swallowing flies

a couple of instax

Swallowing Files — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 11:35:30 +0000

Trying to get back into posting stuff a bit more often! So here are a couple of shots taken before everything was covered in snow…..

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Double exposure

Swallowing Files — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 11:40:05 +0000

It’s been a while, so here is an interesting double exposure from a gorgeous little vintage camera i got this year…

Fuji Fashion…

Swallowing Files — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 13:12:47 +0000

Well, as usual its been bloomin’ ages since i posted anything to this blog (i post a little more regularly on my tumblr ‘scrapbook’ blog so i hope you’re checking that out). It’s not like i haven’t got anything to blog about either… so im going to knuckle down to it… i know im always saying that… but i’ll try this time.

Anyho, to make up for the lack of posts recently, here are a bunch of Fujioids….

Feel free to let me know what you think by leaving a comment, or following me on twitter.

Big Dick and the Sweethearts

Swallowing Files — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 09:56:16 +0000

Had an interesting photo shoot the other day. Was promos for a ‘band’ called Big Dick and the Sweethearts. A very funky bunch. Here are some of the portraits…

As always, feel free to comment and follow me on Twitter

12Faces – Hitchin

Swallowing Files — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 21:45:56 +0000

So, this ’12Faces’ project was all about breaking down comfort zones by approaching strangers, as well as doing something interesting with a holga camera with a close-up lens. The plan was to head into town (mine being Hitchin in Hertfordshire), approach 12 interesting looking strangers and ask to take their photo. I have a roll of 12 medium format shots, so one shot each. The close-up lens meant i could focus for a head and shoulders shot but meant getting the 250mm distance was critical to get the focus in shot, plus the light problems… anyhow, i’ll post the photos and save the explanations and stories of the ‘adventure’ for another post.

Its now about 10:40pm on Saturday 25th June 2011, and here are the photos…

So there they are. Thanks to the 12 who took part (and if you are one of the twelve please comment below) and thanks to the two that said no! 2 out of 12 ain’t bad.

Thanks to all those who followed this project on twitter, and i shall blog the in’s and outs of 12faces soon……

UPDATE: Tuesday 28th June 2011.
Well, it seems the sun (or wine) got to me that evening as i only seemed to have posted 10 photos… 10Faces was not what this project was called… it was 12Faces!! So i have now added the missing two. I promise they were taken on the same roll of film on the same day. That was the whole point of the project… 12Faces!! Doh!

12Faces

Swallowing Files — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 00:00:53 +0000

If you’ve read my brief intro to the projects I’m working on, you’ll know that ’12Faces’ is a mini pre-project to take me out of my comfort zone and kick start the bigger project ‘un-familiar Faces’

The plan is to photograph 12 strangers! But I’m talking close-up head shots. So no sneaky long lens stuff. I shall head into my local town centre, hang around until I see an ‘interesting’ looking face and ask the person that face belongs to if I can take their picture. Shouldn’t be a big deal… should it?!

My idea is to use just one roll of medium format film (12 shots), and only take one shot per person. Then, when done, head home, develop the film, leave it to dry, scan it and then post all 12Faces here on this blog before the end of the day. Regardless of how they come out.

The reason I say ‘regardless of how they come out’ is because I’ll be using a Holga camera to take the photos. Also I’ll have a close-up lens on the Holga so I can focus as close as I need to.

Anyone who knows the wonderful Holga will know how hit and miss they can be. There is no control over aperture, shutter speed or (once the film is in) ISO, and because when looking through the view finder you’re not looking through the actual lens, you are looking about an inch to the side of the lens, framing when using a close-up lens kit is problematic!

So, there it is. I plan to do all this tomorrow! Saturday the 25th of June 2011.

I shall be tweeting as much as I can about it, and using the hashtag #12faces. So why not follow along and don’t forget to check out this blog tomorrow evening (or Sunday) to see how it all turned out. Eeeep!

Polaroids, Fujioids & Holgaroids

Swallowing Files — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 10:37:09 +0000

I’ve been shooting a lot lately with instant cameras. I have a bit of a collection of them and love using them (when I can afford the film!)

I shall be posting some of the shots over on my ‘Scrap book’ blog (or Tumblr to give it its official name) so check that out over the next couple of weeks.

To kick things off, here is a shot taken with a Holgaroid. That is a Holga with a Polaroid back.

It’s also got a close up lens on it which is causing the circular effect! I couldn’t figure out why it was doing this for a while, but because you have to put a correction lens on the Holga when using the Polaroid back, you have to put the close-up lens on that lens so it ends up sticking out and therefore becoming part of the photo.

The reason I’m going to be posting my recent ‘instant’ photos over on my ‘Scrap Book’ rather than here is because a lot of them were just experiments, playing around with close-up lens’, so some of them are not great photos, but still interesting, and so that’s the perfect place for them.

If you want to be informed when I post a photo the best thing to do is to follow me on twitter

Projects, Faces and projects about faces!

Swallowing Files — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 15:36:30 +0000

I’m working on a number of personal projects at the moment and I think the time has come tell you about them. This will be a brief intro to them as I plan to devote a blog post to each one individually very soon.

Familiar Faces
This is a long term project I’ve been working on for quite a while now. I’m attempting to take close-up black and white head shots of everyone I know! They will all be photographed in a similar style, lit in a similar way and shot on medium format film that I am developing myself. The idea is to produce a book once the project is finished… whenever that will be!

Un-familiar Faces
As photographers we all see people in the street that we think has ‘a face that should be photographed’. But it’s not the easiest thing to just go up to strangers and ask to take their photo. That is the challenge I’ve set myself! Having spent a while on ‘Familiar Faces’ with it’s rigid set style I’m thinking this project will be photographically ‘looser’, and probably shot on a variety of different cameras, film and digital.

12Faces
Because ‘Un-familiar Faces’ will be a bit of a challenge as far as just approaching strangers, I have decided to set myself a little one day pre-project. And because Un-familiar Faces is a kind of sister project to Familiar Faces, 12Faces is a pre project to a sister project of a longterm project!!!

The idea for 12Faces is to go into my local town one Saturday and photograph 12 close-up portraits of strangers, develop the film that day and post them all, right here on my blog, before the end of the evening. Why 12? Well, I’ll be using the Holga lomography camera and that takes medium format film which gives you just 12 shots.

Zarology
Those of you who are familiar with my blog will have noticed I take quite a lot of photographs of one particular model. And that models name is….. Zara. One of the reasons for this is that I have been planning to put a book together for quite a while now. That book is called…. ‘Zarology’. This is another fairly long term project, though not as long as ‘Familiar Faces’ I hope, and is basically a study of Zara. I’ve been photographing her for a few years now and in a variety of styles and on a variety of formats, holgas, polaroids, digital, medium format, 35mm, vintage cameras to high end pro Nikons, you name it. I think it will make an interesting book/exhibition.

As well as all those I’m also working on a more commercial creative portrait project involving lots of local business, which I shall say more about in the next few weeks once it gets going properly.

So, lots to get my teeth in to!

A spontaneous shoot.

Swallowing Files — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 11:11:31 +0000

I’ve been meaning to blog these photo for a while. This was a bit of a spontaneous shoot i did with the lovely Zara Schafer (of course).

I wanted to do something a little more edgy and interesting. I’m thinking the colours aren’t going to look anywhere near as good on the internet or your monitor, as they look on mine… unless of course you have a nice expensive calibrated monitor, in which case I hope they look as i intended.

As you may have noticed, Zara features quite heavily in this blog. One of the many reasons for this is a personal project I’m working on which I shall divulge very soon.

As alway feel free to comment, I love to hear what you think, and you can follow me on twitter if you are so inclined twitter.com/swallowingflies

Holga learning curve

Swallowing Files — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 13:40:29 +0000

In my parents back garden stands a shed. So what! Most gardens have sheds. But this shed is like no other i have ever come across. It looks like something out of a fairytale. Old odd-shaped wooden cladding and leaded windows with diamond-shaped glass. Great back drop for a photograph (would make a great photo in itself, but i’m into ‘people photography’ so it has to put up with being a background). I wanted to shoot it with a Holga and I wanted to light it, and my model, for a moody more gritty feel…. not the best conditions for a Holga.

I wanted my little ‘model’ to look fairly serious, no smiles, something a bit more Arbusy (Diane Arbus) but the first problem was that i couldn’t see a thing through the viewfinder of the Holga to give her direction because it was so dark! I was using speedlights to light the scene, so no modeling lights! The other problem was it was cold so i had a limited amount of time to do this before my model and my VOLs (voice operated light stands (which means; people holding the speedlights)) froze.

For some reason i thought the Holga had an F11 aperture. Word on the web seems to suggest it’s either F11 or F8. I went for f11 at 1/100 of a second. I guess i should have gone for F8 as i over exposed the face and other lighter areas. And there’s no rescuing that when shooting with a camera with a plastic lens.

Obviously being such a basic camera with such a basic lens, the Holga isn’t really capable or dealing with the range of highlights and shadows, and it would have been better to take this photo with more natural light in the scene, and that is what i intended, but i left it a little late and it got dark quickly.

There’s not as much detail in the photograph as I’d hoped for but i still kind of like it. It has a kind of lomo charm.

I also took some shots on my digital SLR, mostly to check my lighting (but also to cover my arse!) and that also proved to be a challenge due to the lack of light: not easy to focus when you can’t see anything!

Obviously a lot more subtle tones and dynamic range, and a lot more detail, but of course that is to expected. I’ve not decided which one will be going on my wall yet, i really wanted a Holga shot, and it is growing on me the more i look at it. Holga photos tend to do that. What i should do, however, is take what i’ve learned from this and go back for another go, but alas that wont be possible. That lovely old shed wont be there in a couple of weeks due to it being so rotten and being pretty much held up by its contents. It is being ripped down and replaced by a new, les picturesque, one!

I’ll try to get some shots of the demolition, though probably not on a Holga.

As always, feel free to leave comments and follow me on twitter