Frosty

A cold and somewhat frosty day(mostly de-frosted by the time we went out lol) today but a good day for a walk.

We went to Happy Valley and had a good 2 hour walk, cutting through Bramhall Park on the way back home. None of these photos are from Bramhall Park though, for a change.

It was a good walk, I spent most of it talking to my dad about my life. Well, what I'm going to do about my life this year. There isn't something specific that I am good at. I like lots of things: Photography, Writing, Drawing and Illustration. So the plan is to push forward with them, enter competitions for photography and writing. Use contacts to get involve with people who might be able to offer me advice about doing Children's picture books. Do more work in all these areas.

I was thinking about going back to college but Stockport College are useless in getting back in contact with me and it was only an A level. I could do a Nation Diploma Level 3 part time but its in Didsbury at Manchester college's campus. But! I still don't know If I want my career to be photography. The problem I have is a lot of people can do what I can and I need to push myself out there. Show myself to people and make contacts.

There might be some promise for next year but I have to start now to push forward this year. I'm going to work hard on Cross and Pike, and create the children's picture books I want to make even if its just to see if I can. I want to take as many photos and improve as much as possible on my own.

I dunno when the next lot of photos will be up, got a lot to think about and need to split my time between everything. I do hope to organise some shoots soon

Fiona

x

Read my round up of 2011

I wrote a blog post of the last 12 months here: Visit my other blog to view the post

I'm hoping in the new year I will be able to do more photography, we'll have to wait and see what happens.

In the meantime, have a photo of what my Fiancee and I ate for dinner on New Years Day :D A big Roast :D most likely enough for 3 or 4 people

Phone picture as per usual, sorry!

Edit: Also, thinking about doing posts about some of my favourite but unknown photographers that I see on Deviantart.com and around the internet. What do you all think?

Fiona

x

No person has the right to rain on your dreams

'No person has the right to rain on your dreams'

Marian Wright Edelman 

I wanted a title that was related to rain without just being 'rain is horrible'. It rained pretty bad while we were out taking photos yesterday. It also meant the light to take them with was pretty much non-existent.

So I've tried to meet Laura before and we didn't have much luck. This time we managed it! We met in Victoria Station in Manchester City Center.

We had A LOT of rain. Every time we went inside to get out of the rain, the sun would come out. It got a little bit annoying. We kept going, the best we could and I think we did OK.

We started by Urbis, the water fountains weren't on though which was a bit of a shame. Would have been nice. We then had quite a think about other locations and ended up round the back streets near Aflecks. Was a bit of a walk.

As I said to Laura, I need to go explore parts of Manchester I haven't been to before for new places to shoot. I could also do with getting a flash gun to be able to shoot better under cover and in the dark (eg, when it rains because winter is coming. It's not going to get any better weather wise)

I had to edit all of the photos and some were blurry on my computer but I think we got a selection of good photos. As usual I preferred the photos I took slightly later, once I had relaxed back into taking photos. Laura was a pleasure to work with. Just a shame the rain cut us a bit short.

I would like to do some winter/wrapped up and snow photos nearer to Christmas when I next work with a model. I don't know when I'll have the chance around work. 

Fingers crossed :D

Take care

Fiona

Camera And Computers

I've been wanting to write about this for a while. I figured now I had a blog, I could say things from my point of view.

I am a beginner in Photography and even I know about the debate between photographers who rely solely on their camera skills and those who use computer programs to achieve different ideas. I am not siding with either as such but I do fall into the edits with a computer. There are reasons why though.

The reason personally is that I am very used to working that way. Computers were made so they were able to achieve these things that some people have yet to learn to do with a camera/not have the right equipment. My degree in animation was something I did with a lot of digital work and so that is easier for to comprehend. I have only had my camera for a month and a half. In that time I have improved in the actual taking of my photos but I enjoy experimenting with what I can do to photos to make them more interesting.

An example:


As you can see with this one, all I did was up the white and dark, using the curves in Photoshop. Nothing else was done to that photo it was a good photo the way it was. Some of the things that can be done in Photoshop though, I don't see as being able to do on a camera itself (certainly not on my D3000) Saying that though, I am learning to use my camera in manual mode, getting used to the setting and knowing what I need for shots so that over time I can cut down on the amount of Photoshopping I HAVE to do. I still WANT to play with some photos though.

An Example:



I love the composition of this photo but with it made into black and white it becomes so much more interesting with subtle changes in shades. Making photos black and white/grey scale is something that is acceptable to do with computers I think. It just adds a little bit of class and I think that change can make a photo.

Of course there are more edits you can do with photos to change the feel of a photo all together. These kind of edits I don't use all the time but I like to experiment as I don't have anything other than a computer to use to attempt anything in the actual photo taking process. I take macro photos in a little corner of my room, with two regular lights so I don't have much to work with. The English weather certainly doesn't help so even if I go outside and boost up the settings to get more light in my photo, that can only do so much.
Even with light outside, you can't always get the colour's you want for your photo. Sometimes the idea only comes to you after the photo and you put it onto a computer. I think this is where a computer and software shines. It makes the impossible possible after a shoot. Especially if your model has gone home for example.

An Example:



As you can see with this one the whole atmosphere is different. The reds and earthier colour's rather than greens give it a somewhat eerie feeling. It also ties in nicely with her dress in this particular photo.

So in some kind of conclusion, I am for both sides. Some would argue that I can't sit on the fence. Well I am. I would love to achieve perfect photos on my camera but I am new and am still learning. I have the basics of how to set up a photo and composition which is also a huge factor of taking a photo don't forget. I am going to use what I know to build upon but I don't think there is anything wrong with using what we have to help us achieve what we want.

I know that was very much from my own point of view but i think people forget that there are many different types of photographers out there, each with their own opinions, ideas and views. That is my insight into the whole issue and I hope one day to not have to use Photoshop as much.

Fiona

xx