The future's bright...

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I read an interesting article this week about the 'death of photography', which asked whether camera phones were 'destroying an artform'.

It was prompted by a photograph of Danish prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt taking a so-called 'selfie' of herself with Barack Obama and David Cameron at the memorial service for Nelson Mandela.

The article raised a few interesting points. It first of all asked whether press photographers would soon use cameraphones instead of expensive SLRs.

It went on to say that people simply do not remember the things they are photographing, 'making the snap-happy nature of modern photography doubly mindless'.

Workshop heaven

One enjoyable aspect of my photography course is being given the opportunity to photograph people and places not normally accessible to the general public.

Recently, I was able to access a workshop which is being closed down before developers move in. It was an amazing place, piled from floor to ceiling with every piece of equipment, memorabilia and junk imaginable. Not only did this make it difficult to walk around the place, but positioning a tripod became a logistical nightmare.

It's not easy to capture such a scenario on the camera, simply because there is so much 'stuff' available to picture. The lighting can also pose its own problems. This workshop was half lit by fluorescent lights and half by daylight streaming in through the large front doors. The photo above was shot in an area entirely lit by the artificial lighting, so white balance was not a problem in this case.

Punch and Judy

I have now visited the steam railway museum six times and there comes a point where ideas for shots are more difficult to come by.

But I like a challenge, and I think I need some practice in ideas generation. I do still sometimes behave like a rabbit caught in the headlights even when presented with a completely fresh scenario to photograph.

This part of the museum - a seaside mock-up featuring a Punch and Judy show and some fairground games - has proved notoriously difficult to photograph in the past, according to my tutor. So I thought that was a good starting point!

I had an idea to use my flash to add drama to the Punch and Judy tent, and shoot through a nearby archway to frame the tent and enhance the overall appeal for the viewer. A model helped to bring the shot to life.

I was quite pleased with the picture, although I am bothered by a sliver of black down the left-hand side of the archway, which spoils the smooth line.

What they said...

"If ever I took memorable pictures…it would have been because I insisted on seeing the clothes live – walked in, whirled and twirled in"

― Norman Parkinson

Family album

I turned my attention to a different project today, recruiting my daughter as a model in the process.

My blog entry on October 4 described a project concerned with the visual language of the photograph and my intention to use as an example a picture Norman Parkinson took of the model Anne Chambers in Bath.

I liked Parkinson's idea of using a pillar to emphasise the rule of thirds and chose to take my picture at the Pittville Pump Rooms in Cheltenham - a building blessed with a number of doric columns.

I also tried to employ some of the other techniques Parkinson used, such as using contrasts in tone to make the model stand out and trying to introduce an air of mystery by partially obscuring the model behind a pillar.

Lessons learned

This shot was taken on my latest visit to the steam railway museum and was subjected to hefty Photoshop work to make it interesting enough to post on here.

The truth is, I screwed up with this particular scene and am going to have to do it all again. I had much better shots than this, taken from behind the chap at the desk, but it was only when I was tidying up the best of these images in Photoshop that I realised I had left some of my kit at the back of the shot.

There are so many things you have to remember as a photographer - and only a fraction of these things involve aperture and shutter settings. One of my weaker areas is remembering to tidy up the scene before shooting. If I had a pound for the number of times I had taken a picture, then spotted later on that there was a piece of rubbish in the background, I would be a very rich man.

Anyway, not too much damage has been done. I'm back at the museum again this coming week, so I'll get it right next time.

Back on track

My apologies to anyone interested in these posts for the long gap since the last entry. Sadly, my father passed away two weeks ago today, which meant my photography, my studies and pretty much everything else came to a shuddering halt.

But I was back behind the camera on Friday for the latest in a series of shoots at the railway museum and I focused on the engine Caerphilly Castle, which can be inspected from a pit running directly underneath it.

It allowed me to have some fun with flashes. I positioned them at the far end of the pit and asked two models to stand midway between them and the camera. I exposed for the ambient light and let the shutter stay open for about half a second.

I was pleased with the result, which captures some of the atmosphere of the place. I particularly liked the starburst effect of the flash.

What the picture doesn't show are the groups of schoolchildren and other visitors to the museum I had to dodge all morning before getting the shot I wanted. These visitors understandably take priority over photographic projects, but luck was not on my side when it came to the timing of their respective tours around the museum. I think they call it suffering for your art!