Advent Day 7 - Birmingham Minimialism

In theory I am native Brummie. I say in theory, I was brought up in Sutton Coldfield, which despite being now part of city of Birmingham, has never truly accepted its role as part of the England's self designated second city.

However despite my reticence of being categorized as Brummie, it is still the city I know best and I still have deep roots with it.

So I often find excuses to go and visit and Verity Milligan's exhibition  in Birmingham's jewellery quarter was just the impetus I needed. I also have a connection with this part of Birmingham as both our wedding and my wife's engagement ring were bought in the area (The shop still stands). It was also not hard to persuade my daughter to some with us, when they heard the word jewellery..

The plan was to visit the  jewellery museum (which is excellent) and then wonder around looking as bling that I could neither afford or aspire to. I also thought I could take some photos of the area.

Unfortunately the weather intervened and by the time we came out, it was grey and drizzling. However I always think in these situations that part of your education as a photographer is to make the best of all conditions, so I persevered.

These are the 2 photos that I came out with. The 1st one was a tree reflected in the pavement rain. What I like about it is its minimalism, something  I have been trying hard to master, In some ways it is simple, but the fact the tree is upside down means it catches the viewers attention (I think!)

 

The 2nd image is a reflection taken in an empty shop. I love the juxtaposition between the chair and the view of Hockley caught in the reflection. It is as if the chair is both in and outside the world.

These are images which are difficult to categorize. Are they good or is it pseudo intellectual rubbish. In the end it is not important. What is important is that they are images that please and intrigue me. If others feel the same way, all the better.

Advent Day 6 Bluebells

There is probably no time of year that excites me and frustrates me more than when the bluebels appear. It is my own little rite of spring as a I tramp to those secret spots, (which all photographers have) to take see if we have reached peak bloom yet.

The frustrating point is that each year the images are always less than I hoped. I mean how hard is it to take images of groups of static flowers, but somehow the results are always less than I hoped.

Generally I end up experimenting with different angles, ICM, anything to get that elusive shot.  Below are some of my more interesting attempts

However I the one shot that stood out is this one

I call it the last stand and it was taken using a flash and a large aperture on a 90mm prime to dim the background. It was taken late in the season as the flowers started to go over. I like the brooding menace of the forest encroaching and represents to me the end of spring and the start of summer

Advent 2017 Day 5 Swallows

Every once in a while I pretend I am a wildlife photographer and try my hand at taking pictures of birds.

While I have managed a few decent shots, one bird has always alluded me and that is the humble swallow. Every year they set up nest at on my neighbors house eave(not mine of course, that would be too easy) where I see them swoop in and out.

Attempts to get images have been basically failures, but with good reason. Swallows never stop. About the only point you can actually get an image is when the feed their young and even then you need to be quick.

This year I had more opportunities than most. We visited Stokesey castle in Shropshire. This is owned by English Heritage and when we visited, I was blown away by the fact they had swallows nests in the house, just above the visitors heads. So I rushed back to get my A6000, put the 210mm zoom on and waited.

However I could not spend long there, so the shots were disappointing.

My next opportunity however was when I holidayed in Great Strickland. We stayed in a nice pub and when I came out the swallows were clearly getting ready to go on their amazing journey to South Africa and were congregating on the telephone wires. Also for once I had my 600mm zoom on me, so I just stood their taking images with the handheld (while my long suffering wife tapped her foot as she waited to go to breakfast).

I got a lot of nice shots that day, but this one stood out

I call it departure gate, and it is my celebration of the awesome journey these little birds make each year. It is hardly believable that every year, the same birds make a journey from South Africa, to my small suburban road, to have chicks and then make the same journey back.

PostScript

I had one more connection with these world travelers this year. I was inside when my wife urgently called me out. She said there was something under my car, so I looked under and there was Freddie, out neighbors cat, sitting and staring at a young swallow, who had obviously fell from the next doors nest. Fortunately it was just sitting there so confusing the cat, who generally pounces on anything that moves.

I quickly grabbed it (it did not move, swallows are not really ground dwellers) and took inside. We placed it in a large paper bag where it just sat and  tried to decide what to do with it.Feeding it ourselves was not an option. I'm not great a catching flies and there was no reason to believe it would take them from me anyway. Also we were not in a situation to do 24 hour care. We thought about calling the RSPB, but decided to see if we could get it back into the nest

By this time it was dark, the nest was a at the top of the house, and I'm not that good with heights. Nevertheless with the help of my neighbor, we set up a ladder and I maneuvered my way up, holding onto the bag with one hand.

At the top, I had no confidence I could hold the ladder and grab the bird, while stuffing it into the small slot at the top of the nest. Fortunately I managed  to grab the chick and when I presented it to the slot, it shuffled in, causing a racquet of what I assume was a mixture of relief and indignation.

I have no proof that the chick survived but a week later while working in the garage, a large group of swallows wheeled above me, then disappeared. That was the last time I saw them this year, and i like to think that it was a thank you   and au revoir :)

Advent 2017 Day 4 Mono chrome

This one was done for my local camera club competition. Every year a theme around one word is chosen for next year competition. In other years we had words as far part as Transport and Emphasis.

Mono Chrome

This year the theme was Monochrome. The problem with this was the picture was to obvious. Basically we would have a whole collection of B&W images.

Now basically when people jag left, my desire is to jag right, so the challenge was to come with an image that met the 'breif' but allowed me to experiment a bit.

So I decided to play with the term Monochrome (Mono Chrome geddit!) .

Basically the shoot consisted of a sheet of chequered vinyl. The Ball was the end of a curtain retainer I got for £2 at B&M.

The challenge was the lighting. The camera was on a tripod and the light was a LED light, which i tried at various angles. To get the fall off to the distance I tried a number of apertures and used black curtains at the end to create a black background.

The reason I like the picture so much was that it was a picture where the planning and execution came together.

One person asked whether it was real of computer generated, and in truth it might of been easier to generate it via computer (not sure what category that would come under in club rules).

In the end however, the judge did not get the joke, and in competition it was not a great success, but it was a fun project to do.

Advent 2017 Day 3 - Diwali celebrations

I worked in Leicester for about 7 years at one point, and my wife hails from just outside the city. Despite my close connection to the city for some reason I had never gone to the annual Diwali festival, which is the biggest Hindu festival outside India.

This year however it fell on my birthday, and I resolved to go with my wife and youngest daughter (my eldest was already at Leicester university, but student socializing and the risks of being seen with her father, meant she decided to go later ).

To those who don't know it, Leicester sometimes gets a bad press, and yes it has to be said it is not necessarily the prettiest of cities. However I have always found it a fantastically vibrant and the melting pot of cultures goes a long way in driving that.

I wasn't sure what the festival would be like. Would I, a patently Caucasian  non-Hindu be welcome? Will be so alien I would be left gasping like some grounded fish?

As it was it was none of these. It was a party that all could join in and while some sights left you struggling to gain cultural insights, it was generally a joy to visit are partake.

In a a world where tolerance of differences and multiculturalism seem to be dirty worlds, it was a fantastic example of where acceptance and celebration of cultural differences rather than fear and intolerance made the world a better place.

 In terms of photography however it was a pretty disappointing night. I wanted to try my hand at street photography. Top tip guys. Street photography and towing your families along does not mix.

Not only that but the light was pretty poor, meaning I had to resort to the in-camera flash

However this shot stood out to me and summed up Diwali. It was taken late on. Although it looks posed, it was just taken with flash as I walked along and caught a young family eating a snack.

The thing I like about it, is that it represent a snapshot of the festival and the  mix of cultures.  It sums up for me the wonderful mix of cultures during the Diwali celebration which makes Leicester so special.

Advent Day 2 - The adoration of the Magi

Somewhere deep down is someone who beleives that given the right access and equipment I too could be a great sport photographer.

Personally I blame Bob Martin. I have caught a couple of his talks and I always stunned by his images, and the way it makes it sound so simple. Of course seep down I know it5s not, and even if I managed get a front row seat at some major event, I would need to massively upgrade my equipment to even get anything close to his images and even then I would fall a  long way short.

But hey a man can dream....

The biggest issue to overcome is just gaining access. For example I live near a major race track, but the normal plebs are kept behind near opaque safety barriers, meaning the view are  pretty well non-existent. The only recourse generally is go to amateur or less popular events, but some part of me still yearns to be part of the big boys.

So to the photo. This photo was taken at Welford road, the home of the Leicester tigers. I managed to wangle a couple of tickets where I and my daughter, who despite being sports averse, has some strange fascination with the 15 man game.

Unusually we were not perched in the news large stand, but in the older south stand, where the view and proximity to the pitch made up for the hardness of the seats. Not only that, but this was a fantastic bright spring day, meaning even with my A6000 and a 210mm lens I could still get some great shots.

Below are just 4 of them 

Glory Awaits

I particularly like the one above, especially caught with the sign glory awaits, but it is the one below I keep returning too.

It is not your traditional rugby shot. It is not a try being scored or a tackle. It is very static in a dynamic game. So why this one?

It hit me later, that Iit is because I have seen this picture before. I seen the same positions in renaissance paintings in many galleries.

For example this painting by the Spanish 16th century painter, Sofonisba Anguissola

This photo has pretty well failed in all the competitions I put it in. The mistake is that I have named it wrong. Instead of 'Scrum' or a similar asinine name, I should of called it the 'adoration of the magi' :)

My photo of the advent calandar - Day 1

As we start to move towards Christmas and another new year, it is a good opportunity to review my photographic year.

I think this year I have taken more photos than any other. Whether my quality has improved or not I will leave others to judge, but it I certainly feel the breadth has increased.

I am also aware that my blogging has tailed off. This is a consequence of the number of photos I have taken and while I have started a number of blogs, the time and effort to complete them has meant that few have been published.

To compensate for this I am going to put one picture a day on till Christmas. A photo advent calendar.

These photos are not necessarily  my best, or the work which I have had the most success. Instead they are the  photos which mean something to me. Either on a personal level, something I learned, or maybe something I wish I had done better.

So lets begin

Sheffield Bandstand

One of the fun things I did last year was taking my eldest daughter around for interviews at various universities. It meant traveling as far afield a Lancaster  and Southampton. Of course while she went off to be grilled I was left with how to amuse myself, so naturally I took my camera.

One of my favorite image taken that day was the Art tower in Sheffield. When I took it I had not realized it was a iconic building, but it is probably the best architectural picture I took and love the converging lines, plus the low cloud of the day means it height is hidden and could go on forever, like some giant spaceship.

However the image that stood out for me was the one above of the this one was taken on cold frosty day in Weston Park, Sheffield and the bandstand. Over the year I have been more interested in abstract images and was much taken by the work of Pep Ventosa

The technique is to move round the object taking a number of shots and blending them in via photoshop, This image is about 20 shots, blended in PS. Apart from the ethereal quality, I love the fact its 360 degree location is recorded. The object almost appears to be alive and vibrating in time and space.

 It also  speaks to my other fascination of how photography can play and represent time and space, something that has always fascinated me and I love to play with.