Thanos

Experimenting with extreme close-up of my eye. Learning that the real challenge is blocking reflection while also sufficiently illuminating things. And attaining sufficient depth of field at the same time. And sitting really still.

This is a lesson that should be learned. If I take a bunch of raw images, process one significantly to the point I like it, but still have adjustments I want to make at the point of taking the shot (because the first shot was step one in learning something), I struggle to work objectively on subsequent shots because I want to edge them towards what I achieved in shot one, rather than develop them to whatever they naturally want to be. In shot two (on the right) for example, I controlled the light as far is humanly possible, and lined up the reflection of the camera lens perfectly with my pupil. But…… I still prefer shot one despite everything I sought to correct subsequently…

Curiously my eye is much less moist in shot 2. Probably because I had a megawatt lamp inches from my face frying off the moisture…

Strike 3. Clear your mind and start afresh. The frustration with this one is that (although the lens flare is added in post) the lens in the pupil is genuine, but looks pasted in there! Grr.

Wirework | Gallery

Strike one at some ICM with wires a la David Day. Clicking that link will put this effort into some stark perspective - but I’m learning through doing…. I’m going to build a little dark tent in the studio to properly give this sort of thing the space it needs to develop.

This was Cat 5 ethernet cable (de-sheathed). It would be easier to make the images more abstract if they weren’t striped, but I’m interested in that as an option. It makes it more circusey than it would otherwise.

16/12/23 Strike 2

Mill Road Winter Fair | Gallery

Went out with a 50mm to make myself interact with folk more (!). Had a lot of fun. A great atmosphere on a freezing day.

Long Exposure Workshop | Gallery

Sunday I attended a (2:1!) long-exposure workshop with Antony Zacharias. These are my shots. I did not do an awful lot of long-exposure stuff, not least because Antony showed me some of his images (see the link to his website) and I was distracted by how wonderful and inspirational they were. Nevertheless, here they are. I quite like some of them and, regardless of the quality of these efforts, the workshop was excellent.

Click to view full-size.

Street Level | Gallery

I found a remote trigger that also allows burst firing (Hähnel Captur), so put the R5 in a cage, and hung it at the bottom of a monopod for street-level captures of dogs. Click for full images.

There were some quite cool kids too.

Norfolk | Day 3 | Gallery

Click for bigger…

On reflection, it appears that I am obsessed with groynes. Also, that I am a big fan of symmetrical portrait formats.

Norfolk | Day 2 | Gallery

Click to view.

Norfolk | Day 1 | Gallery

A long weekend in Norfolk, despite the weather. Minns’ book tucked under my eager little arm… Click to embiggen.