ON THE STREET

As I have mentioned before I have become completely intrigued by street photography and it is a direction I would like to explore more. Armed with my camera one cold and miserable day, I decided to give it a go and ventured up to a local inner city market. However, the results were less than satisfactory. I was very conscious of the fact that people were looking at me with suspicion while I was taking photographs. I eventually lost my nerve to continue after being cornered by two stall owners who thought I was a reporter! I had a great chat with them and I know they were only curious to what I was doing, but I just couldn't continue. Hopefully once my confidence as a photographer grows, I will be able to return back there again.

I found these websites and got some very helpful tips.

http://erickimphotography.com/blog/category/street-photography-tips/

http://www.digital-photography-school.com/urban-landscape-photography-tips

SMALL LIVES

While strolling around the city centre to try and find inspiration for my photography I stumbled upon this fabulous exhibition in the National Library of Ireland in Meeting House Square. The exhibition features a collection of images featuring children in Ireland right back to the 1880's. Well worth a visit.


http://www.nli.ie/en/list/latest-news.aspx?article=9a5ca3db-67a3-4c49-bebc-470ac06b10ae

IN THE DARKROOM (PART 2)

Some more of my prints ....

From the 'Occupy Dame Street' protest

This is actually one of my favourite pieces of Graffiti so I just had to photograph it

Swans near Portobello Bridge

I just love the way its signposted!!

HELMUT NEWTON

During my visit to Berlin we came across the Museum fur Fotographie quite by accident and as photography students we felt we just had to visit - it was after all 'Fate' that we stumbled across it in the first place! Part of the Museum houses the Helmut Newton Foundation which permanently stages 'Helmut Newton's Private Property' which includes infamous images from the photographer aswell as personal artifacts. There was an additional exhibition on while we were there showcasing Helmut Newton Polaroids. Helmut Newton started using Polaroids in the 1970's especially for his fashion shoots in order to see immediately how the shoot would look in terms of lighting and composition The exhibition included over 300 images based on original Newton polaroids including notes from the photographer himself.  Wonderful insight into an iconic photographer.

More information available at: http://www.smb.museum/smb/standorte/index.php?lang=en&p=2&objID=6124&n=4&r=4



Helmut Newton: Thierry Mugler, Polaroid, Monte Carlo 1998
© Helmut Newton Estate

ICH BIN EIN BERLINER

I had the good fortune to spend four incredible days in Berlin last week. As this was a first visit for me I embarked on a four hour walking tour of the city on an unpredictably sunny November morning through all the major historical and memorial sites. I was fascinated and enthralled the whole way through!

Some of the shots from the walk:

Memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe

                       The Berlin Wall - hard to believe sometimes that this only came down in 1989

Memorial for the Burning of the Books - the empty bookshelves representing the books that were destroyed.

The Museum in front of which the infamous Nazi rallies were staged

PINHOLE PHOTOGRAPHY

As part of our third exercise we have been asked to do a self portrait without a lens be it using a pinhole camera, a photogram, scanner or photocopier.
I made a pinhole camera from an iPhone box by drilling a hole into the centre and sanding it down. There was no need to blacken the box using paint spray as the box is already light tight. I cut a square piece of a Coke can and with a sharp needle pierced a small hole - the smaller the better - and sanded this down so there were no rough edges. I stuck this on to the inside of the box in the centre of the drilled hole with black electrical tape I put another piece of electrical tape on the outside to cover the pinhole - my shutter.
More tips on how to make a pinhole from Youtube link below.

http://youtu.be/KmJznKe4jpI

Tips for Pinhole photography:

• Always take the photo outside and on a day where the light is contstant - make sure the sun isn't shining directly at your pinhole. 
• A pinhole gives a wide angle so go closer to the subject.
• Don't hold the camera as it won't work - too much shake.
• When you get a print and are looking at your negative if it is:
• Too dark - was exposed to too much light
• Too light - wasn't exposed enough to light (or you put the paper in the wrong way, just don't admit it !!!)
• Streaks - possibly a light leak.
• Blurry - camera shake or the pinhole could be too big for the focal length of the box/camera (the focal length is the distance from the pinhole to the opposite side of the box/camera).
• To make a positive image from the negative put the photographic paper glossy side up and place the negative face down . Put a sheet of glass over the two so that they are flat and in direct contact with each other. Expose to white light. If the image is:
• Too dark - was exposed to too much light
• Too light - wasn't exposed enough to light (or you put the paper in the wrong way- and AGAIN just don't admit it !!!)

IN THE DARK ROOM

The film was processed, the negatives were cut and ready to go and the first adventure of processing was about to begin. I assembled my darkroom kit and marched off to the darkrrom to print the results of my photographic endeavors. I chose my enlarger, became familiar with my little workspace and selected the negative that I was going to print. What was missing? I had left my photographic paper and filters neatly stacked on the kitchen table - not a great start to the evening! Thankfully a very generous fellow student let me borrow some of his paper. The result being my very first print, and one of many, in the darkroom.

PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE ....

The first semester of the photography course is all about going back to basics. Beautiful black and white photography using the tried and tested 35mm manual Film camera. In this 'technological world' that we now inhabit, the whole idea of not being able to scrutinise every single photo in an instant takes a little getting used to. The snap happy days are being replaced by carefully selecting a shot, manually adjusting your aperture and shutter speed and taking note of how the light is falling in the vain hope that you will get images worth printing! The funny thing is was that I grew up using a film camera, all be it an automatic one, so I should have been used to carefully choosing the composition that I wanted to photograph so as not to waste the film! Even the most basic element of loading the film caused me great anxiety and I spent the whole time shooting my first film worrying that my film would turn out blank - it didn't but on loading the next film I had to 'Youtube' instructions to make sure I did it right.
But patience is a virtue. Going back to film does take a little time to get used to but with each shot you gain more confidence and you start to visualise how each image will turn out. And the best part is, when you develop your film and you do get a nice print, it really is worth the wait!




Picture of my first 35mm camera


I have included the link from Youtube on how to load film into a 35mm camera - hope you find it as useful as I did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF084kcFZHE