three sloping chairs....

Taken in the backstreets of Madrid whilst walking along countless antique shops and surrounded by old style restaurants and buildings the image on the right presented itself to me when walking past an old antique shop late afternoon. The vertical aspects of the photograph, the chairs, the building itself and the graffitti in the backround all lended itself to me taking the photograph in a portrait style to add to the vertical spect within the photograph. I decided to take it in black and white aslo because of the many black and white colours throughout the photo to enhance their colours. I took the photograph with the camera exactly flat, however if you look closely at the ground itself it is on a very heavy slope down to the left, adding to the quaint rurality and picturesque cobblestone roads that line the back streets of the magical capital.

take a weight of your feet, and have soup!

The photo on the right was taken during an intense day of wlaking and museum visiting around the city of Paris with our photography group on a recent trip to Paris and Madrid in order to take photos and extend our creativity to the haven that is Paris. The photo on the right depicts two long lines of trees either side of the gravel pathway, lined with quaint little patisseries and boulangeries with a small invitation on a chalk board for soup and wine. To me this is the image of France that I hold, and still hold after the trip, in my head as it is quiet, classy and typically French- wine and food.

old school d.moor

Whilst on a walk on Dartmoor with my brother we stumbled across these rocks pictured on the right, called Foxtor Rocks in the middle of the Dartmoor National Park. I took the photo with my Diana F+ a vintage 1940`s camera with medium format film, hence the 5x5 image. The camera produces a soft focus dreamy image with very differing colours throughout the image. The simpleness of the photograph and the low sunlight enabled me to photograph a scene on Dartmoor making it look like a back drop from a John Wayne western movie in Texas.

wish you were here...

Taken on a relatively cloudy, dark day the photo on the right contains strong blacks against strong whites contrasting the photograph brilliantly, from foreground to the backround, from the relaxed calm of the chairs to the hustle and bustle of the people in the backround. Furthermore the angle of the chairs are sloped back a long way, thus illustrating the peacefulness and serenity of the very fashionable city; and it opens the image out to the negative space on the left of the photo in the backround to the silhouetted trees and the people enjoying the culture and way of life in Paris.

THE chair

After much experimentation and much failure I have realised that when taking photographs with medium format film the subject that you are capturing must fit in a square. Now this may not seem like much of a difference but after years of photographing subjects rectangularly, it was extremely annoying realising that I had to change my photographic style to compliment medium format film. So when I came across this chair then I knew that it would compliment this type of film and format.

rural idyll

The photo on the right was also taken on the same day, late afternoon just before sun set in the middle of Dartmoor on my Diana F+.The soft focus image and the medium format film has enhanced the tones of the clouds and the sky in the backround and has created a slight vignetting around the edges and corners of the photo. This creates a wonderful effect that the viewr is concentrated on focussing in on the tree, th emain subject of the image because it is in focus and the clearest part of the photo. Furthermore the image has been divided into three parts, with the green grass in the foreground, the wall in the middle which divides the top part of the photo, the sky and the clouds at the top of the image breaking the photo into more manageable pieces for the viewer to comprehend.

good times with a merry go round

Taken in Madrid the photo on the right depicts a merry go round for all ages. The bright lights and the various abstract colours add another dimension to the image as the colours on the attraction focus the viewers attention onto this part of the merry go roun, keeping their attention on the movement of the meery go round. This movement and obvious freezing of the image is felt from the sudden staticness of the ponies and carriages.

the journey to school...

Whilst walking to school in the mornings, I stop off at a few friends houses as we walk to the bus stop. However this means waking up early in the morning and some people, josh pictured here on the right, dont really like that idea. His evident discomfort and pain in his face tells the viewer that he is clearly unhappy with the current situation, as he is pictured outside his house on a typical journey to school.

the journey to school part 2

Another journey to school and the image on the right shows my brother ready and prepared for a day at school. His evident joy and pleasure within his expression tells the reader clearly that he is happy and enjoys his time at school. What I really like about the photograph is the small shard of light that is just peeping through the top of the image creating this halo like effect around his huge barnet.

light at the end of the tunnel

Taken in Chudleigh in the middle of the night the image on the right depicts a lone light just shining through the pitch black darkness that covers the horizon and the surrounding area. Furthermore the way that the light is placed in the middle of the image creates a focussing point for the viewer, making it the most important factor in the entire photograph. But what I really love about the photo is the way that i have framed it creates a vanishing point for the viewer as the bridge takes them from the foreground back to the backround until the vanishing point in the darkness.

light vs dark

Also taken in Chudleigh the image on the right depicts a lampost on the far left of the photo fighting the edges of the darkness and what lies beneath this cloak that hides all. The path that takes the viewer from left to right is illuminated by the light however as the viewer moves their eyes to the right of the image they can see that the green bin and the rural postbox are being hidden by the darkness and create heavy shadows from the strong light on the left.

Parkway Road

This series of night photography in Chudleigh is one of my favourites from the village as not a lot of people have seen or even photographed for that matter Chudleigh at night. And so i feel that this photo on the right taken near to the chippy, one of the most central meeting place in Chudleigh, shows the subtle light and soft tones that the lampost offers in the middle of the night.And what I really like aboout the image is the way that the light in the top right of the image has split into many shards of light almost like the sun on a summers day.

The multi-coloured garages of Chudleigh

Taken slightly further up from the previous image on parkway road the photo on the right depicts a series of multi coloured garages going from left to right, and as a result, taking the viewer along this pathway and down to the many lamposts in the distance. The soft subtle lighting within the image just about illuminates the different colours of the garages, and without a tripod the image would have become blurred and rough. However because of the steady tripod the image remains soft calm and steady.

ghostly trails of the night

Photographed next to Chudleigh Hall, the car pictured in the photograph braking all the while is navigating through the twists and turns beside the memorial in Chudleigh and then out of the village towards Chudleigh Knighton. The long exposure was needed to illuminate the entire picture and believe it or not, this is the busiest part of Chudleigh, and so the car passing through here created these fantastic light trails in the night. I love how because of the obvious movement of the vehicle, that it is not actually pictured here as it is a ghost and has not remained still enough for the camera to capture it. This and the shadows on the right of the picture make this one of my favourites from the night series.

Chudleigh Hall

Pictured here on the right, under the cover of darkness but with obvious visitors inside as the lights are on. What I really like about the photograph is the way that I have set up the image is so that the small bollards run from the foreground in the right corner all the way to the edge of the image in the backround on the left. The differences in tones and the different shades of light and dark are another factor which I like about the image as the harsh lighting at the back contrasts brilliantly with the pitch black sky behind and then in the foreground the shaded bench and bollards provide another different element to the image as a whole.

Motorway Madness

If you almost walk out of the village Chudleigh offers a fantastic view of the A38 road below as it travels on its way towards Exeter, a major town and key to the South West. The amount of cars that pass below the bridge and towards Exeter are phenomenal and as the picture shows even in the middle of night there are still many coming back and some even travelling to work in the late hours of the night. The long exposure has created the light trails and has even managed to capture the neighbouring town of Chudleigh Knighton on the left of the image.

Motorway Madness part 2

Taken on the same bridge to the image above, however for this photo I decided to take it further down the bridge and landscape style. Now you dont normally see photographs like this over motorways landscape style as it simply does not compliment the road or the flow of traffic. But i took it this way as I felt it offered a wider view of the valley below and it even gives an insight to where the road is heading as it dissapears around the corner into the darkness.

Friday Football Funtime

These next series of photographs come from a set when I photographed my friends playing football at our local football pitch, every friday after school. About 14 of us play football of the same standard and ability and we play for around 2 hours on a normal size playing field. And the photo on the right depicts ed and thom running quicklytowards the ball in a blur of motion. Their extreme speed and franticness if portrayed brilliantly throughout the photograph as their arms and legs have been blurred, all making it extremely difficult to photograph; however I am happy with the result.

watch out!

Taken on the sidelines of the pitch, the photo on the right depicts bug pictured in yellow just nudging the ball around sam the defender, picutred in blue. He is in the middle of performing his slide tackle in an attempt to push the ball away from bug but as you can see bug is at full stretch to prevent this from happening. This shows how committed he is to the game as he wants to win so bad he will do anything to keep the ball.

They think its all over.... it is now!

And following on from the previous photograph it is obvious to see that Brendan did not save that previous shot from James and is pictured here on the right sitting down pondering where it all went wrong. The obvious dissapointment is evident from his expression and his hunched manner suggests a sense of defeat after a long epic game. The shoes in the foreground add an abstract sense to the image, something different and the colour as well compliments the mud in which Brendan is sitting in, making the picutre flow from foreground to backround easily.

Last Man Standing

The last defender, sam, has been beaten and its all left to brendan the goalkeeper to save the intense shot by james or the game is over. The angle in which I have taken the photograph adds another dimension to the photograph as the players on the right of the photo are running at an angle towrds the goal following the line of the ball. The intense blurring in the photo adds to the drama and motion of the photo to a brilliant effect.