Composing the world through a lens

So the time has come, you've seen the view, person, building, skyline whatever it is you want to take a picture of. you lift your camera to your eye, frame the picture and click. There you have it, or have you. You get home, hook up the camera to your PC, the image comes on screen and..... Disappointment. What went wrong, it looked fine through the naked eye, it looked fine through the view finder. So what went wrong. 

This is a question that all photographers have asked them selves at one point or another. What does go wrong. 

I wish I could tell you but I'm still trying to work it out. 

Is it the lens, the light, the camera or am I just rubbish at photography. I refuse to accept the last option so it must be one of the first three. After all I do get compliments from time to time on my photography. I've even patted myself on the back on occasion and while these moments are getting more frequent with practice I am still confronted by the above question over and over again. It looks good to me and yet my camera just doesn't get it. 

Of course at the start it didn't help that I photographed anything and everything instead of concentrating on a particular subject. Now, I am happy to say, I think I have found just what it is that truly interests me. Portraits. I find this to be far more rewarding than anything else. I still like shooting buildings and landscapes, sun sets and close ups (who doesn't) but its in the field of taking someone's portrait that I am truly getting satisfaction. Capturing the beauty of someone's smile, especially a child, is really rewarding. you can really feel the moment. 

But even with this there are times when I think I've got it and yet when the picture is on screen it just isn't the same. A lot can be done in Photoshop of course and a good lens does help. But, I am at the point of realisation that it actually is the fourth point and not the first three that is important. Practice makes perfect as they say and there is really no substitute for it. No matter how good you think you are, no matter how good the equipment is, confidence and equipment will only get you so far. Raw, naked skill is the essence of photography and this is achieved by one thing. Practice and focus on one given field. I need more weddings, christenings and just days out with people who don't mind me sticking my lens in their face from time to time. Luckily I have some friends like this but how do I get people to let me invade their weddings and other events when I'm not an established photographer. I guess I just have to volunteer my services for free and hope I get some takers. Not too many and not too soon I may hasten to add. Patience and time are of the essence, better to walk before I run and run slowly before I charge. Once I am capable of charging then maybe I can start charging, if you know what I mean.

This my good friends is my next challenge.

To finish off, a picture I shot while on holiday in Majorca of my wonderful wife.

Till next time....

The Voice has spoken

Down In The Park (Then the Pub)

So we thought we would make the most of last weekends warm weather by taking a drive out to a park with Kara. As always my trustee camera was in the bag. The park we chose to go to is down near Earlsfield, Garratt Park. It has a nice playing area for the kids and a good amount of greenery.

After the park we drove down to Abby Mills at Colliers Wood and had a drink in the William Morris by the river Wandle.

Till next time....

The voice has spoken

Christening Photography

A while back we were invited to the christening of a friends baby girl. As the day came closer they asked me if I would take pictures at the wedding. While nervous at the prospect of shooting pictures of a special occasion I was also excited at the challenge. Being guests at the Christening presented me with certain problems, like managing to mingle with friends as well as having to give direction for pictures. Trying to take shots while my own daughter was begging for my attention.

The Christening was a trial by fire for me as a photographer, for starters we managed to turn up 5 minutes late (thanks to a troublesome toddler) so I didn't manage to ask the priest if I could use the flash. This led me to try and use the camera with only natural light, a mix of small tungsten spots, sunlight from the open main door and the light from the stained glass windows. A White balance night mare. Any way, without boring you all too much I present for you some of the pics that were shot that day. I haven't included many from church as I don't want to upset any of the guests by putting their picture on here. But there are pictures from throughout the day.

I am truly grateful to out friends for giving me the opportunity to try and shoot a Christening. As I said it was a bit of a trial by fire but it was good practice and has helped me a lot to understand the problems of photographing within the confines of a church. I just hope I can get more chances to practice. 

As always comments are always welcome.

Until next time....

The Voice has spoken

Nature By The City

The other week I had to look after my daughter for a week as the nursery was closed. We did many things through the week but the highlight was a trip to Mudshoot by Canary Wharf. She had a chance to feed some horses and see other animals such as pigs, sheep and chickens. While there she also tried out sitting on a WWII anti aircraft gun. Of course my trusted camera was by my side so check out the pics below.
As always comments are more than welcome, even bad ones :o)

If you ever get the chance I would recommend visiting as it is a great little place for children and only a short walk (or DLR ride) from a river boat stop so you could take a trip back into London up the Thames. We did and Kara loved it.

Till next time.....

The Voice has spoken.

The Passing Of A Gentle Giant.

Today movie fans every where mourn the loss of one of it's greatest actors of recent times. The one and only Michael Clarke Duncan.

He became known to the world after a star turn in Armageddon but it was a role that followed the following year that really made the world stand up and take notice. That role was John Coffey in Frank Darbonts big screen adaption of Stephen Kings 'The Green Mile'. He was offered the part after Bruce Willis recommended him to Darabont after being impressed by him while making Armageddon. The role won Duncan an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor.

He appeared on our screens many times since in things like Planet of the Apes, Daredevil and Sin City.

He can currently be seen on TV in England in the fun show The Finder. Unfortunately cancelled by fox (they always do cancel the good shows)

Michael Clarke Duncan 1957 - 2012

Till next time...

The voice respectfully goes silent.

Fun in the Sun at Wimbledon Park

Sunday we wanted to take Kara some place new and my lovely wife though of a paddling pool. So with the help of the all knowing Oracle that is Google we headed out to Wimbledon Park to see what it was like. To our great joy we found that the park was great and the paddling pool wasn't just any ordinary pool. With water jets galore it was a real treat for Kara, running over the water jets, hiding under domes of water all the children there were clearly loving being there. If you can get to it then I suggest you give it a try, your kids will never want to go any where else.

As you can see it is more than just a paddling pool. Kara loved every minute of being there and we are definitely going to go back.

Till next time....

The Voice has spoken

Batman, the strongest trilogy ever.

To celebrate our anniversary this year I took my lovely wife out for a pub lunch and then followed that up with a trip to the cinema to see The Dark Knight Rises, an excellent film that if you haven't seen then you should do so right away.

The Dark Knight Trilogy is, I have to say, the strongest trilogy of films ever made. Not the best but certainly the most rounded and consistently good.

I mean for me there will never be a trilogy like the original Star Wars trilogy. This is the best film trilogy ever made but (there's always a but) it is not without its flaws and all these flaws lie in the last chapter. Return of the Jedi is a film of four parts, three of which are fantastic and one that is utterly lame. The film starts with the rescue of Solo from Jabba's palace, excellent, just the start we wanted. Then You get the big fight between Vader and Luke accompanied by John Williams dramatic score, perfect. Accompanying this we have the Lando led assault on the Super Death Star, thrilling. But then we get the battle of Endor. A bunch of teddies take on the might of the Imperial army, lame, lame, lame. Just a bad idea for which Lucas will forever be mocked.

Another trilogy that fan boys are constantly poring love out for (not to mention the constant war of words between Star Wars fans and these fans) is the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Now don't get me wrong Fellowship was a great film as was Towers but lets not get giddy about Return of the King. This was the poorest film of the trilogy by a long shot with hardly anything to save it. I mean it was just 3 hours of fighting and the film had so many false endings you got the feeling it was never going to stop. But when the war was won by a bunch of ghosts it was over in the blink of an eye. This film was just a terrible end to the trilogy and because of this it takes third place in the top three trilogies.

Nolan's Batman trilogy though is consistently brilliant through all three parts and the end of Rises rounds the story arc of perfectly. There are no real flaws to be counted in Rises, a few moans to be had, the music being too loud in places and Banes dialogue being hard to understand here and there but other than that it was a solid film. Easily the second best trilogy ever made. Some people will disagree but that's what people do. Keeps life interesting.

The pub lunch was good too. A mixed grill with all the trimmings and my wife had chicken skewers with a spicy sauce. Excellent.

Till next time.....

The Voice has spoken.