Part 1- 100 Shots

A rather dull picture of my Front Door, in hindsight I should have taken a picture of the reflection in the Glass.

I like this Picture.. for some reason the Silver birch stands out proudly. The smoke from the Flue emphasis how cold the day was in the winter Sun.

A little bit of editing can make a huge difference to vibrancy and were to crop.

I do like Flora Macro Shots, but this one snap bang in the middle is way to bland and generic.

A simple Picture showing the suburbs of were I live.

I was hoping to really capture the frost on this car. I’m unsure what I was hoping to get, but it doesn’t do anything for me.

This dog would not keep still for me to shoot him, maybe a faster shutter speed next time?

I really love this Picture although I did not focus in on the eyes but the water droplet and am so disappointed.. Next time.

Horribly framed shot.

Shot into the sun.. silly.

I like this picture as it conjours up images from my past looking up at a large tree to climb.

Playing with Contrast.

More Editing.

This picture is so poorly under exposed, although with Editing I did get a nice Picture from it and cropped to use Rule of Thirds.

Too dark to do anything, maybe I should have played around and tried ISO 400.

This appeals to me metaphorically.. It’s telling me no matter were Beauty is found, man will find a way to destroy it.

Too over exposed I should have increased the Aperture to maybe f 11?

Quite pleaded with this shot showing the Church, although I am unhappy I cut the top of the tree top off

A nice Contrasts in shades.. I should play with Histogram to see what can be achieved.

Dull and boring.

I was trying to capture the bird, but I should have brought my tele photo zoom lens.

There was a little Sparrow on the roof I was trying to capture but it just didn’t work.. The shot is ugly.

I love how Disabled access is put in for Wheelchair Users, only to be blocked with Advertising..

In this shot I wanted to get the Gable end of this house framed with tree’s. Almost like a frame around a picture, It kind of worked.

Enjoyable colours and contrasting shadows and light but lacking substance.

I was hoping to get the crow in this shot, but I came unprepared without my 300mm lens.

This shot was an experiment. I liked the unusual twists in the branch but don’t think it did it anywhere near enough justice.. also the contrasting light is too stark against the shadows in my opinion.

I don’t know what drugs I was taking when I took this picture… it’s the top of a tree.

There comes my shadow once more… be aware of my own position in relation to the sun.

I like the lovely colour of the brickwork, it’s so rich and vibrant.. It also captures the beauty of Victorian Architecture with its stark lines.

Over exposed sadly. I should have tried increasing the Aperture. ISO was maxed out at 100.

A pleasant shot of a typical suburban road. Would have looked nice had there been children playing on bicycles in the road.

Probably more of an Estate Agents shot, but I don’t dislike it. I’m trying to capture the difference in our village between the Private side and the Affordable Housing side.

This would very much need cropping and just doesn’t say much to me.

I prefer this shot of the previous Water Tower. It’s now a multi Million Pound Penthouse.. how times have changed.

I really love this Picture, maybe its me being anally retentive, but I like the tidy order of the homes.

Sadly a dreadful Picture, with dreadful composition and the wrong lens length,

Horrible framing, horrible composition. Out of angle. Just horrible,

In this shot I was trying to make the bird stand out in the clear space. There is so much going on in the bottom that I hoped it would drag the eye upwards towards beauty… It should have been zoomed in closer. Also I was not focussing on the Robin.

The Foundation Stone to the Hospital.. In itself an empty photograph but would not have been complete had I not taken it.. maybe fill in flash to light it up slightly… looks way to cold,

I really liked this tree, so tried to capture it at different angles. I don’t think this shot worked as well due to the stark windows in the background taking over the picture.

I love this shot… it’s simple and enchanting… maybe a good location for a future shoot using a child next to it? Would have liked it to be a lot clearer.

Nothing going on I this picture at all and very poor angles.

Dull and boring.

Took a few shots but I was fairly happy with this as a beginner shot.. has had some editing.

This may look nice in the summer if there was a family having a picnic here.

The corner-stone of every good Village, is the Village shop.. probably more of a historical reference photograph more than anything.

Not unhappy with how this turned out, especially with the sweeping road taking your eye round… need to practice that technique.

For some strange reason I really like this picture of the lamp.. Its simple, elegant and yet functional.

I tried to take this tree carving at different angles to see how they would come out This one was taken in the sun too much and so did not come out as i had wanted.

I’m happier with the outcome of this take. It’s an interesting picture and pleasing on the eye.. I’d very much like some feed back on how I could have really made this stand out more.

The problem with trying to capture the magnificence of a large tree is you can cut its neighbour in half and it spoils the shot… maybe I should have taken a different tree?

I love the long winter shadows being cast on the ground. Coupled with the low winter sun, it makes for an interesting picture of the main old wing.

I had to take the old Church as it s now pivotal in the Village being out local Gym… It’s not an appealing shot… I should have sat down for 5 mins and checked out a larger frame, but I did not have time due to the 30 minute time limit.

Pleasing… maybe needs a man walking his dog..

I really wanted to capture the stain glass window, but think the only way I could have done it justice is by gaining access to the inside and taken with the sun streaming in…

So badly over exposed.

Needs some cropping and Editing to bring the colour back into this over exposed shot. Was hoping to do the steeple some justice, but it didn’t.

I like this Photograph and the way it is framed. Although I think I should have used a higher Aperture to lower the brightness. Could well edit up fine if I tried.

I’m happy with what I was trying to do on here. I was tying to frame the back ground again with close branches.

So badly out of focus im ashamed to put this up, but im happy to show how bad it is.

This reminds me of the intro scene to Coronation Street showing the alley cat. Seen in all neighbourhoods, the local cat soaking up the rays on a warm rubbish Bin.

Life in the suburbs, needs a crop to tighten things up.

I really love this shot. I love the depth of field with the tree out in front and the homes in the background looking sleepy and peaceful.. I find it a very calming reassuring Picture.

Trying to train the eye around to the left with the road… But I think the road is too small and the top half of the picture is too busy for it to work.

I tried so hard to capture the frost of this morning, but it turned out to be a vert flat uninteresting shot of a cold car.

The man wrapped up warm fixing his car early in the morning.. getting his chores done no matter how cold.

Lens flair

I should have taken a Macro shot of this bush, but i like the colour nether the less.

I wanted to try to capture our car park / courtyard and every day life there in.

It’s an ugly picture, but I wanted to take it because in the summer I sit out here and smoke and drink coffee whilst I relax. Unsure what I could have done to make it a better picture except maybe a decent flash.

I like this shot showing the Divergence of the brickwork. It makes me eyes follow down the pathway to the end.

Macro grass.. could have been much closer, but I was rushing.

My cat Lullabelle decides she wants to take a walk with me, whilst I do my project,

More of a matter of fact, this is my building shot… Could not do it any artistic justice that I could think of apart from maybe Photo shopping a Dragon onto the roof.

I find this quite an appealing picture.. I enjoy the rich colours, the contrasts, the shades and the tree itself giving itself a hug.

I do like a nice macro shot… lovely and vibrant.

Very pleased with this, but would still like to know how I could make it better.

I do like this tree, maybe because it’s directly outside out lounge, and houses so many song birds.

None of these came out well, which is such a shame.

Very happy with this piece, I played around with the histogram to get some really nice midtones

Would have been a nice shot if the hedge was in focus.

 I

I think had I changed the angle slightly on this shot so the tree was more Vertical, it may well have looked much better. But leaning over to the side makes the picture look unbalanced.

I

I like this Picture although it is lacking any real meat to the bones. maybe a walker sat down resting with a bottle of water would have made it more interesting.

The long shadow.

Horribly out of focus.

Again out of focus.

This shot was never going to work, unless I had my 70mm – 300mm lens and a fast shutter speed.

As mentioned before I like the framing of this picture and can imagine it being used by a property Developer, but not for artistic purposes.

I like the angles taken in here, and depth of colour.

Horrible over exposed shot that does nothing.

This potentially could have been a nice shot if the bird was much closer and in focus with lots of detail… I needed my long lens.

The Picture had to be taken and was never going to be exciting, although it does need some flash to lighten it up.

I really do not know what I was thinking when I lined up this photo, but I now know… do not take pictures with Lampposts in them unless I really want lampposts.

Way to far away to get anything nice with this.

I don’t mind this shot, but I think maybe I have over Edited it.

Caught in motion? No blurred, try a faster shutter speed.

I was trying to get the Blackbird on this hedge,, and had he turned around and I could have zoomed in more it would have been ok.

Some depth of field, but not enough… lower the Aperture Darren.

No focal point in this Photograph, my eye wanders around and gets bored very quickly.

Not unpleasing on the eye, but what does it say? It’s a bit flat.

A nice scenic Picture although the shot should have fitted the top of the tree in.

A really appealing picture for me, showing how an old Hospital can be converted into Apartments and still be beautiful.

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A pretty Village scene in my opinion.

Shame I cut the left of the waste area out.

Frozen grass… doesn’t do much to be honest.

So over exposed.

This is different, but could I have got closer in?

A pretty pciture which is pleasing and simple on the eye.

Massively over exposed.

I would very much like some feedback as to why the tops of the trees are bleeding into the sky?

I think this shot would have been ok had it had something going on, to the right, behind the tree. i.e.. kids playing football or a Jogger.

A nice colour shot, but again nothing going on.. there is nothing to focus my eye on and it gets bored and makes a cup of tea.

Very Under exposed, should have used a flash and increased the iso to maybe 400 to see what would happen.

I should have gotten close to my cat and still got the fence and grass in, would have made for a way nice, crisper , clearer photograph.

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Exercise 1.7 Light and Shadows & Picture Analysis- Red Bridge, Okawa- Some Post Tutor Feedback work done.

My first  walk around the woods and trees was late in the afternoon and it was partially cloudy with low intermittent Sun. These made for very long shadows that blurred were they met with the light. Strangely enough the picture of my shadow was in very strong light and came out quite sharp.

My second set of shots taken inside were taken slightly earlier in the afternoon and the Sun was very strong, albeit the season was Winter. The first few shots I took in my bedroom was at a slower shutter speed of 1/60 secs and the pictures were very bright, and the shadows not so strong. I decided to increase the shutter speed and the pictures came out slightly darker and the shadows more prominent and stronger.. This further experiment goes towards my personal learning about shutter speeds in an earlier post with the sky. A higher shutter speed lets less light in. I have added in the settings on the bedroom pictures because I wanted to show the difference in the shots.

The white balance was exactly how i remembered when i took the shots. I keep my WB on Auto and if need be use temperature if need be when editing the image. The last two images above the sunlight was going and I felt the shadows were not dark enough.. I could have edited with Contrast but did not want to alter what I saw. The first two images have my cat on the bed and this really distracted from what I was trying to portray.

1/60 sec; f5/0; ISO 100

1/60 sec; f5.0; ISO 100

1/250 sec; f5.0; ISO 100

1/160; f5.6; ISO 100

Picture Analysis- Red bridge, Okawa.

Looking at the photograph of the Red Bridge, im struck by the sheer presence it possesses. I’m seeing really strong Contrasts between the red oxide paint and the greenery of the misty forest. I’m struck by how tall and angular the bridge is and don’t think it’s too different in form to some of the oriental temples found in the east. The hand rail on the bridge looks wooden,  and is typically oriental in design and can be seen in some of the very old homes found years ago. If they are Steel I believe they were made to look like wood. When I think of Japanese or Chinese Architecture I picture a lot of Reds and Yellows, and I think this is why it seems so familiar.

When I first look at the photo my eyes start at the bottom left at the start of the path and my eyes walk down the path untill they reach the tall girders. My eyes are immediately drawn upwards to the magnificent beams. My eyes follow the top horizontal beam towards the row of trees at the back and then slowly come back and drift down the sides of the bridge almost like water downwards. From here I am seeing a dark contrasting shadow on the right of the image leading down to the bottom of the picture. From there my eyes just wander around surveying the whole picture.

If there were any metaphorical meaning behind the bridge it would be that it is a gateway from a large town into the countryside or a mountain.. leading from the Industrial to the beauty of nature. This is why I believe the bridge was designed to look like the structure of a temple. Almost like a holy path to nature. The p[picture was obviously taken in sunlight, but not strong light, possibly late early in the morning. the weather looks crisp but not cold. For me the bridge is saying to me, come cross and see what lies on the other side. The shadow on the right some how looks false to me, it’s very stark and im unsure if the shadow matches the shadow on the pathway.

I see the following things in the picture, Handrails, girders, concrete, metal piles, trees, shadows, mist, a telephone line and something in the forest that I cannot make out, possibly a building or two. Im also seeing on the beams a slight colour change from red to dark burnt orange, I would guess this is the light.

I have enjoyed looking into this photograph and would love to walk over it one day. It intriuges me.. what is over the other side? and what is over the side the picture was taken from?

I would like to Google this bridge but I do not want to untill after I have submitted my work as it would detract from the fun of guessing what and were it leads too.

Tutor’s feedback from Assignment one

My first Feedback from my Tutor and I was very pleased. I also agreed with him which is a plus. I would very much like to keep a record of feedback in PDF Format for quick referencing in the future.

Assign 1 Feedback

Tutor report

Overall Comments

Many thanks Darren for sending in your first assignment. Its a good start to your photography and gives me a good idea of where you are on the road of your development.

My overall impression is that you are competent in being able to make good images – good in terms of getting the basics right: exposure, focus and basic composition. I do think that your work is more concerned with technical experimentation and excellence than development of your own style and what you want to say with your photography. That is not a problem and quite common with people starting out on their photographic development. But, it is something to be aware of and take into account as you progress.

You need to become more aware of how you can use your photography to express your own feelings about something. So your development should concentrate both on mastering the technicalities AND how to use photography to express what ever it is you want to say as an individual.

Assessment potential (after Assignment 1)

Student name	Darren Smith	Student number	513465
Course/Module	Foundations in Photography	Assignment number	1

You may want to get credit for your hard work and achievements with the OCA by formally submitting your work for assessment at the end of the module. More and more people are taking the idea of lifelong learning seriously by submitting their work for assessment but it is entirely up to you. We are just as keen to support you whether you study for pleasure or to gain qualifications. Please consider whether you want to put your work forward for assessment and let me know your decision when you submit Assignment 2. I can then give you feedback on how well your work meets the assessment requirements.”

Feedback on assignment

As mentioned your work demonstrates that you have the ability to make good images – in focus, well exposed and with standard compositional competence from

a technical standpoint. You have made a good start with your photography and my comments below are not meant to discourage you but point out areas that you need to be tinking about for future development.

In terms of visual skills you have an eye that recognises a key element but still have some way to go to develop this in tandem with an approach to what you want to say.

You mention in your accompanying text your interest and impression of the juxtaposition created by the development of an old mental asylum for housing to suit both the “well to do” and “affordable housing”.

This makes for a topical and interesting topic. You have addressed this more in terms of developing your technical expertise – the use of HDR – to the exclusion of using your imagery to expand your commentary on the situation. So in terms of technicality it is good to see you experimenting with HDR; creatively, you need to be thinking about how your images reflect your thoughts about the mix of affordable and well to do housing and this contrasts with the original use of the site as a mental asylum.

Technical and visual skills:

You have done well in images 2 & 3 to contrast the old building centred around the church with the combination of old together with the new development and in so doing drawing attention to the notion of “the development” of an old site.

Your choice of Black and White – this should be thought about and reasons given for your decision. This could be because you are concentrating on the development of an old site and hence use of black and white is an acknowledgement of the past where imagery was exclusively prepared in this manner.

You are exploring the area of HDR – fine but you are relying too much on the software – look at the results. Many of your images present a dramatic sky and while this may be attractive you need to think about the balance in the overall image. I suggest that there is often an imbalance between sky and foreground with the sky often appearing unnaturally dark.

Some of your images have dark boarders – it would be better to crop these out. For example, Image 6 crop out the dark bottom and right hand edge of the image.

Consider the orientation of the image – all of yours are landscape and yet image 5 of the tower I suggest would be better in a portrait orientation cropping out the distracting twigs of the branches on the left of the frame.

Concerning exposure – Image 6 has the buildings on the right appearing very dark with the shadows all blocked out. This is necessary as you have the very bright area of the sun clipping the corner of the building. How important is the distant building? What was your area of interest: the sun? if so then consider re-composing the image.

Quality of Outcome

The brief refers to the notion of the square mile concept – an area that you know well and have a personal insight into. This is what the assignment is encourtaging you to concentrate on your personal and unique experience of a place. As already indicated I feel you have tended to concentrate on the HDR technique at the expense of expressing what you feel about the place. You mention the mix of affordable housing with the more well to do element of the development; and the fact that the development is of an old mental asylum but your imagery pays limited attention to this interesting and topical element.

Creativity

It is good to see you experimenting with both a technique – HDR and picking an interesting topic that has relevance to today. As indicated I feel that you have tended to concentrate on the technicalities of HDR and not given enough thought to using the imagery to present the contrast associated with old and new usage of the site and the notion of the mix of affordable and well to do housing and how this engenders a mixing of people with different backgrounds and circumstances. While you are not expected at this stage to be excelling in this respect it is as well to bear it in mind in your future work.

Learning Logs or Blogs/Critical essays

You have done well to start off your blog using wordpress for the first time.
One are that you need to develop is to include more signposting for the exercises that form part of the assignments. At present, it is hard to quickly find your entries relating to these other than using your course work link. This however doesn’t break entries down for easy linking to individual exercises.

When including commentary on your images it would be worth bearing in mind and addressing topics included in the guidance on analysis on pages 41 & 42 of the course notes.

It would be good to address the areas in the brief concerning your reaction to the work of Dan Holdsworth and Tom Hunter – I can’t immediately see this and it would be logical to include this in your section on Assignment 1 in your blog.

Suggested reading/viewing

Have a look at the work of Jane Bown as a photographer known for her portraiture. Her concentration of the eyes, the use of light – usually natural light and the isolation of the head against the background. A classic example is her portrait of Samuel Beckett.

Another photographer to consider is James Ravilious and his work – An English Eye that concentrates on the character in relation to his/her environment.

Pointers for the next assignment

As suggested above think how these two photographers have used different approaches to portraiture and how each brings out different elements of the person’s character.

What elements are you going to concentrate on to bring out aspects of the person as you or they see them.

Tutor name:	Simon Barber
Date	11 February 2015
Next assignment due	1 April 2015

PDF Contact Sheet.

So in my notes it asks me to create a PDF Contact sheet in Adobe Bridge. One minor snag is in the latest version of Adobe Bridge cc they have taken the Export / PDF Function out. You can download an Output Button but it is very buggy and I could not get the Module to work.

After much research and help from a member of the OCA Facebook page for Photographers, a kind guy told me I could save a Contact Sheet in a PDF File in iPhoto. I found it difficult to find the option to do this but eventually stumbled across the solution.

Sadly I cannot post the contact sheet as a PDF file for some reason in the Add media option. I can however email it.. But will look into if im missing an option in word press.

Contact Sheet PDF

Exercise 1.8

Exercise 1.8 Bracketting exposures

I took a picture of a field with a little bit of detail on the Horizon. Nothing amazing to look at. But I realised that the sky was completely white, were as in reality it was quite grey. This really confused me so I changed the shutter speed and kept shooting. I noticed the higher the shutter speed the more colour and detail came out in the clouds. I’m taking an educated guess here but I think it’s because there was too much light coming in on a slower shutter speed causing the sky to fade.. I have yet to prove this theory but will work on it and come back with my findings.

Here is a selection of some of the shots to explain.

1/60 sec; f/5.0; ISO 100

1/160 sec; f9.0; ISO 100

1/200 sec; f/9.0; ISO 100

Exercise 1.12 SMASH!

Exercise 1.11 Splash

So I had a few ideas for Operation Smash and was really looking forward to my attempt. The plan was two-fold.. one was to shake up a bottle of coke and throw a packet of Mentos in the Bottle and watch what happened.. This turned out really well and the shutter speed was not crazy fast so the lighting was good.

Second idea was to place a log prop I had on the grass and drop some Balloons filled with Orange food dye. This was extremely difficult as they just bounced off the log. I did get some good ‘ Bloopers ‘ were the balloons bounced off and gave some great shapes. After a while we placed three thumb tacks on the log and dropped them onto the log.. I tried continuous shot but even at 1/1250s my camera was still not quick enough to auto take. I’m going to retry tomorrow if the weather is ok and set the shot up with a much higher shutter speed and a higher iso so as not to get over exposure as I did in the following shots. I did edit them out slightly but they are left with noise.

This is my Take Two.. and we wanted to shoot again a similar theme but with brighter light and a much faster shutter speed of 1/4000s. I decided to take my time setting up and had everything laid our neatly prepared so we could just shoot. I had an idea that cutting off the top of the Coke bottle would allow us to throw thow packets of mentos in at the same time and I was hoping for an Explosion…sadly it was more of a fizzle. The other shots of the bottle were taken slightly above and there was no action there, so the shots were pointless.

The balloons were a lot of fun. We poured in some Orange food colouring first then filled them full of water. I still had some thumb tacks so placed them on the Log prop so the balloons with burst immediately and not bounce off like the above shots. Even with a faster shutter speed of 1/5000s my camera was quite slow on continuous shoot mode… and I think I just need a faster better camera.. Mine takes 10 shots a second which is actually really slow when shooting at 1/5000s.

The Yoghurt smashing was a lot of fun, if a bit messy, and I have to apologise to my trusty Assistant for covering him in yoghurt. I thought i got a couple of really good shots of the yoghurt smashing.

Exercise 1.10 Experimenting with Shutter speed

Project 3 Exercise 1.10 Experimenting with Shutter speed

So today whilst walking back from my Shadow Project I decided to put on my 70 – 300mm Telephoto Lens and up my shutter speed to see whether I could capture birds mid-flight.

I did get some, but they were a long way out and I was zoomed right out… so for that reason alone I had to use a high shutter speed to stop Camera shake.. I vaguely remember Shutter speed must be higher than 1.6 x zoom Length. Also to capture wings mid-flight meant I also had to use a High Speed Shutter. I initially tried 1/500’s but decided to increase to 1/640’s was much better.

My only downside was I was so far away that the Birds were quite small and when I crop I got some noise.

Assignment 1 – Summary.

I had been keen to take my 100 Shots in Golden Sunlight which the late Autumn and early Winter had brought us. I awoke on the morning of the Assignment and new that the day was perfect for my Shoot. The sun was very low in the sky and almost golden to see. There was a crisp white frost that gave a sense of urgency to the day.

I decided to travel light as my notes had mentioned that the Assignment was about quantity not quality I was concerned I may not get enough shots in the thirty minute time frame I had been given. So armed with my Canon DSLR 1200D and a 15mm – 70mm Lens, a spare battery and a lens cleaning kit I wandered outside. Rather sheepishly I began feverishly taking shots at what I thought may be pleasing objects to take. It became clear once editing that my subjects were not quite what I had hoped they would be, and were far less interesting once taken.

So I shot in Manual mode at an iso of 100 and an Aperture of f 5.4, a shutter speed of 1/125s and very sadly I stuck with this setup purely because at that time in my learning journey I really did not know any better. I think this is a huge reason for so many poor shots, under and over exposed shots. In hindsight I have since learnt a great deal about Framing and composing a shot.. Are there any objects blocking the view? Is my Shadow concealed? Am I shooting into the sun? Am I cutting parts of an important object out? Did I try to express myself artistically enough? And then all of the technical mistakes I made with the settings on the camera.

Since taking the shots and just editing them as a beginner I learned a great deal about how Adobe Photo Shop CC and Adobe Bridge work. What can be achieved and what cannot, is a picture worthy of saving, and wow did I really take that Picture?

One of the most valuable lessons I have learnt was from chatting to a neighbour who is very much into Photography. I asked him why so many of my shots were out of focus and just not sharp; or capture eyes properly as mine look ‘dead’. He told me to focus in on the object, like someone’s eyes, with the red middle focus dot which is in the ‘sweet spot’ of the lens. Then whilst locked frame and compose the picture and move the camera over the object untill happy with the frame.. then take the shot. I could literally have been blown away by this. I tried the technique on some wildlife and yet again was blown away at the difference. Rather than focusing on the middle of the object with the red dot and praying it focused on the right point, I began to realise I had control. I think this is evident in my bird shots in my later Blogs. And whilst im far from taking good Photographs yet, they are definitely  a huge improvement in my learning curve as a Student of Photography.

I am very much still trying to learn the basics of Adobe Bridge and Photoshop. It is such a large piece of Software with what can be accomplished, it’s almost like buying a book of Encyclopedia’s without knowing how to read. Because I had previously taught myself Adobe Lightroom I knew a few basics on adjusting contrasts, colours, saturation etc etc, so I began playing around with things. Cropping was an easy tool. I very much enjoy the editing after my shoots and find it very rewarding to see what had worked and what didn’t. Seeing a good picture come to life and look even better is the most amazing feeling to me. I am getting so much pleasure from expressing myself Artistically.

Throughout my whole experience of assignment one, the hardest part to muster has to have been setting up the OCA Blog Website. I have wrestled with this site more times than I care to mention. I have wasted hours of work posting in Pages rather than Posts. I have commented on all of the Photographs only to realise it should not have been in media but on the Post. The linking of menus has been horrendous. I feel as though I have been studying a website building Course. But, excuse the pun, it’s all par for the Course. A huge hurdle for me has to be my spelling also. I type very quickly and my finger’s cannot keep up with my brain. It is almost like I am Dyslexic on a keyboard and im sure this is due to Medication I am taking. So my final task will be to go through all of my text and spell check and visually look at all of my work.

I would have loved to have given references, but in all honesty I havent really researched much apart from a couple of YouTube video’s on ‘How to’ in Photoshop. Part of my next stage of learning will be reading others work and looking at more Photographs.. especially online. Also im still opening my eyes up as to what type of ideas can be used to create a shot.. a simple thing like taking a Picture through a small gap of something to show a wider picture behind, these are all pieces of knowledge that need to be soaked up.

I have my sister’s wedding in two day’s and am hoping to Blog some Picture’s from it and I really hope I get some nice shots for her. After the wedding I shall then look into Assignment two and read more of my book and folder. I have realised it’s better to not rush, but to take my time and learn.

I am really looking forward to my Tutor’s feedback as he has such a wealth of experience and knowledge behind him. I would also like to know how I fare academically as this will be my gauge for Assignment two.

The Square Mile.. Assignment 1…

I have been thinking a lot about my Assignment one… The Square Mile. I have to bring some meaning into the surrounding mile in which I live, and give it some context. For example to show my favourite areas I grew up in as a Child, or maybe the Diversity of the People who also live within my Square Mile. All great idea’s, but I think they maybe are a bit cliché and have probably been done to death by fellow students. I’m sure my Tutor would want me to pick something Original myself, but something that is important to me.

The idea for my Square Mile is the fact that the Village I live in was once a very old Mental Asylum. It has been converted into a thriving diverse Community of new houses, new flats and the old Hospital has been refurbished into  beautiful Apartments. What once was a day room, or Nurses Quarters are now homes to ordinary folk. One factor I really like about the Conversion is that half of the homes had to be Affordable Housing. These were taken on by Guinness Trust one of the Country’s Largest Housing Society’s.  In doing this it has meant that the very expensive housing here is now just occupied by the wealthy, but also those in need, such as my Wife and I.

Our Flat shown in the above Picture is Ground floor and due to my wife’s condition has disabled Access through out. We have a purpose Built Wet room with access bars and enough room for my wife to use her wheelchair indoors.

On the other hand the Old Water Tower in the Village houses there apartments, the top being the Penthouse. I have heard that the views from the top are amazing and that it is worth in excess of a Million Pounds. We also have a Premier Division professional Footballer living up here in a large dwelling and he can be seen driving around frequently in his Lamborghini.

The old Hospital used to be enormous and was pretty much self-sufficient. It grew its own crops and was tended by the Patient’s. A huge kitchen were the produce was cooked and then served to everyone, including the staff. There were therapy rooms which gave Patients the Opportunity to do woodwork and art of all kinds. All of the staff lived in the Community and everyone knew each other. One of my neighbours grew up here as a little boy, as his Mother was a Nurse, and his Father a Driver. He had a great time in Netherne not only playing in the woods and fields, but also some of the old buildings that had been forgotten. He told me as a Kid he would often talk to some of the patients and he would always ask..”why are you here” and nearly all of them would say “I don’t know”. It’s very sad but years ago it was quite probable that if you gave birth out of  Wedlock you could end up in an Asylum. Society just locked up those that they didn’t understand or were embarrassed to see in the Community.

Today Netherne on the Hill is a thriving little Community of 600 Houses of all sizes. The old Church is now a Multi purpose Gym and Swimming Pool. One of the old buildings is now a Convenience Store, the Cricket pitch and Clubhouse is still going strong with a local team. People can be seen walking their Dogs around at all times of the day.

I consider myself to be very fortunate to live here and what was once maybe a place of hustle, bustle and chaos… is now a place called Home.

I would very much like to tie all of the above into a few shots of the buildings here in Netherne, Some old and converted and re-used, and some new. I have decided to take them in Black and white and hopefully without cars to show that the Pictures could have been taken 20 years ago as an Old Hospital or today as Homes. I may also take them as HDR shots for Artistic Purposes, although they do also give a very timeless, eerier  feel to the editing which I think will accentuate the History here.

Part 1 Favourite 30 Shots.

I really enjoyed taking this shot, and it took me a couple of different angles away from the sun to get it. The only thing I really dislike is the fact that it is leaning over to the left. I did Edit it and skewed the crop in Photoshop CC to bring it directly vertical, but the horizon looked ridiculous, so I left it.

This shot is still out of focus and not crisp enough… I did not focus in on her eye’s before moving the frame.

I like the off centre cropping in here and find the colour quite warming.. Would love some feedback on different options available here?

One of the neighbour’s Houses, neat and ordered Picture, would be good in an Estate Agents window and for nothing else.

I like all of these trees, and watching the branches getting smaller the further up I go. I did play around as you will see below with different editing options. It also reminds me of when I was a child and use to choose a tree to climb.

A lovely warm colouring on the brickwork and clean white lines, this appeals to the designer in me.

A strange picture, so simple, yet elegant and functional… with rich overtones in the sky.

These two were more of an experiment to see how they would turn out. The only thing that really appeals to me is the contrast between the colour and the dark shadows.

I really like this shot, although am super upset I did not capture his Glimmering eyes, but got just in front of them. Still a fun Picture, and he was constantly moving.

I really like the contrast in the beauty of the Countryside and then littered by Man. Metaphorically speaking it is what we are doing to the Planet.

This would be a great location for a toddler shoot, or mother and baby.

I loved this branch as I felt it was quite unique, however I really don’t think it did the tree any justice… The lighting is awful and maybe a fill in flash to lighten up the shadows and slightly lower the exposure on the branch.

I like this shot because it depicts what was an aging Water tower probably in really poor state inside, and now it is a Penthouse.

Such a lovely looking interesting tree. Not quite as sharp as id have liked, but I still think I captured its beauty. Another good spot for a future Shoot.

I’m loving the depth of field in here, not too strong but enough to focus you on the middle branch. I would maybe like to add more blue depth to the sky were I to Edit this again.

I think I have over Edited this Photograph as it looks too false… I like the bird though albeit he could have been larger if id have had a longer zoom lens.

Maybe my favourite shot and I can’t understand why.. maybe the striking small tree with the Shallow Depth of field.. it just works for me.

I asked this guy if I could take his Picture and happily he obliged. After my Assignment was done I went back and chatted to him for 20 minutes and it was really nice.

A horrible picture of the front communal Area. But I had to take it because in the Summer I spend a lot of time outside sat here with fresh coffee reading or contemplating.

I liked how this unusual tree looked and wanted to capture the moment. It reminds me of a couple hugging their goodbyes to each other.

A nice close up of berries. Lovely lighting and a lovely deep rich red. I just find it pleasing to look at,

Another shot I really enjoyed editing. I then played around with the histogram to gain richer mid tones.

I love how Disabled access is put in for Wheelchair Users, only to be blocked with Advertising..

The very important Hub of every Village is its little Village Store. I find this Picture captures the Spirit of the Village.

 I like this shot showing the Divergence of the brickwork. It makes my eyes follow down the pathway to the end.

I’m happy with what I was trying to do on here. I was tying to frame the back ground again with close branches.