Holiday Needed.

Events this week have conspired to show me, if I needed showing, that I'm nowhere near as tough as I once was. Professional confrontation with a colleague at work, something that I wouldn't normally think twice over, had me in emotional and physical knots. I hadn't felt as physically bad since 'that day'. The tension and upset triggered inside me from any confrontational events these days is a physical fact I can't ignore. I really can't afford to get angry. I found myself battling with myself internally, balancing reason against panic, telling myself it's just the upset, nothing more serious. I'm still here, I didn't worry anyone else but myself, so I guessed right. I don't want to experience that again, so the answer is clear: distance myself from such sources of stress. I don't need it. Time for a holiday.

Wedding Shoot

My in-law's daughter asked me to photograph her wedding so that's  what I was doing this Friday. I can't accept money from them so it's really more a wedding gift. They were lucky in that the weather was perfect, blue skies and warm. Shooting over five hundred pictures on my own took it out of me. That's one of the values of having an assistant, getting all those other shots you can't while you're busy organising all the groups and also to remind you of any shots you've missed. I've featured the wedding on our web site HERE.

I was sorely in need of a drink by the end of the day. My son-in law bought me a pint at the hotel reception bar and so did my youngest (who was one of the bridesmaids) and I enjoyed chatting with them sitting outside in the sunshine before they all went in for the evening meal in a beautifully outfitted room. Lots of nice photographic details here made for some nice atmospheric shots. I hadn't been invited for the meal, which meant I didn't have to stay and photograph all the speeches and dances deep into the night. Phew. I'd started shooting at 10am that morning, so by 5pm my feet were barking yet my voice was all but gone. 

Of the two shots above, the bottom monochrome shot was taken as a grab-shot using available light on the 50mm at f1.4 as she was having her hair done at home. It could be a studio shot, couldn't it? I've added a touch of grain for smoother tonality which I guess can only be seen in high definition. So why not go HERE to view this in HD? Hint: If you have a large screen, drag the browser window to fill the screen. They haven't seen this particular shot, I'm keeping it as a surprise wedding gift for them.

The top shot worked the best of the day's shoot because by then they were feeling pretty relaxed and it clearly shows. Taken at the hotel away from friends and relatives and beneath some beautiful cherry blossom, don't they look a picture? View this shot  in HD HERE. 

All shots taken on the Nikon D90.

Ansel Adams & Salgado

Getting to see two of the worlds most admired photographer's original work in one day was an immense pleasure. First off was Ansel Adams at the Maritime museum in Greenwich. This is the first time I had seen his huge monumental display pieces and earlier work, many of them small and postcard sized. By todays standard, the pictures shown (apart from three of the great classic shots) were disappointingly ordinary and many were very dull indeed. However, taking into account how and when they were created, they are of course delightful. I think most people, certainly the gallery, consider his work masterpieces, but the fact is, from what was on display here, there's really nothing all that particularly special about the pictures. I can't tell you how disappointed I was. Yes, he's captured spectacular scenes better than anyone else alive working under the huge technical limitations of his time, and that's a superb achievement. But when he wasn't shooting spectacular grand vistas, his pictures were, well, dull. Ordinary. I guess he's become a victim of progress, his work being more technical than artistic now looks dated and dull. Now you have to be reminded how hard it was to get those pictures back then, in order to better appreciate them. 

Salgado was all about today. His exhibition at the Natural History Museum was beautiful. The prints, large and superbly printed, gave astonishingly three-dimenshional depth to the monochrome images of landscapes and people, both separate and entwined. Here is a photographer that connects with his subjects, allowing the viewer to feel through the way he interprets and presents a scene, something of that connection. The picture above is one of my many favourites. The way the people are shown static, yet as if in a circular dance, like a ballet. The tones  are close, rich and detailed. I love the way he gives his images a film-look, using 'grain' to dapple and enhance the tones. In this way, he's moved his image 'style' created from his film days, into current digital capture. Even though he uses digital, and applies digital filters in order to blend both mediums, I don't have a problem with it. The resulting images work so well it's irrelevant. He writes his digital files to film and then prints on traditional silver based papers. Works for me. 

Edit:
I watched a Review where a critic wondered at the lack of information provided with each picture shown. There was no context or background info available, that's true. And, as the body of work is ostentatiously a document of the present, the style and presentation was overwhelmingly reverential of past photojournalism. Is there is a conflict here? In presenting the current world in a representational form and style of the past, is there an argument that suggests Salgado isn't really relevant to showing the world as it is today? I wonder. Maybe someone needs to cover the world in a style that is current, that reflects a contemporary value. Shot on an iPhone say. Less technically sublime perhaps but possibly more immediate and hence possibly more relevant. Is there a photographer out there doing this right now?  

Wicked Witch of the West

As a conservative government plant their late great leader at huge public expense amid unprecedented economic hardship that could be argued was wholly precipitated by her decisions whilst in government, I have to shake my head. Because my head is muddy, muddled and fuddled. As much by the ostentatious bravado of giving TBW a state funeral as by my illness. (tbw = That Bloody Woman)

I met her husband Denis in a professional manner while she was in power. A passing meeting, one where I had to get a few snaps of him and his sponsor at an event. Nothing special, but how the great and the good behave towards the insignificant is interesting and insightful. I don't know him of course, but from my little experience I came away with the firm impression of an arrogant and overbearing man preening in the reflected power of his wife. I rather think they were both of much the same nature. 

The picture above is of the sick table in the biohazard exclusion zone that is my bedroom. I've been flat on my back since Sunday. Hacking and coughing, sneezing, eyes streaming and throat constricting. Just a cold. But these days, colds lay me out. The concerned authorities, anxious that the ceremony going on in London shouldn't be infected, must have thrown a biohazard exclusion zone around the area, including stopping any radio waves that have surely stopped my worried sick daughters sending any sympathies. Only my wife has brought sustenance twice daily. At least I think it's my wife. Difficult to tell who it is that appears in that biohazard suite fitted with respirators, plexiglass gold reflective mask and thick rubber gloves. The hose down with cold water I have to admit is refreshing. Did you know it was only fifty years ago that TB patients in this country, often very young, were wheeled out and left in their beds outside on the veranda of the hospital in all weathers, even during winter, as the authorities believed fresh air helped... 

I might be sick, but I'm sicker of daytime TV. God. Cash in the Attic, Homes under the Hammer and Heir Hunters. It's enough to make the sick walk and turn off the telly. Then I discovered through sheer desperation, Radio 4 Extra... A digital channel tucked away in the outer nether regions of digital space. So now I'm listening to classic comedy radio, The Goon Show, Hancock's Half Hour and I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again as well as forgotten dramatisations for radio. But today these brilliant shows have competition from the comedy funeral going on in London. Decisions, decisions...

Salgado

One of my favourite photographers of all time is having an exhibition in London at the Natural History Museum. Sebastiao Salgado's black and white work is sublime. 

Famous for his people photography, he's now doing what appears to be a landscape project. Not so sure this work is as meritorious as his previous stuff, with one or two looking distinctly ordinary. But the beautiful mood he gets with his black and white shines through. I'm definitely going!  

Going Daffy

It's raining, cold and miserable  outside today. Again. Yesterday there was a glimpse of sun and it was slightly milder. So that was Spring I guess. So with nothing else to photograph, the daffs on the windowsill became it. 

Authors and Editors

Above a certain exclusive gentleman's club in London's SoHo lies the discreet offices of Unbound. No outward sign on building or door, you simply have to know the place exists and where, and that goes for the club as well. 

I was invited along to take the portrait of a new author who's book is about to be published in hard-back very soon. The club's bohemian interior was made available to me for the shoot. I was met by the editor of Unbound who is 'God' to her authors and I was really expecting a rather authoritarian matriarchal type of woman. Instead she turned out to be a charming and beautiful ten year old girl. (That's her, above right. Yes, I know she's not ten, but any woman under thirty, to me now seems terribly young).

Edward, the new first-time author of Conversations With Spirits, turned up in tweeds, brogues and cravat, so the club ambiance suited him very well. The light was very dim however and, as it was spring and hence snowing, so the already dark interior sank into near blackness, making life difficult for a photographer who prefers to shoot with available light and no tripod. 

I have no idea if they will use any of the shots, that's up to them. But the word is they liked them. But then again, they are very polite people...

 And the sweet face of 'God'...

New Baby, New Dad.

Re-worked for hi-def viewing, softer and less harsh than the original. Best viewed  here.

Railway Men

As this weather is so damned cold, I've resorted to re-visiting pictures that aren't 'right' somehow, and having another 'go' at them. This one was particularly difficult as it was shot into the light and had huge dark and light areas to contend with. Originally I concentrated on trying to preserve all the detail, but this time I've said, 'sod it' and just gone for the facial expression of the main man and let everything else blow out. I've also increased the background out of focus areas to better concentrate the eye on this man. 

As most people now have large screen monitors, 1x.com is allowing high-resolution images and auto-scaling your browser so as to fit the image to your screen. Drag your browser window to full screen and the image re-sizes to a maximum of 2500 resolution pixels along the longest side. 

I'm busy uploading high-res images there. I'm really enjoying viewing all the stuff in high-res (if they've been uploaded as such). For instance, this image on blogger is only 800 pixels resolution, but check the image on 1x via this link.

The Fourth Emergency Service

That'll be me, then.

My youngest phoned early this morning after a night of vomiting and stuff. "Help," she croaked... So I said I'd be right over and then I saw what was outside. Snow. It's spring for God's sake! However, being a man and naturally a hero, I slithered and slipped down the road to her house and spent the morning babysitting the boy while she talked on the Great White Telephone. If it's a virus, I'm not looking forward to making the same call...

A New Life

My niece finaly gave birth yesterday after a number of miscarriages to her first baby, in a natural birth, after 36 hours labour and a visit to the operating theatre, to Henry. Weighing 2.4 kilos and three weeks early, at one day old he already has a firm grip on life.  

She is Serenity

I've come back to this image a couple of times and I've never been that happy with the results. So had another go. I think this works better and it's about as good as I can get from it. Just tilting the frame adds some dynamic, is less static and more visually pleasing. I think...