Unit 23 - 35mm film

                      Thinking back, I'd guess my first dip into the world of 35mm photography came when I was about 12 years old thanks to the pre- Amazonian wonders of my mother's Freemans catalogue, or was it John Myers, either way it all slotted into place when it came to decision day for the annual order of my  'big present' so that I got it in time for Christmas by which time, in theory, I'd have forgotten what I 'd asked for and still have a look of surprise on my face once I'd opened the socks, underpants and selection box. Now when I say slotted into place, that's exactly what it did because my present of choice was the new on the market and never to be repeated, Optics Set. I'd always dismissed the chemistry sets due to lack of interest and always preferred to be tinkering with things such as bikes so the opportunity to build my own 35mm slr camera, telescope and possibly a microscope from a cardboard box full of plastic and perspex seemed an opportunity too good to miss.
                      Now I don't ever recall putting a film through that camera, in fact I don't even recall actually finishing it, which was, coincidentally, the same story behind the giant P55 Mustang Airfix kit I got on offer from Woolworths but failed to follow the instructions and just put it together as I thought it should be (it was quicker) just so I could get the transfers on without any further delay. 
                    So if we jump forward a few years to me being 16, I was once again back in the catalogue looking to see how much I could blow of my minimal wages over a 52 week period and it was at that precise moment I spotted a Praktica MTL5 35mm camera complete with not only 2 extra lenses, but a flash and all packed up nicely in an aluminium flight case, decision made. In hindsight, I think it was more the idea of me looking like a real photographer that outshone my desire to actually take a picture of anything as I was always too busy out with my mates to be worried about taking pictures but I always new, in the back of my mind, that it was there, just in case. It's just occurred to me that I was also in possession of a Halina retractable 110 film camera at the time, and as this was forever going to be victorious in the portability stakes to a lad in jeans and a t-shirt, the Praktica was going to be destined to a life in the wardrobe once the novelty of running a couple of films through it had worn off.
                    Skipping forward yet again but taking bigger strides, to a period when holidays, girlfriends and eventually children were the order of the day, I'd graduated to whatever I'd considered at the time to be a good value for money compact 35mm camera, and went on to take literally hundreds upon hundreds of pictures, because way back then it didn't even matter if your photos were blurred, badly compositioned abstracts, featuring red eyed monsters, just so long as you could make out at least one person you knew in them and, thanks to the wonders of the latest gimmick of the date being printed on each frame, you could remember how old you were when it happened.
                  Eventually my 35mm film days came to an end with the arrival of compact digital, although not until I was sure it was going to catch on as I didn't want to be left with another 'betamax' in the cupboard, before eventually graduating to my first digital slr, and then my second, and then some sort of regression as I'm now developing an interest in traditional film methods but that's another story. 
                So then, jumping forward to a few months back (I'm sure that makes sense but I could be wrong) and we're sat in college and Richard tells us that we are each to be given an old camera loaded with some equally out of date colour film and we are to embark on a mission , in pairs, sharing 36 exposures but faced with a task of returning within the hour so that the films could be developed 3 months later and we could discuss our images and thoughts. The first thing that hits you when it's your turn to fire off a roll of film, is just how precious each frame becomes. There's no chimping into the back of the camera to see what you've just taken, well actually there is but you get over it after about half a dozen shots, and so there's a new found adrenalin rush as you look for something worthwhile, something you can be really proud of, something you can say to your tutor " Look, I'm not just lucky with digital....I really don't need to fire off 100 frames in the hope of getting 3 keepers"....but that was never going to happen, well not today.
                 First thing you should know when it comes to film is there are no test shots, 2nd thing you should know is a basic idea of what you are holding in your hands and what does what and once you've got that nailed then the rest is down to you. Now with this is mind I'll now show you a selection of the images I took that day shooting completely in manual mode, and the first thing you'll notice is that composition took something of a back seat as my main priority was to try and achieve a reasonably sharp image with a decent level of exposure so it was all about the iso matching the film, aperture, shutter speed and a complete lack of auto focus.
  
                                              

                                                                                 

  
                                                                               

   

            

                

               

                 

                

                  The first obvious thing you'll notice about the above images is that they are reversed and the reason for this is after processing it was down to us to scan the negatives and invert the images before considering whether or not they could benefit from a little bit of polishing up in photoshop, and so it would appear that I've forgotten to check which way up they were in the scanner as this could amount to some of the deteriation in quality as it was basically scanning through the back of the image and not the front. The images were scanned at 1200dpi so that they could be blown up to a reasonable size without sacrificing too much quality, and were contained within a suitable negative mount to minimalise the amount of distortion in the film as it has a tendency to curl without one. 

                                             

              

                                               

                                             

                

                The final images have had little done to them apart from flipping horizontally, the use of curves to individually adjust the red, green and blue channels and then a small bit of adjustment in exposure but also using the offset and gamma correction, to achieve a reasonably acceptable image.

                                         

 

                             


                   Ok, so maybe not the best set of images you've seen but it has given me something of an inclination to run a couple more out of date films I have knocking around through a couple of different cameras. I'm also now considering the idea of trying some black and films as well because I'd also be looking to have a go at the developing side of things and talking of black and white, I just had to take the opportunity to choose a few of the shots from the above and see they'd look. 

                                                       

                                                     

  

 

  

                             

Music Photography Research Mick Rock

                   Again working in pairs, we were asked to research a well known music photographer and put together a small powerpoint presentation which we would then present in front of the rest of the class...or at least those that had turned up. So after a quick shufty through a few of the books Richard had provided to see who we felt stood out, it was then down to me and Amena to get some surfing done and come up with something half decent, and that is when we decided on Mick Rock.
            

                                                  

                                  Now then, unless I'm mistaken I think the powerpoint that we put together has long since disappeared so I'm going to have to present a short brief from memory on what we actually talked about.  
                                 Mick Rock was born in London in 1948 and went on to become one of the country's producers of some of rocks most iconic images. The Pretty Things were the first band he shot in 1969 but after meeting David Bowie in 1972 he then went on to become his official photographer. I guess it comes with the territory that if you're hanging out with Bowie in the 70's then somewhere down the line there's ever chance you'd be shooting the likes of Iggy Pop and Lou Reed which of course, he did, and most famously so got to shoot the cover Lou Reeds Transformer album.  

                                     

                                                     

                                                 
                                                            


                            If you think of rock stars from the 70's then he's probably shot them, be it Queen, Syd Barrett  through to The Ramones and Joan Jett. I love his black and white imagery, especially his live shots such as the Iggy Pop one above as I feel it puts you in the picture and you can almost feel the atmosphere and smell the sweat and grease paint.  
                            The best place to read about Mick and his achievements and exhibitions would be over at his website as all I'd be doing here would be reciting it word for word, but what I will say is that because Mick was trusted by the people he was shooting he was often granted access to shoot back stage and at the after show parties which is where many of my favourite images of his come from, and if I had to pick a special one then it would be the absolute corker that sees David Bowie and Mick Ronson sharing a moment over a meal on a train to Aberdeen in between tour dates in the 1972. Now I wouldn't say there was anything in particular that makes Mick Rock and his style unique in this day and age, but back in the day we were given the opportunity of seeing our stars 'off duty' even if they sometimes couldn't quite slip out of character .

                                      
                                                    

                                                                                              
                          

Fashion Photography Horst P Horst

                 For the task of identifying and researching a fashion photographer we were split into groups of 2 and told to seek out someone we admired that had a distinctive style before researching their career and portfolio so we opted for the man with two same names....

                                                       Horst P Horst 1909 - 1999

" I like taking photographs, because I like life. And I love photographing people best of all, because most of all I love humanity"

                     Born Horst Paul Albert Bohrmann and of German/ American parentage, he became a fashion photographer of note who's mainly monochromatic images featured clean lines and a certain classiness that you lead to him photographing many of the celebrities of the time including Noel Coward, Cole Porter and Bette Davis. In 1937 he met Coco Channel and this bond flourished as he went on to photograph her fashions for the next 30 years. 

                                                                                       

                        Influenced by the work of other fashion photographers such as Edward Steichen his style was such that he'd rarely shoot with shadows on the background which he would achieve by using 4 spotlights but with one placed above shining down from the ceiling, he also rarely used filters. Many of his shoots were shot where the sets and props were all prearranged in advance so he could then just issue the models with short and brief instructions when it came to the pose, plus it should also be noted that he generally left others to develop, print and crop his work . The majority of his fashion shoots would involve women including a lot of work for Vogue magazine with whom he became friends with its editor in chief, Diana Vreeland.

                                              

                                            

                             Horst's most iconic image Mainbocher Corset shot in the Vogue studio in Paris in 1939, was also a heavy influence, as was a lot of his work, on the video for Madonna's Vogue and you can just fast forward to 4:23 if you want to miss out all the other palaver that proceeds it, but to be fair, the entire video is a good representation of his work and style. 

                                              

                               I'd consider myself an admirer of Horst's work as it's classy, no nonsense and stylish plus his use of black and white really appeals to be and even the stuff he did that did features colour is again sleek and stylish as it was usually based on a single colour background to make the clothes and the model really catch the viewers attention, which is after all, what the   fashion industry is all about. 

                                               
                                       More of Horst's work can be seen in a variety of places but a good place to start would be on the website that bears his name, although this time only the once .

Fashion Photography Studio Brief

                Well, what initially appeared to be quite daunting in prospect, went on to become one the best times we've had in the studio working as a group. We were asked to produce a series of images in a fashion shoot style that could either showcase clothing or a brand so with that in mind, and me not being the trendiest bloke that ever walked the catwalk I thought I'd make the effort and call into a few of my local fashion boutiques to see what I could pick up for the day ahead. So there I was frantically searching the clothing racks of not only Help The Aged but also Oxfam, Scope, Pets With Problems the other half dozen charity shops that grace the sidewalks of Urmston but it wasn't long before I had a bag containing 2 shirts, 2 ties, a waistcoast and a trilby all for the princely sum of £10 so now it was just a quick visit to my other half's to see if I could borrow some ridiculous sunglasses in a Dierdre Barlow kind of stylee, not that she looks or dresses like her or anything, honest. 
                  So that was that, all I needed now was the bottle to wear all this clobber and try and looked relaxed in front of the camera . Fortunately for me I wasn't the only one who'd made the effort to dress up as it turned out our entire group had risen to the challenge and even those that weren't too sure about the idea ( Laurence) soon came round to the idea once they'd borrowed a few bits and pieces of those that had surplus. We opted for the typical white background high key approach to really show off the outfits and what we originally thought might just be individual poses, soon went by the by as we all felt more relaxed and dare I say,  giddy. 
                   I shot using the 5D MKII with a 24-70 Lens shooting at f11 1/100s and iso 100 with the lighting arrangement as below.

                        
                                         


                   My first one I've decided to present is one I'd previously posted on flickr but in mono, but for the purpose of this exercise I think a better representation of the fashion industry would be of me to post the colour version so here she is, the foxiest chick this side of her favourite wig shop, Anita aka my imaginary wife ...or are we divorced now ? To be honest I can't keep up with her ever changing moods.

                                                 

                          The second choice from my single portraits would this one of Besma which I've muted the colours ever so slightly to compliment the her some what serene pose.                                                             

                        
                                As a final part of the assignment we were given  the option of creating a magazine cover featuring us all in a group pose being careful to consider page layout and text so I thought I'd give this a quick go with Blogue (rhymes with Vogue) 

                                                     

Architectural Photography- The Only Way Isn't Up

              The task we were set for Architectural Photography was to produce a series of images of a building, area or environment and to capture the essence of the place. With this in mind we were then told to first pin point our intended area that we considered worthy of a photographic study and then to do some research into the subject so as to get some idea of the construction date, function and materials used. The idea behind this research is so that you have some idea of how you want to present the chosen subject by knowing what sort of angles, textures, close ups and any individual features you hope to seek out that will help capture the viewers interest as well as acting as a historical document for years to come.                                                                               

                Personally, I've always been more of a fan of contemporary and modern architecture from a photographic point of view, but that isn't because I am not an admirer of historical buildings, I am, it's just I prefer my frame to be filled with clean lines, sharp angles and slick curves which I feel give me more scope to be a little more adventurous with camera angles than I would with say a gargoyle and a turret. Feed me steel and glass rather than stone and slate to provide me with enough visual energy to fill up a frame and return the favour of providing you with something worth feasting your eyes on. 

                Ok, so I'm aware I waffle on a bit but the point is I'd rather spend a day under sunny skies playing with shadows and reflections than under stormy skies seeking out something Gothic to add to the misery of the weather. This is of course just my opinion and I';m sure there are plenty of people out there who have, can and will prove me wrong with something wonderfully Gothic shot under a sunny sky, but for the purpose of this exercise I'm sticking with my initial thoughts.

                 With this in mind, and coupled with the fact that it's only 15 minutes down the road, I opted to do my shoot down at Media City and it's surrounding area because it's a such fabulous place for everything I was looking to shoot. Steel, glass, granite, reflections galore and as luck would have it, blue skies yet with a cold wind to hopefully keep those frame bombers to a minimum. I'd decided that along with the 5D the only other bit of kit I really needed was my 24-70 f2.8 lens as this had enough range to capture what I was looking for and more importantly I didn't want to fall into that trap of constantly swapping lenses (because it was a bit nippy) and it meant I had to think more about working with what I had. 

                 Media City is a 200 acre site built around The Manchester Ship Canal as it runs between Salford and Trafford Park and is home to both the BBC and ITV as well as the University of Salford and the Lowry Complex. It is also right next door to the Imperial War Museum North which never fails to produce something fresh to photograph as you can see something from a different angle every time you visit. I wont go into the history of the building here as there's plenty to read over on Wikipedia but I will tell you it's all about geometric patterns on a canvas of steel and if the sun is shining then you should be able to appreciate the bonuses. Connecting the IWM side of Media City to the Salford side are a couple of pedestrian bridges which are themselves a photographers dream  as they stretch majestically skyward as they span the Ship Canal in a vision of curvature as they embrace the reflective glory of the Salford side which is an abundance of steel and glass spread across a kingdom of contemporary splendour.   

                                             

                   My main aim was to capture a series of images that represent the area as a modern environment so it was all going to be about materials, reflections and geometric patterns but I also wanted a set of images that would work well both in black and white as well as colour as I was wanted to take advantage of the blue skies. The title of this post is to remind myself that it isn't always just about looking up because although it's the best bit of advice for this type of work, it's also a good idea to remember to look down. When I talk about looking down I don't mean at your feet as you'll probably end up walking into something, but I'm talking about over balconies, out of windows and over ledges because there's always plenty of scope for a different angle and it's all about seeking out these opportunities to add to the variety and quality of your work.        

Architectural Photography

            In today's lesson, Sir Richard of Gaskill invited us to explore the wonders of photographing architecture by first introducing us to a photograph with the snappy title of  View From The Window At Le Gras, created by photographic pioneer  Joseph Nicéphore Niépce at his Le Gras country estate in Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, France way back in 1826. The image itself wasn't a particularly stunning one but it serves as a document as it's reported to be the first permanent photograph and just so you can see some idea of what was actually in the photograph I've decided to include a reproduction of the image by
Helmut Gernsheim & Kodak Research Laboratory   from 1956 but if you want to know the process used and see the original then there's plenty to read way over yonder in Texas .

                              

                    Now the reason for showing us this photograph was to point out that as it required an 8 hour exposure to get the result, this time span had the benefit of allowing the sunlight to illuminate both faces of the walls which in turn increased the visible detail of the architecture within the frame which then tells us that even back in the day, architectural is all about highlighting the detail in your chosen subject to make it appeal to the viewer whatever the purpose of the final image.

                    Architecture can be defined as one of the following: 

                   1. the profession of designing buildings, open areas, communities, and other artificial constructions and environments, usually with some regard to aesthetic effect. Architecture often includes design or selection of furnishings and decorations, supervision of construction work, and the examination, restoration, or remodelling of existing buildings.
                    2. the character or style of building.
                    3. the action or process of building; construction.
                    4. the result or product of architectural work, as a building.
                    5. buildings collectively.

                    Working as small groups we were asked to produce a mind map of how we would approach architectural photography by simply breaking it down into all the parts we could think of that could be considered a focal point from the photographers point of view.

                                    
                     Before I go on to discuss a few of the photographers I have used for research I'm going to point you in the direction of a short video that sheds a little light on some of the things you might want to consider when approaching architecture as a subject matter, and the reason I've chosen this one is because it's more of a personal approach to explaining a few things instead of just presenting a slide show.

                                                          

                  Architectural photography has been presented in many different ways by a variety of photographers and the first of these on my list is Henri Silberman. I wont go into loads of detail on Henri firstly because I haven't got that much information and secondly if you did want to know all the ins and outs of his private life then I'm sure you could find something somewhere on the internet but what I'd rather do is just point you in the general direction of his website and tell you a brief reason of why I chose him. If you read up on architectural photography you will pick up on things such as vertical, diagonal, horizontal and converging lines as well other things such as symmetry, attention to detail, weather conditions, using both sunrise and sunset to your advantage and also additional points such as including people in your image to either bring a building to life or simply add a sense of scale well for me, Henri does all these by the bucket load and seeing as though I forgot to mention shadows I'll start with one of those of Brooklyn Bridge.

                                                 

                               Now even though Henri features varying types of architecture in his images, for the purpose of this page I shall be staying with his bridge shots and the other shot I have chosen is this little beauty called quite simply On The Bridge. I don't think you need me to have to tell you why I really like this one but if you do then it's all about the suggested symmetry, the way the lines draw you in, the guy towards the bottom of the frame and the way the fog tricks the eye into a shallow depth of field effect that isn't really there...you can make your own mind up about the rest as I've got to crack on.

                                            

                          When it came to my second choice I made the decision to try and move away from the list that we had discussed in the classroom including such people as Simon Norfolk, Daniel Hopkinson, Candida Hofer and Mark Power to name but a few because I'd seen their images and knew what to expect but what I was really looking for was someone who worked as an archetictural photographer producing images of a more modernist/contemporary subject matter and not really knowing of any I scoured, albeit rapidly, numerous registers of architectural photographers and checked out their work but still wasn't getting what I was looking for until I stumbled upon an article on a guy called James Silverstone. Unfortunately, the only thing I've been able to find out about him is from this article here but I have chosen a couple of the images from that article just in case you forgot to click on that link. 
                                      
                                  
                                 

                        There's not a lot more to say on James's work other than I'm a lover of the crisp, clean lines and the fact that he uses a lot of lead in lines to draw you through the photograph via the wonders of perspective.

                                  


                               My final choice again came from personal taste and although I have a few contacts on flickr such as palimpsest and maxblackphotos who both produce images that I appreciate, I wanted to represent the simple mono side of architectural photography with someone I don't have any contact with but who's work I enjoy not only because of the simple, yet stunning, in your face quality to his images, but also because he shares his knowledge and explains most of his shots for those who wish to learn. His name is Joel Tjintjelaar and his images can be found on flickr and his website. If you feel you want to explore his images some more then make sure you take the time to read the accompanying text and exif information he offers on his images because there are a lot of people out there who choose to keep this sort of stuff to themselves. 

                                  

                            If you haven't already picked up on it, he is a deft exponent of the long exposure yet isn't afraid to use the noise of the sky as a way of exemplifying the clarity contained within his primary subject matter, and any shadows or reflections you'll just have to accept as an added bonus.

                                      


                     As a closing point I've chosen to direct your attention towards a wordpress blog that contains an abundance of links to a wonderfiul collection of photographers that produce some stunning images in a similar vein so do yourself a favour and take some time out to explore and appreciate azurebumble and all those it promotes.

                    So there I am on my second to last glass of red feeling I've just about wrapped up this posting when I receive an email from Behance informing me that one of the people I've chosen to follow has added a new project and it's all bit yummy so I thought I'd better share with you Matthias Heiderich 

                                  

                                  

                      This should be the bit where I tell you that armed with all the influence of those above I then set off to explore what Media City and Salford Quays had to offer but it didn't quite work out that way as I'd already visited there last weekend and had my images before writing this page but you can see what I came back with here.