Thursday 24 April 2008

My Favourite Best Underpass

Of all the underpasses in all the world, this one didn't smell too bad...

Actaully, this heart was at street level, away from the piss and vomit, at the top of the hill we used to live on in Bournemouth, so almost on the doorstep, except a steep climb up. I think I was trying to remember where I'd parked the car - it had been one of those weekends - and there it was, this ray of light on a can tucked behind the handrail. Pure beauty, a serindipitous moment like a rainbow against a blackened sky or beams of sunlight through high cathedral windows or a patch of oil in the gutter after rainfall... it ahd been one of those weekends.

And when I see something like that I know I'm not allowed to photograph it until I find a heart nearby, and there it was, at my feet at the foot of a signpost, all pink and squishy.

Sometimes, at times like that, I honestly believe in God, and I thank Him.

Or Her.

Wednesday 16 April 2008

Here, doggy doggy!


I thought I'd show one that has something in it that most of mine don't have - animals and people. OK, so it's only the sole of a foot, but that's people as far as I'm concerned, and the dog is definately an animal. I tend to avoid showing images containing sentient beings.
I think I have a reason: I don't like having to tell people what to do, so I don't really do portraits unless they're informal and I can take them while chatting. I'm good at chatting. And I can't do street photography - I don't like having my photograph taken by strangers so why should anyone else? I admire people who can do it, though, unless they're paparazzi, who I have no time for at all.
And while i take a lot of photographs of animals while i'm wandering about, they're usually more of a snap because it's a cute dog/horse/pig rather than with any thoughts towards a structured photograph.
Lately though, I've found myself including bits of dogs, the odd limb, the occasional pigeon in the love landscape images, and there are one or two that even have people in the background, though it's all very deliberate and they're there as a compositional element or because they wouldn't get out of the damn way! I think I'm growing in confidence. I'll be shouting celebrity names and poking cameras in through car windows next.
This was on the Ponte Vecchio in Florence. Very nice, and a mass of hearts in the centre where crowds of tourists stop to take pictures of the view. This dog looked particularly pissed off with the crowds, and fitted my mood at the time of shooting. Also, I wanted some pavement, and this was about as clear as it got!

Tuesday 8 April 2008

First of the New

I took a lot of photographs last year and 'processed' very few. 'Processing' may seem the wrong word to use in association with digital photography, but with these images the process is one of selection and pairing, and, of course, making sure that the exposure and colour appears correct. It always takes longer than I think, and so I'm working through a backlog of some 2000 shots to put together what I hope will be around 200 new images. Of which about 20 will be corkers, I'm sure! One of the downsides with digital is that it encourages you to take too many pictures - it's too easy to snap away without considering each shot as carefully as one might if film were being wasted. That can also be a benefit when you have your family with you, wanting you to 'look at this' and 'hurry up!' - I suppose the trick is to find a balance, to shoot plenty and to consider all... I have lost some good shots, some great hearts, because I hurried too much and didn't consider the edges of the shot with enough care, or ended up with things in the distance on the landscape shot that I didn't want, things like people walking by. And I won't crop, and I won't edit... more on that another time.

This shot is great (in my humble opinion) - spotted by my then 5 year old son Sunny in a side street in Florence. The broken heart and the use of English is just lovely, and the textures of the surfaces deserve a closer look - I've yet to print this on a large scale, but I'm looking forward to it. It's a romantic image, but also fits the cliche of the passionate Italian expression of love and love lost.

Oi, Romeo - on yer bike!