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May miscellany
No real theme this time, though you could argue it’s a people picture sequence that goes; close-up, full length, multiple figures. The close-up is of a person’s eye shot with my super useful Bauhn clip-on mobile phone macro lens. The lens has a built-in ring light, so it’s great for adding light to areas when the phone shadows the available light. I like the reflection of their eyelashes in their cornea. This is a bit of street photography in the delightful Pitville, a part of Cheltenham. This Barbie mural on the side of a building in Pitville Park, was really long. It’s a bit of an odd subject, as it’s…
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Spring has sprung
Spring has most definitely sprung here in Worcester, notwithstanding all the rain we’ve had. One thing that’s happened locally is that the Cathedral has restarted tower visits after a four year hiatus. I was the first person to book a tower visit ticket and it’s well worth doing. On the way back down the tower I noticed an overwintered Peacock butterfly that was next to an unopenable window. The butterfly had no chance of getting out without help, so I picked it up between my index finger and thumb and took it carefully down the stairs, through the nave and out into the open. After a minute or so on…
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Up & Down or Side to Side?
In my “Movement in Photography” talk I mention the difference it makes to an ICM image if you move the camera in one direction, compared to moving it at right angles to that direction. Information at right angles to the direction of camera movement tends to get spread out, whereas information in the direction of camera movement is accentuated. Take these tree images as an example: In this first image I have moved the camera, (my mobile phone – 2 second exposure), in generally the same direction as the tree trunks. Although there is a bit of horizontal information, most of the image is of near-vertical shapes and textures. In…
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Autumn Acer Abstracts
Recently I went to the fabulous Autumn Garden at Queenswood Country Park near Hereford. One feature of that part of the wood is the Japanese Maples. They were in full colour and looked fantastic. It was a sunshine and showers day, so there were lots of water droplets around. I had my Olympus macro lens on, so set my camera to manual focus and defocussed the image. I concentrated on a small part of a maple that had dissected leaves. The shapes and colours of the leaves, and the water droplet highlights, made for a very pleasing abstract composition. I had my trusty Huawei mobile with me and couldn’t resist…
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There’s a storm a brewin’…
We recently had a one week holiday down in lovely Cornwall. As our plan was to do as much coastal walking as possible, it was somewhat weather dependent. Luckily, all except one day was pretty good, and a few days were marvellous. The bad day was the day of Storm Agnes. For a few hours in the afternoon all manner of wild wind and rain happened. Going across the River Fal on the King Harry ferry was entertaining. While the storm was developing the sky began to look very ominous. It was clear that there was a lot of air movement. It was fascinating to watch. I took a shot…
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Curses, foiled again!
Yesterday I fitted some foil insulation to the ceiling of our cellar. It’s a 200 year old house so yes, we have a cellar. The foil is to help stop the room above it being so cold. I popped the roll of foil down on the kitchen floor and it caught a ray of morning sunlight. I loved what the sunlight reflections from the foil did to the kitchen floor, so it was out with my phone to capture it. The rays look a bit like the rising sun. A touch of editing to taste in Snapseed and it was done. Whilst I had the phone out I tried a…
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It’s a sign of the times.
One of the visitors at my Worcestershire Open Studios exhibition last weekend asked how long a walk took me. They asked because they reckoned I was always looking for things, and looking AT things in an unusual way, and that this must slow me down when I am walking. They were right of course, my walks do tend to take longer than most people. One thing I look for is signs. They are supposed to be put into the world to offer passing people information that is helpful, or to commemorate other people. Take this sign is a local churchyard. I could say that Charles is only half the man…
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It’s show and tell time soon.
In August I am taking part in Worcestershire Open Studios (WoS) for the first time. In WoS artists of many types open their studios for everyone to come and look at and to talk about their work. I’ll be open from 11 am to 5.30pm on the 19th/20th and the 26th-28th. It would be great to see you there! Take a look at the WoS website here. I’ll have examples of my Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) work, (like the image above), my Bokeh work (like the image below), and many more. ICM is a method of producing images that are abstract and impressionistic. I’ll be more than happy to talk…
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I’m back with a shiny new website!
This is my first new post for the new website. To ease you into the new site here’s a spinning bowl of chocolate. It’s taken with my famous Mate 10 Pro phone and edited in Snapseed. If you want to learn about mobile phone imaging and editing do get in touch.