about grg

february 2007

I took some photographs the old fashioned way recently, I used film. It's been a while since I did that, I even had to read the instruction book to remind me how to load the film. The reason for this adventure was to experiment with very fast black and white film. I wanted to try some low light portraits. I had a fast f2.8 lens and bought some ISO1600 film. When you use ISO1600 on a digital camera you get digital noise which I really don't like. But with ISO1600 film you get grain, which I love. Of course you have to remember not to snap away as you don't have unlimited exposures as you do on digital. I also had to wind the damn thing on, and manual focus, when I remembered. All in all it was good fun and successful. I think it is something we should all go back to now and again.

On the landscape front I had a great trip to the Lake District last November for the Autumn colours of Cumbria. The place is pretty amazing any time of year but during autumn it's mind blowing. You can almost point your camera at random and have a good chance of a nice photo. As I was driving around I was constantly having my vision distracted by the colours, and my head was twitching around like a fighter pilot in their cockpit desperately looking for the enemy. Once I had managed to calm myself down I had to cope with a few days of wet and very windy weather before on the last 3 days I had clear calm weather and had a great time in perfect conditions. There are a number of the shots I took in the gallery.

In the last week I have also just had a few days in Cornwall. I concentrated on the south coast as, being winter, the sun rises and sets in the southern declination (I think that’s the correct term) and so the south coast gets the sun all day long. I would get up early for sunrise, shoot some images for an hour or so then go looking for some locations for the evening or the next day. As in the Lakes I had some great conditions most of the time, even if again the same as the Lakes, it was absolutely bloody freezing. Between taking shots I would take the battery out of the camera and keep it in my pocket to keep it warm which helped it last much longer.

It is obvious that I like panoramic shots and I am taking that a bit further. Normally I just crop a normal sized image, chopping off the top and bottom. Now however I am stitching together several images in Photoshop. The images on gallery pages 22 (Autumn River), 23 (Misty Wood) and 26 (Chichester) are examples. There are two advantages, firstly you can shoot a much wider scene. As wide as you like really, even a 360 degree revolution. Secondly you will end up with a much bigger file size and therefore you can print it much bigger if you so desire, which I do. My camera is only 6.3 mega pixels which I have printed to A2 size and I’m pretty happy with it but up close you can see the quality loss. However join 4 or 5 images together and you get a much better quality print. I have just sent off to have 2 prints done at A0 and can't wait to get them back. Of course you could just buy a much bigger resolution camera but I don't have the £2000 plus required.

What I want to get first though is some new filters. I only use polarising, neutral density and, most often, graduated neutral density filters. However the make I use, Cokin, although it is an economic option does suffer from slight colour casts. They tend to give a brown colour to a scene. Occasionally this gives an image a boost. One of my shots from Cornwall came out quite pink because of the filter which was fine as it was a sunset, but most of the time it's a pain. I also don't want to start adding artificial colours to a scene, I just don't see the point. If you want to change what is there, then take up painting. I understand why a pro would use them. They have to supply images to a client and if the client wants a certain effect then who are they to argue since they pay the wages. From what I understand Lee filters is the make used by the pros. They give a completely neutral colour. The only problem being is again the cost. Even the filter holder is over £100. For what I want I would need to spend a few hundred pounds.

So for the moment I shall keep going as I am. I did get a new tripod and camera rucksack recently. Both are excellent and make things a lot easier.

That’s all for now. Many thanks......geoff.

august 2006.

It is now over a year since I wrote my original 'artists statement'. Although it was written in June 05 it didn't get onto the website until Feb 06, so it sounded out of date immediately. In basic terms not much has changed since last year. I still concentrate on landscape images, occasionally dipping into some still life work. However where last year I would go out with my camera with no real agenda and just go with what I find, I now more often than not go out with a more precise idea of what I want to do.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with just picking up your camera and just seeing what you find, indeed this is what most people enjoy most. You never know what you will come across and the fact that you are out there in the first place obviously increases your chances of success ten fold. It has worked for me in the past and still does. My main focus now though tends to be on getting a particular shot in particular conditions. This is great when it all works but not so great when things don't come together. Here is an example of both.

Whilst driving along the a272 between cowfold and the bucks barn traffic lights, if you look south (pull over first) then there is a good chance you will see a monastery standing proud on the horizon. I first noticed it when I was at the top of Chanctonbury Ring early on a May morning. See gallery page 17. Ok I thought there is definitely a picture here. So I spent a couple of winter afternoons walking around the public footpaths in the area looking for a good view point. I found one which turned out to be extremely convenient and I could park my car within a few yards. What I wanted was to get a shot early in the morning just as the sun first lights up the subject and if I was lucky some mist in between. I would be about a mile away from the monastery and planned to use my zoom lens to create interesting perspective. When I attempted to actually get the shot it never came together. One morning there was just too much mist and you could not see the monastery properly. Another, the sun was blocked by a freak singular cloud that somehow seemed to track it across the sky. Another morning the conditions were too hazy to get a clear shot. In the end I got a half decent shot by going out in the late evening, but it still wasn't what I wanted. Very frustrating as the scene is practically begging to be photographed. You have to be persistent but also know when to knock it on the head.

There is a farm house and land along Grouse Road near Pease Pottage that had caught my eye when again I was driving by. There is a crop field in the foreground, a valley and then the buildings on top of hill opposite. I planned once more to get there for early morning with the hope of yet more mist, which I felt sure would gather at the bottom of the valley. The first few attempts again didn't work out to well. There was no mist and the sun would get blocked by unforecast cloud. But a few months ago it all worked. The sky was cloudless and just enough mist hung in the valley. See gallery page 31 for the result. Although it's not the best picture I have taken it is very satisfying as it was exactly what I had envisaged.

I have recently had a go at some portraits. A friend at work had scene my website and asked if I would have a go at taking some pictures of her 3 children. She didn't want formal portraits but very casual catching the moment type shots. I knew exactly what she meant but wasn't over confident of being able to produce the goods. I knew from the start I wanted to work in black and white and concentrate on head` and shoulder shots. I was quite apprehensive about how the children aged between 7 and 11 would take to me but it turned out they were great. I spent an enjoyable couple of hours snapping away whilst they basically just played. Occasionally showing off but mainly just being themselves. I got through about 200 plus shots (thank god for digital, I would taken just a fraction of that if I used film) and had about 30 that worked well, and half a dozen which I was very proud of. The biggest compliment was that there mum said they were exactly what she had wanted and she has bought several copies for various members of her family. A very fulfilling experience very much enhanced by the children themselves, Harry, Kesia and Saskia. Thank you. This also led onto a slightly different portrait session when another work friend who had seen the aforementioned pictures asked me if I would take some pictures of her two horses and two donkeys. This was equally as fun running around a field trying to keep up with them. It was also occasionally tricky as most of the time they just wanted to eat grass, and you can't just ask a horse to say cheese. Again it was ultimately very satisfying as my 'client' was very happy with the results and couldn't decide which pictures she wanted me to print for her.

I am in the process of preparing an exhibition of my work for Horsham Library. It will be from 2nd - 16th September. On the one hand it is very exciting but on another very nervy. My friends and family keep on complimenting my shots but they are biased. What will people who don't know me think. The basic theme is going to be local landscapes but I have also included a couple of my favourites from the Lake District and Cornwall. I have mounted and labelled 15 shots which I can't stop looking at as I am worried they are not the best selection. Too late now though. I am also now offering my images for sale. Again I have mixed feelings about this. One moment I think how cool it would be if just a handful of people bought one but then I also sometimes think, am I not being just a touch arrogant to try this.

So all in all I am still enjoying photography and happier still with how the pictures are coming out. I intend to keep on doing more of the same, I just need to keep on finding interesting places to visit. One of the next locations I want to try is Arundel, the town and of course its castle. I wouldn't mind doing some more portrait work as well.

See you around ..... geoff.

june 2005

I had always had a sort of hidden interest in photography. The better pictures in newspapers would always catch my eye, but nothing ever really made me take it any further. I had owned the usual automatic cameras when younger, but used them for nothing more than snapshots for a bit of fun.

I was kick started into taking things further by two books. About 4 years ago I was looking for a book for a friend's Christmas present. Whilst browsing I came across a book called, simply, ‘Beaches’. In it was page after page of some of the most beautiful shots I had seen before and since. They were, as you would imagine, of beaches. From sun drenched, palm tree frindged exotic beaches to good old Brighton pier. I quickly requested this as a Christmas present that I wanted. My younger sister had done a photography course at college, and my dad, who has always had an interest in photography, had bought her a pretty decent film SLR. I managed to borrow this on a semi permanent basis (I only gave back 3 weeks ago) and basically decided that I wanted to take shots of the quality of the ones I had seen in the book.

Of course it’s not quite as simple as that. Fortunately I then came across the second book. My place of employment was having a second hand book sale, and I came across a ‘John Hedges – Guide to Photography’ going for the princely sum of one pound. On reading through the basics I quickly learned that I was very much a beginner. Once I had cottoned on to the likes of depth of field and shutter speed etc, things started to improve. My progress however started to falter again and I then discovered that the camera was not exposing correctly. So at this point I decided to take the financial plunge more than the ethical plunge, and buy myself a new Canon Digital SLR, and a laptop to go with it. I haven’t looked back since.

I don’t want to get into a discussion about film versus digital. Photography is an art form and how you go about it is up to you. Just don’t go claiming images are things that they are not. Digital very much suited my circumstances, and my intention is and will continue to be, to produce the image I want at the time of pressing the shutter button, keeping post production to a minimum. Though I would be a big, fat fibber if I said I hadn’t played around with Photoshop from time to time.

I have only had the camera (eos300d) for 6 months but the frame counter is already up 5300. I have 1600 images stored on my laptop (fully backed up!) a ratio I am more than happy with. My ‘favourites’ file has over 80. I have recently been on a trip to the Lake District, and my annual surfing holiday in Cornwall will now be a surfing/photography holiday, but not at the same time. More importantly I am dead chuffed with the quality of the shots I have taken. If you enjoy them half as much as I have enjoyed making them, then, my work here is done.

They are in no particular order and some are scans of film shots. There are 2 or 3 shots that I have obviously played around with a lot. I will add more images, providing I produce efforts that I think are good enough, every so often. As I look out of the window this June evening I see there is some potential for some interesting colours at sunset. I’m tempted to go out, but I also want to get up at 4am for, hopefully a misty sunrise. If I do both I will be knackered at work tomorrow. Damn it, who cares.

Thank you for visiting the website....... geoff.