Daily Photo #21

I'm all about hues and gamuts. Even though I am colour blind to red/green, I love working in colour. For five years during the degree and BTEC years I worked solely in black and white and sepia, fearing colour somewhat after a few disasterous stints in a dark room that used colour (I couldn't get my fleshtones spot on, either too red, too pink or just plain zombie) but shooting in digitial (especially RAW format) is a whole new world for me (cue theme to Disney's Aladin). Seriously, unless I get a totally wrong exposure my tones turn out spot on. But what I do love more is abstracting lots of colours and making them the focus of the image instead of something that supports or reinforces it.



I shot this at the Stourbridge "Cone" where they have an active and working glass blowing workshop, our friend Fleur took us there for the day and I had a lot of fun shooting stuff like this.

I think the days of second guessing my colour work are finally over!

Daily Photo #20

My cat has some serious temper/mood issues. Shot these last night and she wasn't impressed that I spirited her away from left over turkey and cat nip drops. If she was human, I guess she'd have an Emily Strange T-shirt and be listening to My Chemical Romance. God bless emo cats everywhere.



'tis comic book day today so about to get the train out of here into the city. I hope the zombie hoardes have diminished somewhat.

They're dead, they're all messed up.

Final post of the day, honest.

Something to warm the hearts of George A Romero fans everywhere. Looks like Diary of the Dead has a release date (at last!)

Where will you be on 7th March 2008? I know where I'll be ;)

In honour of this news, I might watch Dawn of the Dead again. Perfect Xmas movie, I think.

Anyway, it's Linda's birthday today and we hit the sales (God, 'twas like Hell on Earth in Solihull - although "Hello" on Earth is more applicable with all the dodgy fashion and style aspiration that was on show). So, after celebrating her B'day with a fab film (the effective adaptation of alltime classic Richard Matheson novel, I am Legend), we're going to chill out with a few eps of S3 of Battlestar Galactica.

A big thanks to whoever linked my post about the B'ham Flea to the Custard Factory website. It was a nice surprise this morning, if you love the Custard factory, this site should be on your reading list with my post being quoted here. I think it's the first time I have ever seen my words quoted in such a manner! Thanks Mr Ashton!

Finally, over the last few days I don't think I have slept so much ever. It must be cramming as many assessments as I could into work a few days prior to breaking up. I still have five more days or so of leave left and I need to do some pics asap. Feeling not as creative as I should be of late. Not sure what I should be inspired by though. Requests for new Linda photoshoots via my FlickR account have been positive but it seems to be more of the same. I have some collaborations on the cards for the new year but trying to pin them down has been a bit of a chore but we'll see how it goes.

We do have that Mara Jade shoot planned and a couple of little odds and ends in mind (some kind of Bettie Page homage if we can come up with the right styling/location with Linda's maid outfit). Any suggestions of locations or assistance with styling would be most welcome!

Battlestar Galactica beckons now. (Bonus points to anyone who can tie in the title of this blog to the episode it originates from)

Daily Photo #19

In keeping with my nature vibe (I must be a reincarnated hippy), I chose this mosaic as today's image.



I shot this on my old 350D with a very basic lens (I now use an EOS 5D) but I was quite happy with the colours on this one.

Daily Photo #18

Well, mom and her partner have just vanished into the night after a traditional boxing day supper of left over turkey and gin. (Hey, we're English. We do stuff like drink gin and eat dead animals. I didn't say we were civilised or anything). So, after zipping back and forth through my archives I tried looking for suitable Xmas-y type things and found not a jot.

So, here is something random:



A view in a field. I like the sky and the angle on this one.

She haz Lightsaber

Yes, I do cat macro speak.




I love my geeky wife.

xxx

Merry Xmas and wasn't Doctor Who fantastic?

Daily Photo #17

It's Xmas day at last and the journey over the last few weeks has arrived at its logical destination. I don't believe in god but I do believe in something more, the will and power of the individual. As John Lennon once said, "I don't believe in 'isms". I took this on board during my late teenage years and always held it true. Man is a being of self determination. When I look at people, I don't see faith. I don't see belief. I see the person.



Now, this might be a strange photo to post on Xmas day but I will give you some background. I shot this image at the site of the WTC. I didn't ask permission of those people in the shot. I took the picture and walked away. They could be anyone, people there to grieve over the loss of a loved one. A tourist. A passerby. To me, it doesn't matter who they are. They took the time out to pay their respects. To remember. A person is the sum of their memory. If we do not remember who we were, we cannot remember who we are or who we will be. We are walking memories, a map of decisions. Of the path we have taken. Over six years ago, a tragedy befell New York. To this day, I can remember seeing the Twin Towers where they stood. Proud. Two beacons, two sentinels who looked over the city. Now, I don't know where I am going with this but I know one thing. We're all on a path and it's the choices that make us who we are. I am not my job. I am not what people label me to be. I am a person and I determine who I am by the choices, actions and the path I make.

It's on days like this that we reflect and look back. We collect our thoughts and sum up what we've done over the year. I like to think that I will sleep soundly tonight. I've faced my demons and moved on.

I promise I'll be more cheerful tomorrow ;)

Daily Photo #16

Now, today's image is not at all Christmas like but we were going to shoot some pics today when I finished work but Linda has a smidge of a cold and I am knackered. The lure of the DVD boxset of "24" (Day 6) was too great and we decided to eat a mince pie and have a shot of whisky while watching the exploits of Jack Bauer. (Mr Sutherland, even if you're spending Xmas in prison, we still think you're fab but please quit the DUI thing, it's not good, y'know).

So, we shot these late November as they were requested by this the peeps on this site (really nice people, btw!). Anyway. I decided to give this a more timely B+W makeover, its colour counterpart can be found here. It was a fun shoot and certainly gained the interest of joggers, people walking their pets and cyclists in the area. I've never shot anything like this out of doors so it was a revelation. Now we've obtained one of those Master Replica Force FX Lightsabres, we have a Mara Jade shoot planned for the New Year. Should be fun! (I am such a geek, I know but hey, if I wasn't around to do this, who would?)



Anyway, wishing you all a merry Xmas and I'm gonna go sod off back to the kitchen to finish some preps for tomorrow's dinner and the like then it's off to more 24. And maybe some S3 of Battlestar Galactica.

Daily Photo #15

I shot this while down at the Flea Market. I should work in Sepia more as it's timeless. The Green Man still looks sinister :)



I can't decide which I like more - shooting people or landscapes? Both have their merits and each offer a unique challenge.

Birmingham Flea Market

The Birmingham Flea at the Custard Factory is a must see if you're a native Brummie or a visitor. Unfortunately, this was the last one for a while but it motivated me to go say hello to Bunny (who's Blog inspired me to let loose from Livejournal and post in other places, those places being here). I am profoundly shy and find it a little hard to talk but after two minutes or so of hearing about her adventures with John Waters and her passion for Pee Wee Herman I felt any fears rush away cos this lady knows her cult media and that makes her fab in my books, being somewhat of a fan of all things off-beat myself.

We managed to swap a few stories (I hope I didn't monopolise too much of your time, B!) and some advice about running a stall at the B'ham Flea (something I am seriously contemplating as I need to thin out some of my collection, books, comics etc). Her cakes and merchandise look fab as usual and I certainly need to pick up a few items from her asap! Anyway, she took a moment to pose for the lens and an example of the result is below:



Looking very festive, if you're at the flea go say hello as she's a fab lady!

Also had some good conversations with some other stall holders about photography (I heard someone say "it's 'im with 'is camera again" but it wasn't meant in a sarcastic way). The Flea just has this intense mixture of artists and people selling their wares and it's unique, something that Birmingham so desperately needs right now. It's a place where people can sell, buy, converse and just be who they are instead of the mass production ephemera of the high street, we can see merchandise stretching back for decades here. It's like stepping into your own little Timewarp and to be part of that just for a short time is fantastic and liberating. I cannot wait to go back when the market kicks off again and just walk around and be myself for a bit.