Hipstamatic, I'm hooked...

I've heard about, read about it, and now finally I'm in on it, Hipstamatic for the iPhone, it's so retro it hurts, takes me back to the 70's when the quality of neg prints from the chemist were suspect at the best of times.

It use to be a case of spot the colour cast, usually from one print to the next on the same roll, or if you were very unlucky the 'technician' handling your precious negatives might just pre-fog them a bit, or a lot, it just depended how drunk or stoned they were.

Well now you can get that, 70's fucked-up at the lab look with this wonderful little app from iTunes. Okay fucked-up might be a bit strong, the app produces wonderful little artworks that you'd take ages to produce in photoshop from a normal image.

Anyway I'm hooked, since I bought the app at the beginning of the week it's been my camera app of choice on my iPhone, anything and anyone is being snapped, no matter what they're doing!

http://hipstamaticapp.com/

False Polaroid frames, it's just so wrong...

Trawling through some old mountain bike race images I came across these, they were shot in Portugal at a Maxxis Cup downhill race, these are of Helen Mortimer, a seasoned downhill racer who won the womens competition at the event. But, why, oh why I'd dropped false polaroid frames over them you'd have had to ask me six years ago, because I really haven't got a clue now. It just goes to show that something that you may have thought was 'sooo cool' a few years ago now looks stupid, contrived and really adds nothing to the images. Giant Bikes used the colour shot, they picked and used it before I added the frame, Vans Shoes used a couple of other images of Helen Mortimer for full bleed ads in Dirt magazine and MBUK, again less the Polaroid frames. 

It's a Mr. Blue Sky kind of day...

The sun is out, the sky is blue, ELOs Mr. Blue Sky it blaring out on my iTunes... All is right with the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98P-gu_vMRc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Sometimes things can take longer...

These images were taken back in 2009, just as the aftermath of the credit crunch had really started to bite, the client produces bespoke furniture, kitchens and green oak buildings, we planned to get six locations done to complete the job but it's taken nearly two years to get it wrapped and packed. My youngest son was just a few months old when I shot these, he's two years and two months now, it's odd to gauge a job by your sons life on the planet but there you go. The discs will be written tomorrow and I should deliver them early next week. Finally.

Okay, so today I got my reading...

... glasses. Bloody hell what a difference, my long sight is great, thankfully, but now I look at the computer screen with my new personal optical windows everything is sharp again!

In a field, under a tree...

... in North Norfolk, under a blazing sun at the start of June, slowly rusting, sits a Fordson Major tractor. It waits for it's eventual refurbishment, the rust has taken hold but it's not far enough along to have rendered the metal of this old farm machine to a slow red oxide death. Work will probably start soon to bring this relic back to life, it is a project in waiting. I took a few pictures of it because my brother-in-law use to own one (his wife got it as part of the divorce settlement, she's been trying to sell it ever since) and I thought he'd like to see it.

Valves...

After a fun packed week away I returned home on Saturday to find a package from a client at my backdoor, the FedEx driver had deemed it to be a safe spot to leave the package, well it was still there so enough of that. Inside were three sets of valves for radiators, all brushed steel and requiring simple shots on a black background. They were shot on a white background and cutout to give the best detail in the valves, as well as highlights I dropped in some strips of black card to add some contrast and show the shape of the valves to. The shots were e-mailed to the client on Monday night, approved this morning and the valves returned to my client by special delivery this afternoon. Lets hope the postman doesn't leave them at my clients backdoor...

Called a client this morning, just on the...

... off chance they might have some work knocking about. Result! A box of bit and pieces that need simple product shots, on grey and white backgrounds. Plus a new product... Wait for it... A wheelie bin lock! Yes, that's what I thought at first, but it seems lots of kids with nothing better to do than cause trouble find wheelie bins fascinating, almost irresistible. They can think of nothing better than tipping them over or opening them up and setting light to the contents. So this lock stops them opening the bin and it has a sensor alarm that goes off if someone tips it over. When the refuse collection operatives (bin men) come and empty the bins the lock opens when the bin is inverted, clever. Now to start photographing it, first I'll need a wheelie bin, ah, we still just have bin bags, though the council will be rolling wheelie bins out to us soon!

If you want to buy a particular camera...

... or lens, it looks like you might be out of luck! I've just been reading an article on pdn's blog about camera stores in the states not having stock of certain types and models of camera, the Canon 5D MkII, 7D and some Nikon models as well as popular lenses like the new Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II, are all unavailable. So I did a little bit of checking with a few stores here in the UK, same problem. It looks like the production levels in Japan have got a long way to go to meet the demand for these precious items, the tsunami has had an enormous effect on current production models, what kind of delays will it have on the next generation of Pro models that we've all been waiting for from Nikon and Canon?

http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/gear/Photographers-Face-C-2936.shtml

A trip to the woods brings an unexpected...

... chance for a quick snap of my oldest lad. It was shot on my Canon 1Ds MkII with the 70-200 mm f4 L series lens, set at 150mm at f4.5 1/160 sec, though the file info says I'd got my 17-40 mm lens on, not sure what that's about! In photoshop I worked on the colour image then desaturated, lightened the eyes, then the face, but I wanted the eyes to draw you into the picture so I worked on them a little more darkening some parts and lightening others a little more. I like the shot, so does my wife, my son likes it, the police officer who came to talk about the action we wanted to take over our smashed car window liked it to, can't wait to show my Mum and Dad, must get printing now.

I've been wanting to...

... post on my blog for a couple of days, but like everyone else in the Blogger world it's been off-line for a few days. Now it's back, but I seem to have forgotten what I was going to blog about. Ho hum, next time.

I don't want to be a scene of crime...

... photographer, but I've taken on that mantle this week when a school kid threw a handful of stones down our road to try and hit another boy and managed to put stones through my neighbours and my car windows. I'm hoping that it'll all be resolved without resorting to the Police, though they've been informed (another statistic). The photographs are really for my insurance company, if I need them, as well as evidence for the police to use if the case goes further. I'm off to the school later today as the head teacher is very interested in the incident. I'm just relieved that my young boys weren't out in the garden playing when the stones cascaded down, the thought makes me cringe.

Anyone got a dust pan and brush?

It's alive...

Finally got the new site up and running, though I've just noticed that the about page just has a picture of me on it and nothing else, whoops! I'll have to put that right tonight as I've now got to head out into the lovely sunshine and take some photographs, it's a hard life...

Update: 05/05/2011
All sorted, about page has been populated, I do hope that's the right word!