Kittens!

So last week I went to Istanbul, a city where cats and dogs just roam free. At first this idea seemed quite nice but then I'm a cat person. When I got there and saw the state some of the animals my mind was quickly changed.

This litter of kittens photographed was found in the Book Bazaar..

You'll see as you look closely that this kitten was perhaps the healthiest of the three featured.

And this one perhaps the least healthy..

Meanwhile this one really pulled at my heart strings, as shortly after taking this shot it followed me to the above two.

...And then curled up fell asleep on my foot.

I would have loved to have been able to pick up these little cuties and just bring them home with me. 

Street Portrait 2

When you think that this gentleman's target audience is children, for a balloon seller he does not look most impressed. In fact, I'd argue that he looked bored and fed up, not at all impressed with his job.

For me however, this is a good thing. Check out the photo..

In my opinion this photo would be much less interesting if the guy was smiling. He just appears to be standing there for the sake of it, not because he enjoys it and considering how colourful the photo is the mood isn't overly bright.

On another note, is there anybody out there that wants portraits doing over the Easter period? Get in touch and let me know so we can arrange something. I have three weeks free to photograph.

Street Portrait

How often do you see the men stood outside shops whilst their partners are shopping?

Very often. Yes.

I hit Birmingham City Centre with my camera and decided to photograph these people and grab a cheeky portrait from them. This is what I got.

This gentleman was waiting for his wife, he didn't want to be snapped with his glasses on but I caught him as he took them off. I just love this shot, I think a lot of his character comes through.

Street portraits are something I will be shooting more and more in the coming weeks as I intend on getting a project out that is just photographing the interesting people I come across whilst out and about.

Also, I have three weeks with no set shooting or work timetable, if anybody wants a photo session, please get in touch and we can arrange something.

One Day My Flash Will Kill Me...

So, yesterday I went back up to Hesters Way, my fifth visit. you'd think I was getting used to being there and stop being so scared. Well, no. Especially when I took my flash with me.. I thought I was going to die. But that turned out just to be my own paranoia. Silly me!

Unfortunately two of the shots I was hoping to get had gone, those shopping trolleys I was hoping for had been returned to Sainsbury's sadly. So all that time I spent in Tesco's car park practising my shopping trolley shots with the flash were pointless. I should probably apologise here to James who I dragged with me all that way - Sorry.

I do love the way the colours pop on this, they look so vibrant.

However, I do think I got some decent shots elsewhere with my flash instead, my favourite three being these:

This one is my absolute favourite from the shoot, the pink looks even brighter on the photo than it did in real life on the fence.

You might have already seen a very similar shot to this one, but I prefer this one. It was very difficult to get my flash to bring the green "Adam" out and this was the best I could do but I like it. I think it works rather well.

And again, I've posted a much further out shot of this tyre before now but I think this image really brings out the buts of grit and dirt from where the tyre has been sat for so long. 

So that was my adventure with flash. I didn't get any grief at all, which I was surprised about after my first visit when I got a lot of abuse. I must have just chosen a bad day then. 

Another Quicky

I'm coming to the end of the Photojournalist project I've been working on so starting to edit my final images. Admittedly I still have one shoot I need to do but that's all planned.

I showed you one edit yesterday, of the sign. Today I have some trees for you.

The original.

The edited version.

I've made the crop much tighter on this image as I think it looks quite sparce in the frame otherwise and I've given the reds a push to make the leaves more vibrant. I much prefer the second version of the image. 

This afternoon I'm off to the University's annual Tea Dance, photographing for Space again. I'm really rather excited. 

Hesters Way, Take Two/Three

Do you remember my first shoot at Hesters Way? The one that went a bit wrong and was really rubbish? No, well you should see it here. I've been back twice since then, one of those times I didn't have my laptop so you'll just have to have two updates at once about this project.

#1

The depth of field on this image makes the patch of grass in the background seem very large and empty.

Slightly underexposed but that's why I like this one as it starts to look over the estate. 

Gunna take my flashgun back with me to get this shot again, make the colours "pop".

If I slightly crop in to this shot I think it will be better as I'll make it more symmetrical.

This photo isn't very good but I have to go back and take my flash gun with me to get a photo of the trolleys a bit closer up.

#2

You can't really see it in this photo but in the top left windows of this house there is a line of knitted dolls. I used to have a clown made just like these. 

It's wonky but I like it and with a little straightening I think it will be fine. 

I really like the way the sign stands out here without the use of flash because of the white line surrounding it.

How warm and autumny do these trees make this shot? I think the colours are lovely. 

Now I just have to find time to go back with my flashgun.. and a bodyguard.

Youtube Share

Have you heard of Bruce Gilden? He's a street photographer for Magnum photo, based in New York. This youtube video of an interview with him is really interesting, his way of working is very abrupt. It's well worth a watch.