bling

environmental portraits

so today I went to the grand opening of Betty & Butch a new dog life style emporium 

this was our host Duke..

with his helpers Angel & John

i made the mistake of not changing the ISO setting on the Art Filter so the black and white shot has too much grain.. Angel had no problem with me taking whatever photographs i wanted although really he wanted to direct himself..i would have preferred it if they were more relaxed and not posing...
P.S.Lotti HATES Angel.. he's her hairdresser and she cries continually whilst she is near him...! 

I also went to a Manchester Market in Chorlton...
Mr Cheese and Miss Plant didn't want their photograph taken and i very nearly didn't ask Mrs Pickle but when i did and she really didn't mind....and her preserves are the business...

iso 200 f4.5

then there was tea

class

and this is what a roll over weekend looks like....

saw this

more research

so i found these images by a photographer called 

pari dukovic

"While photographing I envisioned breaking the rules, deliberately creating an overly contrasty and grainy reality to parallel my experience.  The contrast was a perfect marriage with my subject matter. I was able to translate the energy and spontaneity. I wanted to let everything go and just concentrate on the raw energy." 
Pari Dukovic born 1984,  his work has apperead in New York Magazine, GQ and The New York Times Magazine.
In March 2011, he was named as one of the PDN 30 Emerging Photographers To Watch. 


He was talking about New York of course and this series is called Venues of Immortality.. i really don't know what this title means but i can completely relate to how the grainy black and white emphasises the 'energy' and feel of within these shots...

Weirdly Pari Dukovic also loves to dance Tango!

he also did a series on Burlesque dancers and again the movement is enhanced by the high contrast

because i've had Tango and dance on my mind this week i've been in touch with a couple of friends, 

one who teaches Zumba 

(a "high-energy-Latin-inspired-dance-fitness-programme" created by Alberto Perez in 1990's)

and another who dances jive and swing. 

I'm going with my camera to watch both women during their classes and am hoping the venue and environment will be suitable and the subjects accommodating. 

I'm hoping to capture movement, energy and atmosphere and fingers crossed grainy black and white will suit.  

project2

here we go in grainy B&W

research 1

OK i really like the grainy black & white in this video - Tango - 
some of the shots look like the high key images I've taken in the past 12months...

the grain* or noise* on these photographs is caused by a high ISO setting of 800 and fstop around 4 or 5, the effect is gritty grey/black pixels scattered across the image. i have read that camera manufacturers are getting better at eliminating "noise" even at very high ISO settings. of course there are post processing techniques which can create this look..i like it, i think it gives some images a real texture. 

My Olympus E620 has a preset Art Filter which allows me to shoot in this format.

*grain is usually a term used if the image was shot on film as relates to the size of grains in film emulsion.

*noise is produced by the camera and is something to do with the analogue signal

There is some discussion that grainy black and white make images look 'older'. 

Earlier this year I saw an exhibition by August Sander at the Dean Gallery in Edinburgh

some of the images certainly did look 'old' but they were dated by the subjects' clothing, hairstyles and/or the accessories around them. These photographs were taken in Germany in the late 1920's very early 30's.

However some of the other portraits he took could easily be seen as current and 'now'. This image has has vintage feel but wouldn't look out of place in Vogue 2011 (except perhaps the smoking cigarette wouldn't be allowed!)

I read a review about Welsh photographer 

Rhodri Jones  

(born in 1963 now based in Italy)

and his work recent work in China. The suggestion was that the grainy black and white was an additional statement by the photographer about the 'increasing industrialisation of China' .

This first image is dated as a recent shot only because of the sports cap with it's familiar symbol. The second gives no clues that it was taken in the 21st century.

 In his biography Rhodri Jones states that he wants to 'present images directly'.. 'without commercial or political manipulation' I'm guessing that could have been quite difficult in China and he doesn't make any explanation about his choice to use grain and high key.

Personally I think it's simply about a creative process and grainy black and white/high key (very black and very white) images have resonance for the photographer and the question that grain/noise ages an image is simply about perception. Do we automatically see an image with grain as being poor quality and therefor taken by equipment which is elderly?

It is quite common to read that photographers who shoot or produce their images in mono do so because it removes any potential distraction caused by colour. 

If i said that in my first shot on this post (an SP) I was wearing blue jeans and the t-shirt is cream with Roylance 1899 written in red, then would you agree the image would certainly have a very different 'feel'.

Lynn Roylance 

is my friend in Santa Fe, he shoots mostly in black and white (with a really beautiful Leica M8) and his creativity and confidence have been inspirational. His advice has been that if something catches your eye that's your shot. He also talks a lot about "seeing" which is born from his Buddhist principles. I'm not quite sure i understand completely what he means by this but i am trying to simply "see" and in doing so i am drawn to shapes and lines and do feel that this becomes more clear when I show my photographs in black and white.

here's some from this week:

iso 400 f5.6 processed with Silver fx

iso 400 f5.6 processed with Silver fx 

Taken on a landscape setting in colour, iso 200 f.4 processed with Silver fx (silhouette preset)

I think my personal struggle with my images is working out what I want "to say"...i've not quite worked that out yet. I'm just taking photos every day at the moment without a clear direct or purpose. 

Making my images have some kind of commentary - now that's my challenge!

project2

So i have forced myself to shoot this project in colour. however there a very few colours in each shot. I'm going to carry on looking around my house for the next couple of days and try some similar shots in B&W just to see how they compare. 

more can be seen here

well foggy