All Change.

Time flies. Can’t believe it has been a few months since I last posted. To say I’ve been busy is an understatement, but, the first year of university is almost over and there’s plenty of news to come.

Of all the excuses for not posting, not having any camera gear has been a pretty good one! After Christmas it was goodbye to Nikon and a long search for a replacement. After a lot of research I opted for a return to Canon and ended up with a 60D. I like the camera and partnered with a Sigma 17-70 F2.8-4 produces really nice results. I’m loving the jump in ISO and reduction in noise and the colour rendition is really nice. (Sounds like there’s a ‘but’ coming I hear you say, and there is.)

I do miss Nikon. As a photographic tool Nikon works the way I work. I love the autofocus system, which, for me, is far better and more flexible than Canon’s. I prefer the layout of the controls, although I will give Canon the edge on the metering. The irony however, is that my DSLR is now no longer just a photographic tool and my focus (pun intended!) is moving more to video. Sadly, Nikon don’t seem to get the video thing yet, which is a shame, because Canon is running so far ahead of the video game that not even Sony can catch them up, and Sony has some nice offerings. Most of the guys I’ve teamed up with at Uni are also Canon users and the final thing that swayed me was Magic Lantern, which does some amazing things to the 60D. (A lot of buzz is being generated lately by the Raw footage ML are getting out of the 5D mark III as well.) Magic Lantern has turned Canon’s DSLR’s into a serious movie making tool for independent film-makers. To be honest, if it wasn’t for Magic Lantern I would have gone for Sony. (I fell in love with the NEX 6 after playing with it for 5 minutes.)

So, time to catch up, post some pics, and reveal something about my next project. Gonna be fun.

Photo Assignment: Week 10

The final assessed theme was ‘My Ideal Room: a collage’. Well, it’s been many years since I had to do a collage. Plus the only idea for an ideal room was one with no kids!! I had several ideas, but none of them worked.

I have been a fan of Lego ever since I was a kid, and having kids gave me the excuse to buy and play with Lego again as a grown up. To be honest, I actually find Lego to be extremely relaxing and I tend to build when I get stressed. It dawned on me that I should just build the room out of Lego and then place those objects that are personal to me in the room.

I kept the room fairly minimal – I’m a minimalist kind of guy – and photographed it, and then broke it up and re-built it. The room I went with was version three and I was quite pleased with it.

I made the main feature of the room three ‘portals’ where I can lose myself in music, movies and books. The three I chose are my favourites in each format. The fire was made from trans red, orange and yellow Lego studs. I left a hole at the back of the fireplace to shine a light. I was happier with the build than I was with the final collage, but I managed to get it in on time, so job done, and a module finished. Now onto cinema!

Photo Assignment: Week 9

It has been a busy couple of months and sadly this blog has taken a back seat! Still, time to catch up.

The fourth assessed theme was still life. I really struggled with this one. Not wanting to do anything that had been done before, I was struggling to find a different take on the theme. Then my son fell asleep, so I covered him in cuddly toys – as you do!

I was suddenly inspired by the scene in ET where he’s hiding amongst the toys. Safe to say, the idea didn’t go down well, so I had to think of a way of re-presenting the image. As the deadline for submission loomed closer, I was running out of ideas, and then he happened to fall asleep again, so I got the image up on my tablet and cradled it on him. Voila.

Because the colours on the screen didn’t come out too well, I converted it to black and white, which made it a stronger image and allowed me to beef up the contrast of the original image on the screen.

The submission deadline has come and gone and the marks returned, but I still think this one didn’t go down too well. I justify it on the premise that he’s still and he’s alive – but perhaps it was a bit of a stretch!