For Auld Lang Syne – Part III

I was going to post a Part IV to these series of 2015 blogs but I think I am getting into the realms of Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street sequels, where too much is just too much so I’ll make this the last one in the series.

The final act of my 2014 year takes into account a family photo shoot that I was commissioned to do and also my Florida holiday snaps. With regards the family photo shoot, this was the second time I was asked to take photos as the first session was really successful and the family loved the photos. Second time around was taking some baby brother photos of the big sister whom I had taken photos of the first time around. The little guy (Bruce) was a star and managed to hold on for nearly an hour whilst I snapped away. The lighting for this was just my Rotolight Interview kit as I wanted to keep it simple and not have umbrellas and soft boxes hanging about. It was a tight living room that I was shooting in too, so I didn’t want to leave too much equipment lying about. Processing was in lightroom and using the SLR Lounge presets that I had recently upgraded (and I must say, are awesome!) Here are some of the photos on the day.

The kids were just adorable and were brilliantly behaved. Doesn’t happen that often when you work with children so this made things a lot simpler.

Speaking of children, I took my kids on their first big holiday last year and we all packed up and flew off to Orlando. My wife Debbie and I just love it there and to get the chance to take the kids was priceless. I realised they wouldn’t be able to go on much of the rides in Disney or Universal but we wanted to see their little faces when they got a chance to meet their characters. Suffice to say, we weren’t disappointed when they met up with Mickey, Minnie, Jake, Princess Sophia and the rest of the Disney gang. The only one that caused a problem was Optimus Prime as he terrified my daughter but I wasn’t missing the chance to meet him! I shan’t post too many holiday snaps as I don’t want to scare off followers.

For Auld Langs Syne – Part II

Happy New Year everyone! 2015 is now upon us and I can easily say that I feel a lot more motivated now than I have in a long time. I saw some good posts over on old Facebook that said that any unfinished business in 2014 should be left firmly in 2014. I couldn’t agree more. A new year doesn’t necessarily mean that everything is forgotten and we can just move on easily but we can surely start with a more positive attitude and make those sweeping changes in our life that are going to make this year a lot more worthwhile.

I have more than a few ideas bubbling about this bald head of mine that will keep me busy in 2015 and this year I am going to stick to them. These ideas are far ranging from just my usual photography and I am hopeful that they take off. I know that in a lot of them I will fail but in doing so, I just know that I will also learn some valuable lessons. Failure isn’t necessarily a bad thing when it comes to creativity. In fact, I’d go as far to say it helps the whole process as you can then learn from these mistakes and build on them. We just have to let go of the idea that failure is bad. I’m going to embrace that and see where it gets me.

But back to the blog in hand and as part II of the yearly review, I’d like to post some photos of the stuff I was doing over the summer months. I made a conscious decision this year to stop chasing the wedding photography dream and call it quits on that side of things. Main reasons for doing so are that it takes an awful lot of time to arrange, photograph, process and finalise the wedding shots and it also takes up many a weekend in the calendar, which is something I just don’t have. With two little kids to keep me busy, I’d rather spend the time with them than on weddings. It’s a big decision to make to take that side of my photography away but to make it successfully, a lot of time and effort needs to be spent in order to be successful at these sort of ventures. My photography in the future will be mainly focusing on portrait as I can schedule this into my timetable easier and practice a lot more on my poor friends and family!

So for my last wedding, I had the pleasure of photographing my friend Dave and his new wife Susan. Turned out the day couldn’t have been better as the weather was perfect and the setting even more so. A wedding at the Roman Camp Hotel in Callander is really one of the most beautiful wedding settings ever. Here are a few of the photos from the day.

For Auld Lang Syne – Part I

Well, what can I say?  I’ve not been exactly prolific in posting to my blog in 2014, have I?  Or, for that matter, prolific in taking photos throughout the year.  At least not to the extent that I wanted to take photos.

Again, life has taken over and to be honest, I’ve been seriously lacking motivation of any kind to get the old creative juices flowing.  I have done a few paid assignments in the form of portrait shoots and a wedding, all which were extremely satisfying and fun.  Outside of that though, I’ve just not had enough impetus to get out there and shoot.

I’ve fell into that old trap that photographers tend to, in that I’ve been reading about techniques and styles and just not trying them out.  That to me is pretty sacrilegious in all honesty and I’m more than a little embarrassed about it.  One saving grace for me is that in my place or work, a few photogs have decided to put together a little group, come up with a monthly theme and then post photos to it.  So far, so good.  Two months in and I’ve posted a couple of photos to the area but I just hope that the momentum keeps going.

Anyways, this post was supposed to be about the year gone and not just a quick rant! Apologies about that.  To cover off what’s happened, I’ve decided to post in parts.  In fine tradition, this will be Part I and I’ll make sure it’s not in the fashion of a Peter Jackson directors cut trilogy and keep it short.  I’ve thought I’d keep it in the fashion of thirds of a year and blog that way.  Helps keep it semi short!

The first third of the year is a bit of a blur and is covered in the blogs previous to this one.  It covers off the fact that I had been busy being a father to my two children, using an iPhone to capture as much photos as possible and keep my head down at work.  We had our first mini holiday away and it turned out very well indeed, especially seeing as the wee man needs his routine and could turn out to be problematic if things didn’t go to plan.  They didn’t but he handled it very well and for all that we thought it was a disaster, he reminisced for weeks after about the caravan trip.  All good in my eyes!

I’ll not be posting any photos in this blog but I’ll add some into Part II of my year in review as I’ll have some photos from the family portrait shoot and my last wedding!

It’s The Simple Things In Life

I recently read an article over on http://www.slrlounge.com about elitist photographers and how overall they can actually turn off other photographers trying to make a living or just generally trying to better themselves in photography.

The article was impressive.  Firstly, from a start off point, it could have come across as “preachy” but I found it to actually be quite truthful in what it was saying.  Secondly, it was a refreshing article in that I think it had to be said.  I’ll not go over the whole thing but to reiterate what I got out of it, it basically states that there can be too many photographers out there who seem a lightly too high and mighty and don’t take other photographers at face value.

I suppose my comments could be misconstrued as being a little too aloof but I do think it needs to be said.  We can all be a little precious about our photographs.  I mean, we sweat blood and tears to get the perfect picture and for someone to try and criticise it is just down right rude.  Right?  To a point yes.  I’m always on the lookout for constructive criticism as I think it is one of the main avenues for pushing yourself further in the field.  I just don’t like the people who criticise for the sake of criticality.  Just to take you down a peg.

Every day I am in contact with other photographers, as in IT it seems to be a popular hobby with the geek community (I totally put myself into that geek category and I don’t mean any disrespect with it.  I embrace it!)  Some of the guys and gals are better at taking photos than others but I am always impressed with their efforts.  It actually inspires me to get out there and try new things.  Gets the old juices flowing as they say.  I do find it harder to get out these days so anything that can get me off my fat arse is got to be good.

I suppose the main thing that I am trying to get at here and more from my own point of view, is that the main underlying message from the article that got to me was that as long as you are happy with your photography, who is anyone else to try and ruin that experience?  Yeah, go out there and take photos.  Get onto the computer and process it in a way that speaks volumes about your style.  There’s no wrong way or right way.  Just what ever keeps you going and creating new and beautiful art.

Which I suppose brings me onto a couple of simply composed photographs that I processed from Blackpool.  Both of these particular photos were taken handheld as I had the two kids in tow and to try and get the camera on a tripod and take time to apply filters and compose, re-compose and compose again, would have been Hell.  Plus the wife would have killed me!

The first is taken from Central Pier and looking towards the tower with a lead in line from the promenade.  The sun was starting to set and the colours just screamed out at me.  All I had on the lens was a B+W circular polariser (this CP filter ROCKS by the way) and it brought the colours out spectacularly.  I just straightened the horizon and that’s really it.

The second shot was taken whilst waiting for ye olde fashioned lit night tram to come along.  It was getting late and the kids were getting crabbit (rightly so as it was well past their bedtime).  The tram was taking ages and I looked to my left while my wife went searched for a toilet for my son and spotted the sun setting.  I also happened to be standing in an area where the composition really caught my eye and I just took the picture.  The processing in this case was a little bit of burning to darken the blacks and a slight colour wash to enhance the pink/red hue in the sky.  

 

Walter White and the Missing Hours of My Life

By now, I would certainly expect most people on planet earth to know who Walter White is.  The man in question is played by that talented actor Bryan Cranston in the hit TV series “Breaking Bad’.

I first caught sight of Breaking Bad in a local HMV store and the first 3 box sets were on sale.  I thought, “Why not?  I will be able to watch it now and again amongst the many other things I procrastinate over.”  Well, as soon as I put it on, I was totally hooked!  What brilliant acting and writing.  A twisted tale of debauchery, deceit, murder with some very black humour flung in for good measure.  So hooked that I got series 4 and 5 on DVD for fathers day and I have just finished watching series 4 last night.

To cut a long story short, all the great intentions I had were stolen away by Walter White once the little ones went to bed.  If there were more hours in the day, I’d have watched it quicker but there isn’t and I’m not able to change time.  Yet.  But that’s another story.

So to let you all know what I have been up to in the last few months, I could probably sum it up in the following:

Looking after my two new adopted kids – 85% of my time

Trying some new photography/photoshop techniques – 10% of my time

Winning my first photography competition – 5% of my time

Now those percentages do not include the usual every day items, such as working, sleeping, eating, etc but you get the gist!

To elaborate a little further on the competition win (my first I may add and I am super stoked about it), I sent in a photograph of Eilean Donan Castle that I took and processed into Black and White.  It’s one of my all time favourite photos and I’m so happy that it won.  I was one of about 11 people to win in the competition and the prize is to get our photos printed onto bottles of cider and be part of special Scottish art cards that will be distributed around the world.  We have been told that we will also get royalties from the sale of each bottle with our photo, so again it’s a win-win situation.  Thanks to Macrae and Dobson Cider, a new startup company who took the initiative to do something like this.  I thought it was inspired but then I could be biased.

For those of you interested, here’s the photo;

And now for something completely different..

And yes, this particular post will be a little something different from me.

Time is very limited in my household for the moment and as I can’t get out to do much photography these days, I’ve taken to doing three things;

1. Taking lots of photos of the children

2. Going back over old unprocessed photos and finally getting to process them

3. Going over processed photos and trying something completely different.

I’m a big fan of photoshopping and I believe it’s just as big a skill as photography itself.  Now I have to say that there is beauty in the untouched photograph, where we catch the original feelings and sentiments of a time or place but I also feel there is a lot to be gained by “tweaking” a photo and creating something new out of it.

Photoshopping in itself, if done properly, is just as much art to me as a Van Gogh or an Andy Warhol painting.  In fact, Mr Warhol himself (one of my all time favourite artists) did exactly that and took every day objects and gave a different slant on it by using different techniques to showcase his work.  Everyone will have seen his famous 1962 Campbell’s Soup screen prints.  They are just brilliant.  They just give a whole new dimension to an otherwise everyday object.

That’s where I think photoshop can come into it’s own.  There is a chance that a photo can be transformed into another work of art, just by using your imagination and a little know-how.

For this particular post, I had chosen one such photo and tried to transform it into a vision I had.  The particular photo in question is a photo of my niece that I took last year.  We were having a total ball taking these shots and using props like fake moustaches and cowboy hats and the original photo in itself turned out to be brlliant, as you can see here;

I used simple lighting in this photo to ensure a nice even tone and not to distract from the fun of the shoot (in fact, this shot was done with one speedlight through a white see through umbrella, set to 1/8 power).

Although I love the simplicity of the above photo, I then thought that I could add some drama to it by blending in different layers and turn her into a Zombie Cowboy (or Cowgirl, if we are to be anatomically correct).

For the “tweaked” photo, I added 7 different layers, with some overlays of rust photos that I took at Bangour Village Hospital and I also added in some splatters and vector graphics.  The splatters and vectors were purchased from a Photoshop Grunge course that I had spotted and it was £50 well spent.  Some very good videos and tutorials, along with some very invaluable resources.  Hop on over to http://photoshopgrunge.com if you fancy trying it yourself.  The price of the course may have jumped up though.

I then tweaked some of the colours and spent some time ensuring the rust “sort of” matched skin tone, etc but I really need to work on that.  Not too bad for my real first attempt at layering, texturising and real photoshopping.  I’m hoping my talent with Photoshop can match the ideas that are currently flowing through my imagination!

Saint Patience

I’m not going to spout endless quotes or cliches in this particular post today.  

I would just like to apologise to my readers for any negativity coming through your screens from my last post. It’s currently hayfever season in Scotland and this year seems particularly bad.  Couple that with my over-confidence on parenting skills and the fantastic resilience and genius of two children and you get my PMA taking a good swift kick to the testicles.

But I’m back to my normal (if I ever were normal) self.  I have managed to find some positivity through my camera again and have taken a few hundred photos of the little cherubs only yesterday.  Super shiny sun beating down on my trilby, kindle in hand reading up about my 5D MKIII and life is all good again.

Yep, you read correctly.  Reading about my 5D MKIII.  As much as I like to think I am a good photographer and know everything, unfortunately I don’t.  And the 5D MKIII is a beast of a machine.  Menus within menus within menus.  PhD required just for the Canon manual instructions alone.  So I purchased a kindle book full of layman’s terms and I love it.  Meant I could at least have a go at trying to focus on moving children and use the features wisely.  I’m still in the early stages yet but it’ll definitely ensure that I know how to use all those lovely features over the next couple of months as long as my memory doesn’t fail me!

Speaking of memory failure, I was perusing photos from the start of the year and came across some from my birthday weekend (yay… not again) that I actually hadn’t processed.  I’ve posted a panoramic of Loch Lomond at the Cameron House Hotel below and see what you think.  Personally, I love the yellow sea plane to the left of the frame.  Sorta makes the picture that little bit nicer.

The Game Changer

Wow..  It’s been a while since I have posted on me ole blog and here was me saying I was definitely going to post as often as possible.

Life changes, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse.  In this particular scenario my life changed for the better.  I had mentioned in previous blogs that I was going to post something that I had been “working on” over the last year.  It has absolutely nothing to do with photography per se but more to do with enhancing my wife and I’s life.

At the end of May, Debbie and I finally got through all the waiting and frustration of the adoption process and two little souls were placed with ourselves for us to nurture and turn into adorable, sensible, perfect little people.  I can’t honestly guarantee that they will actually turn out to be anything like that but I shall try my damnedest to make sure it goes that way.

The little people in question are a boy of 3 and a girl of nearly 2.  The only frustrating thing about it is that I can’t actually post photos of the wee cherubs as you never know who may see them and all the legal stuff that goes with that.  I’m sure my 3Tb external storage can take the strain of all the photos I am taking right now.

Which I suppose brings me to my favourite subject in the whole world right now (after my wife and kids obviously), photography!  Having been with the two kids practically 24 x 7 in the last month, I’ve not really had much chance to get out the house myself and take some landscape shots or any other undertaking for that matter.  I had the chance to escape the family for a little while and scooted along to Bangour Hospital (just outside Broxburn).  This particular hospital has been closed for a few years now and it’s all boarded up.  I really wanted to get in to get some stock shots of the abandoned buildings and get close up shots of flaking paint, boards, concrete, etc to start using in grunge art.

I have to say, I got plenty of great shots and great textures to use for future posts which I will show you all in the future but for the moment I shall step back to the beginning of the year and post one of my favourite photos from my birthday weekend, in this case, Rannoch Moor.  Man, that seems so far away!

I particularly like the above photograph just because of the ice on the water.  It wasn’t a cold day, just that the ice was melting from an overnight frost.  I changed the tone of the photo to look colder and boosted the contract and colours slightly, to make it stand out better.

Stilettos and Nails

Every day is seemingly a school day as the old saying goes.  I had the opportunity to take some photos the other weekend for a commercial client, VIP Nails and Beauty, in Broxburn  and I wasn’t expecting the talons that came on show that day!  The link between the headline is that the long nails in the photos later on are called stilletos.  Nice!

I arrived at the agreed time on the Sunday (11am, if you want to know the details) and we had a model booked (the clients cousin) and she had her hair professionally done beforehand.  An hour and a half before I turned up, Kim, the client, prepared Nicole’s make up and what a brilliant job she did too!

Now I haven’t had much experience of working with models per se, apart from willing victims and family members and those whom book me for their wedding or portrait shoot.  What I am trying to say is that I have never had the pleasure of working with a model one-to-one and have the chance to “direct” the model into particular poses, etc.

Having never worked this way, I was sort of nervous.  My remit for the day was to ensure I got some good shots of the inside of the shop, plenty of poses of Nicole and to make sure that we got plenty of shots with the nails in nice poses.  Not easy.  For those in the know, the usual shot for nail salons is the “claw” or the extreme close up of the nails and hands crossed over.

So it was with a little trepidation that I went in and started to pose Nicole.  I already had an idea of what hand poses I wanted, along with the model pose.  I tended to side with two particular poses, one with the nails in front of the model with a suprised look (sounds terrible, but actually isn’t) and the other with the hand and nails just under the models chin.  Luckily for me, Nicole was an absolute star and I swear she must have done this before.  As soon as the camera was pointed at her, she was the absolute professional and I was in awe of her talent.  She made my job so much easier.  She was open to my direction and it made the whole shoot go that little bit smoother.  Here are a couple of these shots.  Each particular shot has been processed a little, to smooth the skin and give the colours a softer note.  I have used a faded wash in a couple of them, to give the photos that retro look.  Again, these fabulous presets can all be purchased from SLR Lounge for Lightroom 4 and I totally swear by them.

Does Everyone Get “The Fear?”

The dreaded Fear.  One four letter word that drives, well, fear into the heart of the feardy-cats.

I still get the fear.  I get the fear when I go snowboarding and I tear down the side of a mountain, only to edge my board and fall flat onto my side and dig my elbow into my rib cage and crack a few.  Not a few beers, although that usually helps dull the pain but a few ribs.  Twice I’ve done it and people may say that I’m just doing it wrong.  I don’t think I am. I think the problem is that I get too confident and then I bail out and then “the Fear” comes back and haunts me again.

With photography, I always get the Fear whenever I go and take some photographs, whether it be some landscape shots or more often than not, portrait shots and definitely more often than not, weddings!  I know that the Fear with these kind of shoots is all down to  either the Fear of equipment failure (camera not working, flashes not firing, etc) to not getting the right shot on the day.  In terms of weddings, this is ultimately important as I really don’t want to disappoint my clients on their big day.  You only get one shot at most of these shoots and miss and boom…  You’re dead..  Well not literally but certainly in a slightly professional sense.

Now I’m not saying that the Fear is a bad thing (not all the time).  The Fear actually keeps me on my toes and provides a good adrenalin boost to your shoots and when you then get in the zone, the Fear is well and truly booted out.  I guess what I am trying to say is that I just wish the Fear wouldn’t take over my life so much before a shoot.  I go into what I term Over Plan mode.  I read loads of websites, magazines, columns, tweets, facebook posts.  I immerse myself in other peoples worlds and wonder at their achievements.  Perhaps I should stop this and face up to the Fear and tell it to politely wander off and pester some other poor soul.  In fact, I think I may just do that.

And so to the end of my post.  I thought I would add in a couple more photos from my shoot at Stirling Castle.  These particular shots are of the inside of the castle and some of the displays that are up and one is of a little house inside the walls of the castle.  I was trying out the 16-35mm lens and it just rocks my world.  I’m back to wide angle heaven!

 

Next post I will should have a couple of items to chat about.  It’s my birthday next week and this weekend we are off to Glencoe to take some photos (weather permitting).  I have also ordered some new flash triggers and I want to try them out with some lighting setups I have in mind, so keep watching!