Saturday 27 March 2010

6X7 Scans of New York as promised.

Like I said last week; I would host a few images of NY taken on my RZ, So here they are, a few pictures as promised.

Most of the images shown are of the High Line and Coney Beach, and some are just random... well they're all random I guess... Oh and please remember I have given more information on this trip and reasons why I have made these images just a little further down this page. So please have looky!



Images below are taken from the boardwalk that runs the length of the beach : Coney Island. I found the buildings that reside at the edge of Brooklyn very interesting. I would, in the future, like to return and photograph every building that sits by the sea, and potentially the people that live within the dwellings.








I decided to show these two images as I loved the light that kept sweeping in and out of the heavy snow that fell across the city. I only managed to catch this light on the two frames shown.





The images below are taken from and of the High Line.








Friday 19 March 2010

On a recent trip to New York.



I have been on two recent trips to New York City and have been meaning to upload my thoughts and Images of this infamous city. Well to be honest there are a high number of images I would like to upload but will restrict them; heavily.

My highlights of the great city was without question the Highline - a disused rail rd, that runs off the docks of the hudson and into Chelsea. If you are unaware of this delight the I suggest looking into it, First stop should be Joel Sternfeld's book - The Highline.

Second of all was Coney Island. As a surfer of Coney Island, Wales, I have a strange love affair with the run down Fun Fair and was compelled to see the Island we [the welsh] had built ours after. I desired to see any resembling features (people and buildings) and to feel the energy of NY's famous attraction. It is a place that I fell in love with and will be returning to make a serious piece of work as soon as possible. Maybe in a years time? as thats when I plan to seek work and live in the city, a city as captivating as they say it is.

 I will upload the 6x7 scans of the work made in Coney Island some time next week, so stay tuned!






Flash Tests 101








I have decided to upload some flash test snaps I made about a week ago. The reason being, I was shocked at the quality of light I received from such a cheap flash unit and wanted to show that you can get a high quality result/finish without using big expensive units. I purchased the flash unit for just $40s at B&H Photographic in New York. I wanted nothing more than a simple unit to bolt on to my cameras when I'm doing nothing more than taking my 'tourist snaps' on my travels and carrying my heavier units was just not an option!


So if you are in the market for a cheap and reliable flash unit then I would recommend a METZ C20. They are a great price and very small and light... hahah Its like I'm advertising them!



Thursday 18 March 2010

Cardiff - 'old city, new saga'




I have been watching Cardiff develop at a considerable rate over the last five years or so and decided to photograph the city as I see it today, in order to remember it tomorrow. I love the way a photograph works as a visual historic document and how it can spark ones feelings, for good or bad when viewed.

I get very nerdy and thoughtful when I look at old pictures as I love exploring the past in such a way. So for my own reference to the past I have been making pictures (on my little 'domestic' digital camera) on my day-to-day travels in and around the city of Cardiff. They DO NOT serve as anything of intellectual nature, they are nothing more than an observation of time; a particular time in my life and the city I grew up in.

Work in progress - 'Spy on thy Neighbour'





"A bomb won’t go off here because weeks before a shopper reported someone studying the CCTV cameras"
(Metropolitan Police Anti-terrorist Campaign)


'Terrorist Paranoia Syndrome' has been brought on by the Government and its smaller branches, the local authorities, issuing questionable campaigns throughout the Media that instil paranoia within the public. Largely based around the idea that a terrorist cell could operating in 'your' street and police also instigating that one should not 'Trust thy neighbour ' but to 'Spy on thy neighbour'.

In addition to such a campaign, the Government has used this 'terror tactic' along with the idea of 'Crime Prevention' to install CCTV Surveillance Cameras around the city of Cardiff. The Capital now has 210 CCTV installations within its parameters. These 210 CCTV cameras are relayed back to an operating room that has only two operating staff monitoring the city at any one time, in order to keep watch on the city and its citizens in the name of 'safety'.

There is however, a 'grey' area for reasoning on this issue as it was never approved by parliament and there was never a single CCTV Act that enabled it.

Citizens have been officially instructed by authorities to "ignore these CCTV cameras and pretend we don’t see them". It has got to the point where an interest in CCTV is now regarded as suspicious in itself.

Greetings my fellows.

So it has happened. I am here at last. I have been saying for a long time, I will get a blog when I know what one actually is... Well the truth is I still don't know, but hey, as they say 'You are born only knowing life'

I will be using this space for a number of reasons-

1) To exhibit my photographic practice; Some form of visual explanation of my thought process and my view on many subjects that surround me, us; people on the whole.

2) I will also show images that I make that have no pretentious or elaborate intellectual meaning and images from other practitioners that I feel need to be shown, either for the sake of inspiration and/or for the want of sharing such delights with my soon to be dedicated followers?!

3) Too top the above I will be putting forward the writings of my minds ramblings. Thoughts that are often provoked by a sentence or word I might hear at some point through out my day-to-day goings on, or issues that control, depict, inspire, outrage and stimulate my thought process and aid the way I see the world. QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS, I LOVE QUESTIONS! Be it if a question is offered to me in search of an answer or one of my own questions that end up leading me in someway towards gathering more knowledge of the world we call home and the creatures that reside on it... did you notice I started to Ramble!

So to conclude, I guess I will be using this blog malarky for the same reason that everyone else uses it for!

I hope you enjoy and keep coming back for more. Thanks for your time.