St Micheals Mount is one of the most photographed Cornish landmarks. We see numerous images on line and in local gallery's of the Mount but they all look the same. Here's now I see it....
We all start somewhere
At 15 years old, I had no concept of composition, subject matter, depth of field or any other aspects of photography. I just had this overwhelming urge to capture an image. I had no line manuals to refer to, tutorials or someone to speak to offer advice. I picked up my camera and released the shutter. The result of that in the first photograph I ever took. Armed with a basic Zenit E that cost me £20, a roll of ilford FP4, this is what I saw and captured.
On reflection, when I look back at the image I got the lighting and speed right. The lovely contrast that ilford films give is all there but clearly I had no conception of the art of composition. It would be decades on that I got round to picking up a camera again and ended up where I am today, making a living out of it.
There's a real positive to all this, I now spend a large proportion of my time shooting film again.
Kelenföld Art Deco Power Station
Kelenfold power station has been photographed numerous times in recent years. Just do a search on google it and you'll see just how much. What hasn't been seen though is an area of the station that I managed to gain access too. Below are a few of those shots plus a few other shots you might not of seen from different angles etc. Every photographer has their own view on how they see a shot. A big thank you to the guys at Kelenföld for my private viewing
my guide
expired Impossible project
I bought a multiple pack of assorted film from those lovely peeps at Impossible the other day which included a pack of expired black and white SX 70 film. Production date was 12/16 so it had only expired super recently. You can get some great results from expired film and if Im honest I did get one or two with it. All of the images below were shot during the day with clear cornish skies and the lighten/darken control on the camera ramped up to its darkest setting.
Lithuania street art
Whichever city or country you visit these days, you'll always come across "Street art" in some way or form. Some good, some bad but they all have one thing in common, expressing and displaying their work where ever they can. On a recent visit to Lithuania, I came across some of the Eastern Europeans artists work. I only captured the best.
Brutal design
I hadn't planned to visit Vilnius but seeing as I was only one and a half hours away in Kaunas, I thought Id travel up there and see what going on. I wasn't really sure what Id expect to find but as long as it wasn't just uninteresting tourist related stuff then Id be happy. My first and only interesting find was what can only be described as a piece of brutal soviet influenced architecture. Concrete and grey this shocking attempt at design has all the typical characteristics of eastern European design minds gone mad. It was more about a statement of communism than a functional building.
The building and the surrounding land appeared to form part of a leisure complex that has clearly been left and now sits on the Vilnius landscape like a carbuncle. A shame really.
Female and strong
Jeannie, Jeannie, yellow and black
lying empty and waiting to embark.
Into the bay and round the mount
Real Cornish elm helping you out.
Oars in the water
oars in the air
powering through the salty swell
I was once called "Sally" and built by Peter
Im solid, Im solid there's is no mistake
of wood that is seasoned and designed to shape
My oars lie waiting for hands to grip
Im branded with white lettering
and "Mounts Bay" in black.
Come race me, come race me
in Cornish waters
and see if you have what you need to challenge me
Polaroid Spectra Giveaway
Don't miss out you lovely peeps on another cracking giveaway from Ray Larose. He's teamed up with Micheal Pretzsch who has kindly donated a sweet Polaroid Spectra plus 8 packs of Impossible colour/B&W film and a Tamrac camera bag. Cracking prize. What do I need to do? Well, follow this link and good luck. My submission is in! Fingers crossed
Radical Acts of Kindness - Budapest's Maffia
I spent some time recently with Budapest's Maffia. Armed with their bikes, they set about bring "Racial acts of kindness" to those less fortunate than ourselves. I refer to the Budapests homeless.Thank you to the girls at Casimir for publishing my article and thank you to Voltan & Kata for allowing me to join. Check out their web and Facebook links below:
www.bbm.hu/en
www.facebook.com
Salty tales from salty folk
A big thank you to those lovely Salty people at Salt Magazine for publishing the recent "foraged & free" piece I put together in and around the town of St Ives. These guys publish some great on line content from a selection of some very talented photographers. It's nice to be considered to sit along side these guys & girls that provide some inspiring work
Please keep up your salty work...
Keeping a visual
Along the coast there are extra eyes
keeping a visual on how we run our lives
checking the weather and routes we travel
on the seas and over the horizon
Our powerful optics record our visuals
noted down and filed religiously
to ensure we do what we’re told
completing the log of how our days unfold
St Ives, St Ives, this is our station
where Steve & Clive make their observations
keeping an eye on all that sails past
from hidden wrecks to rocky outcrops
We volunteer our time keeping our visuals
ensuring safe passage for ships & vessels
travelling our seas on business or pleasure
so make good your journey
and we'll bid you farewell
Go safely, go safely and remember this
we will keep watching
just in case there’s something a miss
www.nci-stives.org
Todays weapons of choice
I got myself this Petri 7s a few weeks back and haven't had chance to use it as yet. So, I thought why not try it with a roll of Kodaks Portra.
A cracking film offering a high speed with little noise. Great in low light situations,superb sharpness and unmatched colour saturations
As for the Petri, its another one of those "poor mans Leica" rangefinders we here about. It will never be a Leica but it will always be a good quality budget end rangefinder. I'll post the results..