Art.

Recently, I've become more and more into drawing. Sketching out ideas for photographs using my fountain pen and water and small brushes and it's really useful to plan how you'd like to have an image composed and what you would like happening in it. These would then be taken on the shoot.

Telford Gig

At the moment I am editing some images of the gig I played at in Telford and took photographs of the musicians that also played there. I am editing my RAW files on Camera Raw first, working with the Blacks, Clarity and Saturation. Also, I am using the Dodge and burn tool. I enjoy working with the black and white theme as the lights and darks are emphasised. The lighting was quite difficult to use in this venue.

I feel in order to improve these images, I will use the curves tool to give them some punch. I could have framed this image a lot better and composed it differently - His elbow is slightly out the frame.

London

At the beginning of my Summer, I went for a day trip in London with my friends. We spent the day hopping on the Tube and visiting different places and music shops. I love the night life in London - Photographing it was fun. I used mainly my 50mm 1.8, as that works brilliantly in low light and I tried to capture the essence of the place with the lights, reflections and silhouettes. Documentary Photography is definitely something I'd try to do in London, and many other cities. The people you will meet and bump into, and the differences of the people which make them so interesting to capture. I like the idea of using different Vantage points and continuing to use Black and white. By using a wide aperture creating a shallow depth of field, it would create less distraction of what's going on behind the subject I'm trying to focus on.

 

In a hectic city full of people, the world is so much calmer in reflections.

 

In my opinion, even if an image is out of focus, it doesn't make it a bad photograph. I enjoy working with different angles and bokeh.

 

I was pleased with this shot. It's unedited at the moment, but I was happy with how it came out. The lines and lights and shallow depth of field using a wide aperture. The focus on the man going down the escalator. It gave the image a documentary feel, which links in to my preferred topic in Photography. Perhaps a black and white edit would work well.

 

 

 

 

Manchester Gallery

This image was one that really stood out to me in the modern photography area. Photographed by Donald Rodney and named "In the house of my father", I learnt that the tiny model house was pieced together from sections of his own skin which was removed from his body during treatment for sickle cell anaemia. The house is a metaphor for the place where we feel safe and 'at home' but for the artist his fatal illness made him feel vulnerable in his own skin. "It is a poignant image of the fragility of existence."
This image really inspires me because I've always felt better about things when I think about the comfort of my own home, and there's a song that means a lot to me called "To build a home."

A link to the song is here. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhHKfSFGdUI

The use of wide apertures to create a shallow depth of field stands out to me and the soft focus gives the idea a very delicate appeal. It links in to the idea of feeling delicate and sensitive.

 

Rossetti has always been a favourite of mine. My mother has pre-raphaelite prints all over the house and I've been inspired to create a similar style in my photographs. This painting is called The Bower Meadow and is oil on canvas. I've always admired the way Pre-Raphaelite's dress, how they have their hair and the whole idea they have of naturality.

 

This is then I found Photography inspired by Rossetti on the internet!

 

 

 

This one, on the letter from the editor page, is inspired by Rossetti’s Helen of Troy.

 

 

I'm incredibly inspired by boats, for some reason! Can't stop writing about them and admiring them. I keep thinking of ways to capture them in photography, and it also links to why I want to live by the docks so much! This painting stood out to me because of the emotion in the brush strokes creating a stormy sea and cloudy sky. The shadows and delicate coloured sails blowing in the wind is lovely and the composition of the image is brilliant because of the way the painting guides your eye.

 

 

This is a great idea, and a lot of people clearly took part in it, including I. Each person could collect a label, write on it a place where they would love to be, and attach it to one of the suitcases stacked up in the gallery. The vintage, travel idea to it all stood out to me a lot.

 

 

Ireland

 

These two un-edited images of flowers were from a perfumery garden. It was a shop selling hand creams, honey, perfume, soaps, body lotions, shampoos and conditioners and so on, all made out of the flowers from the garden. I feel I could really give these images a punch by lifting the curves slightly and working with the levels.

 

This was a very sneeky photo in a restaurant. I loved the candle light and shadows of the flowers.

 

 

These are some photographs from the traditional music session I performed at. The people were lovely and the place had a wonderful atmosphere. Very friendly and inviting. Irish folk music is something I love and I always adore trying to capture their emotion whilst playing.

 

 

Sidmouth Folk Festival

I went to a folk festival in Sidmouth which had an array of different events happening during the week. This included workshops giving you the opportunity to learn various instruments such as the Melodian, Accordian and more. You could also attend songwriting and story telling workshops, take part in choirs, and take part in Ceilidh dancing each night at the "Late Night Extra."

The story telling workshops inspired me to eventually be able to tell them in photographs as telling a story rather than taking an image of something is persuaded. I tried to capture the essence in the festival and the emotion everyone had whilst there.

At the end of the week, there was a firework display and a parade which included art which visitors taking part in the festival had made during the craft workshops. A lot of people held candles and all walked onto the beach, they threw the candles into the water in order to signify the end of the festival and set a paper boat on fire. The paper boat really inspired me.

The full festival programme included some of my favourite folk artists such as Seth Lakeman, Martin Simpson and Jackie Oates.

   

An End Of Year Prom

Here are some Photographs of a close friend, Katy. She has asked me to take some portraits of her before going to her Prom.
My aim was to get a dreamy result, including soft focus and perhaps a more vintage-style edit.

For better quality, see Images in Lightbox - http://www.flickr.com/photos/helenaraby/