Camera memory: FULL!
March 1, 2012
So there comes a time in your snap happy life when the camera memory becomes full and it’s time to call it a day.
The competition is almost over and it’s time for me to do a ‘that’s a wrap’ post for the time being. The photo’s are uploaded and edited and now it’s time to wait to see who’s won the competition! It’s all quite exciting really, I mean, it would be awesome to win a camera!
I’d like to say thanks to Andy Jacques and Martin Hodgkiss for holding the photography day, it was really fun and I learnt a lot. I can’t wait to put my newly found skills to the test and take some amazing photographs.
To finish, here’s a photograph of a happy wooden mannequin for your viewing pleasure.
Thanks a lot guys.
Plain Jaine.
White sheets and camera stands!
March 1, 2012
Do you ever get it when you’ve done something really productive all day and when you go to retire for the day, you just want to carry on?
I do and I did. After the photography day that we had, I could not stop. Putting down the camera was too much of a choir and I just wanted to carry on, so I knew it was time to trash everything around me and get snap happy again. A couple of months ago, my mum had found a white screen background in the charity shop she works at and had given it to me, it was somewhere in my room along with a couple of tripods my uncle had given me, so they definitely came in handy and I was really happy I hadn’t thrown them out. I set up the screen, tripod and camera and was ready to get shooting.. when I’d found the objects to photograph first of course.
After about 15 minutes of searching for things to photograph, I started to set up and get on with the job. I really wanted to get some more decent photographs as I wasn’t too happy with the photos I’d taken during the day. The first object I shot was a bouquet of dried roses from when I was a bridesmaid a few years ago. I really like the shadows that came out across the roses and on the background, it has a nice level of brightness so it’s not over powered by one tone, it has a nice balance.
Next up, meet Jack Skellington, the well known Pumpkin King from Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas. This guy is actually a 24 inch talking figure and a 100% pain in the backside to keep upright. What you don’t see in this picture is the look of fury on my face as he face-plants the floor just as I’m about to take a photograph. I took about 70 photos of good old Jack here which of at least 50 are him in mid fall. Luckily for this lovable piece of plastic, I soon forgave him for his trouble when I started to get some good shots of him. I really like how only his face is in focus, I love the stance he is in as it looks like he’s curious about what I’m doing and is bending down to see.
This photo was the most difficult to take. I had to set it up so it was on self timer, but I had to figure out the correct positioning, lighting, focus and angle for this photograph to work. I got the idea to take a photograph like this when I was staring at my lack of hair in the mirror and feeling pretty sorry for myself which is when I decided I wanted to feature myself into my work. It was definitely a pain to take, but I was so set on the idea I wasn’t going to give up on it. I love how the lighting works in this photograph and how it looks quite feminine seeming as I’m not exactly your typical girly girl. I’m really proud of this photograph as it took a lot more work than the others did and it turned out looking great.
I’m really happy with the outcome of my photographs and the amount that I’d taken in one day. I have a lot more photographs, about 200 to be exact, but I think if I upload them all, there would be a photo overload!
If you go down to the woods, you’re in for an odd surprise..
February 28, 2012
Such as a bunch of teenagers with cameras taking photographs of trees and trying to make it look fancy. Odd? Yes, I would say so.
One of our tasks on the photography day was to go out into the wilderness and take some photographs of what we could find, we had about an hour to do so. If you are familiar with outdoor photography, you’ll know how much of a challenge it can be to take a picture of something so plain and still and turn it into something fantastic. I myself am not a huge fan of outdoor photography, I have always struggled to make simple objects look interesting and beautiful, so I was definitely feeling the pressure, there’s only so many ways you can take a photograph of a fence, right? I am more than likely very wrong!
As soon as I was outside, I was frantically searching for things to take photos of. As soon as I got an idea of what I wanted the photograph to turn out like, I’d keep taking photos until I was happy with what came out.
Not long after being outside, a man and his dog came through and being the big animal lover that I am, I wanted to take some photographs of the dog. He was a really well trained dog and his owner was more than happy for me to take a few photographs of his four legged friend.
I spent most of my time wondering around the forest and keeping an eye out for photo opportunities. I am really picky when it comes to photography and if it doesn’t look perfect in my eyes, I’m not happy with it until I get it right. This became a pain especially as I had a set time to get some shots, it wasn’t like I had all day.
After walking more into the forest, the harder it got to find something to photograph that wouldn’t look just like a normal photo. This is where I decided to be a little creative and rope in some of the others who were also taking photographs. I got the three of them to hold a camera in their mouths to show what we were doing there, I thought if they were holding the cameras in their mouths, it would be a lot more interesting than just holding them normally. I think it made quite an interesting picture, plus there is a view of the forest in the background and I also really like how the colours turned out.
When the hour was almost up, I started to head back to the offices and zone out listening to my headphones. I always find I do things better listening to music so I thought it might give me a few more ideas for photographs on the way. I noticed that I started to see more things that could make a good picture on my way back, but I also noticed I was dangerously close to running out of memory, so I had to get the shots perfect first time. I took a couple more photos and then I carried on walking back so I could upload the photographs I’d taken onto my laptop so I could have a better look at them.
I had taken quite a few photographs and I got a couple of good ones. If I had another chance to do it with more time, then I would like to explore different places so I could get a rage of different photos. Even though I felt the pressure, I definitely had a lot of fun. It would be good for me to get some more experience taking photographs in the outdoors as I believe it would widen my eyes for that perfect picture.
Strike a pose!
February 26, 2012
As I’ve mentioned before, Andy from SSC Learning and Martin Hodgkiss held a photography day for all the social media apprentices. We were shown a presentation with different bits of information on and some really cool photographs that Martin had taken. Once the presentation had finished, we got to give it a go for ourselves. We were all told to bring in our own cameras, so I made sure I had my boyfriends camera ready so I didn’t miss out. Some people didn’t have their own cameras to use but we ended up happily sharing with each other and some people were more than happy to use their camera phones.
We first started off having a go at product photography where we took photographs of different objects such as mobiles and head phones. Our aim was to try and make the objects look like something you’d find on the items packaging or a photograph in an advert. Doing this gave us a chance to get used to using different camera settings rather than using the standard ‘auto’ setting with flash. We were shooting photographs inside this white cube, it would reflect the light which made the photographs we took come out looking really impressive. I took a few shots of a mobile phone, I would have experimented with more objects but when I went up to have another go, there was too many people.
After we’d finished shooting in the cube, we moved onto studio photography. There was a huge white screen set up with a couple of lights which made me photographs we took look really professional. We had to change the settings again on our cameras and we had to use a flash add on so the photos came out looking right and not dull and ‘cheap’ looking.
Before I could get my hands on a camera, Andy made me be the model to test out the set up. I felt so embarrassed, I mean, I’ve done some modelling before, but not when there’s about 20 other people sat there staring, it made me feel really shy. A few different people got a few shots of me in our little man made studio set up and it was actually quite fun. I was made to sink my teeth into various objects, such as cameras and skateboards which made some good shots, but I still think I look crazy in them!
Once I’d finished being model, I got to be the one behind the camera. I was pretty excited because I’d never experienced a studio styled shoot before, so I was really looking forward to gaining a little experience as it would hopefully help me in the future. The first model up was Louis and he was definitely up for posing. I got a few shots of him with a skateboard which looked quite cool, I also got some natural shots of him just having a look at the camera which I thought looked really good. After a while, Louis started to use some less glamorous poses, unlucky for him, I got a shot of some.
When Louis had finished, it was almost lunch time and Andy and Martin needed to pack up, however, Rosie really wanted to have a go at being the model so we decided to be awkward and get in the way. We tried to be as quick as possible and keep out of the way, Rosie posed for a little bit while I got some shots of her. I think seeming as the set was in the process of being taken apart, the photographs I got of her didn’t turn out too bad, they did come out a bit pink but I think it works quite well.
If I had more time, the right equipment and a lot of props, then I would have definitely gone to town on the photographs I was taking. I could have stood and taken photos all day and night if I had the chance. I plan on using the skills I learnt in the future and expanding them even more, I’d love to get back into photography again and the photography day that was set up definitely helped me see that. It was a lot of fun and I can’t wait to learn even more!
And so I began
February 25, 2012
I’ve had an interest in photography for quite a few years now, I started to give it a go when I was about 14 but didn’t get very ‘serious’ about it until I was 16. I started off just using my camera phone, taking photographs of objects that people would normally ignore, I’d experiment with different things I found outside or in peoples houses and I used to think I was amazing, but of course, I wasn’t, no one was when they first started.
For my 16th birthday, I gathered enough money to by myself a camera, nothing too expensive but it did the job. I had finally got my first proper camera and my first real obsession. I loved holding my camera, I would take it everywhere and because of it being my most prized possession, I was so protective of it to the point where I’d only let certain people touch it.
I became involved with unsigned bands and I would take photographs for them at concerts and on some photo shoots. I was never paid, I didn’t really want to be, I just wanted the experience and I enjoyed tagging a long with people who had similar interests. It was always fun for me and I didn’t want to stop, so I started taking my camera to concerts so I could get a few snaps of well known bands and hopefully get some really good ones but I didn’t know that it would be a disaster. After a couple of hours at the barriers, the crowd were starting to get a bit rough, especially when well known songs came on. I ended up getting crushed and passing out, but not only did I nearly break my legs being pulled out the crowd, my camera was destroyed. I was so upset about it and I thought I had lost everything I had taken as well as my camera, but luckily, there was still enough life in it for me to retrieve my photographs and they turned out pretty good.
Luckily for me, I had insured my camera so I was able to get a new one exactly the same so I was happy. I went back to doing band photography but I avoided using my camera if there was a chance of it breaking again. After a while, I decided to move on from band photography and widen my skills by finding other things to capture. I usually was drawn to animals, but I would also take photographs for charity events and I’d occasionally take a few of people and the outdoors. The more and more I used my camera to its full potential, the more it became worn and old. About 4 months after its insurance ran out, my camera decided it had had enough and packed in, the only way it works now is if it has sellotape in certain places.
I currently use my boyfriends camera, which at this rate, he is never getting it back because it is such an awesome camera, but up until yesterday, I didn’t really know how to use it properly.
Yesterday, Andy Jacques from SSC Learning and professional photographer, Martin Hodgkiss held a photography day where we learnt a lot of things that we might need to know for when we start working. We learnt how to use different settings and lighting to make a plain object look amazing. I’ll be honest, I found it pretty difficult because I was out of my comfort zone, but as the day went on, I found it to get a bit easier and I went into perfectionist mode and generally snap happy, although, I wasn’t very happy when my card ran out of memory. I ended up being so hyped up about what I’d been doing, that I went home and carried on. I found out some equipment that I was given not long ago which had been tossed aside because I thought I’d never use it, but thankfully, I kept it and it served me well.
Fancy seeing you here.
February 25, 2012
Hello everyone and welcome to my photography blog. On here you will find photographs that I have taken all by myself!
This blog was actually created in order to try and win a competition that SSC Learning‘s Andy Jacques set up after he did an awesome photography day with Martin Hodgkiss. The prize is a camera, so I’m definitely feeling the pressure to get snap happy for a chance to get my hands on the grand prize, especially as my pride and joy is sat in a cupboard completely battered, broken, bruised and ready to be laid to rest so it can go to the big camera heaven in the sky. We had a good run, so it is time to move on.. *sniff*
Anyway, moving on from that sad, sad story, I really hope you enjoy this blog and find my photographs pleasing to the eye. Hopefully, if all goes well, I shall carry on running this blog with new and old photographs that I have taken.
Have a good time browsing;
Plain Jaine.
Plain Jaine Photography 