Sunday 18 September 2011
fifteen lessons
I like a challenge.
Last week I went to see a fascinating exhibition of photographs at a gallery not far from where I work. Here are fifteen lessons I scribbled down on a sheet of lined paper from my Counsel's Notepad.
Last week I went to see a fascinating exhibition of photographs at a gallery not far from where I work. Here are fifteen lessons I scribbled down on a sheet of lined paper from my Counsel's Notepad.
- Black clothes on a black background; white on white. Focus on skin and face.
- The direction of eyes; the implication of where someone is looking by obscuring the eyes and letting the viewer make a connection.
- Try some B&W abstractions.
- What are you doing about using shadows more effectively?
- Deliberately move your camera. Get some motion into your pictures.
- Explore Terence Malick's film, "Tree of Life".
- Paint with light using a torch. Think about longer exposures rather than wide apertures.
- Deliberately use your camera settings incorrectly.
- How minuscule can you make the key image in the photograph before it becomes meaningless.
- Have you really explored the hardness and softness of lines in your photographs and how the two inter-relate?
- Why do you always focus on the eyes?
- Have you really let time seep into your photographs?
- Are you really scared to use studio lighting and backdrops? Where could you make a start?
- How might destroying your photographs create something new?
- What can you see in the reflections?
I wonder where these might lead me ....
Friday 2 September 2011
random
The end of a week, and I wish my fingers might dance across this keyboard.
We spent a few precious days at the Shed, Mrs E and I. We watched the sky through a glass wall. Frozen at times, then skidding across an open iris. I took an ancient Polaroid camera and some out of date film. The colours bled, the exposure was all wrong, but I so love imperfection. It's life. I squirelled the photos to hidden places in books and boxes. Perhaps one day someone may find them and see my face smile back. It was fun.
We ate curry at a special place not far from the Shed. We eat there a lot, and it's good.
A return to work. Everything is so busy, so very busy. This may not be a bad thing.
I sent an email to Harry Cory Wright, who is a brilliant landscape photographer - one of England's finest. He replied! This is what he said, and it brings cheer to my day.
The end of a week. My fingers rest for a while
Thank you ... thank you very much.
Love your blog. Love that place by the river.
Harry
We spent a few precious days at the Shed, Mrs E and I. We watched the sky through a glass wall. Frozen at times, then skidding across an open iris. I took an ancient Polaroid camera and some out of date film. The colours bled, the exposure was all wrong, but I so love imperfection. It's life. I squirelled the photos to hidden places in books and boxes. Perhaps one day someone may find them and see my face smile back. It was fun.
We ate curry at a special place not far from the Shed. We eat there a lot, and it's good.
A return to work. Everything is so busy, so very busy. This may not be a bad thing.
I sent an email to Harry Cory Wright, who is a brilliant landscape photographer - one of England's finest. He replied! This is what he said, and it brings cheer to my day.
The end of a week. My fingers rest for a while
Thank you ... thank you very much.
Love your blog. Love that place by the river.
Harry
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