SHOT OF THE DAY: "Evening shadows in Roundhay Park"

Thought you might like to see this. It's a good example of choosing the right place at the right time. Hope you like it. Shot 7.45pm Thursday evening.

Focus - Brief 3 - Adam

Brief 3 -


"Just to clarify this weeks brief that your photograph to represent 'Your Leeds'
has to include a person within it. Taking pictures of people has different challenges
to landscapes, architecture and still life and I want you to try and use your skills to
take an image that reflects either their personality or your relationship with that person.

Please remember to bracket and consider your lighting carefully along with how you
want your subject to look. "


As I have been away all week it has been difficult to find anytime to go out hunting for 'people' or even stage a photograph.


I decided I would put faith in being in the right place at the right time so went for a walk with my camera around Roundhay today.


I was lucky enough to find some potentially interesting scenes and my top three images are below

1/350, F5.6, ISO100, 95mm

My first picture was taken in the 2008 Chelsea Flower Show garden for Leeds. I came across a woman of Asian decent surrounded by Bamboo and couldn't believe my luck.


The purple backpack she was wearing was too much of a distraction but manipulating the photo to make it look older solved that problem (I hope?)

Next

1/250, F5.6, ISO250, 706mm!


This was a sneaky photo taken from a looooong way off using the telephoto feature on the camera.


This is my view of the couple from where I was standing

It isn't easy to see the couple but with the zoom almost at full and without the use of a tripod I managed to snap the photo of the couple above.


Next

1/800, F4.5, ISO 100, 331mm


I called this photograph 'Garden Gossip'


This was also taken in the Chelsea Flower Show Garden next to Roundhay Park.


I am not sure which is my first choice yet but they are the 3 I have so far submitted for Brief 3. I shall see if I can find someone to pose for me before Sunday and take some portrait shots but I am pretty busy and Hannah has already got an excellent portrait shot for her photo.

Focus - Cabbages

During the second workshop - 


In this session we each practiced manipulating the shutter, aperture and ISO on our own cameras and took photographs of a 'model'


The model in this case was a cabbage and vine tomatoes sitting on a white backdrop.


I decided to have a quick play in photoshop after the workshop with an image I had taken of the cabbage :)

Lets see if we can create something even more spectacular with ermm a cabbage?

Focus - Brief 2 - Adam

The Second Brief -

"Please remember that in many ways the brief is wide open.
The only two parameter are that it has to represent Leeds and has
to be personal to you - Your Leeds. This brief is about interpretation
so these two words are key.

If you can email your shots before our next meeting that would be great.

Next week we will be looking at your individual cameras and first picture
taken so please bring both. I will also be setting up a simple still life for you
all to shoot. The format will be much more practical than our first class."

I unfortunately was unwell most of the week which meant that going out an exploring Leeds wasn't really an option for completing this brief.

As I am not originally from Leeds or even Yorkshire for that matter (Liverpool Rules!) I don't have any childhood memories etc for Leeds. I also don't work in Leeds and haven't done so for a number of years. So why am I living in Leeds and what does it mean to me?

What I love about Leeds is the contrast between the noise and pace of life working in a city like London and then leaving it behind at the end of each week and coming home to a lovely house and garden I have designed and nurtured to create a relaxing and calm atmosphere.

I wanted my photograph to incorporate a similar notion and chose an image that had many contrasting elements.

I called this photograph "Escape the run"

It is a picture of part of the rabbit run in the garden right after a rain shower. 

The detail around the wood markings and the screw poking through, contrasts nicely with the droplets of water. The background also contrasts with the wood making the effect even stronger. The Chicken Wire gives a sense of imprisonment which links to the 'Escape' part of the caption.

I think it nicely sums up why I come back to Leeds every week by escaping my professional life in the busy harsh south.

The Runner up photograph is below

Focus - Brief 1 - Adam

For our first brief David asked us to bring with us 2 photographs

The first photograph was a picture that inspired us as photographers and also an image we aspired to be able to take ourselves

The second photograph was a picture that meant something to each of us personally.

The two photographs I selected are below

1/400, F4.5 ISO200 37mm

This image was taken by me in the Red Sea last year using a simple point and shoot Fuji FinePix F50fd camera and underwater housing. I used this photograph to demonstrate the type of photography I had done to date and as a contrast to my inspirational image which couldn't be taken with a point and shoot compact camera.

This inspiration photograph was taken in Iceland. I was in Iceland in January and I was unable to take a picture of the Northern Lights with my compact camera. It was seeing these photographs and not being able to capture them myself that inspired me to purchase a more advanced camera and start progressing my photography skills

I have purchased a Bridge Camera as it gave me many of the features of a D-SLR but without the cost and complexity of purchasing many extra lenses. 

I selected a Fuji HS20 Camera because it had many Automatic and Manual features and a lens capable of  taking wide angle photographs and also a 30x optical zoom which provided an excellent telescopic function (24 - 720mm (35mm equivalent)) Having all these features in a single lens seemed like good value before taking the leap into SLR land. So far I have been very pleased with the camera and it easily produces images as good as any budget to mid level D-SLR.

My second photograph for the 1st Brief is below

This image was taken by me with my Fuji HS20. I was at Fountains Abbey near Ripon N Yorkshire. The photograph of a blue bell means a great deal as it is my girlfriends favourite flower, taken in a location that is special to both of us.

I took the photograph using my camera's macro mode 

Shutter 1/640

App F4.0

ISO 400

Zoom 79mm

The having the aperture as open as I could, allowed me to keep focus on the main subject and blue the background.

FOCUS - Photography - Introduction

Hello,


Welcome to a brand new blog following my time on the FOCUS photography course in Leeds, UK

I wanted to record my experiences and thoughts and as the course is very visual with many pictures I thought a blog would be an excellent medium to record the tasks, progression and lessons from the course


The course is run by David Cole of

www.cole-creative.co.uk