Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Ivan has invited me to contribute to this fine blog. I feel slightly at a disadvantage here as I am not, repeat, not of the very high standard of Ivan and Damian. Like a lot of people, I love great photography and the power of a stunning shot, well it can simply take your breath away, as some of the shots on this blog have already done.

My shots have been taken in various locations using very standard equipment - a 3meg Minolta Dimage X and laterly a 4.1meg Sony Cyber Pix. No Digital SLRs here (as yet!) Basic photoshop manipulations may have happened, basically these are straight out of the camera.

I'll try to post on occasion and attempt not to lower the fine tone of the blog. If anything I think the best idea is to treat me as a pet project - I'm very happy to receive advice on all aspects of photography.

So, to get us started, here are a few of my shots...



This was taken in Koh Lanta in Thailand in 2002 as the light was starting to head towards the quick dusk. I'd already taken about 8 shots of the boatman and was hoping for the light and the sky to work together. As with a lot of my shots there is no techincal aspect except for framing, composition idea and a little knowledge of the light etc...



This was taken from the Empire State Building in New York in June 2003. As mentioned previously, for me it is currently all about the immediacy of the shot. I just really liked the city details, the traffic, the buildings, the shadows, the iconic water towers and also the feeling that you are an observer, not in the dynamics of the bustle, but somewhere otherly and unseen.



And this final shot for now, again from NY 2003, is very much about the time and the place. Just snapped very quickly on the subway this really appeals to me as an image and again a thought. Is it a joke - a thoughtless throw away tag / graf? Is it a real plea to pray, if so for what, for who? Is it a comment on the authority to stop freedoms... for me, it is too restrained to be thoughtless...

Well - I hope these do not stick out too much on the blog. More to follow from Dubai, Vienna, Scotland and more in the future. Comments very welcome!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Grant

First off, thanks for accepting the invite - you are a most welcome addition to the blog contributors. I knew you were interested in photography, and could see in your shots that you look for things, rather than snap (although we all do this sometimes).

I also think that, like the quote under the blog title, "great photography is not about depth of field, but rather depth of feeling", and it's clear from your shots that you apply feeling to your shots.

My overall impression is I really like your shots. The last two in particular have a more candid, reportage feel about them, which is something I've always been interested in, but never really tried to do. I love the non-standard view from the Empire State - most of us would look up, at the vista, rather than down, at the life below. Really good.

The shot of the graffiti is also excellently observed, and the slightly out-of-focus nature, whether intentional or not, works, like an image grabbed while rushing to work, and is totally in context with the location of the sign itself. If it were sharp, it would not work quite so well.

The view of the boatman, alone, and set against the stunning sky, is a wonderful image. Personally, I may have cropped it, to put him/her nearer to one of the edges (right, possibly), and crop out a little of the sea and the black shoreline. However, it's a powerful image, made good also by the fact that the figure is standing in near-perfect alignment to the shore for a great outline. Great shot.

I like your style of image making and I knew you'd add your own unique angle to our more traditional landscape photography. It'll challenge me/us to try other things, and, in addition to seeing and discussing great images, is exactly why I wanted to invite you.
Please, contribute regularly!!

Cheers
Ivan