Monthly Archives: October 2009

Digital is good/Digital is bad.

Nearly five years ago I was kindly given a Canon G3 on semi permanent loan. I had never used digital before and my first impressions were how advanced the technology had become and how easy it was to take pictures which were perfectly exposed and automatically colour balanced.
I particularly enjoyed the freedom it gave me [...]

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Street Photography

Just over a week ago I found myself in the northern UK town of Bolton. I was there for two days with my university students who were doing a street photography project based on the ‘Worktown’ pictures of Humphrey Spender.
Spender was part of a group of people who were involved in a mass observation project [...]

Posted in 35mm, Lecturing, Street photography | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Not enough hours

Since starting back at university (I am head of traditional, analogue photography at UCLAN in the UK), l I have begun in earnest to apply myself to various projects which have been nagging at the back of my mind. The reason for my renewed self motivated drive is because I have been guilty in the [...]

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Flexible film

Different photographers have different expectations from a film. They may buy a particular brand because they have seen that someone they admire has used it. Some are looking for good latitude, others for speed, acutance or fine grain. Others may be expecting contrasty, gritty results.
Buying a film and exposing/developing at the manufacturers recommended settings will [...]

Posted in Experimental, processing | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Consistent negative quality

One of the most important areas of photography is the processing of negatives. The quality of your images is dependent on how much care and attention you take with your developer, dilution, times, temperature and agitation. Following much of the literature which has been published on the matter though, could give you too many things [...]

Posted in 35mm, Darkroom, Medium Format, Uncategorized, processing | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Seeing

Looking around on the web I see many, many photographers who are producing sharp, well exposed shots and many of them are very competent photographers.
Often though, there is something missing; Too many of the shots are just BORING.
Making an image which is sharp and well exposed is the easy part, making an image which affects [...]

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