Going digital

Am positively smitten with my new Nikon D90 DSLR camera that I got for my birthday this summer :). As you can probably imagine, I've been greatly occupied in tinkering around with it. I was anxious that in going digital, my images would lose many of the visual qualities I had grown to love when using film. However, there are a few ways one can overcome this and digital certainly has perks of its own!  Below are the first of many more experiments to come!

Beetles

December 2011.

I had so much fun drawing the beetles for Postcard No. 3 of the summer project that I decided to do some more for my brother's birthday (as it is subject matter I thought he'd appreciate)! When it was completed I managed to salvage a frame for it to sit nicely snug in. It is easy to under-estimate the importance of a frame!

Anyway...

here are some more California road-trip pics I hadn't got round to posting up for a while :/ ...

Highway 1, summer 2011.

North coast, summer 2011.

Pinhole Camera No. 2

Trafalgar Square London, July 2011.

Last summer Fred, Amber and I made some pinhole cameras together. The above photos are what I managed to get from my reel of film. I'm certainly going to keep this going because it's so fun and satisfying to do! Will attempt to refine the matchbox method or try out a different technique - there are plenty of possibilities out there.

Images appeared in Postcard No. 6 of Summer Project.

See all of the photographs here. 

Folkestone disused railway, August 2011.

Reflection in window, August 2011.

University halls, July 2011.

Christina Rossetti

19th century poet Christina Rossetti, Dec 2011.

I was absolutely over-joyed to have my submission for 'The Haunts of the poets' exhibition accepted last year! This piece was shown along with fellow BA Illustration (Middlesex University) students and tutor's work at the Poetry Cafe in Covent Garden, London. 

The exhibition also earned the attention of Creative Review... click here for their article.






Recently had some more film developed and it was a great relief when the below photo turned out okay despite the low-light conditions (only had 200 ISO film at hand). Certainly beat my digital camera's efforts hands down!

Sculpture in De Young museum, Golden Gate Park California, summer 2011.

The Seagulls of St Ives

'The Seagulls of St Ives' hand-bound book, Nov 2011.

For the second project of the 2nd year, we had to illustrate a news item of our choice. Here I illustrated a short article about two seagulls who were being unusually protective over a flock of birds at the beach. Funnily enough, the cover of the book I made is my favorite and (I think) most successful part of the whole thing... probably because simplicity is sometimes far more effective! 


To see the rest click here.

Front and back cover of hand-made book, Nov 2011.

3rd of three double page spreads inside book, Nov 2011.

Endpapers of book, Nov 2011.

Now THIS one is particularly good if you have trouble getting to sleep.

However...

if you are sick of seeing birds now (or drawing them in my case), how about some pleasant seascapes devoid of the blighters?

Light house on north coast California, summer 2011.

Hazy sunset California, summer 2011.

Sheffield

Peeping through fence at entrance to now disused Green Lane Works, 2011.

Manufactured ornate stoves and fenders.

Photo taken in Sheffield's once industrial Neepsend District. I like walking around these sorts of areas and thought it would be a good time to practice more with my SLR camera (by this time I was on the 3rd reel of film).

Photo appeared in Postcard No. 1 of summer project.

See more here.

First SLR photos

Home, June 2011

Tuvok, June 2011

After returning home for the summer break (2011) I noticed an old Olympus OM-1 SLR camera lying on a high, dusty shelf. Curious, I started tinkering with it and have never been able to stop since! I'm so pleased with the ease with which atmosphere and mood can be attained with this camera, even in the hands of a novice! And whilst it does take a great deal of patience (and money) to get the finished result, I feel like I have learnt a lot more doing things manually rather than digitally. 

The above photographs came from my first reel of film.

Click on the link below to view more photographs of this kind.

 Kent

Pinhole Camera No.1

Double exposure - Dining room 

Self Portrait - Kitchen 

Walking in woods

This was my first ever attempt at making a matchbox pinhole camera. Although there are a few light leakages showing up, I was still very excited by the outcome! After being so used to doing everything digitally, it was really fun just getting back to the basics of photography. It is surprising how much one can do with so few materials...

Click the link below to browse through the rest of the photos!

Pinhole Camera No.1