After the Floods.

I dont usually manipulate my images much, but I had a play around in photoshop with an image I took of some old Dock cranes at Salford Quays, Manchester. U.K.

 

Canon G11.

Hull Pier, Canon G11.

 

Well I couldnt resist the temptation, I sold the G7 and bought a G11. I found the G7 a bit to compact for my taste, the G11 has a bit more bulk to it. I have to agree with what iv heard some people say, shooting raw on such a small sensor camera is a waste of time, compared to my SLR's its like night and day! Glad I got the G11 though it has advantages for me over the G7, wider lens, larger lcd screen, even the viewfinder seems a little bigger then on the G7. I prefer using SLR's, carnt beat a real viewfinder in my opinion, but these little cameras have their own advantages aswell. Heres a shot I took with the G11, its one thing looking at images on a screen, but real life prints from these little cameras are amazing!

A walk into town

 

I took these two images during a walk into Hull City centre from where I live. Both taken with my Canon eos 30D and Sigma 18-50 f2.8 EX Lens, raw captures processed in adobe lightroom, b/w using Nik Silver Efex. The Top one is an Old Oil Refinary Mill sitting derelict on the Riverside, the other image (just a bit further down river) is Wilmington Bridge, a disused Railway Line/Bridge over the River Hull. Now used by pedestrians and cyclists.

Disadvantage of film

Film and digital both have their pros and cons, and I've just realised another disadvantage with film, I have been using an old EOS 50E to use up some rolls of good Fuji reala film, before it gets to out of date, I took 28 shots on a 36 roll, so now I have to wait till I use the remaining frames before I can get it processed, now with digital it doesnt matter if I take 3 or 300 images, I can offload them onto my p.c. and start producing images straight away, another plus for me. While I still like film, esp for b/w, with programes like photoshop and Nik Silver Efex excellent b/w images can be had from digital. (Some people say you can achieve truer blacks with digital) Its so much easier, faster and less messy aswell working in the digital darkroom. I must admit I surprised myself at how much I enjoyed using digital and how intuiative I found it, as I had several reservations about it. But after actualy trying it (iv been using digital about 3 years now) my reservations turned out to be unfounded bias. I simply dont understand these die hards who condem it, without even trying it! People talk about images been manipulated, I can sympathise with that view to a certain extent but its in the practioners hands, (and people have been manipulating images in the Darkroom since photography begun) I personaly dont do anything in the digital Darkroom that could not be done in the wet Darkroom, its simply cleaner and easier, and I dont have a problem with using tools that makes life easier. "Condemnation without Investigation is the height of ignorance" - Albert Einstein. "I eagerly await new concepts and processes. I beleive that the electronic image will be the next major advance. Such systems will have their own inherent and inescapable structural characteristics, and the artist and functional practitioner will again strive to comprehend and control them" - Ansel Adams forward to his book 'The Negative' published January 1980. I read this quote recently by photographer Barry Lategan, (the man who gave Twiggy her iconic name) "Digital photography hasnt changed the way I see and look at things, it has accelerated the result" I totally agree!

Some recent monochrome images

Tree stump on Hessle foreshore.

Hessle Creek.

The Humber Estuary.

I took these recently on the Humber Estuary, East Yorkshire, U.K. using my EOS 3 and ilford delta 100, these are scans from the film, I've just enhanced them a bit in photoshop. These sort of images are best viewed as gallery sized prints, in the flesh so to speak. I came across the following quote in a book I've been reading, and would apply the same sentiments to my own images above...

 "In some photographs the essences of light and space dominate; in others, the substance of rock and wood, and the luminous insistence of growing things....It is my intention to present, through the medium of photography, intuitive observations of the natural world which may have meaning to spectators" - Ansel Adams.

The Classic Olympus Trip 35

A Great little discreet camera, all manual no batteries required. The Trip 35 has a fixed 40mm Lens, capable of producing pin sharp images, as long as you have it set right. Although there's not much to set, the main thing to get right is the focusing it has a distance scale, the setting below infinity has a great depth of field and is good for general walk around stuff. You can even use the film speed dial to manipulate exposure. The 3 above images were all taken with the Trip 35. Check out the Trip Man at www.tripman.co.uk for refurbished models and much more. The Tripman used some of my images to demonstrate the capabilities of this camera.