Analogue Revolution - Shooting film
I was fortunate to be born in a time before digital cameras and my early experiences in photography were shooting and developing 35mm film. So even though I have invested heavily in 'digital' - it is always nice to go back to shooting in film. My chosen weapon? An old Prakitca BCA - With a few different lens but notably a 50mm prime. There is something very satisfying about actually 'winding on' a film camera and being limited to around 36 exposures per roll of film, it really makes you think!
Throughout the Autumn and Winter, I will be shooting around Birmingham with the old Prakitca and experimenting with different films, settings and approaches to my photography. It goes without saying that I will update you all with the results so make sure you check the blog or my Facebook page to see the results!
Birmingham on Fire - Wire wool Photography
I am always happy to try something new with my photography. I particularly enjoy it if there is an element of danger! Sometime ago, I had my first attempt at 'Wire wool Photography' this is a form of light-painting.
The process is quite simple. Find a dark environment, put some wire wool in a steel whisk, set it alight and spinning very quickly around your head! Set your camera to a long exposure, around 10-15 seconds and record the chaos!
Each little spark that comes away from the whisk send a trail spiraling off and creates these spectacular images that are full of action. I particularly like to do this by water to maximize the chaos as the trails can be picked up as reflections in the water.
It goes without saying that there is an element of risk with this kind of photography. You must be aware of your surroundings and have plenty of water to hand should things go wrong. If anybody out there would like to try this or has any question, feel free to contact me for some advice. As ever, find more of my images on my Facebook page and remember, safety first kids!
Snow Hill Station and it's surroundings
I am always looking for interesting areas of Birmingham to shoot. There are many common places such as the Library of Birmingham that a photographer with a spare 30 minutes will run to to get some great shots (and as luck would have it, I have some coming up in my next Blog post!).
However, there are certain areas that sometimes get over looked and I think the are surrounding Snow Hill Station is one of those. I chanced my arm and went to the top of the multi-story car park above Snow Hill and grabbed some shots of the tower blocks, streets and view back down to St Chad's Church and Queensway (and even had time for some long exposures whilst there!) - Let me know what you think.... Check out my Facebook Page for more regular posts.
The Golden Hour...
Photographers know all-to-well about the importance of good light and summer is a constant battle between the hard light in the daytime and the glorious 'Golden hour' in the morning and evening when the light is a lot softer and warmer. As many of you will know, I regularly shoot cars (more Here) and the golden hour is perfect to accentuate the lines of a car.
Last Thursday, I was frantically shooting a Citroen DS4 with my good friend Paul for Motor Verso and hunting for the good light. We could see the sun was setting and flitting with the clouds and in the hope of capturing the last of that nights sun we took the car to the multi-storey car park by Birmingham Markets. After convincing a security guard to let us have (literally) 5 minutes to go to the top floor we caught this glorious sunset and even though I was meant to be shooting the car, I couldn't help but shoot our great city!
A Canadian adventure....
I recently had the amazing opportunity to visit Canada for a couple of weeks. I was travelling with my girlfriend and we would be staying mainly in Vancouver, a place that I have long wanted to visit. Our journey would take us to Seattle and Whistler where we took in some awesome sights. Here are a few of the shots, more to come very soon.
Things to come...
I have just returned from a two week stint in Vancouver and Seattle. Two incredible places, though I have to say that Canada with it's beautiful scenery, completely blew me away. However, I will be talking more about that in future blogs.
I have, however, returned completely refreshes and reinvigorated with a lot of plans for my photography. I will still be wondering the streets of Birmingham and taking the usual architecture/street kind of shots, though I will be throwing in a few 'other' types of photography, so watch this space... or keep an eye on my Facebook page for updates...
Cleveland Dam, Vancouver, Canada
Architecture in Birmingham
It's no secret that I love my city. Birmingham has a lot to offer and not least is it's interesting array of architecture. Ranging from the Parisian style architecture of Corporation Street through to the modern, glass front Beetham Tower, it really does cater for every taste. One particular favourite is the 'love it or hate it' Selfridges building, if nothing else, it makes for a fantastic photographic subject for us photographers :) - Feel free to share and see more on my Facebook Page
Selfridges, Birmingham
Photo Walk Birmingham - 27/04/14
Just a quick thank you to all those that attended my first eveer photo walk, hosted by me! It was a great day and I think everybody enjoyed it? We started by exploring around The Library of Birmingham and through to Victoria Square. We continued down past Birmingham Cathedral and on to Snow Hill.
We took our time, took in a lot of the details of what was happening around us and shared our ideas, techniques and had a laugh along the way. It is certainly something I will do again so if you would like to join us, keep an eye on my Facebook Page for more details. Here is a taster video created by my good friend and Motor Verso Editor - Paul Hadley... Enjoy...
Cherry Blossom in Birmingham
I love the spring. Sunny days but still a chill in the air. I also love the colours and the blossom of the trees transforms the grey city and gives everything a bit of a lift. It also reminds you that summer is not a million miles away! Here are a few of my blossom shots...
More on the Photo-walk - a route has been chosen...
If you are joining us for the photo-walk around Birmingham on Sunday 27/04/14 - We will be (roughly) following this route... Hope you can join us...
Start at the new Library
Down past Old Library & Victoria Square
Past the Cathedral (Pigeon Park)
Down through Cherry Street, Carrs Lane
Round the back of Selfridges, Bullring, Markets (closed)
Past St Martin’s and up to Rotunda
Up around Hill Street and on to Mailbox
Then through The Cube and back up the canal
Brindley Place and back through to the Library?