It's the end of the week and we've all got smiles on our faces. This is a personal favorite portrait of mine from an assignment photographing the Dalai Lama, one of the jolliest men I've ever met. This was his right hand man (unfortunately I never got his name) but he was a larger than life personality. Although we could not speak the same language, we laughed and joked with each other as I snapped off a few frames. Shooting in black and white often draws the eye away from the distraction of color and really focuses us on the subject and expression - in this case unparelled joy! Have a good weekend everyone.
Black and White
Iphone X - Big Sur Black and White /
I've recently got an IPhoneX and have been really impressed with the quality of the camera. I therefore wanted to test it more thoroughly on a trip last week at one of my favourite locations, the Big Sur that is situated on the Pacific Coast Highway and is perhaps the most dramatic stretch of coastal road in the whole US. I shot all of the photographs direct from the phone using the in-built black and white filter and wanted to see how good the dynamic range was at capturing high contrast scenes. The selection you see below are therefore all completely unedited and native straight from the IphoneX.
Californian Light in Black and White /
I have been blown away by the quality of light in California on my trip here. Yesterday, I took a short trip out of San Francisco to Ocean Beach and spent a hours just observing people wandering along the beach as beautiful light refracted, reflected and bounced off the ocean casting all kinds of shadows and interesting shapes and lines.
These three images were some of the favorite that I shot with the figures showing the scale of the beach and the ocean; this is especially noticeable in the photograph of a sole man wading in the Pacific (the middle one) which is perhaps favorites . Black and white conversion helped accentuate the strong highlights and shadows and really bring out the dynamic range in these images; I just can't get enough of those rich, velvety blacks.
Up In The Skies... /
Desmond Tutu /
It's mid July and the sun should be shining. Instead, it's grey, damp and pretty miserable outside. What better way to cheer myself up then digging through my archives and posting a picture of the most jovial man I've ever shot, the legend that is Desmond Tutu. His charisma and vivaciousness for life truly is infectious.
Andy Murray /
With the disappointment of defending Wimbledon champion Andy Murray being eliminated at the quarter finals stage, I thought I'd trawl back through my archives and resurrect one of my favourite shots from when I was fortunate enough to photograph the British number one . He was such a top bloke, full of charisma, charm and not too shabby at tennis; definitely still got it in him to secure a couple more Grand Slams. Come on Andy!!!
Two Hours In New York with the Fuji x100s /
Sometimes you just don't want to lug around a hefty SLR with you and recently while in New York I experimented shooting some street photography with the incredibly stylish Fuji x100s. However, this pocket powerhouse has more to it than just a retro shell and packs some impressive sensor technology behind its exterior.
Veering away from my usual style of shooting landscapes (primarily HDRs) of large skylines and buildings and inspired by the blog Humans of New York, I took to the streets for a couple of hours and explored the Lower East and West Side to shoot some street photography...Cartier-Bresson style.
It is always fun to set assignments and challenge yourself to shoot new things especially as the Fuji I was using had a fixed focal length lens of 35mm which, makes you really think about composition and framing on each and every shot.
Below are a few of my favourites from some of the characters I met on my walk.
Staircase to Where? /
I've decided to make an effort to try and begin blogging some of my favourite shots from personal projects amidst the hustle and bustle of my commercial work. The first photo is taken in Detroit, Michigan back in 2013 of an old staircase leading to nowhere in particular. This makes up part of my ongoing series on Abandoned Spaces. The second two are from the same series but, shot in a different location (a derelict electrical factory). They were taken in the middle of a relentless Winter during one of many snow storms which only added to the silent, eeriness of the location.
I am hoping to showcase much of this work in an exhibition later in the year.