Once Again

Cafe Culture this time, which is what we all intended to go and shoot, sadly this didnt go as well as shooting architecture did, however i did get some shots I am really pleased with a couple of the shots i got, this one being the first, completly unplanned, sitting in the advocat having a sly pint, and had the idea of something like this, the lighting in there was pretty poor so it had to be shot over by the window, however I think it works really well, having the glass and hand in focus with Ross in the background out of focus, almost like a Magners advertisement.

This is the second of the photographs that I am really happy with, This one was shot after Tom managed to blag us into a hotel resteraunt called "The International" very edgy the whole time we were in there, they clearly didn't want us to be but said yes for some reason, so it was a case of set to it and get out as quick as possible, What I like about this shot, is how the outside of the restaurant is in view, and you can see the castle, which is a really nice touch, which i think works well being out of focus with the wine glass being the main focus of the image. All in all one of the most successfull days of photography in a long time.

Architecture....

Went very well today got a few good shots, enough to finish off this project in fact, Tom kindly drove myself Ross and Swalker, to edinburgh to shoot the museum for what is hopefully the final time as I am sick of the fire alarm going off in that place, we got a belter of a day for it, clear skies and blinding sunlight, Good times. This photograph is one of my favourites from the architecture side of things, so simple but yet very effective I think, very thankful for the sky in this, could have been a very boring image had it not been so kind to me.




The other 2 images are a couple of the first i took today, so I think i got off to a good start, needing some strong exterior shots for this project as i already had about 5 interior ones. I thought i'd focus mainly on this round building at the front as it is alot more interesting to look at than alot of the rest of the building, really happy with how these shots turned out in the end, good times all round.

Very successfull day....

Today after a trip to Edinburgh with Ross, Scott and Tom, I hit the studio to do my high key portrait, which my girlfriend modeled for (Thank you Toni). It went quite well again, portraiture not being my strong point, however I am quite pleased with the outcome of this one, A 5 light set up was never going to be easy but thanks to some help from Ross setting up the studio, and alot of fiddling with lights during the shoot I did get there in the end, and the fact that I showed my lecturer the photo after, who is a man hard to please, said it worked. So for that I am thankfully and hopefully the final slog of this portraiture uint goes as well as this did. Taken at f18 with a shutter speed of 1/125 and iso at 200.

Cafe/Pub Culture?

This is much more my type of thing, even though im struggling a bit with getting the images I want, I do have some good stuff, which I like, This was taken when we stopped off for a sly pint before heading down to the old brickworks to attempt some architecture work, with my cafe culture I intend to shoot a range of pubs restaurants and cafe's. So far having shot 1 pub and a restaurant getting a couple of good images from each, I decided to get the camera out and snap away while we had a couple of games of pool, this shot being the pick of the bunch, I really like the feel of this image what with the blinding sunlight coming from the window, and I like the composition of the pint and the pool table, sort of breaking the image up a bit. This type of thing has given me a lot more ideas on what to shoot for this project, which could take place tommorow as Tom has invited myself and Ross along to go into Edinburgh and shoot some cafe culture stuff with one of his mates and Scott.
On that note:
Tom - http://blog.ifotou.co.uk/
Scott Walker - http://swalkerphotography.blogspot.com/

Brickworks Again......

Today myself and Ross decided it was about time we shot some more architecture stuff, so we headed for the brickworks in Pumpherston, as i'd shot it before i knew it was a good place to take photographs, for a sort of surreal view on architecutre, veering away from the idea of well structured building and looking at one that is literally falling down, this trip failed quite badly as the rain started very heavily as soon as we got there but we made do with what we could (which wasn't alot) I did manage to get this shot from inside one of the buildings though, I love how the light is just spilling in on that one area, leaving the rest almost black. Another trip down there is on the cards soon im sure.

Corporate Portraiture.

This is another part of my portraiture unit for college, I am required to take 2 corporate portraits one of which is window light, and the other using flash, this is my window light potrait, of the head teacher at Toronto Primary School in howden, This shot took what felt like forever to get the lighting in the office was pretty poor, and I just couldnt get what i was looking for, In the end I wound up with this. Which to be brutally honest is far from my favourite shot in the world, but portraiture is not my strong point so im trying to just pull myself through this unit as best as I can.

Family Portrait

Part of my college work this year, is the portraiture unit, in which i am required to do alot of different types of portraiture, including a family shot, For this i wanted it to be quite informal, I had the idea of having my sister and her daughter (Picture above) looking at each other and me taking the photo from infront of them, but after a first try earlier in the week this didnt really work for me, I didnt want to shoot this in the studio because I thought an outdoors scene is alot more informal, so we headed up to howden park, after id waited quite a few days for a nice day with some decent sunlight eventually I got a nice morning to shoot, I shot quite a few different shots alot of which I had them both looking at the camera which was ok, but not quite what I was after for this, In the end I managed to get this, which i am really quite happy with, it's a very happy family image with the two of them smiling and having a good time which took alot of effort, to get my niece to smile for the camera but in the end it worked.

It's been a while

Yesterday was a nice evening so i took the opportunity to go do some shooting just for the sake of it, I got my girlfriend to drive me up to ladywell to take some photos in the woods up there which is something iv been wanting to do for a wee while, I had the idea of having the trees totally silhouetted against the nice sunset that was going on at this time, Which i think worked well, I was lucky to have such a nice sky with this shot, because without it i dont think these would be much worth looking at. Taken at f5.6 and 1/640 of a second due to the mad sunlight.

There are a couple more at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21327804@N05/

Boring Morning....

I got very bored and restless this morning, pretty much waiting on tonight where there shall be cheap booze and fun to be had in bathgate, but before that a cheeky haircut and 4 hour shift at work, should be a good day. So having not taken any photographs in what feels like weeks I decide to go out and photograph some suburban life, which involved pretty much photographing around where I stay, and after some hastle from some window cleaner who swore blind his car was in one of my photographs, absoloute twat, I was no where near it. I eventually got some good shots.

This shot is my favourite of the ones I took, I love the early morning light, and I also quite like the fact that my shadow is in the photograph. Taken at f3.5 at 1/500.

www.myspace.com/michaelsharpmusic

Yesterday was eventful, I went to my pal Sharpy's gig at Room @ The Top, to take some photographs for him, having never done gig photographs before i was a bit unaware of what to expect, it was very dark (as gigs generally are), so i just had to make do with what i could, In the end I managed to come away with some decent shots, the one to the right being my favourite of the lot, due to the fact i managed to get him and the crowd in, with a bit of decent light. It was a good gig, Sharpy's tunes are minted so give him a listen eh.