Currently in the Pdog19 library - November

I'm still reading about Francis Bacon. There is no doubt that he was a very talented individual, but he was also incredibly manipulative and very disturbed (in my opinion). If I had only one word to describe this book it would be - fascinating.

Our local library has had a face lift - there is no longer a reception desk or an information desk; you check your own books in and out at express tills and print your own receipts for each transaction. Now, loaning a book is just the same as going to a hole in the wall for cash - revolutionary. I mention this because my library is a brilliant source of information and if they don't have the book I'm looking for they get it for me. And, if the library network does not own the particular book, I pay 50p and they purchase the book!

Foundation for art & design

by Mark Galer, (2nd edition, 2002, Focal Press)

"This book is an introduction to photography for students studying Art & Design courses. The emphasis has been placed upon a creative rather than technical approach to the subject."

The similarities between this books approach to photography and the format of TAOP course are striking. The book discusses numerous subjects, e.g. framing, filling the frame; balance etc and with each subject different photographers are introduced to the student. Each subject is concluded with a activity (project) and each set of projects concluded with an assignment.

I think this book could be a very helpful study aid for TAOP because it focuses on photography as art.

The Complete Photographer

by Tom Ang (2010, Dorling Kindersley Ltd)

"This book aims to help you to raise your photographic game and develop a rounded, personally satisfying vision."

I have picked up books by Ang in the past and always put them down quite quickly. This book, I couldn't put down.

The book introduces 10 photography genres and two professional photographers (with very different styles) working in each genre. The difference here is we get to follow each of the photographers on a shoot and the 'day-in-a-life' is narrated by the photographer. Unlike other photography books, this felt very real like you were with the photographer, rather than being selectively fed bits of information after the event. 

One of the "fine art" photographers followed is Akira Kai - his work is fabulous. Below is is the photograph that was narrated in the book, you can see more examples of his work here.



by Akira Kai



Planning assignment 1

My first assignment has been submitted.

Since the assignment brief was very loose, it should have been easy to select a field and a theme. Nonetheless, I had to think long and hard about which field of photography I wanted to use. Looking back on the last year and my photographs the ones I most enjoyed taking were the urban landscapes with a bit of street photography thrown in.

I like to be able to plan my assignment and have an idea of the photographs I intend to take and at the same time as being opportunistic and taking photographs that present themselves. I think this must be the way the majority of photographers work - if all they took were planned photographs their work would become boring and stale. The next fantastic unexpected shot is what keeps me going.

The timing of this assignment coincided with my holiday to La Rochelle, France. I researched a number of suitable locations and looked at hundreds of images on the web. Unfortunately, the weather was dreadful and it rained every day but one, thus my planning went out the window. In hind sight this might have been a good thing, but at the time it created a degree of panic.

This 'opportunity' allowed me to develop a new skill - wet photography. Actually, once you've learned how to keep the rain off your lens and protect your camera with your arm, the rain opens up a completely different view of your environment. I found that you have to be much more nimble on your feet because wet people invariably don't look where they're going - they just launch themselves at the next dry refuge.



Just walking in the rain

Standing on the corner of the street, using the buildings to protect me from the worst of the rain was a great vantage point for photography. Another bonus was that people slowed down to cross the road giving me a fraction longer to frame them.

Sun and rain

 I realise this photograph breaks a lot of the rules: ensure eye contact; don't shoot into the sun; avoid lens flair or at least clone it out. Regardless of these I like it - it has character.

After the rain

I passed this puddle en route to the car, there were numerous puddles but this one grabbed my attention because of the way the sunlight bounced off the tarmac and added to the cloud effect.