Moscow - A different view

When Im traveling, I tend to shoot stuff that others might not see. Im not really interested in the normal tourist shots of buildings and scenery you might associate with the city or country your visiting. I like to find something different that often just comes to me. Street photography works where ever you are. Sit around for a while and look at what surrounds you. Sometimes it can be the simpliest of things that makes you lift your camera and take that potential shot.
A recent visit to Moscow gave me that different view. A street view…

Moscow - A different view

Moscow is full of colour, street art and much much more. We often associate Russia as been rather dark and oppressive. Thats not the case. Some areas are off limits and the security is tight but general speaking you can point your camera and shoot in most places. The art of “street photography” is be seen but not be seen if you know what I mean. Tourists can be a good subject matter to focus on as they are unaware of you as they shoot away

What I saw of Moscow was a clean modern city. There was no real evidence of past brutal soviet architecture here just a rich westernised developed city thats been cleaned of every element of homelessness, begging and graffiti you might see in other large cities around the world. All part of Putins vision. The odd old women beggar can be seen from time to time in the most popular haunts, but thats about it. Everywhere I travelled I felt safe and at ease

Ektar - I wish I'd discovered it earlier

I came across some friends work recently and loved how the film he used delivered great colour and fine grain. It was clear from the images I saw that this wasn’t a film stock Id seen or comes across before. The film stock in question was Kodaks Ektar 35. Now, vivid colour is something I love to shoot and incorporate into my work so it was time to try a roll out myself. The results, well, Im super chuffed with them. There are all what I expected and more.

Now as you can see from the images above, the colour is punchy and vivid and the grain is super fine. Its a film that lends itself to bold colours and detail. When shooting my first roll of Ektar, I made sure I targeted bold colourful subjects to get the best out of it. At the same time, I thought Id try a few other options such as portrait and interiors. As you see, Ektar also offers some nice rich tones too and delivers on that front as well.

To summerize then. Is it a film that Im going to be using on a regular basis? Hell, yes… Its also a film id be keen to try out on Medium Format. Given how good it is and the right subject matters and light, I feel pretty sure it will deliver on all counts. Watch this space

The Ten Shot Project is live !!!

The Ten Shot Project is now live. Ten shots, one theme, chosen by you. It’s a analogue based project with no pixels here. For those of you who answered our call, we thank you. What you’ve done for the project is provide us with a diverse and interesting collection of images.

Our logo represents the letter 10 in a minimal yet abstract form. The added red dot represents the proximity sensor, which completes the visual reference to the camera icon. The Ten Shot Project will continue to evolve and we’ll be adding new features along the way. You can find us on line as well as on Instagram. If you’re interested in submitting your work, we’d love to hear from you. Check out our submission page. We welcome you all.

Glossy and glamorous

When your considering buying a new camera these days, on line seems to be the first port of call when looking into whats on offer. They all look very much the same in their appearance and when you get round to purchasing the one your after, its turns up and its all very nice I guess. No glossy brochures or lovely looking manuals anymore. Just a downloadable link for a black and white option.

That wasn’t always the case though. If you go back to the days when it was just analog camera’s for sale, the clever marketeers of the world would entice you in by offering glossy brochures promoting their camera’s. Good looking women, happy families at the beach, blue skies, models galore etc etc.

A classic example of that was this Hasselblad 500 /CM brochure. The beautiful women leads you in as if you were the lucky man behind the lens. The marketeers of the period seemed to pitch their campaign towards the male only element of photography by embracing the camera itself with large manly hands. Somewhat sexist to a degree I reckon but that seemed to be the sales direction at the time.

What this brochure has become though is retro, old school in its design but at the same time, still very attractive to the end user. I love it…

"a day in the life of a"

18 months ago, I set about putting together the ”a day in the life of a “ project. The narrative/idea behind this project was to shoot and document individuals who live and work by the coast. At the time, I thought the project might have some legs to it but I was never really sure to what level. The overwhelming interest since setting this project up has gone through the roof. When I started to dig a little deeper, I soon realised that the projects lifespan was endless in terms on its content as there are so many interesting people out there. The project will continues to evolve week by week and month by month as I add further content.

Read the full stories of those who live and work by the coast here: www.adayinthelifeofa.co.uk/ourlives/

the 10 shot project....

Im constantly looking for new ideas and projects to shoot at the moment. I generally start with a rough idea in my head, then look on line for some further inspiration and then think how I might display that project. However, this project needed to be about other photographers rather than me. Its also a project I wanted to share and it was super easy to find someone to collaborate with, Gareth Morton. A cracking film photographer who will bring a wealth of his knowledge to the project.

So, here’s the idea I came up with. The “ten shot project”. Ten shots, one theme, chosen by yourself and then submitted for review by way of our site. A social platform where we can share your work for all to see.

www.thetenshotproject.co.uk

Im trying.....

When I set about putting this project together, imaging was never my concern in terms of the finished result, it was always the writing/copy aspect of it that I feared the most. Writing for me doesn’t come easily . I know what I want to say but when it comes down to banging the copy out, It takes me a huge amount of time to put these stories together. Ive had to learn and learn fast. I have a supportive other half that corrects and proof reads the final drafts but its down to me to rely these stories to you guys. Along the way I sort guidance and help from others that write for a living and thats been quite helpful. Lizzie aka “The Cornish Bird” offered me advice as well as suggested a few individuals that might work for the project.
A big thank you to Lizzie and to my other half and to those of you who have corrected me along the way. RD

The "Power Geek" 35mm film

No doubt you’ll remember the £1 film that Poundland so kindly gave us. The Agfa Vista 200. Well, it appears that Poundland noticed the sales success of that film so much that they have decided to produce a film of their own, the “Power Geek 35mm film” . Thats how they’ve branded it !! Not a huge amount of information on the packaging other than ISO 200, CN-16 processing and 10 exposures, yes, 10 exposures. That leads me to believe that these films might of been destine for the disposable camera market judging by the plastic casing they sit in. I reckon Poundland bought up the stock and badged themselves.

I contacted Poundland direct to see if I can get any more info on the films stock but their email back gave me nothing other than the info that’s on the box - not very helpful really. Anyway, Ive rolled off a few shots to give you some indication of colour and quality and the results are pretty good if Im honest. The enclosed images were shot on the lovely little point and shoot Olympus Trip 35mm, a David Bailey favourite.

There's more to Levy than meets the eye

Step aside, step aside, I urge you please, distance yourselves from what the tourists see
Harbour views isn’t just coffee and cake, stainless steel fittings and posh fish and chips
Look further, look further, there’s more to be seen, Porthlevens beauty isn’t just skin deep.

Harboured boats, such as “Sharon Tracey”, granite steps and multi coloured bunting,
rusting ladders, piles of ropes, sea defences protected by big black guns.
Porthleven, Porthleven there’s so much to see, beyond the facade of cornish cream teas.

There’s colour everywhere, in different forms, from window displays to murals on walls.
seagulls, even a black and white bull and cow, keeping an eye on us and looking rather profound.
Red curtains hiding some galvanised steps, a closed container and a place to rest
Porthleven, Porthleven, you’ve so much to offer, just look around more and then discover the other,
look further, look further than the end of your nose,
and you’ll see how Levy begins to unfold

Don’t forget the pier in its granite splendour, view it from angles that local postcards don’t cover,
victorian railings, deep brown in colour, guard those who wish to go much further,
mix up with film to give a different prospective
on how Levys pier will look when it’s printed.

Porthleven, Porthleven, its a pleasure to shoot you,
when you see something else that the normal might not do

RD

First roll of TMax

Im a massive fan of black and white film but Ive never shot a roll of Kodaks Tmax 400 before. I generally swing towards Ilfords HP5 & FP4. They’ve delivered for me time after time but more recently Ive seen some decent imaging using Tmax so enclosed are a few examples of the results I got. All shot on my Hassy 500 and the roll was expired - 2009

I think Tmax lends itself well to portrait shots and lower light levels where these images were taken. I like the fine grain it gives but I think I’ll need to shoot a few more rolls first to see if Im convinced that its a regular film for me.

Skate - re discovering what Id lost

Its been a number of years since Ive shot skate on a commercial or leisure basis. A passion I thought Id lost until this weekend. A meeting with the king of old school skate earlier in the week, Mr Matt Perham pushed me on. We had a chat about old times and decided that it was time to re kindle the buzz we both use to get laying down a trick and capturing it. The thing I remember most about Matt and how we use to shoot was we shot and rode stuff thats others didn’t and rode lines that other couldn’t, something Matt was ace at and still is

So, the location - thats was so obvious given the fact that we had access to one of the best indoor skate venues in the country, Mount Hawke. Hours before the park opened Matt and I sessioned the place. Matts not like any other skaters Ive shot. He knows what tricks he wants to put down the night before plus a little of adlib thrown into the mix and dials them back to back. A bit a machine if Im honest and a real pleasure to shoot. Today you resorted my faith in shooting skate again Matt. May there be many more days……

Enclosed are a selection of a few of the shots we put together. No flashes, no photoshop, no lightroom just real images shot the way it should be, real and grainy…. Camera: Leica Q & Leica M6.

Cheers to Ciaran & Alex for sorting it…

Finally, into print....

Ive been shooting various print based media over the years on the digital front and have been happy with the  published results. Im given a brief, shoot it then submit the images to the magazine editors. Then it goes off to the design team and then between them they select the images that best suit the feature/brief requirements. All of which are always digital images which Im happy to provide. However, lately Ive been dropping a few medium format images into the mix to see if the guys pick up on their value. I don't mention Ive added film shots to the digital ones Ive submitted, I just like to see if they pick up on the quality of those images. It doesn't have to be megapixel quality, it really doesn't. Medium format images or 35mm images if they are well shot and composed can deliver.....

Finally its paid off. Admittedly its only one shot but its in the magazine. Result....


Camera: Hasselblad 500 C/M  Film: Fujichrome Velvia 100 - expired