WEEK 12: Artistic Transport (And a note on my personal journey with the challenge)

Our world is one defined by how we get around. Literal or interpretative, find inspiration in transportation.

At this point I want to make a point on my personal journey with the challenge.
I was beginning to loose a little steam with the project, it was around the time of the Artistic shadows that I could no longer be bothered going out and taking these photos.  Afterall, I'm only creating these photos for myself, and creating this blog for myself.  Who's my audience? Who am I taking these photos for?   There not the high end quality I wanted, there not professional enough.  

The thoughts are gremlins.  Voices that nag, tell you that you aren't good enough, and need to be pushed down to where they came.  Because if you've ever watched  a Gremlin film, you know they can't take photographs!

So there I was in a low place, beating myself up for not being as creative or as artistic or naturally gifted as I would like, and thought I'd take a trip up to Castle Hill to take my Panoramic (which coincidentally also added to my feeling of utter despair, as I just couldn't take one. See: Week 8.)  

Looking over the hill, I saw passing traffic, and quickly I took a photo, after zooming in it was there.  Perfect and elegant and artistic. 

However, it wasn't my first choice.  I was originally going to have a photo of my car at the Castle Hill car park looking onwards at Emley More mass.  It seemed more symbolic to me, it literally did transport me everywhere.  And I felt it bonded with me and the car.  But here's  a moment when you have to separate yourself from the photographer and ask what's visibly better.

Anyway, lessons were learned today.  And I have a great photo to show for it.

WEEK 11 Landscape: Reflection

Find a way to show your landscape/natural beauty in reflection. The mirror world revealed. 

There was a brief time when I was tempted to go out into the moors and take a giant mirror with me and then take this elaborate picture, but then I remembered lakes.  

Well, that's half true.

I was thinking of taking some kind of mirror, for artistic purposes but recently whenever I've tried to 'Go Big' it usually ends up being a little lacklustre so I wanted to create a basic shot.

In many ways it could be argued that it's too basic.  Too easy.  But I don't agree.  I love the symmetry of it, I love how it captures a moment, and a love everything about it.

WEEK 10 Portrait: Environmental

Show a subject in their natural habitat. Their place of work or hobby is a great start. Tell their story with the environment.

For me there was always going to be a Clem photo.  And when I heard I needed to put a subject in their natural environment it was either finding some interesting fishermen working on the docks or someone in Manchester working in an office building. Seeing as there aren't any fishermen around or any jobs that interesting I decided now was the time to bring in the big guns.

The Clementine Cat herself.

The photo was easily enough to capture, in fact I took the photo with my 50mm lens and it was a rare 'kodak moment' that happened quite naturally. And the natural ones always looks the best.

WEEK 9 Artistic: Shadows

The opposite of light is dark, the absence of light is shadow. Interpret this into a masterpiece.

I really wanted to try for something special after researching shadow photography online, there were some really brilliant and creative uses of shadows.

Originally I was playing with the sunset, creating silhouettes with Clem the cat.  And although I created a cool picture, I wasn't really happy with it. One, it didn't fit the criteria, and two, it wasn't as unique as I wanted,  I wanted to put my signature on it.

So yeah, I think I got carried away with this one.  So much so it gave me a severe case of photography block.

Eventually I settled on using an Atlas, that I cut birds out of, placed them on some fairy lights.

How random you say!

It is.

I borrowed the shapes out of maps idea from a creative person I follow on instagram by the name of Kim Searle, who used Tintin comics to create lampshades. The bird idea was mine, but I probably borrowed that from somewhere and the fairy lights came in because they were there, and it works.

Anyway.  Boom.

Shadow pic.

WEEK 8 Landscape: Panorama

This is a great opportunity to explore panorama stitching and create a wide sweeping landscape. 

Fuck Panoramics, They are hard as fuck.

After getting a less than average photo that almost looked like it could be cropped together I gave in and took a shot upon Castle Hill.

Admittedly, I've had photographers block recently, after trying real hard to get a decent shadow pic (more on that later.)

Sorry it's a bit plain and dull but I wanted to power through and if it means on shit panoramic then fuck it!

Other notes: This was actually a lot larger, but my fucking shadow got caught in the shot and the place was swarming with people.


In the next blog: Less swearing!  But while we're here, fuck Panoramics. Fuck them with a pointy stick.

WEEK 7 Portrait: Faceless

Tell someone's story without showing their face.

This week I was lucky to be around for the annual Inbolc festival in Marsden, that stems back from its Gaelic/Pagan history.   The purpose of the festival is that Spring fights Jack Frost, literally fighting away Winter.  

The procession starts with Jack Frost minions marching the crowds up to an open field where performers show their skills with Fire Poi (in many ways it is a fire festival.)

This photo is of one of his menacing minions.  I thought the mask was brilliant, and I was lucky to get the picture I did considering there were  a lot more professional photographers there than me, and the crowd was crazy.

I wanted to take a few pictures of the fight, which I did, but unfortunately it was pissing it down, and the performers were far away, but no matter, the experience was great as it was.

Note: Arguably you could say I cheated as he's wearing a mask, but hey, it looks cool, ok?

Other note: Here's an actual 'faceless portrait' that has more action, and probably more tailored to the assignment. It's just as interesting as Jack Frost's minion.

Week 6: Artistic: Candy

Your artistic interpretation this week should be inspired by something sweet. A great chance to play with macro photography.

Actually pretty difficult one to do, had this idea where I was going to blow up a shit load of bubble gum and frame them like hot air balloons, but would have been a logistical nightmare, so on the way to the shop I decided against it and had a spontaneous idea for tribal jelly babies. The rest is history.

Would have been nice to have spent more time with it, but if I were to do it any differently would have meant different sweets that would have meant more money, that I didn't have, so there you have it.

It has made me realise that a lot of shots are just limited by how much money I can burn, and yes, on one hand it's an exercise to see how much you can do with nothing, but one other hand it's frustrating when you had a really cool idea but aren't able to go through with it.

I do like this shot. It's fun, it's quirky, it's little bit weird. And was insanely difficult to make those chocolate bears look menacing. Though I think I pulled it off ;)