Photo 101
Wednesday, February 16, 2011 ~ 5 comments so far
I’ve packed in my photography course, largely because the ‘lecturer’ was about as far from a natural teacher as I could imagine and, whilst it’s interesting seeing someone talk about the photos they took, I couldn’t face sitting there for 3 hours a night, 10 weeks in a row, hearing story, after story, after story.
Still, I have a new camera and I’m determined to experiment. I’ve got precious little time in the coming weeks, but the lighter mornings and evenings have kicked in so that gives me a bit more scope as to when I can go for a wander with my camera.
I’m also going to take it to Brighton/London next week, so that’ll be fun. Never been to Brighton. I hope it doesn’t rain.
Regardless, it’ll be good to get some time with my new camera, re-teach myself the basics as, for the last year or so, all I’ve had is my iPhone. It was a deliberate decision, not to have any other camera, and I find myself far more prone to a quick snap with it, allowing me to leave the camera for when I want to be a bit more thoughtful/artistic/expressive.
Time will tell how my usage of both the iPhone as a camera will balance out now I have a dedicated camera again, but it’s gonna be fun whilst I find out.
Getting into the groove
Monday, November 22, 2010 ~ 1 comment so far
This blog is starting to feel like just that, a personal blog, again.
That’s good, in that I seem to be getting some sort of writing routine back (even if it’s still somewhat sporadic) and bad in that I seem to be treating it more like a diary.
Anyway, it’s my blog, I can do what I want.
One thing that I definitely need to focus on is getting into a routine. Tonight, finally, I have an induction at a gym. I deliberately chose one close to work, that opens at 7am, to force myself to get up and hit the gym in the morning (with the fallback of going in the evening). It’s not that far from my flat, about 15-20 minute drive, but as my weekends are looking busy already then I’ll likely, mostly, be going during the week anyway.
That’s the plan at least.
I’m also considering buying a Wii, and Wii Fit, as I did enjoy using it and it was definitely helping with my flexibility (cardio stuff is better at the gym), although I do need to buy a new camera as I’m going to be signing up for a photography class which starts in January…
Hmmmmm, I think I need a new credit card.
A new view
Wednesday, December 16, 2009 ~ 5 comments so far
A few years ago, having bought my first digital camera, I realised there was much more to taking a photograph than just “point and shoot” and I started to consider the machinations of photography a bit more seriously,
I read up on things like exposure, aperture, f-stops and other things with odd names to make sure I had a good grasp of the basics. Then I bought a semi-SLR camera with the aim of practicing with that so when I “upgraded” to a full SLR I’d be getting the most of all the capabilities. Well that and the semi-SLR camera was much cheaper.
So, armed with my Canon Powershot S3 I started taking photos “properly”. I was mindful of the lessons I had learned, and spent a lot of time experimenting to better understand all the capabilities my camera had. I took a lot of photos, I mean A LOT of photos, and I reckon I was happy with about 5% of them which was fine as that was all part of learning how to take better photographs.
Composition is, it seems, my strength. I have a good eye for what should be in a shot to get the best image. The rest of the techniques and technological faffing is where I start to lose my way a little and that’s largely due to a lack of understanding of the basics, no matter how many ways I tried to learn them (how DO you make the water tumbling over rocks in a waterfall look all blurry?). And the more I had to try and learn, the less fun it got and the less interested I became.
I tried a few ways to counter this, buying new lens for the camera to give me something to experiment with, but ultimately it seems to be doomed.
Yup, in fitting with every profiling technique I’ve ever tried, I stay true to one aspect of my personality.
I’m quickly bored and easily distracted.
[insert "ohhh shiny" joke here]
For a while I really enjoyed wandering around with my camera, finding hidden alleyways and forgotten spaces, taking photos of odd things and capturing tiny fragments of beauty as I came upon them. Unfortunately I started to realise that I enjoyed the wandering but not the “which feckin’ setting would be best for this” bit when it came to actually taking the photos and so, slowly, I stopped doing such things.
It’s also not easy to carry around a ‘big’ camera all the time and, invariably whenever I needed it (that is, I spotted something that I thought would make a good/interesting photo) I didn’t have it with me.
So I bought a second camera, a Ricoh Caplio R7, just so I had something smaller for ‘snapshots’ and random photo opportunities. I don’t carry it with me all the time though, but I do use it far more than I did my ‘big’ camera.
Add in the constant march of technology and it’s time for me to revisit WHY I take photos and match the equipment to my approach. It’s telling that, since finding a couple of iPhone apps that do a good job of processing photos on the handset directly, I’m far more likely to use it as my ‘snapshot’ camera these days and given it’s only a 2MB camera, that in itself suggests I’m more interested in the content of the photo than any of the things the purists would worry about.
The upshot of all this is that I’m selling my Canon Powershot S3 and the accompanying lens. The Ricoh (which was used for the photo in the post below) is good enough for my needs at the moment, and I’m happy to rely on my iPhone for the occasional snapshot.
This should free me to get back to enjoying photography, back to letting my eye wander and capturing those instants and scenes that stick in my mind.
Colour and smiles
Thursday, June 18, 2009 ~ 1 comment so far
The sun was shining when I left work, a great brilliant light, dazzling me as we started to commute home. I’d been in a foul mood shortly before but there is something about that light that lifts my spirits no end. Even sitting in the traffic jam in the one way system in Paisley I was still smiling away to myself.
Looking up at the skies, in the direction of home, there was nothing but grey clouds, big deep dark clouds that threatened rain, and the closer we got the darker they grew until the first few big fat spots started to fall. My smile vanished, my mood returned to grey.
It didn’t turn into more than a quick deluge but it was enough to soak the roads and, driving with the sun behind us, brought a wonderful, beautiful effect of nature into play.
Not only was there a bright and vivid rainbow overhead, but from the spray of each car in front of us a tiny fragment of colour flashed and glinted. It was quite mesmerising and beautiful.
At one point it even looked like the car in front of us had driven THROUGH the end of the rainbow, such was the brilliance of the colours. The smile was soon back on my face as I tried my best to capture this wonderful moment so I could repeat it later, but sometimes words just aren’t enough, nor are photos (Louise did try with her mobile phone though).
It’s a shame, I’d loved to have shared it with you.
So, with a spring in my step I fair bounded through the front door to find that our new bathroom has progressed well. Tiles on the walls, shower installed, units built and installed, new radiator in place and the new counter top basin in place, with the taps installed on the right of the sink.
Arse.
We asked for the taps to go on the left.
Fucksticks.
The countertop was the last one in stock, the nearest other place that does them is in Edinburgh, but hey, that’s not my problem but will, no doubt, delay the job. The bathroom certainly won’t be finished tomorrow, and even Saturday might be pushing it.
Wankfucks.
Still, that rainbow was really something.
Say Cheese!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009 ~ 3 comments so far
Well not you obviously, and no, before anyone asks I didn’t JUST take photos of the scenery, there are photos of family too I just don’t upload them often.
Here then, the best of the 100 or so photos I took.
Change of frame
Sunday, February 1, 2009 ~ 1 comment so far
I spent a fair portion of yesterday wandering around Glasgow taking photos. Some were in a touristy kind of way but others were directly influenced by a conversation I had with someone.
I had been talking about ‘finding’ shots to take, and she said that what she did was figure out the type of images that she was naturally drawn to and then try and find the opposite.
Whilst wandering round a city I always find myself drawn to the buildings, the architecture (new or old), and tend to prefer clean cut lines of the modern office blocks. I do tend towards what someone called ‘postcard’ photos, the type of view that is obvious and that everyone can spot.
So with all of that in mind I did my best to break out of that mindset for the day, and it was quite liberating to be exploring some of the back lanes, and disused areas of the city centre. I was also experimenting with my new wide angle lens, and decided to keep it on the camera all day (rather than change to the standard lens or swap it for the telephoto).
All in all it was an excellent day.
Picasa for the Mac
Tuesday, January 6, 2009 ~ 3 comments so far
I’ve used Picasa on my Windows machine for a few years now, it is my photo library and where I probably do most of my photo editing as well. I just love the way the application works as it ‘just works’.
So to hear that, finally, it is available for Macs certainly does warm my cockles.
(hang on, I’m not a cockney… there are no cockles here!)
The thing about Picasa, something I’ve only really considered since hearing this news, is that the way it’s been designed seems almost Apple-like, with small touches well designed and well thought out. Of all the applications I run on my Windows PC, Picasa is the most pleasurable to use, it is a powerful application that seems simple. Not something that can be said for every Windows based application.
When I got my MacBook I did consider making it the main computer in the house, moving all my media files and work files to an external drive and switching my personal computing habits over to the way Apple do things. I never did make that switch and one of the reasons was that, with 6 years of digital photos in the library, the prospect of having to use iPhoto to manage them filled me with dread.
I wonder now if I can finally make the switch.
Music wise I use iTunes, so that’s fine. Work wise most of my projects are web based so all I need is an FTP client and text editor, again the Mac is well equipped to handle those things (Coda for example). Beyond that I already know the Mac will handle everything else I need it to do.
So, for me, Picasa is the cherry on the icing. The finishing touch that should let me, finally, work the way I want to work, independently of any constraint enforced on me by the operating system and choice of applications. Yup, sounds like it is time to get that QNAP NAS drive I’ve been pondering.
For those interested: