Ghosts & Ghouls

A sample of pics taken at the old Vic Uni Cemetery. Also a first attempt with multiple exposures. Both images are scans of hand prints.

Project underdevelopment

Coming next is my new series: Driving forward, looking back : Seeing ahead, shooting blind.

The concept has been developed with the first attempt at shooting it taking place over Labour weekend. More specifically on the drive to and then back from Napier.

The idea for this series germinated from many long trips on the open road and a piece of advice I once recieved - "The best shot is sometimes behind you, looking back from where you have come".

So what is the concept? Well, taking shots of the view in my drivers side window (Driving forward, looking back), long exposure for a blurred background and once again using Ilford Delta 3200 (my favourite b & w film). Initially. I may switch to Ilford HP5 400. All shots will be taken while I am concentrating on the road ahead, so I will not be composing the images at all (seeing ahead, shooting blind).

Stay tuned to see how it all turns out.

Show me the way to go home

This little piece was born out my desire to work more with Ilford Delta 3200 and to create a series where the light was painted on. So, combining both those elements I have created this short series of the street signs around my home.

The images were taken approx 45 mins after sunset with the signs illuminated by torch with deliberate camera movement, using Ilford Delta 3200 and taken on my Mamiya 645 Pro tl.

These are scans of hand printed images.

What I like about this series is the contrasty, grainy nature of these images. A look and feel I strive to achieve which can be noted in previously posted images.

Drinking - Reality TV. A creative concept

Drinking - Reality TV or as I have interpreted it: Pleasure, Intrique, Mood, Intrusive, Dark, Voyeuristic, Friends & Grainy.

Shot on Ilford Delta 3200 - hand printed then scanned

Field Trip #1

Some of the highlights from venturing out into a cold Wellington night.

Future group activity

Last night the group reconvened to discuss future field trips.

The following list is the output from last nights session over a nice glass of red (Grant Burge - Shiraz)

Locations:
Old Karori Cemetery
Mt Vic - Town Belt
Makara Beach and the gun emplacements
Night time - Courtenay Place
Markets - Porirua
Otaki Beach
Petone industrial area
Wellington Railway Station
Fort Balance

Themes/Concepts:
Black & White
Treasure hunt
Movie poster
Emotions
Six senses - smell, hear etc
Lines from a song
CD cover
Colours - concentrating on maybe one colour
The four elements - earth, wind, fire & water
Perspective

We will be meeting again on Thursday 21 July for a night time shoot. Bruce C is to set the theme on the night.

Zoomania

The team from The Creative Eye (well half of the class) descended on Wgtn Zoo on Saturday afternoon for a couple hours of shooting. No need to worry, no animals were harmed in the making of our creative interpretations of zoo life. Armed (there I go again) with only our camera gear and our designated animal personality we set forth to untap the treasure trove of photographic images that the Zoo contains.

For me shooting under the guise of a Merkat initially proved to be an interesting challenge. Not that the challenge deminished as the day progressed but simply the enjoyment increased as the difficulty of getting into character decreased. I like to think I've taken some 'keepers'.

All in all it was a fun day. Ideally I would like to continue with this concept. I am sure the interest is there in the group to continue to do so on a monthly basis. My initial thoughts would be for us to meet and draw up a list of possible venues and topics with each member taking turns to decide the topic of the day. It would be interesting for everyone to be given the same topic to see how we individually interpret it.

Of course the real value will be in meeting after the photo shoot to compare, critique and be inspired by the groups work.

Stay tuned for developments.

Landscape of the Body

My focus (pardon the pun) now turns to my next project - Landscape of the Body. A subject that has been under development for a number of months. A significant amount of prework has been undertaken covering both the technical and creative processes.


The puropse of the project is to explore the human (female) form. This will be another black & white body of work (not another pun), tightly cropped with strong (although somewhat softened where required) directional light. It is vey much a light and texture project.

For some of you it is an extension of a series I shot earlier this year (as shown to the left) but concentrating on other parts of the body and the relationship with shape and light.

In fact I have two other extensions to this concept that I will pogress onto once this piece is complete.

With the technical issues and composition concepts sorted my attention now turns to securing someone to pose for me.

World Press Photo Exhibition

This is a must see if not for the quality of the photography but to reinforce the fact we have a wonderful life and live in secure democratic country.

Venue - Shed 11
Till 10 July 2005

For more info visit www.worldpressphoto.nl & www.wellingtonnz.com/Events/WorldPressPhotoExhibition.htm

What a difference a day makes

It's amazing how much difference a day can make when reviewing where you are at in your creative process. After beginning the week questioning whether I was on top of my project and to be honest I wasn't sure if I was hitting the mark. The only thing I felt I had made contact with was the wall. I'd hit the wall creatively.

So a day away from current project and a night in the darkroom has made a huge impact. I stepped back from my Drinking - Reality TV project for a few days and then reviewed my work to date. Only to reveal that I had nailed it. Well to my expectations anyway. On top of that was an evening spent in the darkroom to take these shots one stage further. The result of all this is a body of work I am happy to present to my peers.

The stalking continues

My adventures of capturing unsuspecting Wellingtonians continued over the weekend. It all started on Friday night at a farewell at Red Square in Courtenay Place. Shots were taken and drinks were had. At first as suspected I did feel a bit conspicuous but once I got snapping I was fine. Although I am sure I was assisted by the Henekin I was consuming as well. So plenty of pics were taken while I was in a state to do so.

Over the course of the weekend I managed to spend time taking photos in the Deli in Aro St, Fidels and the Tasting Room. It was a case of making sure I had the camera with me all the time especially when I thought I might be in a situation I could use for my conceptual piece.

One realisation I did have whilst at Fidels which annoyed me, was the fact I should be using the remote for my camera (I had left it at home in my camera bag). In this way I can strategically place my camera and without having to touch it (and hence alert people to my actions) I can use the remotre to trip the shutter. I did experiment with this technique at the Tasting Room and will continue to experiement.

But after a rather full weekend of activity I am now quite used to taking pics in a public place. In fact I now feel rather cheeky in trying to get as many shots I can of unsuspecting victims. Which I feel rather pleased about.

So now I'm keen to see the results of the weekends adventures and to critique my work so that I can hone this skill even further.

Upcoming exhibition at Photoscape

Photoscape gallery which is Courtenay Place (above Sahara and along from United Video) is opening a two new exhibitions which run from 16 June through to 8 July.

The exhibition displays the work of Belinda Brown - Vive la Difference & Jodi Ruth Keet - Permanence.

For more information visit www.photospace.co.nz/expo094.htm

I've always enjoyed the work on display at Photoscape so I encourage you to pay a visit.

Inspiring.

Stalking unsuspecting Wellingtonians

I ventured out at lunchtime today for another foray into shooting from the hip. That involves me having my camera over my shoulder and taking pics without looking through the view finder.

I must say I found this a lot easier than my attempt on Tuesday and I'm more confident in taking pics of people on the street. Even though it was rather covert. But all bodes well for me venturing into street photography. Especially now that I am more intune to the number of potential shots available to me.

One sneeky technique I used was to line up my subject/victim and appear to be using my mobile to txt whilst my free hand carefully triggered the shutter. Sneaky to say the least.

I'll post some of the results from todays activities some time next week when I have the film back from the lab.

Creative Obstacles

Ok here's my 2 cents worth.

Rick, for me, impact is about strength. Ensuring the person viewing your work is hit between the eyes with the message you are trying to convey. How do we/I do that? Well my theory is to strip away any unnecessary elements. Keep it simple and don't over think it. Get to understand exactly what you are trying to convey then try and invoke that response from the viewer. Don't tell them, make them experience it. So think about what emotional triggers your work should include to solicit the response you want to achieve. As Antonia said - Soft/hard, focussed/blurry, b&w/colour composition etc.

Bruce - I guess a lot of it depends on how you define originality. Is it capturing an image that no one else has ever taken or it is taking a concept or subject that has been used before and turning it on it's head and having an alternative take on it? It can be both. If you get a response of "I've never looked at that like that before" isn't that being original as well. So interpretation is just as important if not more than the subject. I've seen images that I've liked but have thought of alternative ways of shooting the subject.

Antonia, time is always a issue in life. We lead such frantic lifestyles. Sometimes it is necessary to purposely make an appointment with yourself to do something creative. After a while you find that you don't have to make such a conscious effort to do so as it becomes a habit. But does it have to happen in such a rigid manner? Probably not. But initially we do have to make that effort. I don't believe creativity is something you switch on or off, but what is important is to discover the triggers that prompt you to be creative. I think we're all more creative than what we credit ourselves to be. Take 10 mins and sit down and make a list of the times/places you feel your at your creative best. See what you come up with.

For me, well my obstacle for my creative piece is to get out and into the environment to take my pics. I need to go into bars/cafes at night and take pictures of people for my drinking/reality TV concept. To be honest I'm not 100% comfortable doing this. Has anyone else done this before? I feel very conspicuous going out and taking these shots. Enough of my ramblings and back to the coal face. Peter

Welcome to light and texture

This is my first blog posting and and certainly my first attempt at establishing a blog.

The puporse of this blog is to share and support the creative porcess of like minded people involved in the art of photography.

So bear with me as I develope this blog further.