From Pet Shops to Porn

Last month Andy Vine and I put our creative minds together and submitted a photograph for an exhibition at Cord called From Pet Shops to Porn. Whilst we submitted and subsequently exhibited just the one photograph we did actually shoot a few which we plan to make into a zine eventually. In the meantime though here's the complete series.

^^ The exhibition shot ^^

The general idea behind the exhibition was to represent the change of a particular area in Manchester from a place full of pet shops to a place of sex shops. Between us we had a few ideas and were originally going to submit separately. But as discussions went on I came up with an idea that would require Andy's help so we decided to collaborate. See all the cards in the shots? They're all Andy's work. Clever chap. I just took the shots then edited them afterwards.

If I'd known we could have submitted more than one shot then I would have liked to have gotten a few up in the exhibition. Can't say I was too pleased with how the exhibition itself was handled. We were told pretty last minute that we'd been accepted so didn't have long to get a print done. Not to mention that they put our rather dark piece in the darkest corner. But still, an exhibition is an exhibition and it's the first one I've been involved with which is something in itself.

Here we are with our shot at the exhibition.

So there we have it. A rare bit of digital project work from myself and Andy Vine. My first ever exhibited piece. Here's hoping this is the beginning of great things to come.

As always any and all feedback is welcome and appreciated.

Laters,

P x

February Photo A Day Summary

(The funny thing I've noticed about my lack of blogging is that I've had more daily blog views than I ever did when I was doing regular posts.)

We're now a delightful 6 days in March and haven't they mostly been nice sunny days? Perfect shooting days. Have I been out doing just that? Not in the slightest. Anyways what I wanted today's post to be is a conclusive summary on my February Photo A Day challenge.

You can see full sized versions on my Flickr or on my previous February Photo A Day posts.

Well I completed February Photo A Day without missing a single day and although they may not be the most inspiring of photographs at least I managed something for each day. Sometimes I wasn't remotely enthused by the day's prompt and on other days I was simply not interested in shooting regardless of the prompt. The weather and my anxiety issues meant I was for the most part stuck indoors so I struggled to keep things interesting. However I did find doing a challenge such as this to be something of a learning experience. I did once long ago attempt a 365 project but it became tedious when I was stuck indoors as much as I was. That would be the ultimate challenge for me to complete really. So a month long challenge I figured would be well suited to me. For some prompts I knew in advance what I wanted to shoot and I'd just go for it. For others I'd think it over and look around my house to see what I could shoot trying out a few things before settling on my final shot. Sometimes I'd have an idea in mind, begin shooting but become bored by the shots I was getting so end up shooting something entirely different. For pretty much every shot I would be thinking could I make this better? I tried various angles and placements to get the shot I wanted. I had one restriction in that for the majority of the shots I stuck to my 50mm lens as I'm a sucker for a shallow depth of field. What I'd find as I began shooting is that I'd start really considering my composition for some shots and it's been a while since I've really done that. I think with my recent enjoyment of film I've perhaps gotten a bit lax with my composition and I've indulged a little too much in a point & shoot mentality. You'd think that would be the other way round considering how expensive film is compared to digital. I think in future I've got to get myself back into considering my composition regardless of the format I'm shooting on.

For a month long challenge Fat Mum Slim provides some pretty easy but interesting prompts that anyone could attempt. I'd love to see more of what other people produced for her challenges using actual cameras rather than the masses of Instagrammers. Having said that if I were an iPhone owner I'd be on Instagram constantly doing these challenges. Although I'm not joining in the March Photo a Day challenge I have been left inspired to come up with my own prompts for a similar challenge. More on that another time. Overall this was a fun way to get myself back into shooting digital although I'm still feverishly fanatical about film.

What you may see in future is a post featuring all the "rejected" shots from this challenge as I think I've got some interesting alternatives that I'd hate to leave unseen.

I will eventually make a return to regular posting. Expect another post this week as I had a film developed from my LC-A+ recently and I want to make a post out of that. I'm sorry I'm not as frequent blogger as I was but that's something of a personal issue.

Laters,

P x

February Photo A Day - Part 5

I've been wholly absent from the blogging sphere but I wanted to do a quick update with the last of the February Photo A Day.

Day 25 - Green

Day 26 - Night

Day 27 - Something You Ate

Day 28 - Money

Day 29 - Something You're Listening To

And I'm done. The last of the photographs.

Laters,

P x

February Photo A Day - Part 4

Part 4 is here and I must confess I struggled this week. Possibly I'm a little bored of the project. There have been days when I haven't wanted to shoot the prompts but I knew I'd be more annoyed with myself if I didn't. It's a funny thing shooting when you really don't want to.

Day 18 - Drink

Day 19 - Something You Hate To Do

Day 20 - Handwriting

Day 21 - A Fave Photo Of You

Day 22 - Where You Work

Day 23 - Your Shoes

Day 24 - Inside Your Bathroom Cabinet

Since I'm writing this at 8am in the morning that mug of tea is looking mighty attractive right now and yes that mug is extra large. I'd say it's probably about a pint, possibly more of tea and that's how I like it. I like a LOT of tea. The something I hate to do is dry my hair. I don't particularly go in much for special care routines when it comes to my hair and face, I just do what works for me. But I decided to try out a diffuser hairdryer as they are supposed to be better for curly hair. What that means is it takes twice as long to dry my hair these days because I no longer just blast it. That photograph also shows off my newly dyed gingery locks. And I shot it tethered to my laptop so I could see the results instantly. Pretty fun way to shoot self portraiture. My favourite photograph comes from my first birthday in Spain, I'm on the left and my brother is giving me a birthday kiss. As I don't have a job any "work" I do is done entirely on my laptop and usually from the confines of my bed. Day 23 is where I really did not want to shoot. I'd planned to shoot my beloved Converse as those have been my staple shoes since I was 17. Instead I got involved with cleaning the house and by the time I'd finished, made tea for my men and sat down to finally relax I was absolutely knackered. Then I remembered I needed to do this photograph. Bother.

There you have it, another week is done and I only have 4 more days of prompts to shoot. Including night which should be an interesting shot to attempt without a tripod. I know this week of photographs haven't been very inspiring but I haven't found the prompts to be very inspiring to be honest. I'm actually thinking of setting my own photo challenges by amassing prompts from other challenges and asking for contributions.

As for March's photo challenge, well I haven't decided on whether to join in on that one yet. However if you do decide to then please let me know as I'd love to follow.

Laters,

P x

February Photo A Day - Part 3

Another week down, another week of #Febphotoaday.

Day 11 - Makes You Happy

Day 12 - Inside Your Closet

Day 13 - Blue

Day 14 - Hearts

Day 15 - Phone

Day 16 - Something New

Day 17 - Time

If you remember last week I said how I didn't like taking self portraits and you can probably see why in the photo for day 11. Admittedly it was a last minute panic photo because what I'd originally wanted to photograph wasn't an option on the day. So I took that photo instead. It's supposed to represent reading. Reading makes me happy. Not that you'd think that from that photograph. The next morning I actually thought of about 3 or 4 better ideas but obviously that was too late. It's always the way. What I'd wanted to photograph was my nephew who crops up as day 13 instead. I tell you that kid is not a willing model. I had to bribe him to get him to stand still. To be fair though he was poorly. I think day 15 was pretty fortuitous. And yes day 16 is technically something old but is something new to my collection so it counts. Also taking a photo of your own wrist with a 50mm lens is hard.

So that's the latest lot of photographs. I hope you've enjoyed them. We're just over half way with this challenge so there's a couple more posts yet to come. Feedback is welcome as always.

Laters,

P x

Don't Jump!

Just messing around with a bit of editing. This was from Portugal last summer when mum and me saw a load of Aussies jumping off the harbour bridge in Lagos.

Laters,

P x

February Photo A Day - Part 2

Here's the next lot of February Photo A Day photographs.

Day 4 - A Stranger

Day 5 - 10am

Day 6 - Dinner

Day 7 - Button

Day 8 - Sun

Day 9 - Front Door

Day 10 - Self Portrait

Admittedly there are some questionable subject interpretations here. Day 4 - A Stranger for example, to me my Zenit-E is a stranger, I have no idea how to work it and it remains unused/untested. I'll get there, just requires some self taught photography lessons no doubt. Day 6 - Dinner, well ok it was an ingredient for lunch but I wouldn't have had chance to photograph my actual dinner. And day 9 - Front Door, that is the door to my CD house not an actual house. But I wasn't about to go outside in the miserable weather to photograph my boring front door. And as for day 10 - Self Portrait, well I hate taking photographs of myself plus I don't have a tripod so at the very end of the day I snapped this shot instead. Trust me, it's a much nicer picture of me.

There you have it. The next lot will be posted next Saturday. I hope you've enjoyed these for now though. Link me up if you're doing this as I'd love to see how else people are shooting these prompts.

Laters,

P x

February Photo A Day

If you saw Wednesday's post you'll know I'm doing my best to be a part of February Photo A Day. It's been simple enough so far but then again we're only three days in. I do keep looking through the prompts and forming rough plans of what I'll shoot for them which hopefully improves my chances of completing this. It's such a simple challenge but I'm incredibly undisciplined in sticking to projects and finishing them on time.

Anyways here are the first three shots.

Day 1 - Your View Today

Day 2 - Words

Day 3 - Hands

Like I mentioned on Wednesday I am also shooting this on film, in fact I'm shooting it using my Diana F+. But that won't be developed until the challenge is complete. For now the digital photos will be posted on Saturdays as a regular feature for this month.

Feedback welcome. I'm lazily experimenting with editing by using Photoshop actions. And good luck to anyone else who is also trying this!

Laters,

P x

Analogue Gang

I wanted to introduce my analogue camera collection. It's a small collection for now but I have big aspirations for it. Before I started buying cameras for myself I would mess around with the various family cameras we've had over the years. As well as disposable cameras. I used to buy the Boots black & white disposables and take silly photos of my boyfriend of the time. My stepdad is one of those technology types especially when it comes to cameras and to this day he always has a camera on him. He was the one who pushed me to use the family cameras if I wanted. I must have used it more than I realised because I've got heaps of photographs from my school days, primary school mostly. When digital became more affordable for the common man my stepdad was there for it. And again I was allowed to use his latest bit of kit. What trust he must have had in me as this was in my secondary school days. Then he bought my first digital camera (which I've still got!) for my 17th birthday. And since then I've been buying my own cameras. I upgraded digitally, both times with a Canon, and then over the course of 2011 I fell back in love with analogue.

So this is my little analogue collection so far as I've purchased them over time.

Ah the good old Polaroid. Who doesn't love a Polaroid picture? This was probably the first film camera I purchased for myself many years ago before Polaroid went bust. I have a little stack of Polaroids and I absolutely love them. It's one of the most attractive and satisfying formats I'd say. I know you can buy film for this camera from The Impossible Project but it is painfully priced and you only get 8 shots in comparison to what you used to pay for a twin pack. Sigh. Maybe one day as part of something very special I'll treat myself.

Gifted to me by my darling friends the Supersampler was my introduction to Lomography. I must have been banging on about it somewhere for my friends to see this as a worthy gift. It's a funny old camera this one. With no viewfinder you just have to aim and shoot with this camera and you're encouraged to use it on sunny days for best results. I must confess the fad of this camera wore off after a little while but I re-discovered it last year and took it along to Portugal. I ran a couple of rolls through it, seen in this album, and in the Portuguese sun this camera became fun again. I am going to endeavour to use it more this year.

After a hefty few years stay in digital photography I began becoming interested in analogue photography again at the start of 2011. In particular I'd keep seeing blog posts about people using analogue camera and every so often I'd see Lomography related stuff as well. So once in a while I'd happily browse the Lomography website pining for the money to buy one of their cameras. When I finally got the full amount of my student loan early last year and a conveniently timed Lomography voucher came about I took that leap. I bought myself the Diana F+ deluxe kit and shortly after we fell in love in Seville. This camera can do just about everything and actually has 3 formats to work with; 35mm, 120 and instant. It's like 3 cameras in one!

After a summer in Portugal with my Diana I knew I was ready to take it to the next level with analogue. So shortly after returning I visited The Real Camera Company and invested in my Olympus OM10. That shop by the way is analogue camera heaven. I knew roughly which cameras I wanted purely from what I'd seen online and was actually leaning more towards a Canon since digitally that's what I use. But this Olympus won my heart and has remained with me at all times ever since.

Then a funny thing happened. I rediscovered eBay. As I began using the Lomography website more I would see all these great examples of photography and the same few cameras kept popping up. I know that it's the photographer who makes the photograph not the camera but undoubtedly the camera plays a big part in the deal. So when this Zenit-E appeared for the right price I went ahead and indulged. Be warned this is a hefty camera. And Russian. It has fewer settings than my Olympus and I'm yet to actually test it but I am excited to get to grips with it.

I still fancied a Canon SLR and as luck would have it eBay had one for me. So I hastily purchased this Canon AE-1 which came with a bag full of random accessories, a flash and a 28mm lens. Again I'm yet to test it out but rather excitingly the camera did come with a film already in it and about half used. I am so excited to eventually get the roll developed because what's more fun than mystery photographs? I'm planning on taking the Canon out to finish that roll and run my own test roll through soon. It's fully manual so it should be pretty exciting to get to grips with exposing photographs with proper consideration.

And finally, the latest and truthfully possibly one of the most exciting additions to my camera collection is the Lomo LCA+. I have lusted for this camera for YEARS now. Actual years. The more I read about it, the more I saw what it produced, the more I wanted it. And again eBay had one for me. Brand new in box and about £100 cheaper than they're sold on the Lomography website. I couldn't resist. I was so excited when it arrived and took on a state of unbelieving awe that I finally owned one. It got its first run at The Blue Planet Aquarium last week and I'll be taking the film to be developed tomorrow. Fingers crossed for that. This has become the second camera that comes everywhere with me now. Expect many photographs from this little guy.

So there you have it. My little camera family which I hope will continue to grow over this next year and many years to come. I may well do a separate post on my current camera lusts. I'm forever browsing eBay and am planning on exploring the world of car boot sales and charity shops in the hope of finding some camera gems. Should you happen to have any old cameras that you'd like to see go to a good home or know of anyone wishing to get rid of their old cameras, well you know who to contact ;)

All shots were taken on my Canon 450D.

Laters,

P x