photographing Matthew....

My son can be the most difficult subject to photograph, just because he is...  and it's my fault to a degree!

I've been poking SLR's at him since he was a baby, and as a child he was totally relaxed in front of a camera and happy to play, and not just literally.  However, apart from the fact that I now need to drag him away from World of Warcraft to shoot a decent location photograph of him, as any teen, he will now question the need to have a photograph taken.

As my shoots are growing in scale and complexity I often have Matt with me as an assistant (hopefully this helps him with his A-level photography).  This gives me the opportunity to do test shots on him.  Initially he wasn't too pleased to be involved in this, until he saw the images! :)

He is now pleased that I am able to photograph him in a different way, not as the giggly sweet curly headed boy, but as a more mature Matt, with a (as he calls it!) bad ass look.

I am pleased... pleased that I had more photos of Matt, and that I manage to get in a shot what he is really like, with that look in the eye that shows me he means business :)

Get in touch if you would like some "badass" images of yourself, or your teen ;)  I'm always up for any creative projects you may have in mind....

The European FIA Drag Racing Finals 2011

This weekend has seen the 5th and final round of the FIA Drag Racing Championships held at Santa Pod.  Having been to the Easter Thunderball event (photos from which I still have to post process and blog!!), we decided it was worth the trawl to Bedfordshire for this event as some of our friends were competing. 

I've mentioned in passing earlier on in my blogging that I have a history in motorsport that includes Drag Racing.  Whereas I competed in full race Minis and a Marcos, my brother raced a BDX rear engined spaceframe Mini for a while.  Dad was president of MDRA (Malta Drag Racing Association) for a number of years and therefore the drag raceway at Halfar turned out to be our second home, for a number of years as we visited the racing strip for different reasons. 

Hence it was only logical, that when we heard there was going to be a strong Maltese contingent this time at Santa Pod, that we were tempted to go watch the event.

It wasn't the first outing at Santa Pod for Maltese dragracers as the Mr Whippy Team and the Elbros team fought things out for a championship place back in 2001.  There has been a continued presence over the years from the Maksar Racing Truck team and also from Simon Giordimaina in his modded Hayabusa.  We were therefore quite keen to go and support our old friends during this latest venture as well as have a catchup with how things were going back home.

Initial doubts on whether we would be recognised, quickly erased themselves as we were welcomed to a nice cup of coffee and lots of smiles from the Joe Carabott and his Mr Whippy team.  Good to see dad's expression glow as he rekindled memories of his good (and often difficult and worrisome) times managing the Halfar raceway with Joe Carabott, who unfortunately confirmed things had changed a lot over the years and the carefree years of racing me and my brother enjoyed when we were younger were now things of the past.

My son, Matt, could not immediately understand why he was being introduced to so many Maltese speaking people who were grinning at him.  He later confided he had no idea my dad was so involved and that everybody in that circuit knew us well (pity you forgot Matt!).  

I managed to take a few photos of my dad, brother and Matt with Joe and his car/team, however as space was restricted (and I still mainly use my beloved 50mm 1.4) I sought a better perspective using a ladder they had.

Below are some action shots from the day, limited by the fact I was in a packed grandstand for the day. 

Some of the general racing...

and some of the Mr Whippy run, whilst we were surrounded by flags and general enthusiasm! :)

Well done Manty for the 5.5s run!  See you guys next year, hopefully!

Exciting times!

I was left quite dumbfounded a few weeks ago when my son Matt announced he was taking up AS level photography for Sixth Form.  I must say I didn't see that coming!  Not that Matt isn't interested, far from it, but I would'nt have thougth he'd actually choose that subject as one of his choices for continued study.

You see, for many years Matt has been really convinced that his way forward is that of a game designer.  Unflinchingly, he has been researching every aspect of this business and is well aware of how multiskilled you have to be to get there. Marketer, business man, character builder, designer, 3D design, animation, knowledge about multiplayer and networking games etc etc (Matt will probably add a dozen more roles in there if I let him!!

I was actually introduced to this multiskilled aspect of the gaming designer about a year ago through Matt via the work of Extra Credits, some of which you can see here  The voice over on the videos is a bit naff but these animations are educational and thought provoking (which I like!)

Undoubtedly photography will be very useful to Matt in his perusal of Game Design excellence in whatever role he choses to be working in.  Knowledge of how light works, perspective, composition etc will be invaluable.  

For this reason, I have been giving Matt some tuition in basic principles of photography, which he seems to have grasped with ease.  We have been, for some years now, dissecting light and composition in cinema and film whenver we are looking at stuff together and he has developed essential skills :)

I was really pleased when he said he needed to work on a portfolio topresent to his photography tutor to be accepted into Photography class, and I have had to kick his backside somewhat to get him out on the road to get this done.  To be honest he prefers doing reseach as well as online gaming to gettting out and about!  However, he's done pretty well (see below) - I hope his tutor will agree - and I'm pretty chuffed as he is already showing signs of developing a personal style!

I am sure Matt will be my right side in the future when it comes to post processing and a multitude of technical issues we photographers face as technology advances.  He will be my assistant for as long as he will and can and even though his career will take him on a completely different path, I am sure we will keep an open collaboration for both of our benefit.

Good luck Matt!

x

Happy Father's Day

I picked up and scanned an image from one of my old photo albums today, mindful of the fact that my mum's albums lie patiently below my desk awaiting I pick up the piles of images and scan them into meaningful albums. 

I wish I can find the time to do this, as these photos are obviously very important to myself, as well as my family, but at the moment I just can't find the time.

However on this bleak and quiet June's day in Great Yarmouth I picked up one of my favourite images from the period when Matt was tiny, and scanned it to reveal how age it starting to get to my old 35mm prints.  It's a portrait of Matt with my dad, an image I'm particularly fond of.

I must have used 1600 film for this as it has very strong grain, and although I didn't use to keep notes of my 35mm work I remember I went through a phase of using red filters and high ISO film.  I loved Ilford but this roll was probably FUJI neopan.  Even then I was constantly trying to break the rules and used the red filter for this portrait.  Red filters on B&W were'nt recommended for portrait use as the resultant images were very punchy and contrasty, but in this case I guess I pulled it off well.  

This reminds me I've been a Nikon user for nearly 20 years now, maybe I should publish a small collection of work across the years soon, mindful that my work has been developing over a period of time and that my initial work only had few elements of interest.  

But before any of that, I must get my act sorted and scan all my mum's old albums.  It would be so nice to give my dad an album of his old hillclimbing days, days when he was so heavily engaged in football management, and the images of us growing up... it's his 75th in a couple of months....

In the meantime, a Happy Father's day to all you great dads out dad and particularly to my own dad.  Thank you for being who you are... we learnt so much from the good and less good, and for raising us with the good values that we are now transmitting to others  :) x

a photograph that means a lot to me

Quick posting today about a photo I shot two years ago after a very nice Fish and Chips takeaway from Southwold.  We were out for what was a bit of a stress relieving mid summers blat in the Caterham for me and a bit of sideways fun for Matt, my son.  We parked by the side of the road to tuck into our food when we noticed a large congregation of gulls on the grass.  

Some enthusiastic chips throwing by Matt followed and about a hundred shots later, I captured this image...

I so love Matt's delighted expression as the gulls descend on the bit of chip he's chucked.  The Caterham looked pretty poised for fun, even though it was stationary.

Why am I posting this today?  Because this photo's ended as one of twelve selected last December for Kate Day's Daily Telegraph Charity Calendar competition, after a gruelling session of voting online, and my image, perhaps unknowingly to whoever prepared the calendar design, was placed in the month in which it was really shot, so on the 1st of June, a motoring rendition of Hitchcock's Birds appears on the new page :)

So a very happy June to you all, especially for all you Caterham owners enjoying the nice weather out there!! x