Photography

My most popular photo so far…

29-11-2011

…not in real life but on Flickr. I’ve been getting back into uploading more personal work to Flickr rather than just more formal work stuff thanks to getting my hands on that lovely Fujifilm X100.

I used to be a bit obsessed with hits, favourites and the possibility of getting into explore which is a way of showing what’s popular at present on site. This was during the 365 project time but that moment seems to have passed now. Having said that I have a set of images which gets updated each night showing which of my shots are most popular – via the very useful Flickr set manager. As a side you’d think that this kind of “smart set” would be built into Flickr as a standard feature but since being bought by Yahoo where all development seems to have stopped.

interestingness

Anyway, back on track – I uploaded this image I took in the recent thick fog we had in London and added it to a few groups on Flickr. Since then it’s gone bonkers. At the time of writing this post it’s had 525 views, 35 comments and 59 favourites as well as making it into explore. I think I have better pictures but this seems to have appealed to a bunch of people.

Photo memories – online isn’t cutting it

By: Andy

21-11-2011

Flickr, Photography

I found a few printed photos the other day, nothing special, just a few snap shots, but I really enjoyed looking at them again. This got me thinking about how I would never go back more than a week or two on my Flickr stream and ever look at any of my shots from the past – partly the whole reason for taking pictures surely? iPhoto doesn’t cut it either as it’s so bloated and slow and currently crashes constantly – it suffers from the same problem as Flickr I guess, I’m not going to sit there and go through them. However I have a shoe box of 6″x4″ prints (matt with borders) from the last few years beside my desk are all from film cameras I occasionally use like Dad’s OM20, my lovely LC-A, Nikon F801 or the Olympus Trip 35. A lot of the pictures are rubbish but they remind me of being somewhere or doing something which I’d probably forgotten about. I guess I find a bit more of a connection with the printed version

printed photos

Flickr is obviously my main online store of photos (some people use Facebook or Picasa etc). I’m always uploading new stuff of course but this seems to only enhance the transitory nature of these images, it’s always about the next image. I’ve also become a lot more critical of what I upload, so snap shots of friends don’t always make it. Do these go on Facebook instead? Hard to say.

In terms of digital storage this lot all sits in a big folder on my external drive titled “The great JPEG dump”. Paid work is all organised neatly but it’s always been hard to know what to do with the personal images. I was going to use Adobe Carousel but I can’t see that working out.

the great JPEG dump

So I’ve decided that I’m going to go back to printing out actual photos and buying a box for each year. Some physical objects that I can look back on – maybe at Christmas each year and remember what’s gone on. I’ve found a cheap online printers and will do a set each month, I’ve even found somewhere that does a nice shoe box (yes you can find anything with Google). A bit like the 365 project but longer, maybe one box for each year. I’m going to go back and do all of 2011 and keep going as long as I can.

Updated: It’s working out quite well printing all these pics. Just sorting out the 2011 box now.

Fujifilm X100, off camera flash & mountainbiking…

By: Andy

20-11-2011

Cycling, Photography

Or more reasons to like the X100.

One of the things that got me into back into photography a few years ago was the desire to take pictures of me and my friends mountain biking around Surrey Hills or Wales. I even went on a course to learn a bit more about it. At that time I had a slightly knackered D70 which then turned into a D300 and then onto a D700 which is my current camera. All the time the cameras were getting bigger and more expensive. So I ended up with a full frame camera, 28mm prime and SB-600 flash with remote triggers in my bag along with water, tools, jacket, food etc. Not that much fun and I didn’t enjoy riding as much with it – heavy and worrying about damaging the kit. However I do still enjoy taking riding photos and the ability to have a little off camera fill flash certainly helps.

D300, 18-70, SB-600 hidden behind rock. eBay triggers.

As I’ve just got the Fuji X100 I thought I’d have a quick try of the remote flash. The eBay trigger fits on easily and I tried it out with an old SB-24 I have. I tried it at 1/200s then 1/250s (my D70 could sync this fast) and then thought I’d go for 1/500s to see what happened? Perfect flash sync at 1/500s which is brilliant. Will make it much easier out on the trails. Shot this quick picture of my F810. Lovely and sharp and also very impressed with the lens so far.

Nikon F801

So now the only problem is that the flash is bigger than the camera! Might try and get a smaller Chinese no name flash unit to take with me. All it needs is manual controls and a PC sync port & it’ll be golden. That and a few ball bungees to hold the flash on the nearest tree and I’m set.

Although the 35mm lens isn’t the widest as favoured for a lot of MTB shots I think I can probably make it work. It’s not that far off the 28mm I’ve been using recently.

X100 & Off Camera Flash

More X100 shots – yes I like it

By: Andy

17-11-2011

Photography

Carrying this thing everywhere now. Need to get a longer strap I think but here’s a few more.

Fujifilm X100

By: Andy

16-11-2011

Photography

This little beauty landed on my desk today. Second hand, but one careful, and talented, owner. Bought from the funds from a recent portrait shoot. Pretty isn’t she?

X100

Whilst not really being fan of the term “test shots”, here’s some test shots! Yay. Turned quite a few heads in the office with lots of oooohs and ahhhhs also a few “Is that a Leica?” Looking forward to using it properly next week when I have some time off.

Edgar Martins – The Time machine

By: Andy

12-11-2011

Family & friends, Inspiration, Photography

Last Sat Emma and I ventured out into town to catch the last day of the Edgar Martins exhibition at The Wapping Project – Bankside. So glad we made the effort to go as the work is simply extraordinary. Emma also wrote a few words which I won’t repeat here but suffice to say she’s far better at the words than I am.

The work is rather neatly summarised by Robin Wilson over at the Architects Journal.

..perspective views onto monumental turbine halls, ‘portraits’ of specialist station equipment, control panel displays and empty waiting rooms with potted plants, alien, isolated, yet flourishing in these sterile environments.

It was great to talk to the gallery owner and understand some of the technical details behind them. All shot on 10×8 view camera with up to and hour long exposure also with selective flash added to fill in dark spots or balance overall lighting. The effect is one of an almost painterly like hyperreal quality where shadows don’t always exist. There also seems to be an amazing sense of perfection in the spaces that he’s working in which is constantly engaging when stood in front of the enormous prints. Some of the images feel timeless, or 70′s or even slightly futuristic. It’s hard to really get a handle of their context. Fascinating but ultimately too expensive to afford a print. I came away with a £30 book of his which is just as enjoyable.

Timemachine

Southbank Photowalk

By: Andy

30-10-2011

Architecture, London, Photography

Had a lovely walk around the Southbank yesterday courtesy of Brighton Jim. We also had the pleasure of being joined by Aleks and Sally who I’d never met before – only conversed with on Twitter. After some initial hassle from security, which I’ll go into another time, we had a great walk around just pausing to take pics whenever it took our fancy. A quick pint a lunch where the conversation ranged from the nerdy to the creative and back again, then further along to the Tate Modern. Another glorious autumn day with that golden sunshine I’m so fond of and I shot a lot more pics than I’d imagined. Rather than stagger them and upload bit by bit on Flickr I’ve just uploaded them all for now.

A few of my favourites are below. The usual mix of shadows angles and the odd person but hey, why deviate.

Peckham Park on a sunny Sat

By: Andy

23-10-2011

Family & friends, London, Photography

Popped out briefly yesterday for a walk around the park rather than sit in front of the computer and edit photos. Nice to get some fresh air at last. We went for a bit of a stroll then relaxed at the cafe in the middle of Peckham Rye Park for a bit. Glorious sunshine and we just sat there watching the world go by with our coffee. So nice having the sun on my back and occasionally taking a photo. Also great to use my camera for pleasure rather than business.