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Two images from Contrast the City. Top, Celtis Laevigata ‘smallii’ and bottom, Tate Modern.
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Tag Archives: black and white
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15.11.13, Trellick Tower, West London. A grade 2 listed building in the rather splendidly named ‘Brutalist’ style. More possible selections for the exhibition ‘Contrast the City’ I’m preparing for with artist Caroline Underwood.
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Gunnersbury Park, 3.2.09. Editing down a selection of photographs today for an exhibition in three weeks time. I started the day with around 40 photos. This has increased to over 100…aargh!
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Some test shots from this afternoon, possibly for later use in gravure printing.
- Left: Viburnum Right: cherry
- Left: Bay Right: Forget me nots
Gardeners’ Hands
In December 2008 I started a project which evolved into set of images called 43 Gardeners’ Hands. This was exhibited at Kew through the summer of 2009. Four more photographs were taken just after the exhibition deadline, and as a result were never exhibited. So, clockwise from top left: Dan Hinckley, Tim Richardson, Rosemary Alexander and Will Giles.
Gardeners' hands, clockwise from top left: Dan Hinckley, Tim Richardson, Rosemary Alexander and Will Giles
60 minutes
Some recent sketch ideas from a walk I regularly take:
Waterlillies
Earlier in the year I visited the Monet Gardens at Giverny to photograph the waterlillies. Prior to the shoot, I was asked to make some test shots for a few ideas I had, and these are the results. Shot at my local, Kew, the ideas weren’t adopted in the end, but a few days ago I finally made some high res scans.
I love using square format. Unfortunately most art directors worry when you mention it. To fit a page, a crop is almost inevitable, making its use irrelevant. And why shoot a beautful garden in black and white? The area around the lake at Giverny is green. And then there is a lot more green, which is not surprising really, as it’s largely a woodland type planting. There are occasional splashes of colour, but I wanted to capture the tonality. My darkroom instincts come to the fore in these situations!
Colour was eventually decided on and I shot some lovely graphic images – once these have been published next spring, I’ll post these too. And waterlillies – they’re absolute devils. If they decide to open, it’s a long wait. I timed one and it took 2 hours and 15 minutes. I’d normally have better things to do than standing around with a stop watch, but when you are planning a ferry trip home, it was essential. But worth the wait!
water lilies at Kew Gardens
water lilies at Kew Gardens
water lilies at Kew Gardens
roots in glasshouse at Kew Gardens
Kew Gardens, 18th February
A few test shots from a short visit to Kew Gardens last Friday. After four days of scanning, spotting and captioning some of my classic car photos, I felt I deserved a day out of the office!
Pyrus 'pashia' - windfall fruit
Celtis laevigata 'smallii'
twigs and branches, Kew Gardens
I’m also trying a blog slideshow plug in, which has more images to scroll through. Hopefully it will view correctly in your browser. If you click on a large photo, it will stop the slides changing and display a full frame image. To restart the show, click on the background or thumbnail of your choice.
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- Viburnum farreri
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- twigs and branches, Kew Gardens
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- Rhus chinensis
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- Quercus robur or English oak
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- Pyrus ‘pashia’ – windfall fruit
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- Platanus x hispanica or London plane
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- Platanus x hispanica or London plane
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- Hamamelis intermedia
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- Hamamelis intermedia
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- Crataegus mohrii
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- Crataegus baroussana
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- Celtis laevigata ‘smallii’
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- Celtis laevigata ‘smallii’
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- Carpinus turczaninowii or Turczaninow’s Hornbeam
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- Camelia japonica ‘cardinal’ petals on ground at Kew
How easy was it to ‘Photoshop in’ the trees?
It’s strange. In picture terms, people’s perception of reality is often hampered by a literal interpretation. A camera never lies. I suppose this is debatable – the choices a photographer makes when creating an image can distort perspective in a particular scene. But this is usually intended to create interest rather than to misinform. Most of the time.
In 2009 I had a print exhibited in the Association of Photographers Open exhibition. A moody shot of St Paul’s Cathedral – unusual, but not controversial. Or so I thought.
View towards St Paul's Cathedral from Tate Modern - Canon 5D MKII
“It must have taken ages to ‘Photoshop in’ the trees,” is the usual comment. It happened again yesterday.
“No, it’s one shot”.
“But there aren’t any trees next to St Paul’s Cathedral”.
“Look from The Tate Modern,” I reply. It sometimes takes a bit of explaining, and it isn’t always believed. Computer trickery is always assumed.
So this is how I did it.
view towards St Paul's Cathedral taken from Tate Modern, a few metres to the right of the original camera position. Camera - iPhone.
Technique – 50mm lens, Canon 5D MKII. I stood with my back to the coffee cart at the Millennium Bridge entrance of the Tate. Click. Simple!