Jan 2009
Starlings Above (Part Two)
30/01/09 16:09 Post: Personal Work
Taken at 04:33pm in Blackpool, UK. Thursday 29th January 2009.
This black and white photograph is the latest addition to my on-going personal project documenting starlings in flight. Photographing natural subjects like starlings requires a great deal of patience as you never quite sure what they may do next. I usually find the best way to approach them is to compose the image the way you want it and then hope that they will do something rather spectacular within the frame (which doesn’t always happen!). They also demand that you think quickly on your feet as they are often unpredictable and incredibly fast in flight. Each time I see starlings in Blackpool I always try to record a different aspect to them and, in this particular image, I’ve focussed upon them feeding on the beach.The image also shows a little bit more of the environmental setting that this natural phenomenon occurs, which is something I feel is slightly lacking in some of the other photographs I’ve taken for the series.
My recently updated Starlings gallery includes this new photograph alongside another black & white photograph that I took during the same afternoon.
Technical Information
Camera: Canon EOS 40D Digital SLR
Lens: Canon EF-S 17mm - 85mm IS USM
ISO: 800
Focal Length: 44mm
Shutter Speed: 1/125th sec
F-Stop: f/5.6
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The Winter Gardens
25/01/09 07:47 Post: Blackpool Vistas
Taken at 02:19pm in Blackpool, UK. Thursday 22nd January 2009.
The Winter Gardens is home to Europe's second largest theatre (the Opera House) and is one of Blackpool’s most treasured historical buildings. It opened in 1878 and has seen the likes of Frank Sinatra, Shirley Bassey and a host of West End theatre productions over the years. I’ve seen several gigs (including The Arctic Monkeys and The Subways) there and I also had the job of photographing NALGAO’s three-day conference throughout the venue back in October 2008. Although the interior decor needs sprucing up and looking after, I personally think that it’s still one of the town’s better assets.
I took this photograph from the top level of the recently regenerated Hounds Hill Shopping Centre car park. I’d always struggled to get the shot I wanted of the exterior of the Winter Gardens because there simply wasn’t a high enough vantage point to produce something more interesting from the usual images you see of the building. The new car park at the Hounds Hill helped me to overcome this problem and, at the same time, offered the chance to see Blackpool’s town centre from a completely new perspective.
I’ve recently re-edited my series of photographs for the Blackpool project to include some new photographs and (hopefully) make it a stronger set of images.
This can be seen by visiting the ‘Blackpool: An Unimagined Space?’ gallery.
Technical Information
Camera: Canon EOS 40D Digital SLR
Lens: Canon EF-S 17mm - 85mm IS USM
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 26mm
Shutter Speed: 1/80th sec
F-Stop: f/16
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Coney Island : A Seagull's Playground
07/01/09 14:02 Post: Travel
Taken at 01:06pm in Coney Island, USA. Saturday 31st March 2007.
Today I thought I’d post this photograph that I shot during a day trip to Coney Island in 2007. While I was writing my MA dissertation on contemporary views about Blackpool I came across an article written by J.K Walton entitled ‘The People’s Playground’ which discuss the similarities between Blackpool & Coney Island. They were both mecca’s for working class popular entertainment in their hey-day, but what had become of them now? Well, I went for the today during a week long trip to New York City in March 2007 to find out for myself. I love going to places that I’ve never gone to before, yet Coney Island felt rather familiar to me. Perhaps this was due to the reminisce of by by-gone era all around and its seaside locality. If Blackpool should be twinned with any other town in the world it should be Coney Island. There is an interesting blog article on the Coney Island Blog ‘Kinetic Carnival’, which offers some interesting thoughts on the Coney Island/Blackpool debate.
This photograph shows the Playland building occupying a space on what is now derelict wasteland, while in the foreground several seagulls fly up and out of the frame. I only recently started work on this photograph after finding it during another look at my New York photographs from 2006 & 2007. Sometimes its best to go back to what you’ve shot before with a fresh pair of eyes and I think I’ve found one of my favorite images from the day. More photographs from my trips to New York City can be found in the portfolio section of this website.
On another note, I’ve just added a list of useful links relating to my photography practice.
Take a look if you so wish.
Technical Information
Camera: Canon EOS 20D Digital SLR
Lens: Canon EF-S 17mm - 85mm IS USM
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 85mm
Shutter Speed: 1/200th sec
F-Stop: f/14
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Victoria Peak
04/01/09 19:09 Post: Travel
Taken at 09:49am in Hong Kong. Saturday 29th November 2008.
Victoria Peak (known locally as The Peak) is a popular destination for tourists as it offers spectacular views of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon & Victoria Harbour. I took this photograph from the new sky terrace at the top of the peak and spent a good hour enjoying the wonderful view and taking lots of photographs. Going to Victoria Peak was certainly one of the highlights of the trip as the view was simply stunning. I went early in the morning and took one of the first trams to the summit (which meant there were very few tourists to get in the way of the me taking the photographs I wanted to take). I always make an effort to get the highest vantage point that I can and Victoria Peak certainly didn’t disappoint. You can see many of Hong Kong’s most prominent buildings from the peak (such as The Bank of China Tower & the International Finance Centre). I thought that New York City was a fantastic city to photograph but I’m starting to think Hong Kong could now give it a run for my money! I took enough photographs to make a massive panorama of the view from The Peak that I’m hoping to start work on this month.
In other news, I’m really pleased to announce that I’m going to be a North West artist represented by Visual For Business which is “a unique and flexible service from Arts & Business bringing high quality contemporary art to businesses”. If your interested to learn more about Visual please do take the time to view their website. I will have my own profile on their site in the near future, so I’ll post any further details here on my blog as soon as I know more.
Technical Information
Camera: Canon EOS 40D Digital SLR
Lens: Canon EF-S 17mm - 85mm IS USM
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 17mm
Shutter Speed: 1/100th sec
F-Stop: f/10
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