To find something that you love to do in life, and then do it as your job...then you are really happy.
I had a couple of days at the start of the week there where the lack of motivation was so acute that I almost literally couldn't sit at my desk and work. It's a strange feeling that I've never had before, but I was actually telling myself that there were only another few hours to go before I could clock off and go home.
The strange thing is that the longest job I've had was working for a tyre depot for 2 years, then I sacked that for a job in France when I was 22. So I don't have that much experience of the same thing day in, day out. I started my current job back in June last year, but already I'm feeling that all to familiar pressure of really not doing what I want to do.
Besides that, it's Wednesday already, and I have yet to go out and take some pictures for this weeks project for Belfast Exposed. The assignment is to photograph six strangers in posed portrait conditions. I was secretly happy about this because I know it will force me to get closer to my subjects and actually engage with them which will, in turn, build my confidence. I convinced myself that this was good by likening it to the scene in Leon, where Jean Reno was telling a very young Natalie Portman that in the beginning the assassin would start with a sniper rifle and eventually get closer to their target until they had mastered the battle knife. In my head the knife is the 35mm 1.8 while I'm running about the with sniper 70-300 Tamron. Anyway, that's what gets me through.
Back to my excuses and it didn't help that our gas boiler packed it in a bit at the start of the week and I had things to do on Tuesday morning, but a mix of preoccupied mornings and late finishes at work has put me well behind schedule.
I was due to call up to Clennaghans bar to meet my uncle and take some photos tonight, but a mix of morning duties and lack of ISO meant that I took a rain check. Still, I'll get a run up to see them play maybe Saturday week and get some pictures.
Short post I know, but I've got things to do and some photos to edit. On a bit of a random note, I submitted my details to an assisting website in the UK aimed at photographers looking for assistants, in the hope that someone will appreciate my honesty and give me the break that everyone keeps on talking about in their blogs/magazines/books.
We can all live in hope!
Ciao for now.
Wednesday, 29 February 2012
Sunday, 26 February 2012
The First Image Cull
I finally made it from 350 down to eight photos for our first project, and even though my images weren't groundbreaking, I still found it very difficult.
I've kind of skipped a few days here and I'm going back to last Thursday when I took all my pictures for the project, but I'm just doing this as a way to lead into showing some of them. Like I said it was hard to narrow down what I actually wanted to present, and in the end, Linda was more ruthless than I was and she helped get the number down.
Out of everything that I came home with I think these are probably my favourites.
I really love the colour in this photograph. The green on the sides of the steps and the maroon/purple trousers of the guy leaving the frame. It's probably the most 'artsy' picture I've taken.
The biker in this shot looks like he's really thinking about something while he's talking and I love his expression.
I was just up on the little terrace above Sawyers when I saw in the distance this lady walking right up the middle of the street. It just struck me how she's probably walked down that street a thousand times over the years and how the traffic has changed over the time.
I like the symmetry of the escalator juxtaposed with the person pushing the pram through top of the frame.
I wanted to get the guy playing the accordion completely silhouetted while keeping the background well exposed and still being able to see the Pottinger's Entry sign.
I think overall I managed to capture a couple of great shots, but I always have in the back of my mind something that I heard Chase Jarvis say in an interview on his website. Being creative with photography is great, and if you want to make your shots unique and striking it will help build your brand and differentiate yourself from the competition. However, there is an element of basic knowledge that you must have to do this. Your camera skills need to be second nature so that you don't need to think how to change settings on the fly. All of your shots need to be focused, sharp, well composed and well exposed. And you need to do this every time. You have to be able to land the ball on the fairway, every time.
OK, so at this point I'm not hitting the mark because I have quite a few photos that are just out of focus with either the subject moving towards the camera or just not being spot on with manual focus. But the percentage of error is definitely coming down.
Finally, we have a new project for next week. It's a portrait project where we need to take 6 shots of complete strangers (no friends of friends), and have them pose for the shot. I'm not as nervous as I was previously, because with a bit of Dutch courage I managed to take a few shots of some people in Whites Tavern the other day. But it's still going to be a challenge.
I'll be working on the project this week and get some photos up when I can as well as adding the photos that I took in Whites.
Until next time....
I've kind of skipped a few days here and I'm going back to last Thursday when I took all my pictures for the project, but I'm just doing this as a way to lead into showing some of them. Like I said it was hard to narrow down what I actually wanted to present, and in the end, Linda was more ruthless than I was and she helped get the number down.
Out of everything that I came home with I think these are probably my favourites.
 |
| Leaving the High Street subway |
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| Friendly Banter |
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| Footpaths.....not for the elderly. |
I like the symmetry of the escalator juxtaposed with the person pushing the pram through top of the frame.
I wanted to get the guy playing the accordion completely silhouetted while keeping the background well exposed and still being able to see the Pottinger's Entry sign.
I think overall I managed to capture a couple of great shots, but I always have in the back of my mind something that I heard Chase Jarvis say in an interview on his website. Being creative with photography is great, and if you want to make your shots unique and striking it will help build your brand and differentiate yourself from the competition. However, there is an element of basic knowledge that you must have to do this. Your camera skills need to be second nature so that you don't need to think how to change settings on the fly. All of your shots need to be focused, sharp, well composed and well exposed. And you need to do this every time. You have to be able to land the ball on the fairway, every time.
OK, so at this point I'm not hitting the mark because I have quite a few photos that are just out of focus with either the subject moving towards the camera or just not being spot on with manual focus. But the percentage of error is definitely coming down.
Finally, we have a new project for next week. It's a portrait project where we need to take 6 shots of complete strangers (no friends of friends), and have them pose for the shot. I'm not as nervous as I was previously, because with a bit of Dutch courage I managed to take a few shots of some people in Whites Tavern the other day. But it's still going to be a challenge.
I'll be working on the project this week and get some photos up when I can as well as adding the photos that I took in Whites.
Until next time....
Saturday, 25 February 2012
Belfast Exposed again...
So this is only going to be a short one now because we're about to go to the Fionn Regan gig in May Street Church. I'm actualy waiting for Linda to iron her shirt then we're out the door.
There was a bit of a good day out with the Belfast Exposed crowd today. We looked at eachothers photos, talked about white balance then hit the streets.
The good thing for me today is that after the workshop a few of us went out for a pint afterwards and just started chatting about what we were doing and past experiences. It was really good to see an insight into what everyone had been doing with photography over the past number of years.
The main point for me is that I think I somehow owe something to Marting and Chris, because we went to Whites Tavern for a drink after everyone else had thinned out and just by chance a lady asked Chris why we were standing there with cameras and he explained what the deal was, and next thing I know, I was taking pictures of a lady and her husband sitting at their table. Fair enough, I was using on-camera flash, and the exposure was a little off, but never the less, I was photographing strangers. They were even talking about their daugher, who was interested in having her photo taken at a more professional level.
Strange how you go from feeling like you're in at the deep end and have no idea how you're going to make it, to actually having the confidence to talk to complete strangers about what you're doing with a camera.
Ok, so that was a bit dramatic, but at the time, it's how I felt.
Anyway, I'd like to thank Davey and his wife, who right now (even though I asked her twice), I can't remember her name. Allowing me to take your photo was more of a boost to my confidence than you'll ever know!
Much love,
There was a bit of a good day out with the Belfast Exposed crowd today. We looked at eachothers photos, talked about white balance then hit the streets.
The good thing for me today is that after the workshop a few of us went out for a pint afterwards and just started chatting about what we were doing and past experiences. It was really good to see an insight into what everyone had been doing with photography over the past number of years.
The main point for me is that I think I somehow owe something to Marting and Chris, because we went to Whites Tavern for a drink after everyone else had thinned out and just by chance a lady asked Chris why we were standing there with cameras and he explained what the deal was, and next thing I know, I was taking pictures of a lady and her husband sitting at their table. Fair enough, I was using on-camera flash, and the exposure was a little off, but never the less, I was photographing strangers. They were even talking about their daugher, who was interested in having her photo taken at a more professional level.
Strange how you go from feeling like you're in at the deep end and have no idea how you're going to make it, to actually having the confidence to talk to complete strangers about what you're doing with a camera.
Ok, so that was a bit dramatic, but at the time, it's how I felt.
Anyway, I'd like to thank Davey and his wife, who right now (even though I asked her twice), I can't remember her name. Allowing me to take your photo was more of a boost to my confidence than you'll ever know!
Much love,
Thursday, 23 February 2012
To the Streets
The biggest problem I have with taking pictures of people is that I don't have the confidence to walk up to them and ask if I can take their photo.
Last Saturday when we left the Belfast Exposed building to take some shots around Smithfield I really felt out of my depth. There were 11 of us out with our cameras and I could see the difference between someone like me who struggled to get any good portraits compared with some of the more forward of the bunch. One guy in particular called Martin, captures some excellent pictures, both candid and posed. Here is an example of the different mindset between him and myself.
We both walked into the market and our objective was to take a picture of an old lady. I immediately spotted a woman who looked to be in her 80's sitting at a table outside a cafe and I was building up the courage to walk over and ask if I could take her picture. I milled about taking pictures of other shop fronts and while I was procrastinating, Martin spotted her, walked straight up and just said few words. She smiled and 'snap snap snap', "thanks very much", he got the shot.
It took me a while to eventually ask someone to take their picture, which I did, but I still felt sort of embarrassed at my lack of confidence. I could have done the same as Martin and got the picture, but I didn't.
Anyway, today I took to the city centre and decided that I would just get on with it. I used mostly the new Tamron that I bought, and my thinking was that if I'm struggling to speak to people before I take their picture, why not just go for the more candid approach. Besides, I think this style of photography tells more of a story (he tries to convince himself).
Instead of just dandering around snapping whatever I saw, on the advice of Chris our tutor, I actually made a list of images that I wanted to capture before I left the house. I had been thinking about it since Monday and just wrote down what I thought would be good to tell a story.
It was strange how simply by trying to visualise the images before I took them it made a difference to the quality of the pictures I got. Not in the sense of sharpness and focus, but the actual composition and what was in the frame. I felt like I was trying to build a story of images instead of what I usually do, which is photograph what is immediately in front of me.
My project is Street Photography (funnily enough), and although this isn't something that I would like to do at a professional level, I feel that it is something that will build up my ability in general. If I can take good quality photos of people on the street who are just going about their business and not waiting for me to capture them perfectly, then when it comes to creating posed portraits for the likes of a wedding album, using the camera will be second nature. All of my attention can be focused on the subject.
That's it for now, I'm uploading the images I've captured today to Lightroom then I'm going back out in the afternoon. I have to present 6 to 8 images for the project, so when I have decided on the group I'll get them uploaded.
Last Saturday when we left the Belfast Exposed building to take some shots around Smithfield I really felt out of my depth. There were 11 of us out with our cameras and I could see the difference between someone like me who struggled to get any good portraits compared with some of the more forward of the bunch. One guy in particular called Martin, captures some excellent pictures, both candid and posed. Here is an example of the different mindset between him and myself.
We both walked into the market and our objective was to take a picture of an old lady. I immediately spotted a woman who looked to be in her 80's sitting at a table outside a cafe and I was building up the courage to walk over and ask if I could take her picture. I milled about taking pictures of other shop fronts and while I was procrastinating, Martin spotted her, walked straight up and just said few words. She smiled and 'snap snap snap', "thanks very much", he got the shot.
It took me a while to eventually ask someone to take their picture, which I did, but I still felt sort of embarrassed at my lack of confidence. I could have done the same as Martin and got the picture, but I didn't.
Anyway, today I took to the city centre and decided that I would just get on with it. I used mostly the new Tamron that I bought, and my thinking was that if I'm struggling to speak to people before I take their picture, why not just go for the more candid approach. Besides, I think this style of photography tells more of a story (he tries to convince himself).
Instead of just dandering around snapping whatever I saw, on the advice of Chris our tutor, I actually made a list of images that I wanted to capture before I left the house. I had been thinking about it since Monday and just wrote down what I thought would be good to tell a story.
- Someone on the phone
- Litter on the ground
- People queueing at the bus stop
- Pottingers Entry
It was strange how simply by trying to visualise the images before I took them it made a difference to the quality of the pictures I got. Not in the sense of sharpness and focus, but the actual composition and what was in the frame. I felt like I was trying to build a story of images instead of what I usually do, which is photograph what is immediately in front of me.
My project is Street Photography (funnily enough), and although this isn't something that I would like to do at a professional level, I feel that it is something that will build up my ability in general. If I can take good quality photos of people on the street who are just going about their business and not waiting for me to capture them perfectly, then when it comes to creating posed portraits for the likes of a wedding album, using the camera will be second nature. All of my attention can be focused on the subject.
That's it for now, I'm uploading the images I've captured today to Lightroom then I'm going back out in the afternoon. I have to present 6 to 8 images for the project, so when I have decided on the group I'll get them uploaded.
Saturday, 18 February 2012
First Steps
Over a week gone by, and although not a lot of photos were taken I've made a fairly decisive move towards my ultimate goal by taking one of the courses offered by Belfast Exposed.
I was basically sitting in work on Friday there feeling really uncomfortable with the lack of direction and not having taken any pictures the entire week, when it just struck me that it was around this time that the introduction courses were starting in Belfast Exposed, so I just hit up their website and saw that the first one was actually the following day (today)! So I called up with my fingers crossed that they would have a space and by chance, someone had just dropped out that morning, so that was me in.
I didn't have my card on me at the time so I had to use my lunch break to scoot home and pay for it otherwise I wouldn't be able to enrol.
I landed there this morning early and had to wait outside for 10 or fifteen minutes before anyone showed up. But it was worth it. Chris Barr is a brilliant teacher and really easy to get on with. At the start of the workshop I was starting to worry that I had chosen something a little below the ability that I felt I am currently at, but that soon changed when we went out onto the street and were given an objective. One group had to photograph someone with a pram, another had to capture young people. My group? We had to find an old woman.
Basically after building up the courage to actually ask someone, I got a couple of good shots of these 3 women who turned out to be three generations of the one family. Mother, daughter and grandmother. I don't know why but it sort of meant something to me that I just happened to ask them to take their picture.
Anyway, we have been given an assignment for next Saturday. We have to create a project between six and 8 pictures and they have to tell a story. It can be anything from your route to work, dilapidated buildings, prime colours you name it. I'm probably going to do something with people in the city. Maybe the life of one day on a street.
Finally, I get paid on Monday, so it's 'new lens' time. I just went into Jessops today and tried out the Tamron 70-300mm Micro lens on a 1100D body and it was immense compared to the kit lens I'm shooting with at the minute, so I think that's the one. £149 until Wednesday so saving about thirty quid. Not bad for a starter really.
I'll be out this week starting my project, and I intend on spending all of Thursday in the city.
Stay tuned!
I was basically sitting in work on Friday there feeling really uncomfortable with the lack of direction and not having taken any pictures the entire week, when it just struck me that it was around this time that the introduction courses were starting in Belfast Exposed, so I just hit up their website and saw that the first one was actually the following day (today)! So I called up with my fingers crossed that they would have a space and by chance, someone had just dropped out that morning, so that was me in.
I didn't have my card on me at the time so I had to use my lunch break to scoot home and pay for it otherwise I wouldn't be able to enrol.
I landed there this morning early and had to wait outside for 10 or fifteen minutes before anyone showed up. But it was worth it. Chris Barr is a brilliant teacher and really easy to get on with. At the start of the workshop I was starting to worry that I had chosen something a little below the ability that I felt I am currently at, but that soon changed when we went out onto the street and were given an objective. One group had to photograph someone with a pram, another had to capture young people. My group? We had to find an old woman.
Basically after building up the courage to actually ask someone, I got a couple of good shots of these 3 women who turned out to be three generations of the one family. Mother, daughter and grandmother. I don't know why but it sort of meant something to me that I just happened to ask them to take their picture.
Anyway, we have been given an assignment for next Saturday. We have to create a project between six and 8 pictures and they have to tell a story. It can be anything from your route to work, dilapidated buildings, prime colours you name it. I'm probably going to do something with people in the city. Maybe the life of one day on a street.
Finally, I get paid on Monday, so it's 'new lens' time. I just went into Jessops today and tried out the Tamron 70-300mm Micro lens on a 1100D body and it was immense compared to the kit lens I'm shooting with at the minute, so I think that's the one. £149 until Wednesday so saving about thirty quid. Not bad for a starter really.
I'll be out this week starting my project, and I intend on spending all of Thursday in the city.
Stay tuned!
Thursday, 9 February 2012
Titanic & Docks
I took a run over to the new Titanic Museum that is opening this March to see how it was coming along and by chance they were just laying the massive sign at the front of the building with two cranes. It seemed like a big deal with all sorts of associated press there as well as photographers from the Titanic trust as well. I must admit that pulling up on the Vespa and whipping out my 450D, I felt like (and I'm sure looked) way under prepared, but I still stayed and took a few shots.
The biggest problem was that everyone there had their hardhats and hi-vis bibs on and without this fairly useless 'safety' equipment (lets be honest, if that 25 tonne metal sign was to fall on someone no amount of hardhat or yellow bib wearing would make any difference. They would be hammered into the ground like a luminous tent peg!) I was quite restricted to where I could actually stand and shoot. I ended up just taking a few snaps of the sign going in and the museum itself. They weren't that great though with the cranes and a lamp post getting mostly in the way. Going back to my previous post about buying a new lens, I think with this experience I am leaning towards the telephoto option. It would have meant that I could get a range of shots on the day, but I could still use it for portrait work if I needed. Anyway, here is what I came away with.
When I was leaving I decided to head down to the end of the docks to have a look around as I've never actually been past the Arc apartments before, and down near the bottom end of the estate there was a bit of a gap in the hedge where you could walk out onto a small jetty and see over to the Bombardier building. Just by chance there was a ship moored there and the water was fairly calm so I took a quick shot of the view over the water. I like the image as the sky isn't too blown out (not using any filters with my camera yet) and the reflection on the water is quite cool. I tried several different focal lengths but the 18mm end seemed to give the best result. I know the rule of thirds suggests that I should have had either more sky or more water, and the boat shouldn't have been bang in the middle of the frame, but I just couldn't get any other composition to work as there was a defunct pier to the left and the building to the right wasn't that interesting.
So this is what I came away with from my day. I took around 100 photos, but most were average at best and these were the two that I actually don't mind looking at myself.
It's Ryan's housewarming this Saturday and I'm working until 4, so I plan on taking my camera down and taking a couple of pictures of everyone, mostly for posterity and a bit because I still haven't taken pictures of anyone in a solely photographic capacity.
So, I will get some of them up maybe on Monday.
The biggest problem was that everyone there had their hardhats and hi-vis bibs on and without this fairly useless 'safety' equipment (lets be honest, if that 25 tonne metal sign was to fall on someone no amount of hardhat or yellow bib wearing would make any difference. They would be hammered into the ground like a luminous tent peg!) I was quite restricted to where I could actually stand and shoot. I ended up just taking a few snaps of the sign going in and the museum itself. They weren't that great though with the cranes and a lamp post getting mostly in the way. Going back to my previous post about buying a new lens, I think with this experience I am leaning towards the telephoto option. It would have meant that I could get a range of shots on the day, but I could still use it for portrait work if I needed. Anyway, here is what I came away with.
When I was leaving I decided to head down to the end of the docks to have a look around as I've never actually been past the Arc apartments before, and down near the bottom end of the estate there was a bit of a gap in the hedge where you could walk out onto a small jetty and see over to the Bombardier building. Just by chance there was a ship moored there and the water was fairly calm so I took a quick shot of the view over the water. I like the image as the sky isn't too blown out (not using any filters with my camera yet) and the reflection on the water is quite cool. I tried several different focal lengths but the 18mm end seemed to give the best result. I know the rule of thirds suggests that I should have had either more sky or more water, and the boat shouldn't have been bang in the middle of the frame, but I just couldn't get any other composition to work as there was a defunct pier to the left and the building to the right wasn't that interesting.
So this is what I came away with from my day. I took around 100 photos, but most were average at best and these were the two that I actually don't mind looking at myself.
It's Ryan's housewarming this Saturday and I'm working until 4, so I plan on taking my camera down and taking a couple of pictures of everyone, mostly for posterity and a bit because I still haven't taken pictures of anyone in a solely photographic capacity.
So, I will get some of them up maybe on Monday.
Sunday, 5 February 2012
Unproductive Weekend (photographically!)
I had planned on taking some pictures around the city centre this weekend, but after such a good week weather-wise, it was a rainy two days. There was about an hour of clear sky around lunchtime on Sunday, but Saturday was just washed out.
In saying that I could have probably still got some shots off, but Linda's colleagues from her old job came up to stay, so Saturday night we went out to dinner in Chiquita's in the Victoria Centre then headed for a cocktail in Zen and ended up in RBG for a nightcap before we walked back to the apartment. I always forget how handy everything is in the city and every time I think about it I'm always questioning why I don't use it more to my advantage. I actually plan on calling back into Belfast Exposed to chat to Mervin again about doing one of their courses in Photojournalism or Street Photography.
Anyway, my plan this week is to head over to the Botanic Gardens for some pictures for the parks competition and maybe on into the city. When I get paid this month I'm definitely investing in a new lens. Because of the type of shots I'm trying to take I think I'm going to go for either a 50mm prime (which works out to be 80mm on my 450D), or 70-200mm Tamron for more candid shots. Either choice, I'm still going to be looking for the same shot, I'll just have to go about getting it a bit differently. I honestly think it's going to come down to cost, but we'll see.
No pictures taken, so nothing going up today, but I'll have some by the end of this week.
In saying that I could have probably still got some shots off, but Linda's colleagues from her old job came up to stay, so Saturday night we went out to dinner in Chiquita's in the Victoria Centre then headed for a cocktail in Zen and ended up in RBG for a nightcap before we walked back to the apartment. I always forget how handy everything is in the city and every time I think about it I'm always questioning why I don't use it more to my advantage. I actually plan on calling back into Belfast Exposed to chat to Mervin again about doing one of their courses in Photojournalism or Street Photography.
Anyway, my plan this week is to head over to the Botanic Gardens for some pictures for the parks competition and maybe on into the city. When I get paid this month I'm definitely investing in a new lens. Because of the type of shots I'm trying to take I think I'm going to go for either a 50mm prime (which works out to be 80mm on my 450D), or 70-200mm Tamron for more candid shots. Either choice, I'm still going to be looking for the same shot, I'll just have to go about getting it a bit differently. I honestly think it's going to come down to cost, but we'll see.
No pictures taken, so nothing going up today, but I'll have some by the end of this week.
Thursday, 2 February 2012
Parks
So I've been out twice this week with the camera, and after checking the weather for tomorrow I'll definitely be making it three times. I'm finding it quite easy to get up at 9:30 and be in the park for around 10ish and because it's still winter the sun's still sitting quite low in the sky which makes for some nice pictures.
I stopped into the Ormeau Park this morning trying to get something original that fits into one of three categories for a competition that I'm entering. The categories are:
I stopped into the Ormeau Park this morning trying to get something original that fits into one of three categories for a competition that I'm entering. The categories are:
- People in parks
- Wildlife in our parks
- Building and art
You can enter up to 3 pictures in any one category and entry is free.
The thing about it is, I still go into the park and just wander around and point the camera at whatever I'm passing and 'pull the trigger' so to speak. It's the lack of direction that I get frustrated with, however, I did come away with a couple of nice images (in my own opinion).
Again, I just saw these when I was walking past and thought they looked quite interesting. In the first picture I like the way the bench is sort of framed by the trees, but there is no top on the frame. The stump I though just looked cool. The ground was proper marshy, so I just took a few shots from where I could stand without sinking up to my ankles.
So far I'm ticking most of the boxes for 'Wildlife in our parks', but I'd like to get something with people next. I guess if there was someone sitting on the bench I could tick that box so maybe I'll rope my girlfriend in to modelling for me for a morning.
Anyway, I'll get a few more shots tomorrow and see how my week fares for quality photographs.
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