Pigs dont fly, breakdancers do!!!

This is possibly the greatest shoot I have ever done.

That's not to say that I'm not proud of my wedding shoots, family shoots etc or even things that I like to photograph as part of this awesome hobby.

I grew up with Chris, he was my best mate for years. He attended an after school dance group and from there went off to study dance (I'm sure it had a better or more prestigious name) for further education.

After he told me via Facebook that he was back in the village for a short while I new I had to get some shots of him dancing. From the get go, I had the vision of freezing him mid air during a flip, well that's a tick on the check list.

Shots were a balance of ambient light coming from the evening and night sky and artificial light from speedlite flash guns.

Here I will admit that the shots are not perfect; unwanted shadows, composition woes, underexposure for starters. However, Im still incredibly chuffed with the shots.

Shadows are difficult to manage considering the subject is forever moving, there's nothing stopping a leg or arm from blocking the face when breaking.

Focusing and following a moving dancer in near dark is difficult, the only time I know I have a good shot is when I take the shot and the flash's light the scene.

Exposure, well it gets dark quickly, and so I was forever playing with the lights to adjust power.

I would really like to do another shoot like this, not only cause the shots are cool, id also like to do it for practice alone; so many settings to perfect. I love the technical stuff.

Kings Lynn on a windy night in October

Another shoot around Kings Lynn at night.

Kings Lynn has a lot to offer when it comes to photography, especially old buildings and narrow streets.

That's what I was going for on this night.

It was a windy and wet day though which is never good for long exposures as you watch the camera shake around on the tripod during a 20 second shot.

So each shot took a couple of takes waiting for the wind to take a break.

I used small apertures, around f/11 to f/14 to achieve starbursts from the street lights.

In hindsight I should of shaded the lens a little more with my hands to prevent lens flare, however I had my hands in my pockets as they were cold....I've got to look after number 1 after all.

Black and white, as per usual was the way to go.

From the streets of Norwich and Great Yarmouth. Yeah on the streets!

This is the 2nd instalment of photos from my few days away out in Norfolk; Norwich and Yarmouth.

These ones are ; Street Photography and Street Art.

Street Photography, on Wikipedia, is described as; "Street photography is photography that features the human condition within public places and does not necessitate the presence of a street or even the urban environment. The subject of the photograph might be absent of people and can be an object or environment where the image projects a decidedly human character in facsimile or aesthetic."

Everyone knows what Street Art is, think Banksy, think posh graffiti.

The Bicycle Shop, Norwich, doesn't sell bicycles......crazy!

 



Say no more

Something worth looking at



Tune in next time.

Converse(ation) in Great Yarmouth

See what I did there? I haven't just miss spelt and used brackets all wily nilly for nothing.

We went to Norwich and Great Yarmouth, Norfolk last week for a few days. Plenty of photography happened so here's a few of the shots taken from those days.

My next blog posts will be about this trip but ill talk about different subjects in different posts.

Going for something a little different here, I focused on our shoes.

No.....I do not have a shoe or foot fetish!.............no thanks.

The first shots were taken during our favourite pastime; Bowlingo.
Fun for £1 each has got to be had.

ISO100, 96mm, f5.6, 1/80

ISO100, 105mm, f5.6, 1/80

The next which were both a laugh and real annoying to take were taken that night on my little Fuji X20 (that's what the man bag was for Matt).

These ones were taken by sitting on the floor, focusing, using the 10 second timer and then running into the shot. The annoying part came from getting in the right place and the focusing shifting.

ISO 320, 28mm f2.2, 1/6

ISO 320, 28mm f2.2, 1/20

ISO 320, 28mm f2.2, 1/30

ISO 320, 28mm f2.2, 1/18

We also gave all the passers by a smile as they all wondered what the hell we were doing.

 

And I was a little paranoid about leaving my camera on the floor and turning my back to it.

 





Thanks for looking.

What's left of the DFV factory, Holbeach

I remember buying a hockey stick from here when I started 'big' school.

2008, the site had been left empty for a short number of years before someone decided to have a little fire in the month of August, it must of been a cold summer to need to light a fire. Since 2008, the site has been left empty still with the scarred remains of the buildings that once were.

I've been thinking about taking a look for a couple of years now, so my usual free time of a Saturday morning in the month of May was the date and time for the trip. Hardly a trip, its only about 10 miles from my house.

Its easy to get into, just climb over a mound of mud used to block the entrance to the site. Once over the top your met by a larger building to the left that is still intact and a building to the right that is a pile of bricks and charred wooden remains.

The larger building to the right seems to be either home to tramps or a den for youths as there is graffiti on the walls, make shift seats/beds, a fire pit and empty bottles of White Lightning cider everywhere.

ISO 100, 86mm, f4.5, 1/400

ISO 100, 200mm, f3.5, 1/1250

Inside the skeletal remains of the other building were some great textures of the burnt wood and as you push your feet around the debris on the floor you find remnants of old hockey balls, sticks and goal keeper pads.

ISO 100, 105mm, f5.0, 1/60

ISO 200, 9mm, f5.6, 1/25

ISO 500, 105mm, f5.6, 1/25

ISO 100, 105mm, f7.1, 1/100

ISO 100, 24mm, f6.3, 1/400

ISO 500, 105mm, f/5.0, 1/25

ISO 100, 80mm, f5.0, 1/200

ISO 100, 200mm, f5.0, 1/200

ISO 100, 200mm, f5.0, 1/2000
Look closely and you'll see that a fly is hard at work typing

ISO 100, 200mm, f4.0, 1/500

ISO 100, 70mm, f4.0, 1/800
Fancy a seat?

ISO 100, 128mm, f4.0, 1/800

ISO 100, 70mm, f3.2, 1/250.
Anyone got any bog roll?

ISO160, 200mm, f2.8, 1/100
Great light.
This foliage covered the floor of the larger building.

When leaving the site a lady from across the road came out to speak to me. Warning me of the dangers of entering the site; falling debris, glass on the floor etc. She said kids are always playing on the site and that she has seen/heard people in there at night, which backs up my idea on the den/home. She did also say though that deers and foxes are quite often seen in the early hours.

Shooting in the walks, Kings Lynn, with Taj

I text Taj saying I was going to the Walks in Kings Lynn to take some shots. He was supposed to bring his camera too but he forgot......oh well, that gave me something to take photos of; Him.

Before I met Taj I had 10 minutes or so of time to myself so I strolled around and got one of my favourite shots that ive taken recently.

This guy was walking about 10 steps ahead of me and then sat down on empty bench listening to his tunes with his legs crossed. I see Taj arrive as I walked behind this guy on the bench and gave him the shush signal. I new I couldn't be long and mess round with trial and error of exposure settings, I decided on my exposure and took the shot.

24-105L, 70mm, F5.6, 1/80, ISO160

I love the posts sticking up on the left of the image balanced by the guy on the right.

Maybe I should of tapped him on the shoulder and said "alright mate, I just took a picture of the back of your head".

But I didn't.

So Taj and I went over to the red mount to make the most of the textured bricks and doors as backgrounds.

As always, these days, my Sigma 70-200 was the lens of choice and I also attached a Nissin di866ii flash for some fill light in the shadows and catch light in the eyes.



70-200, 91mm, F5, 1/100, ISO250

Ever the cool dude

70-200, 70mm, F5, 1/200, ISO800

70-200, F5, 1/640, ISO1250

My favourite shot of Taj, I like the grain added by choosing a higher ISO, the tilt (gotta love them tilts) and the pose, although Taj did complain that it wasn't comfortable.

70-200, F5, 1/200, ISO400

70-200, F5, 1/200, ISO400

70-200, F5, 1/80, ISO160

Ive had an idea for a little project of frame filling face portraits, here's my first.