Black and White Gold
Day 14: DarknessI had not planned to do a black and white photo challenge in July, but on the first day, when I was post-editing a potential self-portrait using the random button in the Hipstamatic app, I suddenly hit upon this combination, and immediately thought: YES, THAT’S IT!
This black and white film is not completely devoid of colour, but is only desaturated to a high enough degree so that strong colour comes through visibly, but light colours mostly wash out. The film also haves a random dark vignette in adjacent corners which can look bad on light photos, but on shadowed images it can work well, and also particularly nicely with the Tinto 1884 lens, which is based on antique Tintype cameras and creates a shallow depth of field. On the other hand, the Triple Crown flash always brings sharp definition and contrast, and in this instance, it does reduce the Tinto blur a pleasing amount without any additional editing.
Day 28: LiquidBy chance I photographed the man serving me at the coffee merchant – I buy Columbian dark roast beans – for my ‘darkness’ subject, and then exactly two weeks later for ‘liquid’ I photographed it percolating through my Italian espresso pot. I call it black gold.
Check out July’s full gallery here.
Strong Colour, Weathered Edges
Day 15: Close-UpAs a contrast to the previous month’s soft focus Photo Challenge, I wanted the opportunity to play with some really strong colour and sharp detail in the June collection. The Estrada 83 film is one of my favourites, with its weathered and water-stained instant film edges that changes with every use; the texture can also be edited. Those water-stained edges match well with the blurred edges of the Anne-Marie lens – also one of my favourites – while the Jolly Rainbo 2X flash negates its bleached vignette.
When I put this gallery together, I chuckled as this statue of Hercules (above) immediately follows my Croatian copy of Tolstoy’s War and Peace, which is illustrated with a picture of the author himself, who could have been a model for the statue!
Check out the complete gallery here.
Day 14: Literary
A Nostalgic Glow
Day 23: StrangersTo celebrate the close of autumn, for last month’s photo challenge, I decided to use a Hipstamatic combination that bestowed a warm, nostalgic glow to my photos. I also used the Depth of Field tool to highlight the focal point, editing each image individually rather than simply applying a pre-set.
I knew the very brown tones would prove to be a challenge as well, and tweaked that occasionally to complement the colours of the subject – this had quite a nice effect on blue tones. Here are a couple of favourites: the gallery photo for the amusing subject, and the self-portrait for the effects.
Click here to view the full gallery, or here to visit previous months’ collections.
Day 1: Self-Portrait
Shadow and Light
Month 4 of the 30 Days Photo Challenge
Month four of the 30 Days Photo Challenge is in the bag! The Hipstamatic equipment used in this set is quite different again to the previous sets, which is certainly one of my objectives for this challenge. Knowing that I will end up with 12 images on each subject is pushing me to try and be imaginative and to think laterally – not literally – every day. Nevertheless, there are still a few occasions where one of the first (or only!) shots of the day ends up the winner.
… each subject is pushing me to try and be imaginative and to think laterally – not literally – every day.
A case in point is this image of my Venetian blinds and filmy curtain: the subject was ‘shadow’ and I snapped off a few pictures early in the morning of these gorgeous stripes. Then in transpired the rest of the day was completely overcast, and nary a shadow was seen again! Shadows are one of my favourite photographic subjects, and this is a particularly photogenic example.
On the opposite end of the spectrum was the subject of the last day: ‘light’. This time I decided to capture an ostrich feather, which happened to have already been a subject of my on-going Lost Things series. I had photographed this on a wet morning commute where it lay soggy on the pavement, and since found objects can have interesting uses for an artist, I decided to keep it.
I was delighted and at the same time terrified that the wind would whisk it off never to be seen again!
I had decided to photograph it in the air, and it luckily transpired to be a very blustery day. I went out into my driveway and took many, many shots tossing the feather into the air. The final result was caught as the wind took the feather high into the air, past the rooftops. I was delighted and at the same time terrified that the wind would whisk it off never to be seen again! Happily it returned, but not before I got quite a few shots – it was difficult to choose a favourite. The feather is beautifully illuminated in the final, which also gives a sense of height. Considering how quickly I had to shoot, I’m impressed with how well the iPhone 7+ has caught this.
Check out the full gallery here.
The Last of Summer
Nostalgia, Day 10, March 2019I had a lot of fun producing my third set of the 30 Day Photo Challenge. The vivid colour and what I call the ‘glowy’ effect of my chosen combination of Hipstamatic equipment were very inspiring. I hit on the combination by chance, using the random button on my self-portrait photos of the first day.
It was a beautiful late afternoon, and I took the shots on a bridge where I was bathed in the light of the setting sun. The Leonard lens creates a complex layered texture that looks like a shimmering bubble, and also adds the occasional flare to which the Standard flash adds even more brightness; they are offset by the weathered Sussex film, a great textured base with burnt edges. It felt like the right blend to celebrate the last of summer.
Self Portrait, Day 1, March 2019The funfair clown is one of my favourite images, and evokes the Nostalgia theme perfectly, reminding me of attending summer carnivals in my childhood, where the air itself was charged with excitement, and all the crowds, colours, lights and noise thrilled me. Carnivals were places full of possibility and adventure. I still love attending them to this day, and enjoyed my perambulations through the Moomba carnival, just taking photos – it was hard to choose between the ferris wheels, dodgem cars and other rides, but as I came to the laughing clowns, I knew they were It.
Click here to view the whole gallery.