My photography side-project

My photography side-project

I’ve been interested in photography since I was a kid, joining the photography club at school and playing with the Polaroid cameras which were all the rage at the time and those little Kodak film cameras with the mad flash cubes. I had a long lay off after that and returned to photography about 20 years later when I bought my first digital camera – a Canon A40 (all of 2MP !) in 2002, followed by a Canon A70, a Canon G6 (a goodie), a couple of really poor Sony W series models (which I returned), a Sony R1, a Fuji F100 (pretty unique for a compact) and a Sony HX5. I still have both of the Sony’s, the R1 still a great camera, shoots RAW images (albeit very slowly !) full of detail and vibrancy. I still use it for ‘studio shots’ – things I see from my studio window (clouds, mostly). I’m currently using the HX5, which is a pretty limited / out of date compact camera, but it’s doing the job for me at present. I take this camera out with me pretty much all of the time. Being a compact, I can put it into a small bag (something I couldn’t so easily do with the R1) and use it when something catches my eye. I’ve also used it for all the video footage that I’ve used in my Youtube Igneous Flame videos and my guitar videos. I’ve considered the DSLR route, but the size / weight issues put me off and mostly bacause I can’t really justify the black-hole that is the expense of a decent selection of lenses etc. Also, I’m less interested in the technical aspects of photography (the never ending search for image sharpness, low noise, etc.) more with subject and content.

I don’t consider myself to be a ‘proper’ photographer as such, photography is more of a side-project for me really. Saying that, I don’t want to devalue that as it’s something I’ve spent a lot of time on over the years. Regarding the online world, I used to be on Flickr and was reasonably active on a couple of groups related to the towns in Northern England that I lived in, but I became disenchanted by it’s overall disingenuous-ness and left it. I was involved in a couple of shows, but didn’t take things further. I now only post here primarily (and a couple of other ‘select’ places more intermittently). I don’t expect heaps of feedback as such, but it’s nice to get it – when it means something.

Something that I’m exploring, is what i term ‘ambient photography’ – ‘uncluttered’ / observational photography. In practice, this is primarily my documentation of the things I see out walking – images of the natural world primarily. Conversely, in the past I took a lot of shots of the antithesis of the natural world – what remains of the heavy industrial landscape of Middlesbrough / Teesside (my hometown). Being a proud dog owner, I’ve also taken squillions of dog shots of my canine friend ‘Maxa’ too !

‘My’ macro technique:
I don’t do anything particularly advanced or unique, but I have stumbled across one technique which I think yields interesting (if somewhat unpredictable) results:
With the camera set to macro and the flash enabled / exposure compensation turned right down, I shoot underneath a subject towards the sky. The subject is usually a flower, or some kind of fauna. Because the HX5 doesn’t have any kind of articulating viewing screen, I do it pretty much ‘manually’. Makes for some unusual lighting effects, see below for some examples.

I recently bought a tablet and I’ve been looking at ‘tablet photography’ / photo editing apps on the tablet. It’s an interesting area, but I’m not sure about how the prevalence of the Instagram / Lomo thing is a step forward in the (creatively) ‘right’ direction for me, everything starts to look the same with this approach. From what I can gather ‘phone photography’ (I’II not use the ubiquitous ‘I’ prefix !) also looks to be an interesting area, perhaps more so than with a tablet. For one thing, one looks a proper twerp using a tablet as a camera, not so much so with a phone !

This post is just a mini-documentation of my interest in photography. This blog in general tries to encompass other things than just the musical side of what I do. Over time, I may well branch out further into a more observational mode of things, time will tell.

Anyway, here’s a small ‘best of’ shots selection (Sony R1 and HX5) and a couple of recent examples of the aforementioned macro technique:

Late spring 2013 selection

Late spring 2013 shots

Just a selection of recent shots:
(All taken with a Sony HX5)

In the Green

In the Green

I recently found a wooded area close to where I live that I hadn’t known about before. I’ve been walking around it recently, it’s surprisingly extensive and quite special. I’m not much of a one for travelling, but I actively explore around where I live (micro-exploration ?) and have found some hidden gems of places, this wood being one of them. I’m certainly looking forward to the ‘spring greens’ soonest – I love to see nature’s greenery.

Here’s some images from this place, they aren’t very spectacular, but representative of how it is before spring  really arrives:

 

My upcoming album ‘NYX‘ is currently in progress after resolving some technical issues I’ve had (which I won’t bore people with), a mid-summer release is still on the cards. More details to follow nearer the time.

2013 Albums release Info

2013 Albums release Info:

I plan to release two albums in 2013, the work is currently in progress and a lot has been done already to get to the point of deciding what to release this year. I have a large pool of work-in-progress material that I’ve selected from and the process of auditioning material that might fit together and making rough initial mixes took some time . Release dates are still too nebulous to refer to, but I hope to get a least one finished before the Summer of this year (I try to look towards the seasons for release times, as opposed to specific dates). The working titles and brief descriptions of the albums are as follows:

‘NYX’ – a ‘hypnotic’ album. I decided to title this one ‘NYX’, as Nyx is the mother of the God of sleep ‘Hypnos’, I felt it was appropriate descriptor for the ‘tone’ of the material that will be on this album. There’s a wonderfully evocative description of the Greek Goddess Nyx on Wikipedia:

“She is found in the shadows of the world and only ever seen in glimpses.”

‘IRIS’ – a tonal, ‘instrument-based’ album. (in terms of the sound sources I’ve chosen to work with) ‘IRIS’ will probably will run to a long-form / ‘double-album’ duration.

Of course, things may change depending on how the work develops (‘IRIS’ was intended to be released last year !), but this is what I’m working towards. As ever, I will be employing new (to me) techniques and processes in the attempt to explore sonic pastures anew.  As an ambient composer, I still have a lot I want to achieve.

January 2013 Images

January 2013 Images

Part of my ‘out and about’ ongoing mini-project. The ‘Hippy Van’ shots were taken of an old (‘A’ reg) van that has been abandoned in a field near to where I live (out in the wilds). I found the paintings on the inside to be fascinating. I’d love to know the story behind the vehicle and it’s owners and why it was left in a remote field. The equally abandoned television by the van set up an interesting context thing too.

 

Winter on it’s way…

Winter on it’s way…

Forecasts of a very cold one to come here in the UK. Here’s a selection of images taken on my morning walk around the valley.

Expect some musical news in the next few weeks – am feverishly working away on an imminent release !

 

 

 

Walking, listening, observing

Walking, listening, observing

I try to go out walking as often as I can. It gets me out of the house and as I’m working pretty much every day on my music on computers I need to take regular breaks. I usually find my walks to be a source of inspiration, I’m fortunate to be able to get out into beautiful countryside within a few minutes and I find I get some of my best ideas whilst out and about. Maybe it’s because walking is more of a ‘walking meditation’ for me, that I find I think more lucidly when walking. I also find that it’s a great way to audition my work-in-progress mixes, just listening to the music and being away from the computer and the programs that were used to create it puts me into an entirely different listening mode.

I go out on my own now as my dog is too old to get very far. I still walk her out, but I don’t class these perambulations as ‘proper walks’ as we hardly cover any distance. Saying that, I don’t go particularly far (more usually 4 miles or so). I like the solitary element (no one ever rings me on my mobile !) and I particularly find being away from the online world is a welcome break.

I find walking in the natural world to be the ideal environment for listening to ambient music, observing and reflecting on nature’s patterns and seasonal changes. It’s something I very much appreciate and hope to be able to carry on doing so in the future. It ‘grounds’ me.

I always take a camera with me, just in case I see something that catches the eye. Here’s a selection of images from this morning’s walk:

 

 

Recent Pics (May/June 2012)

May / June 2012

Taken locally to where I live in North Yorkshire, using a Sony HX5 camera.

Guitar Videos

Guitar Videos

I’ve just setup a separate Youtube channel to show some of the guitar stuff that I do that isn’t a part of my Igneous Flame work. I’m planning on making a series of videos, not tutorials as such, but hopefully of interest to (guitar interested) people.
Here’s the first two videos:

‘Introducing’

Tokai LS48 made in Korea, Pickups changed to Seymour Duncan ’59s and lots of other mods.
Overdrive patch from a Zoom G2.1u multi-effects pedal, recorded live audio in FLstudio. Speaker cabinet emulator is from the Ownhammer ‘Mills 12K SM571′ Nebula library. Video recorded with a Sony HX5, (crappy) audio from the camera stripped out and edited in Sony Vegas moviestudio 10.
This is the standard recording set-up I’II be using for these guitar videos.

 

Ebow #1 ‘Dynamics’

Neck pickup volume set at about halfway and tone control all the way down.
In this video, I’d like to show the dynamics and tonal variations you can get from the ebow by moving away from the ‘hot-spot’ and turning the guitar volume down. I find that the sound can be rather harsh when playing on the ‘hot-spot’ all the time with the volume up full. Altering the dynamics can make the guitar sound almost clean at one point and then sound like it’s going into feedback the next.