bikes and things

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.

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.

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.

Humorous look at those moving into the DV world and becoming ace video makers by buying a Canon 5D.

A great little video created by Lawrence at With Associates. Love the end frame of turning the lights off.

Not sure what this is all about? Have a look at my other blog for the full explanation. I promise to stop talking about this project now.

© With Associates

At last it seems Nikon have dared to enter the mirror less interchangeable compact camera market. I wrote about my search for the ideal compact camera last year. At that point the Fuji X100 didn’t exist which I would have definitely added to the list. I haven’t had that much time to read up on the specs of this yet but visually it’s stunning. The fancy tricks being listed on the Nikon site I’m not that interested in and would like to get an idea of how well the controls work for quick snapping. Aperture priority controls and also ISO quality at 800 – 1600. I’d probably get it with the 10mm f2.8 pancake lens which seems to be getting a lot of flak for not being f1.8 or f2.

So just worth seeing how it’s priced over here and what Thom Hogan thinks of it. Certainly looks interesting especially with a F-mount adaptor. Shift lens on this? Ha!

Image © DPreview.com

About two years ago I went on the amazing Seb Rogers Photocourse with a cast of characters, some of whom I manage to keep in contact via the joys of Twitter. I don’t think I realised how much I learnt that weekend but now that I’m trying to make a part income from photography that I realise that almost all of what I saw that weekend was of use. Exposure, focus, RAW processing, histograms, basic camera technique etc etc. I’d read about all of this stuff on the web before but it didn’t really click until then. After putting it into practice afterwards things got a lot easier and allowed me to take a few more steps up the ladder. Plenty more steps to go but it really helped me on my way.

Anyway, the point of this is that the below photo is of Guy Parry who was on the course.

It also happens to be one of the most viewed photos on my Flickr stream, mainly due to being added to the Strobist group I’d imagine. This was a little plop into a stream that we both rode through it taking turns to light each other with a flash held by Seb (Voice Activated Lightstand). I’d always wondered what those photos turned out like and Guy uploaded a few today. Being the other side of the camera means that I don’t normally see decent pics of me riding. Nice to see a few decent ones at last. Thanks Guy!

Lighting test

Plop

Nice panning shot

Which is a good thing. She’s got a great eye for seeing amazing things to take pictures of (some are quite bizarre) and has now started uploading to Flickr also. Go and have a good look (and chuckle) at the pictures of toilets, people dancing at bus stops and shoes on pavements – amongst other things.

An interesting video I’ve been meaning to sit down and watch for a while now. I’ve received very similar treatment when setting up a tripod in public places. Amazed and reassured that the police are so reasonable and know the law properly. Shame on the stupid security guards though.

Nice to be using my camera for leisure again – battery grip off, 50mm ƒ1.8 on and wander around and see what takes my fancy. Much nicer than that big bag of kit and a tripod. Maybe even try my mountain bike out again soon at this rate.