Black and White Photographer of the Year 2011 Comp

Quite a few people who knew that I had 3 pictures that were shortlisted for "Black and White Photographer of the Year" have asked how I got on in the competition.

Well I didn't win,  you can see the winners here.  Congratulations to Binh Trinh and the other winners.

I was pleased however to get one shot recognized in the "Shots we liked but didn't quite make it" section featured in this months magazine and was chosen to go on the welcome page of the magazine.

I'm taking that as pretty much a second place in one of the categories - which is nice. I am also really proud that the shot in question is of my beloved Smudge,  a dog with more personality than a little dog should have, who unfortunately passed away exactly a year ago.

Below are the three shots that were shortlisted:

Gormley Towers

Smudge

Lunchtime

Bye bye my little boy

I have just got back from a week in The Lake District,  so normally I would be posting a few of the many shots I took from the shores of Derwent Water. Unfortunately this post is tinged with a huge amount of sadness instead.

We had a good week, my wife, my little black cocker-spaniel "Boysie" and myself.   Boysie came to us as a rescue dog 8 years and 4 months ago, he was reckoned to be about 5 and a half when we got him which makes him about 14 or 98 in dog years! Days were spent walking the beautiful landscape and evenings were spent photographing it. For an old boy he was doing spectacularly well,  walking 5 miles a day over fell and dale yet still he was keen to go out with me of an evening.  He was always excited going out and just as excited to come home again.

On Friday we were on the last walk of the week in Borrowdale when suddenly Boysie screamed and held his back leg up. It soon became obvious that he couldn't walk on it, so we carried him the half mile to the car and took him to the vets.

The vet x-rayed him and said he had broken his femur (which would normally be the result of a car crash not slipping when walking). The vets gave him some pain killers and we agreed to take him to our vets on the following day as we were due to go home. We went back to our holiday cottage and as he kept waking up distressed I decided to spend the night sleeping next to him so that he wouldn't be alone and scared.  All through the night whenever he seemed distressed I stroked him and he settled down again.  In the morning my wife came down stairs to find us both fast asleep next to each other.

We undertook the long drive home to Essex on Saturday morning & then straight to our vets.  The news from our vets was not so good,  It turns out that he was riddled with bone cancer.  We had no choice but to put him to sleep. We have now lost 2 dogs in 7 months - I am just devastated.

This is Boysie on the beach Thursday at St.Bees in driving rain. For me this picture sums up his spirit, whatever was happening he always wanted to be part of it and to be by your side.
Miss you so much little fella

I Read the News Today....

Maybe I'm alone in this, but I usually find that when I watch The News on TV it has little to do with me. Some politician has said something stupid, someone has produced a report stating the bleeding obvious or someone you never met has died.

So it was a real shock to see that Ken Campbell died on Sunday. It would be going way too far to say I knew Ken, but i did meet him on quite a few occasions. In the summer I would take the dogs for a walk and often as I approached "The Lost Pond" in Epping Forest it seemed three dogs would come crashing through the undergrowth closely followed by a pair of bushy eyebrows....with Ken attached. He would always say hello as his dogs jumped in and out of the pond.

I hope he is off enjoying walkies in some better place.

Take a few snaps on the journey

What is this life, full of care, we have no time to stop and stare

William Henry Davies

Get the best shots you can, but don't forget to take a few snapshots on the way

Chris Shepherd

Just a reminder to all you photographers out there who obsess about exposure, filters, getting the right light, raw, lightroom, HDR, photoshop, equipment, etc, etc. That its always worth remembering to take some snapshots of those you love and events that happen as you move through life.

It's great to sell fine-art photos to the public, but in 10 years time you are going to spend a lot more time looking at snapshots that aren't technically perfect than any of your "greatest hits", just because they have the power to remind you of your life and those you love.

There is no real excuse not to snap away with digital as the cost of a few extra shots is not even noticeable. By all means use your skills to produce a good image, but almost any image is better than no image when you look back at your snaps.

So in the spirit of taking snapshots I would like to introduce you to Bernie (now renamed Harvey). He was left at our local RSPCA rescue centre on Saturday morning, he is only 14 weeks old, but some friends of ours have given him a loving new home.

I thought I would try to get some snaps of him...but he was quite keen on playing tug with the camera! Still at least they will have a reminder of his first day with them.

Camera Tug
(Click to View Large)

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Starving a dog to death for "Art"

[[off-topic alert]]

A Costa Rican "artist" has captured a street dog then tied it up and allowed it to starve to death in the name of art. The full story can be found here.

[[rant alert]]
For a while now "conceptual" art has been the big thing in the art world. The trouble is most of the "concepts" on show are banal in the extreme, so artist move towards shock as a way to provoke a reaction. I am sure that the art intelligentsia are already moving to defend this "work" as provocative, ground-breaking or some other load of old tosh. It seems to be in their interests to push the idea that it's really just that detractors don't understand the art and if you were as clever and educated as they are you would understand and appreciate it. This smacks of the Emperors New Clothes to me.

On his blog the Artist/Animal-abuser points out that the dog was sick and would have died sooner or later anyway. Well wouldn't we all! It's the bit between birth and death that makes the difference. We all have the capacity to act as devils or angels and it's the choices we make that are important. But of course offering comfort, medical care and food to a dying animal wouldn't have given him the column inches he craves.

Apparently the abuser asked that people did not feed the dog or give it water and the visitors to his exhibition complied. Their appreciation of "art" apparently out-weighed any humanity they had. This art diminishes the humanity of all those who come into contact with it - how can that be of benefit to anyone?

The apologists will make claims that we shouldn't interfere with the artists vision...what complete b*****ks. If the artists vision had been to nail poor/sick children to the wall of his gallery - would we allow that? after all they were going to die any way.

The final thing you hear trotted out is that the important thing is that the art "provoked a reaction". Well whoopy-dee, provoking a reaction is easy - if you don't believe me next time you are in work, take a dump on your boss's desk!

As far as I am concerned there is no justification for this sort of abuse as art and I sincerely hope that Guillermo Vargas starves to death sometime soon.
[[\rant alert]]

I have not linked directly to Guillermo Varga as hell would freeze over before I help someone like that improve their pagerank.
[[\off-topic alert]]

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14 Months On

Hay you, hope you are well

Well May has been an absolutely rubbish month for me. At the beginning of the month I was hit by the flu from hell, weeks of feeling completely lethargic meant that updating my blog or playing around with Lightroom just seemed too much like hard work. I'm better now, so I will try to resume normal service and catch up with all the things I promised people I would do.

So here is a quick update on what has been happening in my world:

My confinment left me with a laptop as a companion and I spent most of the time on Ephotozine. In April Ephotozine (Epz) had a major make-over with a new codebase and look, the changeover to the new system was quite a rough ride and to help guide users round the system and deal with the problems raised I was elevated from Photo Locations Editor to the status of moderator...a bit of a poacher turned game-keeper thing I think. If you are not a regular visitor to Epz why not pop over and have a look round the refurbished pad.

Many mails have been flying back and forth between the members of the Painting With Light Society and some very exciting developments are afoot. I can't tell you much at the moment but when we have something to announce you will be sure to see it here.

Over at Chapter Thirteen a group of talented photographers have put together what is starting to become a very exciting and useful site. Why not check it out.

Finally I felt so miserable over the month that only one thing could cheer me up - a new lens! I treated myself to a 300mm f/4 L EF and the x1.4 converter. I only got to use it for the first time on the 22nd May but I am already impressed with the results. It's dead sharp and produces beautiful bokeh and it's white and very long...what more could one want?

Here is one of my first attempts with my new toy:

Smudge 14 Months On - 20D, 300mm f/4 L EF and x1.4 converter
(Click to view large)

The Wag & Bone Show

I spent today at the Wag & Bone Show and it was a grand day indeed. Great fun meeting all those friendly doggies and their owners. I have posted a few shots from today (mainly from the Oldies Club stand).