London 2012 Gallery

I have just uploaded a new gallery containing my shots from the glorious summer that was London 2012.

Nasty crash in the women's mountain biking

The shots cover scenes from around London before and during the games and a few events that I managed to get tickets for:

• Badminton
• Mountain Biking
• Paralympics Opening Ceremony
• Wheelchair Rugby Final

Wheelchair Rugby

 It truly was a fantastic time to be a Londoner and every venue was sold out as the British reveled in a summer of sport.  I know in some countries The Paralympics did not receive very much coverage at all, but here they were treated with as much reverence as The Olympics with sold out crowds on every day of competition.

Paralympics Opening Ceremony

The city was decorated with flags and bunting plus pieces of public art appeared all around the city celebrating the games.

Finally I have included some shots from The Team GB victory parade where our athletes were honoured for their stunning performance.  For me, one of the joys of the entire period was seeing a young lad in a wheelchair holding up his two medals and being cheered by 100s of thousands of people,  maybe sport can change attitudes.

Victory parade

Anyway,  I hope you enjoy my London 2012 Gallery.

A Sixth of the way already

So I'm now 2 months in to my 365 project and things are going well.  London is gearing up for The Olympics and it's associated cultural Olympiad which means that it's a very target rich environment.
Which makes up a bit (but not much) for it being the wettest summer ever.

Passing Strangers

Beacon View

Before The Funeral

Cloud over Temple Field

Greenstead Church

Pentery Church

Pidgeon and Piano

Scruffy the huffy chuffy tug boat

Dancing Shadow

The Shard

Towards Bumbles Green

One down, eleven to go

A month ago, to celebrate my birthday and my present of a brand new Olympue Pen EP-M1 I decide to embark on a 365 project. For those who don't know, the idea is that you have to take a shot every day for an entire year. So far I have managed to find something to shoot every day, so here are the highlights from my first month at this:

British Summer Time

Man on a Mission

Lambourne Church

The Tower of London Tat Tower

 

Sign of the times

Key Light

Audley End

Morris Men

One Poultry

Watching you watching me

The Gherkin

Crates

 

Lighten the land, don't darken the sky

A while back I was teaching someone how to use ND grads and I was explaining how putting the dark area of the grad over the sky has the effect of making the land lighter. They looked at me as though I had gone mad!

Eventually they began to understand that you are not really darkening the sky, you are in staid lightening the land/  The key is to think that you are using the graduated filter to reduce the exposure range into  something the camera can cope with so that you don't end up with blocked shadows or blown out highlights.

I said I would create an example for them to show the effect of using a graduated filter.  The below images show the rather subtle effect of a 0.6nd grad in use.  Moving your mouse over the below should show the effect of inserting the filter:

Mouse over to see before and after

Hopefully you can see that we have slightly darkened the top left corner of the image and brightened the right horizon area by using the graduated filter at a jaunty angle like this.

ND Grad Position

The angle of the grad filter was to match up with the way the early sunrise was lighting the land from one side. Although it is usual to use grads in a more upright position it is important to pay attention to balancing the position as well as the intensity of the light.

Here are the before and after images in case the mouse over doesn't work for you.  Try opening them in seperate tabs of your web browser & switching between them.

Before - No ND Grad

After - With ND Grad

Where are we going

The other week I was chatting to a good friend of mine and he started ranting about the photography he sees on many of the photography websites. How many of the popular shots seem to owe little relationship to the real world and seem to suffer from cartonification.

I suggested he put his thoughts down and make a blog out of his thoughts. Below is what my friend, who wishes to remain anonymous, came up with.  I hope you enjoy reading his thoughts on the state of popular photography today.

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The Basics of Photography


A few years ago I enrolled on a one year course to study photography. One of the first lessons I learnt was that 'photography' meant writing or painting with light, the ability to capture a moment in time with the prevailing light was the essence of photography. Little did I realise then what could be achieved without such illumination.

I feel a photograph should represent what the photographer saw at the time of capture, using the skills he has learnt and fashioned to manipulate the camera by adjusting exposure or shutter speed and balancing light by using filters. Gaining a fundamental knowledge of these tools of the trade, with equal importance to how light interacts with the equipment, will lead to better and more honest results. In a recent internet forum thread, about this very same subject, one photographer alluded to better photography results would be achieved with "patience, planning and understanding in the field in the right conditions" I fully endorse these comments.

I had been trawling my way through various popular photography sites recently with a fairly glum outlook to the future of my beloved hobby. It seems an image has to go through a Photoshop metamorphous before it is appreciated and applauded. One such image so infuriated me it prompted this blog.

The image in question is from a popular photographers spot, shot many times, in fact I had been there recently, what grated me was not so much the photoshop manipulation, (well actually it did) but more the comments and accolades it received.

• "Lovely colours"
• "wonderful colours captured"
• " love the winter colours"

couldn't anyone see what I was seeing? The shot was straight out of a Pixar movie and nothing to do with real colours. It was a cartoon still, a make-believe impression from the time it was taken. No one mentioned manipulation, not one mention of

• "nice Photoshop work"
• "good use of the saturation sliders"
• "love the cartoon effect"

It certainly wasn’t in the photographers' description. It was as if the image had the emperor’s new clothes on and what pains me is this seems to be becoming the norm. With more and more images sent through the Photoshop grinder coming out appearing total unreal from the original "painting with light" concept than ever before.


A photographer I have huge admiration for wrote

I want to recreate the scene that you would have witnessed with your own eyes had you been standing next to me at the moment I fired the camera's shutter.

This is a poignant statement to those in the modern era of photography that the basic concepts of photography should be learnt and not everything should be resolved after the occasion via the PC.

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So, what do you think? Have we forgotten the essentials of taking pictures? Has manipulation taken over from craftsmanship or is it all part of a broad church called photography and everything is valid?

Summer on The Southbank

This summer London's Southbank centre has held a summer festival to commemorate 60 years since The Festival of Britain.  I managed to get down there a couple of times,  the atmosphere on a hot summers day was fantastic and the picture opportunities nuerous.

Here are a few shots from the festival, I seem to be in a B&W mood at the moment.  I hope you enjoy them.

Standing in the Rain

Mine all Mine

A snack on the steps

Monsoon Season

Prisoner of Love

Run from the Rain

Life Stories

The Magic of Steam

There is nothing more likely to bring out the small child from the grown man than a steam train.  I took am not immune from the romance of steam.  Here are some shots from The North Yorkshire Moors railway that I just couldn't resist.

Tea Time

of Gloucester

Freight Train

Driver takes a break

Old Friends

Motive Power

On Suttton Bank

Last month I spent a fantastic week in North Yorkshire,  staying right near the abbey at Revaux.  As I was not far from the great inland cliff of Sutton Bank and  I managed to get out a few times and this is the result of my evenings spent on the edge of the Yorkshire Moors.

Take A Seat

Sunset at High Barn

Sunset over Boltby

Overlook

Hambleton Down

Windypitt Sunset