Photography Training
As I teach A-Level Photography, I was fortunate enough to get a place on an exam-board run training course yesterday. Most training courses are a bit dull. We tend to get shoehorned into a small events room in some random hotel, to be waffled at by some bloke and his PowerPoint slideshows. Everyone goes to these for two simple reasons; it’s a (paid) day off work, and there’s free food.
This training session was different though. For a start it was in York, which is a really nice place, and secondly we were told to wander around taking photos of the place to practise our own photography skills. It’s no good teaching photography if you can’t do it yourself, after all. It was great, I go all sorts of places and wish I had just five minutes to walk around and take photos, but never get the chance. Yesterday I was being told explicitly to walk around for an hour and take photos.
I even learnt something too 
Use the histogram on your camera and try to make it look like a mountain or bumpy field, with no strange gaps or high spikes at the edges. Do this by adjusting the aperture and shutter speed.
What’re you looking at?
After the fun of getting my “new” film SLR, an Asahi Pentax S1a and the even greater fun of finding camera film (Tesco) and somewhere that’ll develop it (Boots) I shot a reel of test film. The only thing I was trying to discover was whether the camera worked, ate film, leaked light or was completely knackered.
And as you can see, it works! It works very well 
The lens is subtly different to my Nikon 50mm prime and I like the effect.
Mental Music
The Men that will not be blamed for nothing, playing at The Asylum – the First Annual UK Steampunk Convivial held on 11th-13th September in the Historic City of Lincoln.
I managed to shuffle un-noticed around the side of the stage and get a few shots. This one came out the best, I really like my 50mm prime lens and burst shooting.
Sound visualisation on the cheap
Some people use software to visualise sound, watching the pretty patterns on their XBox 360s or PCs. That’s all fine, but after watching a few videos on Youtube about the weird things cornstarch does when vibrated at certain frequencies. At high frequencies interesting patterns appear followed by strange looping fingers. At lower frequencies, but higher volume the whole lot jumps around in a strangely organic way.
This was 60Hz at quite a high volume. I thought it important to check my neighbours weren’t in and to wear ear plugs.
Fire Place
Inside the Horse and Jockey Pub is a mess, the roof has gone, the floors have gone, all that remains is a few pipes from the old gas lighting and a lot of rubble. The front door was open and I briefly contemplated going inside, but then I saw this through the window and decided it’s not a place to go and play in.
Amongst the debris and intense fire damage is a surprising scene of two pristine looking fireplaces. They stand out clearly against the rest of the mess. They aren’t tarnished, covered in soot or damaged at all. This one isn’t resting on anything solid, it’s balanced on the top of the remains of the chimney. It just looks so out of place and new looking. It’s almost ironic if it weren’t for the fact you’d expect a fireplace to be fire proof.
Off down the local?
Up on the hills above the village my parents live in is the Horse and Jockey Pub. Back when I was younger I remember it being open, then it closed and was boarded up. A few years ago it burnt down, and has been left like this ever since. It’s in a desolate part of the country, on the A62 just as you cross the border into Lancashire (although it didn’t used to be).
I took this photo in suitably dire conditions; it was throwing it down, windy and the sky had that awful flat grey look to it that makes most people put their cameras away and go back home. Standing there, clasping a rapidly unfolding umbrella in one hand, wedging the pole against my face for stability, trying to ignore the water soaking up my trousers I unsteadily waved my camera around trying to keep the rain off the lens and took some photos.
I imagine it must have been a welcome site after crawling up the valley in a coach on a cold, windy night on the way to Huddersfield or Manchester. Shame the last warm fire to burn in it took out the roof and all the interior. The windows used to be painted white…
Transparent laptop
Here’s a bit of a fun entry to the YakYak photo competition. This week it’s “Transparency”.
Pink Flower with Raindrops
I went to a BBQ yesterday, and predictably it rained quite a lot. Between showers the sun came out and I took this picture of a nice pink flower with some raindrops on it. I like the way the bold colours on the flower contrast with the darker colours of the background. I also like the gentle blurring of the background.
I’ve started cropping my images down to 6in x 4in proportions and then resizing the longest side to be 640 pixels (the original is still at full size). This should produce more normal looking photos. I might try and modify the Livejournal Crossposter and the RSS feed code so that the image is shown in the post too. Currently the template has an ‘image’ field for the picture which I use, but which isn’t present in the RSS or LJ crosspost pages.
Port Channel Marker
This is a red port channel marker on the banks of the Humber at Burton upon Stather, outside Scunthorpe. The day was warm but overcast which fitted well with the worn look of this light.
Rainbow
Never managed to successfully photograph rainbows before. I think this image is a fair attempt at doing so. I like the way the rainbow shoots out the trees like a laser beam.
My back garden
A bit of a fun shot showing the view out my back window. I might experiment more with this, I like the way the rectangles in the window turn the image into a series of tiny photos that each have their own composition.
Tractors
Here is a row of old tractors, taken at the Messingham Fair in 2009. I was also able to take a photo of one of the tractors as it was driving around.
A red tractor at the Messingham Fair
Macro Electronics Photography
I’m building an arcade cabinet based on the MAME emulator. While making it I have been taking photos to document the progress, and while in the middle of trying to fix yet another PC problem I started noticing interesting shapes on the PC electronics.
Here is a closeup macro shot of the underside of a PC’s motherboard. The dots are where the PCI slots poke through the circuit board. I like the way the camera’s lens distorts the regimented lines of dots into something quite abstract. And sometimes the unfamiliar takes on a familiar twist, as is shown by this collection of surface mount resistors that bear some resemblance to a small housing estate or village.
Macro shots don’t have to be just about insects, carpets and flowers
This is an edited repost based on a post I made on my main blog.
Late night arson
I went to visit my parents this evening and took my camera with the intention of photographing the really nice shot of Rochdale that can be seen from the top of the M62. However, when I arrived at the safest place to stop on the A672 near the giant transmitter tower I found a much more interesting shot. The heather covering the moor near the Windy Hill transmitter was on fire; deliberately according to someone else who was watching it. The smoke was so dense and thick that driving through it made my eyes start to sting and following the road difficult. In places the fire was burning almost up to the road side.
For sale: Four door hatchback, slight fire damage
Here’s another photograph from Wiltshire. I spotted this burnt out car by the side of the road after yesterday’s photo from the Kennet Long Barrow. It looks like a stolen car that was set on fire. The insides were completely burnt away with nothing but the metal left.
Kennet Long Barrow Wishing Tree
While on a New Year trip to Wiltshire, we went to visit the West Kennet Long Barrow, an excavated burial mound. On the path up is a wishing tree covered in various hanging items. Everything from bits of cloth, ribbons and underwear to socks and watches. Here’s a photo I took of some of the things hanging from the tree’s branches.
Welcome to Scunthorpe!
On the way to Scunthorpe, just before Gunness is an iron bridge going over the River Humber. Just below the bridge is Gunness Wharf where I saw these boats moored up.
Wakefield Cathedral, Christmas 2008
Here’s a night shot of the cathedral in the centre of Wakefield, West Yorkshire. I was attempting to photo the Christmas lights, but as is often the case, the random shot I took just before leaving turned out to be the best one. The Christmas lights didn’t look that good but I liked the way the cathedral tower vanished into the darkness in this image.
The Speed of Light
Here’s an interesting photo I took the other weekend. It’s from a bridge that goes over the M180 outside Scunthorpe. It’s one of those long exposure images of cars going under a motorway bridge in the darkness. I like the streaks of light and how the headlights illuminate the sides of the road.
The interesting part is the pattern of the stop lights on the car driving into the image. It must have had LED stop lights that flash very quickly when in use.
War Memorial
While driving through the outskirts of Scunthorpe, around Brigg, I saw the perfect scene to test my digital camera. There was a war memorial on a street corner lit perfectly by a light, casting really interesting shadows. Even better was the lamp post on the street corner that I could lean against.
Of the five photos I took, this was the best. Shot in RAW and post-processed in Photoshop to bring out the detail and change to black and white made the picture so much better than it originally was.
Photos from Chamonix, France
During my summer holiday I went to Chamonix in France for two weeks. While there me and my dad went walking on the mountains that make up the valley. From the large amount of photos I took while there, these three are some of my favourites.
The first image is a black and white shot looking towards the Mer du Glace glacier and I think the black and white helps pick out the detail in the scenery. The white cloud is actually snow blowing from the top of the mountain in a fierce gale.
The next image was taken at Lac Blanc and is looking in the same direction. The final image is looking towards Mont Blanc, with some handy pine trees being used to nicely frame the image. I wasn’t sure if the picture would work, but it seems to look quite good all the same.
All these images were taken using a Canon A85 digital camera with UV filter. The Lac Blanc photo also has a graduated grey filter, and the B&W photo was processed by my camera’s black and white mode.
Emley Moor TV Tower
taking a break from The Lake District for a moment, here’s a photo I took of the Emley Moor TV Tower. The photo was taken from a little crossroads just outside the compound the tower is in.
I used to drive past this every day going to my first teaching practice. You can see Emley Moor for miles around, it’s the tallest thing in a 50-odd mile radius which includes the surrounding hills!
A mysterious walk in Patterdale
Of the thousands of photos in my collection there are a few that I haven’t correctly catalogued. I recall every walk I’ve done, and mostly the situations when I was taking the photo. This one though is part of a collection identified simply as “Patterdale, September 2006″.
I recall it being a hot, hazy midge-infested day – so a typical Lakes summer day then! The type of day where in ten minutes time there could be a thunderstorm, or it could continue being hot and sticky all day. Me and my dad and the dog went for a satisfying, if steep walk up the mountain you can see in the distance.
I can’t remember the name of that mountain, if you recognise it please comment!
Oh, I have altered the quality of the Jpegs on this site so they should look less chunky.
Fairfield Horseshoe from Rydal
A few years ago I went for a walk around the Fairfield Horseshoe. A fine walk taking you over Fairfield, Hart Crag and Heron Crag. It gives excellent views over Ambleside and the surrounding hills on a clear day. On a manky day you’ll probably be able to see your feet
The day I went for the walk was – as you can see – totally clear, apart from some fluffy clouds. The weather started to close in when we reached the top of Fairfield, but it wasn’t enough to make the view any worse. The clouds cast really interesting shadows onto the ground, making photography a constant theme for the walk. Sometimes the light is good, but the scenery just isn’t that inspiring. Not on this walk, I have many photos of mountains with nice contrasts of shadow and light.
This picture was taken just outside Rydal on the path that runs past Rydal House, outside Ambleside. While going along the path I managed to catch the sheep eating grass in just the right location. They neatly balance out all that grass, the bump in the ground and the tree shadows add more interest too.
