Thursday 1 October 2009

Sky in the Baubles - OcUK Photo Comp - September

Septembers theme was Curves. I found this one to be extremely difficult as curves are such an arbitrary thing and again prone to cliches. The ones that stood out the most to me were roads, cars light trails and women. I was tempted to head down the women path but having never done portraiture in anger nor having a large pool of knowledge when it comes to the lighting of such subjects I was somewhat stumped.


I had an idea of attempting to emulate and photograph the results of a couple of paper folding/cutting artists that have a presence on Flickr. Those of Richard Sweeney and Jen Stark.


Richard Sweeney - Icosahedron

Jen Stark - Over And OutLuckily, both for my sanity and that of my ever tolerant Fiance, another opportunity came up.

Kim, whilst walking down Piccadilly, spotted something that she knew would take my interest and it did that in spades! In the courtyard of the Royal Academy of Art on Piccadilly, London there is a central point where there is often a piece of installation art in place. For the time being it is a piece by a modern artist called Anish Kapoor. He is most famous for the Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago and I guess not having the massive space needed to emulate that in London he's taken a different path.

Tall Tree And The Eye:"Outside the Royal Academy of Arts in the Annenberg Courtyard, 74 stainless-steel spheres will appear to hover miraculously overhead. Look up, and the sky will be framed by thousands of shining bubbles as each element mirrors its neighbours ad infinitum."

This is a shot of the full sculpture:

This is my final entry for the comp that I titled - Sky in the Baubles:
This months subject is 'Energy'... I'm not sure what direction to take on this one - I think there is a bit of thinking involved!

Cosmic Girl - OcUK Photo Comp August

The August theme was Cosmic and this immediately brings to mind things like stars and light trails and anything to do with the heavens. Unfortunately I don't much like to adhere to the stereotypes so much like many of my other entries I thought out of the box.

The idea I came up with was based around the classic super hero look of a female super hero encompassed in energy floating upward whilst objects in her immediate vicinity floated also.

Much like this:



Kim and I headed out to our local park first thing in the morning once the sun was at a decent height. I didn't want to do it too late because the length of the shadows were quite important for me.

I initially took a series of photos from a way back using the Sigma 10-20mm lens but this caused a couple of issues. The first and most obvious is that with the lens being at 10mm there were some issues with it being too far away and there not being reasonable detail in the shot. The second was that being so far back the height that I could get Kim to jump at did not lend itself to the illusion of height.

So I moved the camera closer and also had a re-think on the eventual composition. My initial idea was to get as many random objects as possible floating around the circular area including perhaps my neighbors baby and perhaps a small dog. Not having any small dogs nor the baby at hand I changed my mind and went for things that were every day stuff but also as contextual as possible.

We start with a mostly empty photo:

The next trick was the actual photo taking. My first take on the process involved Kim standing on the step ladder and posing with the follow up a result of getting her to jump off the ladder and catching her mid air. After the first couple of attempts with the jumping off the step ladder I figured that I had to change the approach.


I had the top half of her sorted from the above shot so the next trick was to get her bottom half looking like she was floating. Obviously the jumping was the right direction on this - short of getting a harness and a crane which are slightly out of my means. The main issue here is that there is only so high a person can jump so I resolved to address the issue in the post work. Kim being the absolute soul of tolerance jumped up and down quite a few times each time with a variation on her foot positioning until I got what I was looking for.

You'll notice that the shadow and the feet are significantly lower than in the final image - it was purely in the post work that I shifted both Kim and her shadow upward to add to the illusion of height.

The next trick was floating stuff. This bit was pretty easy - I just got Kim to run around with various objects and either hold them or throw them ensuring that the objects shadows were easily resolved and her fingers were not overlapping the camera facing edges. I also got her to chase a couple of pigeons to give the shot a bit of movement.




The end result is a very basic composite of all the shots - if you have a clean background to work with then painting out any of the other layered shots is a very simple process. For balance sakes I moved some of the objects and their shadows around, straightened the image (my tripod is rubbish) and worked with the levels a bit. I cleaned up Kims arms because I had over exposed them a bit by using a brush created from her own skin where it was exposed properly and finally chucked a boarder around it.

End result:
Cosmic Girl

Friday 18 September 2009

More Birdies! Eagle handling day.

For my Fiances birthday last year I got her an Eagle Experience Day based out in Eynesford in Kent. I'll openly admit that there were some selfish reasons for coming up with the idea as it was a day for two but I like to think it wasn't anything like buying my better half that tool kit she's always wanted...


I was more than happy to sit back and take photos and that is exactly what I did, again with moderate success. The day was 6 hours of one on one with some of the most stunning animals that we've had the privilage to meet.


Along the way we learned a few things too, some a little disturbing and some really interesting. One thing we learned fairly rapidly was that chicks come out of their egg still containing their yolk which subsequently goes everywhere the moment the largest bird that I have ever seen tears it to shreds whilst sitting on your gloved hand. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIM!!! Did I mention that she's a vegetarian?


There were two stand out birds on the day and the first was Chilli the Bald Eagle. Interesting fact about Bald Eagles, they aren't called bald because of the white head but because of their overall colouration. A white and black horse is known as a piebald horse and when the settlers came to name the Bald Eagle it was for the same reason - they are a piebald eagle. Anyway - on to the photos!






The second was Nobel the Tawny Eagle. He was a really interesting chap that seems quite lazy even to the point where he would rather walk everywhere rather than fly. The even odder thing was that when he walked there was no waddle that you associate with pidgeons and other birds. He looked for all the world like a person, albeit a bit feathery.

So - presenting Noble the Tawn Eagle:




On the photography front...

I've been keeping busy on the photography side of things as well. I've managed to get through a couple more photography projects for the Overclockers UK monthly photo competition with moderate success.

The July theme was '5 Seconds' with the idea that all the photos should be taken using a long exposure technique of 5 seconds length or more. After toying with a whole set of cliched ideas using light trails, light painting, stars in the night sky and car trails I had an epiphany. Ok that's a little white lie, I nicked the idea off Top Gear, the motoring show on the BBC, where they were showing what I think was a new Lambo or Maserati or similar. They had a neat effect using neon tubes where they were waved along the length of the car but you could only see the light trails as they were being made. Being rather taken by the idea, I thought I'd have a go.

So I jumped on Ebay and found myself a portable neon lamp for around £20 which I thought looked around perfect for the job:


The next trick was to head up onto the roof of my apartment block and start experimenting. My initial idea was to run along the length of the roof and make some random light trails but this soon proved itself to be impractical for a couple of reasons. The first of which was a lack of context, i.e. the ribbons of light were neither coming nor going anywhere. The next issue was that as I walked/ran with the light my movement would translate into the ribbons, so for every step I made the ribbon would bob up and down. Now lacking a steady cam rig there wasn't really any solution to that so I changed the scene a bit and also the distance that I had to cover in the time span allotted.

Shifting the camera around to face the roof entrance to the building I cottoned onto what was to be the final composition and also the answer to my 'where are the ribbons going' problem. My other issue was resolved by forcing myself to be as smooth as possible. After around about 5-10 attempts I was losing the light and decided to call it a night, not before turning around and discovering that I had been entertaining some of the occupants of the hotel next door... oh well these are the sacrifices we make for our art!

So end result? It is a combination of 5 exposures all shot at around 25 seconds a shot and composited in Photoshop.




It's all been quiet here for a bit...

Motivation has been lacking of late for updating this blog and it's a shame because there has been a great deal going on. Having a little bit of time on my hands I thought I'd see if I could make some movement toward catching up a little.

I left off on a couple of music related things and since then I've come across a producer/artist that has really caught my attention. His name is
Ulrich Schnauss and is an electronic musician from Germany. Having a little bit of a background in dance music and electronica I do tend to keep an eye out for these things although of late my inclinations have been more for heavy rock and metal. Still when something comes along of this quality I generally sit up and take notice.

Similarities could be drawn to the likes of
Tangerine Dream, Orbital or perhaps the more mellow efforts of Chicane. In my own description I would say that it's a lush downbeat sound with lots of subtle audio layering, extremely easy to listen to and I would recommend his work. Enjoy...

Ulrich Schnauss - Clear Day



Ulrich Schnauss - Shine

Tuesday 7 July 2009

DUBFX - Some people just have a stunning talent...

This boy just has a fantastic talent and demonstrates it in his street performances.

Artist web site: http://www.dubfx.net




Friday 26 June 2009

RIP Michael Jackson

It's all over the news this morning and you know if you can't beat them...

He has an unbelievable back catalog of music and produced arguably the best pop song and album in Billie Jean and Thriller. It's something that can never be taken from him despite his many recent personal and extremely public trials and tribulations.

Whilst I think the guy is weird I am a fan of the music and it is a great loss for the pop world that he is now gone.

R.I.P. Michael Jackson 1958-2009

Thursday 25 June 2009

Eruption from space

The Earth never fails to amaze me and it's always a place of beauty and wonder. But every now and then you see something from a different and special perspective.

This photo was taken from the International Space Station of the Sarychev Peak volcano in Japan/Russia.

For the photo geeks among us this was taken with a Nikon D2XS with a 400mm Lens.

Source: The Register

The volcano, which lies in the Kuril Island chain northeast of Japan, blew its top on 12 June, an event captured during a "fortuitous orbit" of the ISS. NASA explains that the picture is of particular interest to vulcanologists because it show "several phenomena that occur during the earliest stages of an explosive volcanic eruption".

These include the main plume, which "appears to be a combination of brown ash and white steam" and a clear circle in the "cloud deck" - either caused by "the shockwave from the eruption or from sinking air around the eruption plume"


Monday 22 June 2009

Synesthesia by Terri Timely

An exceedingly clever short film. Source: http://www.territimely.com/_/v/2-short-films

Friday 19 June 2009

Birdies!!!

Whilst sitting at home feeling sorry for myself due to a previous nights attempt at self embalming I got a rather random phone call from my Fiancé.

Kim was heading up toward Primrose Hill and whilst going past Regents Park in Holborn she noticed that there were a large number of birds of prey on perches. I have an avid love of all things alive so my hangover rapidly forgotten I tore around the house and gathered up my photography gear.

What did I discover? These guys! Stunning birds but it's not the same as seeing them in the wild. Still a very special experience.

Eagle

Pygmy Owl
Eagle Owl
Eagle Owl

What I've been up too.

I've had a whole stack of stuff to do of late not the least of which was a trip to Italy to check out the venue for mine and Kims up and coming wedding.


The area is called Maratea and it is about 2-3 hours drive south of Naples. Whilst being absolutely beautiful it is a bit of a mission to get to as the Italians seem to have a grand idea about fixing the entire motorway system all at once and subsequently don't fix any of it. It stays in a constant state of semi-repair.


What should've been a simple drive to and from Maratea ended up being a case of sitting in traffic for several hours each way. Still it didn't detract from the experience of being there.


One of the main 'icons' of Maratea is Il Cristo Redentore - These are all taken on a mountain overlooking the coast under a statue called Cristo Redentore - this is the second largest 'Christ the Redeemer' statue after the one in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This one stands at 21.23 metres with a 19 metre arm span. The Rio one is 34.20 metres and 40.44 Metres on it's pedestal.


Kim standing in front of Cristo Redentore (Christ the Redeemer)

It's situated on the top of a very high part of the coast and as such it has a brilliant view. Getting there was a whole other experience as for some very strange reason the road to get there wasn't on our Garmin Satnav. Still we eventually found our way there and it really was worth it.

Looking South down the West coast of Italy
Looking up at Cristo Redentore
Looking North up the West coast of Italy
Kim checking out the view
Me in front of Cristo Redentore - taken by Kim.

Tuesday 19 May 2009

Sherlock Holmes Trailer

This trailer makes me a little dubious as to how faithful Guy Ritchie is going to be to the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle character. From a personal perspective I find that a little sad as he was brilliantly conceived and is as successful a character because of how he worked rather than in spite of it.

From the trailer it looks a little like they have let John Woo or Jerry Bruckheimer run away with the production. In actuality it has Bruce Berman as the Exec Producer who was responsible for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which was a singularly brilliant movie but he was also responsible for Catwoman which was a spectacular failure. Who knows maybe the combination of the Bruce and Guy might produce a gem.

So is it going to be Lock Stock/Snatch meets Sherlock Holmes or will he actually do the story and the character some justice? If it were down to the actors Robert Downey Junior and Jude Law then I'd say yes but they have to work with Guy who has, if we're being fair, produced less than stellar movies of late. Here is the trailer - not much story substance there but lots of explosions, women, action and excitement - all things entirely synonymous with Sherlock Holmes *cough*...

Flash mobbing at it's best.

Love this:

The Golden Hour

Following on with the photography theme I've come up with my initial entry to the OcUK photography competition. It is not strictly adhering to the theme at least according to the Wikipedia definition however it will have to do until there is some decent weather. The Golden Hour is the hour in both the morning and the evening when he sun creates a golden hue and the shadows are long and interesting.

This was my first attempt at the theme and unfortunately I missed the best of the light but I think the end result is acceptable. It was done with some dark filters on the lens so that I could extend the exposure out to around 20 seconds. It is the long exposure that makes the Thames look so smooth and also creates the light trails from the boat movement.


I have some other ideas for the Theme but it is entirely dependant on there being some decent weather between here and then end of the month. Having lived here for 4 years I often struggle to find London terribly photogenic without making a really stereotypical image.

Friday 15 May 2009

OcUK Photo comp

The theme just gone on the Overclockers UK photography forum was 'Street Life'. I decided to veer away from the obvious subject matter of homeless people and instead went for what the view from the street would be if it were alive. This presented several issues, the most obvious being that barring digging a hole in the pavement, I don't think that I could've gotten quite the perspective I was after. (As an aside, this has given me an idea for another photo that will involve me climbing into a hole in the road where roadworks are occurring and trying for a perspective shot from there - just an idea at this stage!)

So end result? Well I enlisted the help of a good friend of mine, Laz, and headed out to a local footpath that had potential for some good perspective. It ended up being just around the corner from my house/apartment.

The first edit:

This was a fairly good shot in the grand scheme of things, at least that is what I initially thought, until my significantly more observant Fiance pointed out a fairly major problem... Laz was monkey walking! Monkey walking is when you step and move your arms and legs on the same sides, i.e. left arm and left leg forward and then right arm and right leg - the end result is that not only does the body look out of kilter but it doesn't look remotely natural as a movement.

The other thing that stood out was due to the process of getting Laz to pose, which was basically "stand there with your leg out like you're walking" you don't get the shift in body weight that is associated with walking. This can be seen in both his body position and in his trailing foot position.

Of course I noticed none of this until we had gotten back in front of my computer and looked through the shots. Colour wise it was great, composition wise not too terrible, motion wise it was not that great at all. It really was a case of 'back to the drawing board'!

Take 2.
This time I had a more definite idea of what I wanted however this time the weather was not quite as co-operative as it had been the first time.

We both agreed that the better way to get the shot was to actually pace out the walking and then I'd just have to time the shot so that I caught it at the right time. This was a significantly more productive technique and in the long run a lesson learnt - don't try to emulate the movement, actually move!

So end result:I think it was composition and movement wise a far superior image only let down buy the sky which was cloudy. Due to the cloud the sky is 'blown out' or over exposed. I would have preferred to have some blue sky and retain the colour in the image but I decided that a desaturated image with a hue shift was the better option. I also got closer to the ground which I think made for a better take on the 'street' perspective. Overall I'm pretty happy with the shot.

From a photography perspective I'm enjoying getting out and about with 'models' and interacting with what I am shooting. I'm still not quite brave enough to walk up to a random and start shooting away but I'll get there in the end!

Incidentally the next theme is 'The Golden Hour' or the hour between when the sun is either going down or coming up. During summer/spring in the UK this is around 5-6am and 9-10pm. Again the intention here will be to think outside the box a bit. Sunrises and sunsets are something of a greatly shot subject matter but rarely do I find it entirely engaging.

Wednesday 13 May 2009

NYC - 360 Photo Flyover.

Spotted on the Chase Jarvis blog

This is a gorgeous presentation of New York City - a must view with sound. It's very peaceful.

http://www.pixelcase.com.au/vr/2009/newyork/
Photobucket

Thursday 7 May 2009

International Space Station Tour

Found this on Youtube - just brilliant. I had no idea how big the ISS was - and it is BIG!






Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srQdr6kGii4
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lswCuvcA7YQ

Wednesday 29 April 2009

Bathtub IV

A while ago I posted a video of Tiltshift stopmotion photography called Bathtub. There has since been several others made but this one recaptured some of the charm of the first one. Enjoy.

Wednesday 4 March 2009

New Lambo - SuperVeloce

Drool... Another stunning car from the workshops of Lamborghini.

Source: Wired

Lamborghini has unveiled the quickest Murcielago yet, a 670-horsepower toro lidiado that charges from zero to 60 in just 3.2 seconds and hits a top speed of 212 mph.
The LP 670-4 SuperVeloce shown at the Geneva Motor Show sports a 6.5-liter V-12 cranking out 30 horsepower more than the LP 640. A healthier dose of carbon fiber and other mods cut 220 pounds from the LP 640, bringing the SuperVeloce to 3,450 pounds. Suspension and aerodynamic tweaks — note that big freakin' wing — contribute to the stunning velocity. It's almost as impressive as the hyperbole in the press release:
From the rumble of a stormy night through the trumpeting of mighty elephants to the roar of a raging lion, the SuperVeloce performs the grand opera for 12 cylinders, 48 valves and 8,000 revs.
Yeah, Lamborghini should stick to engineering and leave the writing to others.
Want one? Better move quick. Sant'Agata plans to build just 350, and they'll go for somewhere north of $300,000. More pics ...




Thursday 26 February 2009

New Dell laptop range - Adamo

I don't usually get interested in laptops or computers in an aesthetic way unless they're Apples because I think they tend to take the prize for the best looking bits of kit (even if they're horrendously pretentious and overpriced). Once in a while there comes along a really decent looking piece of hardware that shows someone has taken the Apple approach to design, that being that form need not be sacrificed for function.

Dell has started what can only be described as a pretentious and overbearing - it smacks of the nasty perfume ads that seem to grace the TV around the festive season. However in this case there seems to be some substance behind all the fluff.

The Adamo range is their new 'designer' range of laptops and netbooks the first of which that has been popping up all over the technology sites and blogs. The one pictured below is in my opinion quite stunning and has a sveltness to rival that of the MacBook Air. There is no word yet on its stats other than this model has a 13 inch monitor that has the same gloss finish that seems to be popping up all over the place with recent laptops. Unfortunately the end result of this is that they're a massive fingerprint magnet and in bright light they reflect more than your bathroom mirror. Still it's one very good looking piece of kit. They are currently set for release sometime in the second half of this year.
Photos via: Doobybrain


Wednesday 25 February 2009

Flying Vid

Every now and then I come across a video on Youtube that I watch over and over. This is one of those - Watch this in high quality with some decent sound. It's wonderfully uplifting (pun intended). This is a video made by Loewe but some clever chap replaced the boring music (Coldplay I think) with Soniques - Fly So High (Touch the Sky). It fits perfectly in my opinion.

Friday 20 February 2009

LOMO! - part 2

Following on from my previous post - I had to produce something to fulfill my own theme criteria. Being something of a stickler for composition and taking the time to examine the scene that I was photographing the Lomo philosophy was quite difficult to embrace. What is the lomo philosophy? Lomo has 10 rules that are the accepted as guidelines for Lomographers. These are those rules:

1. Take your Lomo everywhere you go
This I always do along with an extra roll of film.
2. Use it anytime - day and night
3. Lomography is not an interference with your life but a part of it
It will soon feel natural to take Lomographs of everything.
4. Get as close as possible to the objects of you lomographic desire
I still don't get this right half the time.
5. Don't think
Once you start thinking about composition, the unexpected qualities start to go.
6. Be fast
As fast as you can take you camera from your pocket. For instant reaction, use the supplied wrist strap.
7. You don't have to know beforehand what is on your film
8. Nor afterwards
You will figure it out eventually.
9. Try the shot from the hip
Or from the ground.
10. Don't worry about (golden) rules
Be unique and find your own way.

In all honesty I did actually stick to the "Don't think, just shoot" ideal, at least initially, but then my desire for an interesting photo kind of took over. Ironically tho it ended up being two of the shots that really were shot from the hip that I decided I liked the most.

These are those two shots - both of the Centre Point building in London


So the processing involved in these two shots is the following:

In Adobe lightroom:
- Up the 'temperature' or warmpth of the photo
- Boost the saturation
- Up the contrast and blacks
- Tweek the yellow and green channels

In Adobe Photoshop
- A very slight sharpen pass (this is a legacy of the D80 - I don't use any camera processing and only shoot in raw)
- Tweek the exposure a little more as with the contrast and saturation to suit.
- A tiny little bit of false vignetting.

I have entered the first of the two into the competition so we'll see how we go - I don't expect to win this one as some of the other entries are far superior to mine. However it has been a brilliant learning experience and I personally think it was broadened my options a little when it comes to styles. I will post the result on here.

The forum and the entries can be found here: OCuK Photography Forum

Tuesday 10 February 2009

LOMO!

Having won the last comp on OCuK where the theme was "Only the camera can capture" I got the opportunity to chose the next. For my theme choice I went with Lomo. "What is Lomo?" you might ask. I shall endeavor to explain because over the years Lomo or Lomography has gained itself something of a cult following.

History: From http://www.lomography.com/about/

1982
In the genteel streets of St. Petersburg, Russia, the whole Lomographic phenomenon begins!

General Igor Petrowitsch Kornitzky, right-hand man to the USSR Minister of Defense and Industry, slammed a little Japanese mini-camera onto the ornate desk of his comrade Michail Panfilowitsch Panfiloff. Mr Panfiloff, Director of the powerful LOMO Russian Arms and Optical factory, examined the camera closely, noting its sharp glass lens, extremely high light sensitivity and robust casing. The two gentlemen, realizing the superior nature and extreme potential of this strange little item, gave immediate orders to copy and improve the design - with the ultimate goal of producing the largest quantity possible for the pleasure and glory of the Soviet population. It was decided - every respectable Communist should have a LOMO KOMPAKT AUTOMAT of their own.

The LOMO LC-A was born, and millions of cameras were promptly produced and sold. The Soviets and their Socialist playmates in Vietnam, Cuba and East Germany snapped happily away throughout the nineteen eighties, fully documenting the last gasps of Communism, and the occasional beach vacation on the Black Sea.

Jump forward to 1991

A handful of restless Viennese students are cruising though the capital in great early summer spirits, enjoying the new-found Czech democracy. By this year, the LC-A's time in the sunshine was coming to a close.

Weakened by dirt cheap, battery-powered imports from Asia, the LC-A's popularity was waning, and it was available only at quirky, old-school camera shops. It was at an establishment such as this, where the Viennese students happened upon the adorable camera, and bought a couple for fun. Back on the resplendent streets of Prague, they zipped through the first few rolls of film: shooting from above and through their legs, shooting from the hip, and even sometimes looking through the viewfinder.

Back in Vienna they soon had the whole bag of film developed at the trusty corner supermarket (super cheapo!) and received a real surprise: Thousands of small, amusing, sad, garish shots of their little tour, wonderful focused and unfocussed images fresh from life in the Czech Republic. The images were amazing, dazzling all those present with a crushing sense of excitement - the likes of which they had never felt before.

And so we come to today where Lomo has reached some thing of a cult status and is a style of not only photography but also of post processing (i.e. the editing done once you take the photo off the camera) that garners quite a bit of interest and respect. There are of course the purists that say that it's not a Lomo if it's not been taken with a Lomo LC-A camera but I'm not one of them - mostly because I don't have one!

So what does Lomo look like? Well in all honesty it can look like anything but there is a specific sub group of imagery that has become somewhat synonomous with Lomography and this is the one that I personally have the most interest in.

I've grabbed a couple of images that I personally feel are representitive of the style but are also interesting to me. These are from the Flickr Lomo group.

V-for Vendetta - By Keiron


magic mushrooms from lomo by poppie smiles


To me the things that typify the Lomo style (just the style mind you not the philosophy behind it) are the bold colours, the vignetting (shadows around the edges) and the quirkiness of the images, odd focuses and not necessarily adhering to the rules of photography (which reminds me I should put a bit up here on the rules themselves - they're always good things to remember).

Monday 2 February 2009

Photography jiggery pokery

Inspired by my recent win with the TNT I decided to challenge myself a little. On one of the photography forums I regularly visit run a little monthly photo comp with the aim of pushing you to develop your skills. The month just gone theme was "Only the Camera Can Capture". As always these are open to interpretation and so I decided to take a different lean that everyone else was. The general idea was that it would be things like macro shots or long exposures. My take was a little more elaborate.

I had recently seen the website of a guy who had a thing for chucking things in the air and then taking photos of them. The end result was, in my opinion, quite clever.


I decided to take it a step further and came up with a concept inspired by the laptop shot above. I was going for something a little more complex and also a totally different take on the 'Camera can Capture' theme.

So at around 9:30am on a Saturday I and my lovely assistant Kim headed down to Russel Square with two laptops kindly lent to me by work (they were getting thrown out anyway) and a couple of wooden spoons. The idea was to make an image that was purposefully incongruous and a bit fun. Rather than try to explain the image I will just show you the end result and then some shots of the process involved.

Laptops Among the Pigeons

The Process - Take one laptop - remove hard drive bay - insert wooden spoon and hand over to beautiful assistant. Once the individual photos were taken we went home and then there was a fairly lengthy editing and compositing process where I combined 20-25 photos of the laptops and using a blank photo of the background painted Kim out. End result - Flying laptops!