is still possible to get film for the Brownie 127 - YAY!! I went into Gunn's yesterday, with my fingers crossed, in the hope that they would have some film suitable and to my delight they did. The Rollei Retro 80S made by Agfa is just the thing.
A little advice was given and gladly accepted:- Take all the photo in the same lighting conditions an then develop accordingly. There is no adjustments on the camera, no aperture, shutterspeed or ISO selection - so all the work to get balanced exposures will be done in the processing stage.
Now, if only it would stop raining!!
A little advice was given and gladly accepted:- Take all the photo in the same lighting conditions an then develop accordingly. There is no adjustments on the camera, no aperture, shutterspeed or ISO selection - so all the work to get balanced exposures will be done in the processing stage.
Now, if only it would stop raining!!
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| Roll of Rollei Retro 80S 127 Film and the Kodak Brownie 127 in the background |
Monday, November 7, 2011
Read the Bottle !!
Well, it has to be said I made a real boo boo here!! As mentioned in a previous post, I've bought all the ingredients for an at home film developing kit. I thought I had successfully developed my first roll, but when I took it to the darkroom to print up a contact sheet, I noticed a mottling affect all over the contact sheet and a print. Each and every image on the contact sheet had the same effect. I had a look at the negatives and its on them too.
I took the roll of negatives and prints into Gunn's to get an expert opinion on the matter and they seemed to think that the mottling was ON the negatives as opposed to be IN which suggested that perhaps I cut and put them into the negative sleeves too early? On reflective, this could be the case, though I thought they were dry.
So, a little skeptical and nervous to say the least, I went ahead and developed my second roll of film and as I was working my way through the fixing stage, I had another look online at the Ilford Rapid Fixer Fact sheet - I realised that 1+9 ratio versus 1+4 ratio is not a choice I could make - it was in fact - the paper versus film ratio for fixing and I'd chosen the wrong one. So, my mottled images could have been a combination of both - not fixed properly and / or not dried properly. Unfortunately, I realised this too late for the second roll of film. So, I decided to fix the images for a little longer to make sure. I'm not sure if this was the right approach - but its was the approach that I took - the images look alright, but I won't know for sure until the printing stage.
I'm off not for a third attempt - third time lucky - right!! And its all a learning experience, I now know to read the bottle and in my case, read it twice (at least) :)
I took the roll of negatives and prints into Gunn's to get an expert opinion on the matter and they seemed to think that the mottling was ON the negatives as opposed to be IN which suggested that perhaps I cut and put them into the negative sleeves too early? On reflective, this could be the case, though I thought they were dry.
So, a little skeptical and nervous to say the least, I went ahead and developed my second roll of film and as I was working my way through the fixing stage, I had another look online at the Ilford Rapid Fixer Fact sheet - I realised that 1+9 ratio versus 1+4 ratio is not a choice I could make - it was in fact - the paper versus film ratio for fixing and I'd chosen the wrong one. So, my mottled images could have been a combination of both - not fixed properly and / or not dried properly. Unfortunately, I realised this too late for the second roll of film. So, I decided to fix the images for a little longer to make sure. I'm not sure if this was the right approach - but its was the approach that I took - the images look alright, but I won't know for sure until the printing stage.
I'm off not for a third attempt - third time lucky - right!! And its all a learning experience, I now know to read the bottle and in my case, read it twice (at least) :)
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| http://www.ilfordphoto.com/thumb.asp?a=fit&w=150&h=180&d=webimages&f=200613016573118.jpg |
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Glasthule / Dun Laoghaire / Sandycove
What with the beautiful weather we've been having these last few days, I decided to take a wander around my local area of Glasthule / Dun Laoghaire / Sandycove. Here's a couple of the shots that I took!
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| Strange little mushrooms in the carpark outside my house |
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| Church in Dun Laoghaire |
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| Looking towards Sandycove from Dun Laoghaire Harbour |
Kodak Brownie 127
To my utmost delight, I get a call from my mother the other day to say that she just found her Kodak Brownie 127. Its one of the second models, so was in production from April 1959-1963. We think its still working - so I'm off to buy some film tomorrow to test it out. What a treat?
Friday, November 4, 2011
At Home Film Developing
There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day, at least there doesn't seem to be enough time allocated for both film and printing for me. Living in Dun Laoghaire and working random hours, I began to feel I wasn't getting the time to both print and develop in college. I think my time would be better spent printing in college. So, I decided to set myself up to develop film at home. I've just managed my first roll successfully and it now drying in the bathroom.
Luckily I'd access to a developing tank, so I picked up the chemicals, thermometer, changing bag, and beakers up, relatively cheaply and took the bull by the horns :) This will save me time, but I think also the at home experience will be invaluable I think.
Of course, a big thank you to my aunt for the developing tank and Gunn's cameras for their friendly helpful tips.
Luckily I'd access to a developing tank, so I picked up the chemicals, thermometer, changing bag, and beakers up, relatively cheaply and took the bull by the horns :) This will save me time, but I think also the at home experience will be invaluable I think.
Of course, a big thank you to my aunt for the developing tank and Gunn's cameras for their friendly helpful tips.
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| My At Home Developing Kit- Above Changing Bg |
Left: Canister, Jugs Right: Chemicals, Exhausted Chemicals, Thermometer Center: Negatives Drying
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Pinhole Photography
As part of our visual diary of the photographic techniques course, we have to make a pinhole camera and use this (or another method that can take an image without a lens) to study self portraiture.
A pinhole camera is a very simple camera without a lens. It is a basically a light proof box with a small aperture (or opening). Light from a scene, then passes through the small aperture and projects an inverted image on the opposite side of the box. Some light sensitive paper is attached to the opposite side of the box. Once exposed to light we develop the paper in the usual way - this produces a paper negative, much like in photograms. We can produce a paper positive, by placing the paper negative (emulsion side down) on top of a new sheet of paper (emulsion side up) and project light onto it and develop again.
Just like in a SLR camera, the size of the aperture and focal length will determine how much time we need to expose the paper to light to get a good well exposed image. These times and aperture sizes are proportional so relative exposures can be calculated.
I'm excited about the prospect of this and intrigued at how the images will turn out. Its a part of photography that I've always wondered about, so I'm looking forward to it. I will be creating my camera out of a shoe box - hopefully I will be able to use both the length and width of the shoe box to have a camera with multiple focal lengths.
The art of pinhole photography seems to be quite a popular one. I came across an article on Smashing Magazine that had an article The Showcase of Beautiful Pinhole Photography showing some wonderful images created by pinhole cameras. These images were taken from the smashing magazine website and credit is due to the individual photographers: Scott Speck, Mackeson, Teiko respectively.
A pinhole camera is a very simple camera without a lens. It is a basically a light proof box with a small aperture (or opening). Light from a scene, then passes through the small aperture and projects an inverted image on the opposite side of the box. Some light sensitive paper is attached to the opposite side of the box. Once exposed to light we develop the paper in the usual way - this produces a paper negative, much like in photograms. We can produce a paper positive, by placing the paper negative (emulsion side down) on top of a new sheet of paper (emulsion side up) and project light onto it and develop again.
Just like in a SLR camera, the size of the aperture and focal length will determine how much time we need to expose the paper to light to get a good well exposed image. These times and aperture sizes are proportional so relative exposures can be calculated.
I'm excited about the prospect of this and intrigued at how the images will turn out. Its a part of photography that I've always wondered about, so I'm looking forward to it. I will be creating my camera out of a shoe box - hopefully I will be able to use both the length and width of the shoe box to have a camera with multiple focal lengths.
The art of pinhole photography seems to be quite a popular one. I came across an article on Smashing Magazine that had an article The Showcase of Beautiful Pinhole Photography showing some wonderful images created by pinhole cameras. These images were taken from the smashing magazine website and credit is due to the individual photographers: Scott Speck, Mackeson, Teiko respectively.
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| http://media.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/images/pinhole-photography/chain-in-space.jpg |
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| http://media.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/images/pinhole-photography/Mackeson2.jpg |
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| http://media.smashingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/images/pinhole-photography/TEIKO.jpg |
Friday, October 21, 2011
and so the story continues
I've developed my first black & white film - successfully I'd like to add! I've managed to print a contact sheet complete with test strips and print my first photograph. How exciting!?!
But its not always plain sailing. I'm starting to experience some of the intricacies which come with darkroom antics. A tiny miniscule hair on my negative, enlarged and added a scratch-like white line on my print. A possible scratch / finger-print caused another mark on my final image. With a dust blower and clean piece of paper I had another attempt, and yet again I have a mark / scratch on my final image. Back to the dark room to re-print.
It does go to show how careful you need to be with your negatives and paper (particularly the paper prior to developing). The emulsion side of the paper is so delicate until it has been fully developed, washed and dried. Only then is it a more durable surface.
But its not always plain sailing. I'm starting to experience some of the intricacies which come with darkroom antics. A tiny miniscule hair on my negative, enlarged and added a scratch-like white line on my print. A possible scratch / finger-print caused another mark on my final image. With a dust blower and clean piece of paper I had another attempt, and yet again I have a mark / scratch on my final image. Back to the dark room to re-print.
It does go to show how careful you need to be with your negatives and paper (particularly the paper prior to developing). The emulsion side of the paper is so delicate until it has been fully developed, washed and dried. Only then is it a more durable surface.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
TOTALLYCOOLPIX.com
While searching for an image by Jeff Mitchell, I came across this website - totallycoolpix which has a collection of what is considered the best pictures of the last decade the decade known as the noughties. It is a collection of very political and very moving images that were taken from 2000 - 2010. To say I liked every image would be a lie, but I was certainly intrigued and very moved by the collection. I spent the best part of an hour looking through the website, here is but a small sample - it worth the time to take a look.
Image Reference for both images: http://totallycoolpix.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/16122010_best_of_the_decade/
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| A man rinses soot from his face at the scene of a gas pipeline explosion near Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos December 26, 2006. |
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| U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman HM1 Richard Barnett, assigned to the 1st Marine Division, holds an Iraqi child in central Iraq in this March 29, 2003 file photo. |
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Cindy Sherman
As part of our second exercise in Photographic Techniques we are asked to mimic a photograph. But what do they mean by mimic? We are not being asked to copy, merely to explore the image in terms of its style rather than trying to literally replicate it, looking at the light, the mood, the composition, the depth, etc.
The question is where to begin.... I've been introduced to many wonderful photographers, but this week in our "Ways of Seeing" module, I was introduced to Cindy Sherman and her series of work entitled "Untitled Film Stills". While searching out information on Cindy Sherman, I came across this short video:
Sherman's work is typically displayed in series. She photographs herself in a range of costumes. She works alone - and so takes on the position of photographer, make-up artist, wardrobe, director, producer, model, etc. The series "Untitled Film Stills" was shot between 1977 and 1980. The images are reminiscent of some 1940/50s American film noir. One of her images will be a possible candidate for this mimic exercise. I've not narrowed down the search entirely but two possibilities are the following:
The question is where to begin.... I've been introduced to many wonderful photographers, but this week in our "Ways of Seeing" module, I was introduced to Cindy Sherman and her series of work entitled "Untitled Film Stills". While searching out information on Cindy Sherman, I came across this short video:
Sherman's work is typically displayed in series. She photographs herself in a range of costumes. She works alone - and so takes on the position of photographer, make-up artist, wardrobe, director, producer, model, etc. The series "Untitled Film Stills" was shot between 1977 and 1980. The images are reminiscent of some 1940/50s American film noir. One of her images will be a possible candidate for this mimic exercise. I've not narrowed down the search entirely but two possibilities are the following:
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| Untitled Film Still #3 |
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| Untitled Film Still #13 |
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