First Book Publication

I'm absolutely delighted to have finally published my first photobook, called Sandringham: Walks With My Human. I self-published it under the 'HaVe' name, using the online publishing company, Blurb (the book can be viewed online by clicking on the Blurb link). I have been working on the images for the book for several months (a bit at a time - fitting in the work around my day-job, studies, and other photographic projects), so it was in some way a relief to finally see it in print. Blurb have, once again, delivered an excellent product, and the book now holds pride of place on my bookshelf (albeit over-shadowed by the exhalted company of the 'professional' photobooks on display).

The completion of the book is a key moment in my life. It is something I have wanted to do for a long time, and to sustain a project for a long period of time in order to collect the images was a real lesson in concentration and dedication to an idea. It was also an incredibly useful exercise in choosing what images to display, in what order, and in what format/size. I'm not saying that I have got it completely right, but it is certainly the first step on a long ladder of learning on which I wish to climb. Whilst the project may never see the light of day (in terms of an exhibition), it has provided the motivation to work on future, long-term projects, which I hope to one day exhibit and publish professionally.

Wedding Shoot

It's been an incredibly busy couple of months, during which I have completed a large piece of work for my Master's degree; however, that doesn't mean that I haven't focused on my photography. As well as putting the final images together for my OCA course (which will be sent to my tutor in the next week), I have also spent a good deal of time putting together a wedding album from a shoot I did in late October. As always with weddings, it was incredibly hard work, but I am delighted with the results. The album was published through the online publishing service, Blurb, who once again delivered an outstanding product. The album can be viewed by clicking on the Blurb link.

OCA - Printing Experimentation

One of the biggest challenges I have faced throughout this course (as I begin to look at the professional presentational aspects of photography more seriously) has been accuracy in printing colours and tones. It has been an absolute minefield, although I have taken steps to try and get the best results that I can with the equipment that I have.

My tutor gave me some excellent feedback on my last assignment, to point me in the right direction (which I have taken ‘on board’), but I decided to take it a step further, in order to ensure my prints were of a quality and standard that I would be happy with for my final exhibition (and final assignment submission).

I use an iMac (or MacBook) computer, attached to a HP B9180 Pro printer for all my prints. I have recently calibrated the monitor using a Spyder 3 Pro. The paper that I normally use is ‘Lyson Archival Quality Pro Photo Gloss’ (265 gsm), which was chosen some time ago after some experimentation using a variety of different papers from different manufacturers (Canon, Kodak and some lesser known makes). This has always given me good results, with the exception (as has been pointed out by my tutor) that there is a slight lack of ‘deep’ black (although this has often been overcome by tweaking the ‘blacks’ slider in my Camera Raw software).

As I am using a HP printer, I thought it might be beneficial to use HP paper, especially with the inbuilt printer/paper profiles available with the B9180 Pro. I therefore took a single photograph and printed it using the following papers (which I obtained in small index sheets from the Photo Plus Show at the NEC last year) (some of which were specialist papers, for the sake of experimentation):

HP Professional Semi-Gloss Contract Proofing Paper (235 gsm)

HP Hahmemuhle Watercolour Paper (210 gsm)

HP Aquarella Art Paper (240 gsm)

HP Artist Matte Canvas (380 gsm)

HP Premium Semi-Gloss Proofing Paper (240 gsm)

HP Everyday Pigment Ink Gloss Photo Paper (235 gsm)

HP Professional High-Gloss Contract Proofing Paper (200 gsm)

HP Hahnemuhle Smooth Fine Art Paper (265 gsm)

HP Professional Matte Canvas (430 gsm)

HP Universal Instant-Dry Gloss Photo Paper (190 gsm)

HP Advanced Glossy Photo Paper (250 gsm)

HP Premium Plus Gloss Photo Paper (286 gsm)

HP RC Matte Photo Paper (200 gsm)

HP Professional Satin Photo Paper (300 gsm)

HP Premium Instant-Dry Gloss Photo Paper (260 gsm)

HP Premium Matte Photo Paper (210 gsm)

HP Premium Vivid Colour Backlit Film (285 gsm)

I also experimented with another manufacturer’s paper, printing on the same paper but using two different printer profiles:

Ilford Premium Satin Inkjet Photo Paper (250 gsm) – printed using (1) HP Premium Satin Profile, and (2) using Other Inkjet Paper Profile.

What struck me was the incredible variation in both print quality and tonal range. I was very disappointed with all the Matte papers, the colours and tones within which I felt were very subdued. The speciality papers I also found very disappointing, although the HP Artist Matte Canvas gave quite an interesting finish (although unsuitable for the intentions of this project). Despite the wide variation in brightness and contrast, I felt that the best results came from the Satin and Gloss papers, with the Ilford Premium Satin (printed using the Satin profile) giving me the most satisfactory results. 

OCA - Assignment Four Feedback

I received my feedback for Assignment 4 a few days back, and am (once again) really pleased with the feedback. It’s extremely useful getting constructive criticism in order to propel me into new ways of thinking (or simply to encourage me to pursue avenues that I have only ‘dipped my toe’ into). I have been working hard to try and ‘define’ what my project is about, and through experimentation and tutorial guidance, I have honed it into something that I now feel passionate about.

Despite my deep interest in photojournalism, I have become more and more absorbed in the ‘fine art’ side of photography (not least of which because of the theoretical studies that I have done on the course), and this has really focused my final project. What started out as a very generic idea – ‘Workers’ – which was to be done in a photojournalistic style, has been modified and changed into an artistic ‘idea’ of marrying poetry (in a written sense, through the means of the haiku) with a ‘syllabic’ photographic interpretation of the poem. Through this method, I am hoping to portray the ambiguous nature of warfare, with its multitude of meanings and feelings for those involved (both directly and indirectly) by photographing those whose work will (and has) brought them into contact with it. The uniform they wear (camouflage material, known as DPM: Disrupted Pattern Material) is symbolic of warfare, but this in itself is ambiguous; the very nature of camouflage is to make it appear as something different. I have tried to display both the ‘blending’ (and almost ‘dreamlike’) nature of camouflage, but also the strangeness that camouflage can bring to a scene, when worn within a manufactured environment.

My photographs are therefore meant to provoke discussion, and encourage interpretation of meaning within the viewer, whatever that may be. My tutor has (throughout the course) encouraged me to let my images tell their own story, rather than me forcing the point to the viewer, and I hope I have managed to achieve this in my final selection of work. All images are captured moments, but I have included both sharp, intimate detail, interspersed with ghostlike patterns strewn across the frame by the use of long exposures and movement.

The ‘Haiku’ is a poetic form (originated in Japan) that has 17 syllables (5, 7, 5 over 3 lines). The images for my final ‘exhibition’ were therefore chosen to represent a single syllable (the metric as opposed to the actual word) within the poem (and would therefore be hung with 5 images in the top row, 7 in the middle, and 5 images on the bottom row). The poem is written below:

                                    In our dreams we wade

                                    Through a sea of camouflage

                                    Slipping and sliding

Elegy to Havana

I have recently come back from a trip to Cuba, which was a truly fascinating experience. Havana especially was remarkable, but I have to confess that I didn't feel quite the way I had expected about it. Friends who had been there were hugely complementary of the atmosphere and the culture, but my experiences of the city were quite different. I spent 4 days photographing various elements of the city, including the people, the buildings, the cars (very cliched, I know) and for a while I couldn't quite put a finger on why I felt a certain negativity, until I happened upon a scene outside an old cinema that had the title 'Elegy' written on the hoarding, with a man sweeping up below it. That was it! The city felt like an elegy; a lament for the dead. It seemed to me as though Havana was in mourning; the buildings crumbling, the cars coughing and spluttering and the people repressed and desperate for air, for life. I may be wrong, and as a tourist it is so difficult to see beneath the surface, but Havana felt like its soul had been taken and it was waiting (longing) for happiness to arrive.

Sandringham - Walks With My Human

I have been working away on the final selection of my project 'Sandringham - Walks With My Human' and have whittled my way down to 97 images (although my intention is to select 70 - which is going to be extremely difficult). As discussed in previous postings, the project stemmed from the idea of exploring my local area through the eyes of my dog (hence the point of view and image tones) in order to investigate the detail that is so often missed within the landscape. With my dog's sense of smell, the images not only give the viewer an intensified view of the 'micro-landscape' but also provides an olfactory journey (with smell being the main reason for my dog being interested in the subject of the photographs). The final selection of images will be self-published through Blurb in the next couple of months, but a few examples are shown below.

OCA - Assignment Three Feedback

I'm feeling a touch guilty in that it has been about 2 months since I have updated my blog (rather remiss of me). It's not that I haven't been doing any work - more to the contrary, I have been slaving away at my 'day job' in addition to completing a major essay for my masters degree and finalising the work for assignment 3 of my OCA course. Now that I have written that down I feel 'cleansed' - it's rather cathartic this blogging process!

Anyway, I received the feedback a few days ago for my OCA assignment and was (once again) delighted with the positive comments. It always helps to spurn me onto my next 'installment' and as time is getting quite precious at the moment, it was a boost I really needed. This particular assignment was really hard work as it involved not only taking photographs, but also an in-depth essay (of which I concentrated on the work of Martin Parr) and a theoretical study. I must say that whilst I enjoyed the challenge of writing about the creative process and investigating the work of prominent photographers, I was incredibly glad to 'get it out of the way' so that I could use my time to complete my photographic project. Ultimately, it is taking photographs that fires me up, not just talking about them.

Upon the advice of my tutor (and based upon the thoughts that I was having anyway), I have decided to refine my major project even further. The project had started out as a very 'open-ended' study of workers, which was later refined to focus upon workers in uniform. I have taken this a stage further to now concentrate specifically on those wearing camouflage uniform (or DPM - Disrupted Pattern Material - as the military define it). At the moment I will be concentrating on the British DPM uniform, but it leads to an idea for the future exploring the different DPM patterns worn by different nations (and the reasons behind the various constructions/patterns). Aside from the day-to-day wearing of the uniform, I want to concentrate on particular situations where it is mandated (and necessary) that the DPM uniform is worn. I have already taken images of the RAF Regiment on Pre-Deployment Training for Afghanistan and of the Royal Gurkha Regiment (see image above) during their 'downtime' on Operations in Kandahar (the latter of which will be submitted as part of Assignment 4). I will be taking some images of airmen training on a fitness assault course (which will form the second part of the Assignment 4 submission), and I intend to do some photographic studies of snipers training 'in the field' and of medics training for Afghanistan. There are some real challenges ahead, but the continued focus of the study has really helped to define its boundaries and has helped me to concentrate my efforts further.