photo Journal Episode 9 - Intuition

I took this photo on Saturday on London's South Bank. We had emerged from the Tate into the rain and driven to the National Theatre where we parked in the basement. We stopped to buy a programme, then set off to walk to the restaurant where we had booked dinner.

We emerged into a pink world - to the west everything was pink, the wet pavements shone with pink light, the windows of the Royal Festival Hall were crimson with reflections. To the east St Paul's was bathed in a golden light. 

 In the midst of all this glory my eye was caught by these benches, pink pavements, reflections and raindrops, another celebration of the sacred in the ordinary, of the discovery of beauty everywhere.

Photo Journal Episode 8 - A New Light

Yesterday I went with my husband to the Tate Modern to see the Kusama Exhibition and my photo shoot took place on the 4th floor of the gallery outside the exhibition space, in the cafe and gift shop and in one of other galleries. Looking at my inspiration file I noticed that most of my pictures are taken out of doors so I decided to use artificial light rather than natural light for this exercise.

It was so exciting to be photographing in this space there was so much to see, so many shapes, picture, lights it was almost over-whelming! It was especially good as since Christmas I haven’t really been anywhere other than around our house, work and the local town. It was just great to be somewhere new, exciting, and joyful. I think that although the creation of joy is not necessarily Kusama’s intent this is the effect of some of her work. I particularly loved the star of the show ‘Infinity Mirrored Room - Filled with the Brilliance of Life’  just stunning!

When taking pictures I tried to look at unusual topics and angles - here are two from the exhibition gift shop.

 

 

It was a particularly exciting space to photograph as the lighting was designed around the exhibition space and looked different from different angles - there were also different reflections

 

As we went round other rooms in the gallery I played with inserting objects into the the picture such as my feet and handbag into the Gilbert and George pavement and my handbag adjacent  to Cruzvillegas’ work.

I am finding it hard, and in once sense counter-productive, to analyze this photo shoot as I really just found it fun, exciting and joyful - which is enough.

Photo Journal Episode 7 - Recognising Your Inspiration

Returning to the notion of discovering ‘the sacred in the ordinary’ I mentioned in an earlier post. I think one of the things that really excites me is the re-imagining of familiar objects or realizing the beauty of things you see often.

This photo of the horse and rider was taken near the office I worked in for 10 years - I went past it every day and although I have always liked it, I realized I had never really looked at it before, let alone photographed it, or payed attention to the  relationship with its immediate environment including the tree and the building.

This photo was taken on the lunch time photo shoot  I did with my colleague who brought her DLSR for me to experiment with. As we were heading back I stopped at the fish stall in the market to buy supper and took this picture of these beautiful Scallops - again not a subject I had previously considered.

 

My third example is of footprints in the sand  which I took last summer - something you see often if you spend much time on the beach but fascinating in terms of form and texture. 

Photo Journal Episode 6 - Trying Something New

Photographing something different was a bit of a challenge - after all I already take copious photos of nature, buildings, street scenes, art etc - what was left? The two things that sprang to mind were wildlife and portraits. I discounted the first, as until I get my new camera I can’t really get photos of anything except at fairly close range, and decided on the latter. Next problem how to find someone to pose, I somehow didn’t think my husband or son (home from uni for the weekend) were likely to be willing guineapigs.

Fortunately yesterday was a non-working day for me and I had invited a friend to lunch. I managed to persuade her to have her photo taken. After initial reluctance she really got into it and was so pleased with some of the results that she is planning to send a few to her daughter who is currently working in South Africa - she also very kindly said I could post some of them on the blog.

We started off with her posing, albeit in a relaxed fashion over a glass of wine, at the kitchen table - this clearly wasn't going too work too well - see below!

although in many ways this is an attractive photo - I don't really feel any connection with my friend's personality

So I decided to continue chatting and snapping and eventually she seemed able to ignore the camera as I walked round her to get shots at different angles - we were both pleased with the results and then spent some time processing them.

 I would be really interested in having your feedback re which version of this shot works best!

When it was time for her to leave we walked back to her car  (we can’t bring cars to the house at present in case they get stuck in the snow) and took  some outdoor shots. Again I tried the ‘chatting and snapping technique’ and am pleased with the results

Again I'd really love to know which one you prefer!

I've really enjoyed this assignment and experimenting a bit more with photoshop - I also can't wait to find more willing subjects for portraits!

Photo Journal Episode 5 - Visiting a Gallery

Our plans for going further afield to look at an art gallery this weekend were scuppered by a weather forecast of heavy snow for Saturday afternoon, so we ended up going to our local town where a commercial art gallery had just opened in the new shopping centre. Newly opened, they were offering glasses of sparkling wine and I not really sure if this enhanced my critical faculties! 

The gallery was showing pictures from a number of artists and I guess I could describe my response to them in  categories - ones I loved and would have bought had I had £xK spare; those I liked but wouldn’t necessarily want to own; Those I could see the appeal of but really weren’t my cup of tea and those I downright disliked.

I will focus on the first and last category. I think what those I disliked had in common was that I found it impossible to feel any kind of emotional connection to them. The first ones were a set of boats and reflections (I normally like pictures of boats) but they didn’t speak of the sea at all - was not at all surprised to discover that the artist grew up in the land-locked Midlands! 

The second was a picture of a woman who I later discover was supposed to be a bride coming down a grand staircase. Everything was depressing about this picture the colours, the expression on the bride’ s face - she really didn’t look like she wanted to be there - the grand surroundings. I was astonished to discover that this artist’s paintings of brides were best sellers in the gallery. For me what the brides and the boats had in common was that they were joyless.

The two artists whose work I especially liked were Danielle O’Connor Akiyama and Nakisa Seiko. What I love about both these artists was their use of colour bright and glorious! Danielle’s picture was more abstract and Nakisas featured minimalist skeletal trees against brilliant deep blue skies. Both were modern, striking pictures which drew you in and made you feel connected and excited to be looking at them,  both also had a Japanese influence. 

NB this not taken with my camera but with a digital SLR I was lent during the week

Interestingly the third artist whose pictures would have I considered buying was very different. The artist was Henderson Cisc his pictures are of city streets notably NYC and London. What I liked about his work was the sense of urgency and movement the color which drew you into you into busy life of the city.

In thinking of what this means for my own pictures I can see elements of all three artists  in my love of colour, structure and/or abstract, my preference for the unconventional and need for emotional engagement in what I am doing. I have also realized that I don’t much like complete realism ( at least in paintings) but much prefer an impressionistic view.