sweetness and light

The ground beneath her feet

2010-05-04T06:30:00.000-07:00

I have been experimenting recently with a multi negative pinhole camera recently, for a workshop I'm teaching in July. I've had lots of fun with it so far and surprisingly few light leaks.

10

2010-02-04T06:05:00.000-08:00

This was my submission for the latest Filmwasters collaboration "10". You can see the whole bunch here
http://www.filmwasters.com/collaborations/v/collaboration19/
I recently rediscovered the old plates that I took back in July 2007
http://janetpenny.blogspot.com/2007/07/all-fingers-and-thumbs.html

It's a little bleaker than I had thought it might be and reminds me of a rain storm. Still, it's pretty indicative of how I suspect 2010 might turn out. It's going to be a tough year.

2009-11-27T05:46:00.000-08:00

which came first

2009-11-26T02:41:00.000-08:00

I have been putting together some desk calendars to sell at some craft fairs, one of which is called "the chicken or the egg". It has 6 chicken and 6 egg photos, one for each month.

Gum Bichromate

2009-10-21T03:37:00.000-07:00

I have been experimenting with Gum Bichromate recently. This is the first image I have produced. The layers are Magenta, Yellow and Cyan. I have a lot to learn but I'm happy to have any results at all to show

Garlic

2009-07-08T13:53:00.000-07:00

Fig

2009-06-17T13:07:00.001-07:00

I'm not a big fan of figs, but I must admit that they look fantastic. This one is bound for the cyanotype heaven. In the meantime, here it is in glorious monochrome.

Cherries

2009-06-17T12:52:00.000-07:00

Wabi fruit

2009-05-20T07:55:00.000-07:00

I am currently reading "The Elegance of Hedgehogs" - a wonderful book - and came across the Japanese word 'wabi'
"Wabi now connotes rustic simplicity, freshness or quietness, and can be applied to both natural and human-made objects, or understated elegance. It can also refer to quirks and anomalies arising from the process of construction, which add uniqueness and elegance to the object." (from Wikipedia)
I'd like to think that I could create a series of cyanotypes along these lines, highlighting both the beauty of the natural form of fruit and of the process of cyanotypes.

Pomegranate

2009-05-06T02:41:00.000-07:00

I'm working on some cyanotypes and really enjoying doing a little non-work related photography. My initial thought was that these shots would just be intermediate ones, a means to a cyanotype end, but I actually really like the shots in black and white too. Pomegranates are so photogenic.

Castle in the Snow

2009-03-05T14:48:00.000-08:00

a revelation all over again

2009-02-08T12:54:00.000-08:00

How long do I have to go without using my rollei before using it becomes a revelation again? Not long it seems. I love to run fuji acros or fuji neopan 400 through it, the film is so forgiving of my shonky light reading. I got the film tip from Susan Burnstine, whose images I love, on the one and only time I have ever met her. I've stuck with it ever since. Thanks Susan!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-06T01:38:00.000-08:00

I hope this year brings you happiness and health.
Keep reading in 2009, with any luck there'll be lots to read about.

www.folksy.com

2008-11-24T04:50:00.000-08:00

I have just discovered another place to sell. It's called Folksy.com and runs along the same lines as Etsy. It's very new at the moment and is still in Beta, also it's only based in the UK right now. But do check it out, here's the link to my shop
http://www.folksy.com/shops/JanetP

A passion rekindled

2008-11-20T02:25:00.000-08:00

At the risk of doubling up on blog posts, I wanted to post this image as it is one of the only non-digital ones that I have taken recently. I took it during this week's pinhole camera workshop, which I taught at a local school. After watching the students making cameras and taking fantastic shots, I felt I needed to do it myself. I had the perfect box to use, it was small, plastic and had only one opening through which light might leak. Loaded with paper (which I rated at 12asa) and with an F-stop of 38, this image needed only 1 minute of exposure. And that was it, I'm in love with pinhole photography again. My brain is teaming with ideas about what to do with it. By the way, the small black shape in the background is one of my students, posing for her pinhole camera!

2008-10-22T08:04:00.000-07:00

I have done so little film photography this month but lots of digital (see above). I'm hoping a French holiday will inspire and revive me. I have given up hope of ever recovering the images on my hard disk. The company who took it away have been pretty flaky about returning it to me, after I told them I didn't want to pay over £400 to retrieve my data. I have been rescanning all the important films and that has stopped me from wanting to take any more.
However, I've done some great fun portrait sessions and lots of other exciting projects and I;m beginning to feel like a proper photographer.

6 months on

2008-09-19T05:40:00.000-07:00

It's been 6 months since I left work and time, perhaps, for a little round up of where I'm at.
To start, I have challenged myself professionally more in the past 6 months than at anytime in the previous 6 years. As a result I've done so much that I never thought I would have the courage to do and I'm proud of myself. I have produced some beautiful images too.
However, going freelance has been much harder than I thought it would be. When I was working full time I felt that all I needed was more of a chance to get my name known and the work would come rolling in. It hasn't. That's not to say I haven't hit the targets that I set myself for my first half year trading, but it's been a slog and sometimes downright depressing.
I spent a lot of time cold calling companies to no avail and chasing work that never materialised. Most of my work has come from sources much closer to home. I don't mean my Mum and Dad but through contacts from friends. Once the word gets out that you are a photographer, people tend to remember and think of you if they need something done.
I have also spread myself pretty thin, trying to work out where I wanted to take my photography. Now, I believe I have worked out the route I want to take and narrowed it down to a couple of areas to concentrate on. I might have arrived at this point a little earlier if I had not simply believed in what I do best.
So, my chosen fields of expertise are:
Events and Portraits photography
Fine Art photography and agency work
It still feels like a lot to get my head round but manageable.
So, looking ahead, I hope that in the next 6 months I can build up my work and continue to challenge myself everyday and that you guys will keep looking in on me to check my progress...

King of the terrible lizards

2008-09-15T06:40:00.000-07:00

My external hard disk has gone kaput and I am feeling bereft. I managed to salvage the most important client images, but I am in limbo until the files are recovered for me. So, there's not a lot to post except images from my Sputnik, from our holiday in Norfolk - hopefully they'll make a good series to hang on my boys' walls.

Back to work

2008-09-02T02:12:00.000-07:00

Hmm, it seems the summer holidays are over and not one, but both my boys are now at school. We've had a lovely summer and now it's time to set our hats towards the autumn and enjoy it.

Salt prints

2008-07-26T04:10:00.000-07:00

My salt prints have not been quite so successful so far. Initially they are beautiful but after 'fixing' in water they fog very quickly. I have ordered some hypo (sodium thiosulphate) and will try fixing in that instead. I'm pretty paranoid about working with all these chemicals. I kit myself out with a face mask, gloves and apron and look like a surgeon, but better safe than sorry eh?

experiments

2008-07-26T04:06:00.001-07:00

I have spent a most satisfying few days experimenting with alternative processes. My first attempts were with cyanotype using Dr Mike Ware's new formula. This image was simply fixed with water but I later discovered that fixing with a citric acid solution first clears the yellow completely from the print. However, I love the feel of this despite the yellow. The other yellow marks come from water splashes before I put the neg out in the sun - I quite like them.

new from old

2008-07-18T03:58:00.000-07:00

We have had 3 old school work benches hanging round our house for a couple of years now, and I've always sworn that I would do something with them. Well, now I have. Yesterday I took the tops to a local joinery and had them chopped into 9 10x10" blocks. They were also planed to leave a smooth surface and I have to say, they look wonderful. It is apparently Iroko wood and the grain is gorgeous. My plan is to mount photos on them to sell at a local selling show - Box of Delights - in November. I hope I can do them justice.

raspberries

2008-07-17T05:41:00.000-07:00

Mmmmm, Raspberries. I have discovered Pick Your Own fruit farms this summer. They're the perfect combination for me: none of the work, all the satisfaction of picking for yourself and half the price of the supermarket. Oh, and delicious...

Something to remember: just picking the ripe raspberries means that you have to eat them all at the same time.

2008-07-12T14:57:00.000-07:00

Jon has gone to Rome on a school trip for 9 days. He left this afternoon and I miss him already. Unfortunately I think he also took both our mobile chargers with him, so I'm fighting a desire to be cross with him.
One of the things that I do when Jon takes this trip every year, is rent all the movies I know he won't want to watch and spend the week indulging my film preferences. I have just finished watching "Be Kind Rewind" and absolutely loved it. I also have Atonement (loved the book) Elizabethtown (the wild card) and The Motorcycle Diaries. We'll see...

Something to remember: It's only a week and I've got loads of great films to watch

For those who care...

2008-07-10T02:24:00.000-07:00

I have just spent a wonderful evening with a whole host of great people, selling my images and raising money for breast cancer care. It was organised by the amazingly talented Vicky, who loves to bring artists together and help them show and sell their work. Not only was it a successful night for me personally but we also raised loads of money. So hoorah!

Something to remember: Lots of people care

the end of the meal

2008-07-01T03:28:00.000-07:00

I've stopped feeling sorry for myself now and I intend to continue to take pictures that I love.

Something to remember: An afternoon spent with friends

commitment

2008-06-24T14:35:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel like it would be easier just to close my eyes and go to sleep. Nothing sinister, it's just that sometimes sleep is so much more satisfying.

I had a really informative interview last week with a lovely woman from a magazine group. It had taken so long to actually get to meet someone who didn't just want my web address, that I was pretty excited. It pains me to say that my portfolio wasn't up to it, but sadly I think this was the case. Despite this I got some great advice about my portfolio. Basically, I had presented a really eclectic set of images, a mixture of portrait and still life, which I felt worked together. The advice I was given was to separate the two genres into different portfolios. She felt that seeing the two mixed together was too confusing and made the viewer forget the good images that they had seen as they were working too hard to process the mix.

This presents me with a dilemma which I really should have confronted before: I need to decide what kind of photography I want to specialise in. I need to commit.

Loyalty

2008-06-12T05:45:00.000-07:00

There's a lot to be said for loyalty. It's quite an old-fashioned word these days, but I believe that that some things are worth sticking at. I continue to follow through my allotment project, even though I have changed the cameras I use and my ideas about what to do with it. I keep submitting and uploading to agencies, despite very little recompense. And I count myself blessed to have friends who are gunning for me to make a success of freelancing and who go out of their way to help me. Thank you for being my true and loyal friends.

Something to remember:
It's supposed to be fun...

Digital Karma

2008-06-04T02:47:00.001-07:00

I have spent the last few weeks taking pretty much only digital shots - and I feel sullied. I am trying to build up a solid base of stock shots with Alamy, which means I need to take around 50 usable shots a week. There doesn't seem to be much room for anything else, what with sorting, resizing, uploading and keywording. Once I get to 1,000 shots I could step down a little I think. Still, I intend to fit in some Rollei shots this week to balance my karma.

Something to remember:
The sound of 14 close family members laughing, cheering and gently teasing each other.

Feedback

2008-05-23T04:53:00.000-07:00

Until I began this freelancing lark, I hadn't appreciated just how difficult it is to get to show someone your portfolio. I mean, I figured I could just phone magazines, books publishers etc. and get to go show them. But no, all I keep getting is "have you got a website?" Trouble is, you can't see someone's reaction to your website, or even if they go there. What I really need is FEEDBACK, I'm not sure why that's so hard to give.

Tadpoles

2008-05-12T15:24:00.000-07:00

It's tadpole time again. I love these creatures, they're so fascinating, I could watch them all day. So I've got some on the pretense that it's for the boys. It's for me really...

the Sputnik rides again

2008-05-08T02:15:00.000-07:00

One of the things I am loving at the moment is the chance to take photos everyday and to experiment. I dug out the Sputnik the other day and had some fun with it. After I rediscovered a robot set that I took and was pleased with the results, I started to think about ways to make stereo images that didn't quite work. My dinosaur brain has only just realised that the Sputnik doesn't have to be used only to create stereo photos. In addition to taking the above shot with a close up lens (so that the offset is just too out to work) I also scratched up the negs good and proper. This was scary as I've never done it before but I love the results.

O Brother

2008-05-04T13:03:00.000-07:00

I apologise for uploading two digital images in a row, it's not usually my way but I have been doing a lot of experimenting lately for the sake of the business.
Me and the boys had great fun last night when I set up a studio in the back room and we did some portraits. I love this shot as it really portrays the relationship between the two and their individual characters. My youngest look up to his intense older brother. You can see the mischief in his eyes and the concentration on being good that exudes from my eldest (doesn't always work out that way though).

amps, valves and EQ

2008-04-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

I've been back to my old stomping ground this week - Abbey Road - photographing equalisers, valves and amps. Abbey Road Studios is such a wonderful place, there's so much history and to be able to get my hands on and photograph the equipment that's been used, and continues to be used, on so many wonderful recordings is a joy. I miss working there and I miss the people especially, but I'm so excited about my new life that I can deal with it - as long as I get to go back every now and then.

2008-04-10T12:51:00.001-07:00

Thought I'd give it a go this month, I could do with $100...

Class and Glamour

2008-04-04T07:43:00.000-07:00

I visited the Vanity Fair exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery last night, it was wonderful. I only had an hour there and it really wasn't half long enough - it took me that long to get round the 1913-36 years and I didn't have time to properly take in the shots from 1986 onwards. I'm very tempted to go back because I felt that the contrasts in concept and content, between the two eras, were striking.
I came away with an even greater respect for Edward Steichen's photography. For me, his shots were luminous. I also spotted a nice little trick he uses in his portraits. He often creates a line in his background, which cuts the image just a little way in. The more I looked the more I saw it, or perhaps it's just my selective viewing...
Some examples that I spotted.
Noel Coward, Paul Robeson, Anna May Wong and, of course, the image above of Greta Garbo.

Wonderful stuff.

Latest job

2008-03-29T10:12:00.001-07:00

I've already posted this in my tearsheets blog but I wanted to talk about it here too. I have just finished a job which was really fun to do. Ingarden is a website selling modern garden furniture and the client wanted a promotional postcard to send out with purchases. She didn't need a straightforward shot of her furniture - she had those already - but was after something a little more abstract. The brief was to produce an image that gave a taste of the garden and the products but would also be something that her client would want to keep hold of because it looked good too. Out came the Rolleicord and fuji NPH and after a couple of photography sessions we all agreed that this image said it best. It's a bit risky taking on briefs that include the word 'arty', everyone had a different sense of what that means, but it was really fun to work with someone didn't want 'normal' and I'm very pleased with the result.
Ingarden - modern outdoor living

Revisitation

2008-03-27T10:57:00.001-07:00

I've been going back through old negs, rescanning film that I didn't have time to spend on before. I've come to the conclusion that there was a reason I left most of them the first time round! Every now and again though, I pull something out that I like.
This shot came from my second roll of experiments on the Sputnik stereo camera - I used a closeup lens which made the offset between the two images too large to be useable. However, I thought I'd create an anaglyph image from these two anyway just to see what happened. Although it really doesn't work as a 3D anaglyph I still love the sci-fi effect the red and turquoise give.

A New Beginning

2008-03-26T10:24:00.000-07:00

Now I am officially a freelance. I have spent my first day trying to get myself organised:
1. Ordered a promotional postcard from Vistaprint
2. Put together a list of magazines, newspapers and book publishers to contact
3. Begun to sort out more shots to submit to photo agencies
4. Actually taken some photographs with my Rollei, which I haven't done for weeks

I feel as though I have achieved something.

spring is just around the corner

2008-03-06T01:55:00.001-08:00

You can tell it's nearly Spring, everyone is posting on their blogs with renewed vigour. It's nice to have you all back guys.

red cage

2008-02-24T14:05:00.000-08:00

So, things are slowly but surely coming together. It's amazing how many people have work that they need doing when you start putting the word round. So far I have had the opportunity to quote on a great evening job for a hotel chain, I am doing a small
job for a friend of a friend - which may lead to a couple more - and a commission to take shots for an exam boards' foreign language tests. That's all through word of mouth. What it means practically is that I am pretty busy until I finish work (Easter), so it's all good.

Through the Window

2008-02-15T06:41:00.000-08:00

So close.

Thinking it over

2008-02-06T04:31:00.001-08:00

I have been shooting loads in the last week and it's been manic but great fun. No paid work but lots of possibilities.

A cage but no bird

2008-02-01T08:24:00.001-08:00

If only there were more hours in the day. I am so ready to commit full time to freelancing but I am working until the March 20th so I just can't.
It's not that I've got any freelance work to do, to be frank I haven't got time to arrange it, but I just want to start to try and get some.
I have lots of ideas that I need to crack on with; I also have plenty of anxiety and the only way to allay it is to be getting on with things.
Frustration and anticipation.
I might explode.

Night angel

2008-01-30T03:47:00.000-08:00

I'm ploughing through these polaroids like you wouldn't believe. I am trying to be picky with what I shoot but it's damn hard.

A shot in the dark

2008-01-24T08:55:00.001-08:00

I learned some important lessons about the flash sync on my Rolleicord this week. Specifically the difference between the X and M settings. X is for electronic flash and M for bulb flashes. I had been shooting on M which triggers the flash and then waits a 165 millisecond before opening the shutter. This was intended to be used with the older flash bulbs which took this time to glow to their max strength. Modern flash is instantaneous and therefore long gone by the time the shutter opens. Switching to X solves this problem.

The crew over at Filmwasters were, as usual, incredibly helpful and didn't abuse me over my lack of knowledge.
I have wasted a couple of films because of this problem but I have salvaged one shot that I actually quite like. It's a little dark but still tasty, and I think the warmth the modeling lights give it work well.

A Brand New Addiction

2008-01-16T07:35:00.000-08:00

Uh oh. I've just bought an SX-70 and spent a small fortune on 2 packs of film. I think this might become rather an expensive new toy. If anyone knows somewhere cheaper than unsaleable to get sx-70 blend then please tell me.

Inspiration

2007-12-14T07:01:00.000-08:00

I have made some great photographic finds on the internet, people I never would have known about had it not been for my computer. These photographers may never be known outside of a smallish group of followers but they have bought me inspiration and joy through sharing their work.

Apart from the photographers I love and visit often - whose links are listed at the side - I have discovered the following

Elizabeth Soule - her series, Little Zoo is gorgeous and makes perfect use of the SX-70

Bosse Blomqvist - Bosse uses vintage cameras and coats his own glass plates to make some amazing photos

Katie Cooke - Specifically her pinhole work which is beautiful

That's just for starters, enjoy!

Wide Open

2007-12-12T08:24:00.000-08:00

I am swinging wildly between excitement and terror at the moment. I have made the massive layout of buying studio lights and then realised that my digital camera doesn't have a PC sync socket, so I've had to buy a hot shoe attachment for it. D'oh! What kind of a professional am i?

Deed done

2007-11-28T12:56:00.001-08:00

So, this is scary. I have finally handed my notice in. I have 3 months left to work and then I'm out on my own in the big bad world of freelancing.
I've been putting it off for a while now but everything seemed to fit into place last week and make it possible for me to hand it in.
I know there's nothing like bills to pay to concentrate the mind and I guess I'll really find out if I can cut it, or at least not lose money.
I have lights to buy and contacts to make and I can't wait to get on with it.

The key to it all

2007-11-16T03:55:00.001-08:00

Not sure what the key is, or even what it unlocks but I'm sure there must be one.

Double Vision

2007-11-14T05:16:00.001-08:00

Another shot from the Sputnik camera, not a stereo picture but a mistaken double exposure that I really like. It's pure fluke that Joseph seems to be playing baseball with himself, while perfectly framing Adam.

Get yer glasses on

2007-11-08T03:18:00.000-08:00

The first film through my Sputnik Stereo camera that actually works. Hoorah! So, put on your 3D glasses and be amazed.
I still have a lot to learn about getting shots that work but it seems to me that the more defined the layers of depth in your photograph, the better the 3D works.
This is the best shot of the lot.

Broken Wings

2007-10-19T02:02:00.000-07:00

German CD covers

2007-10-08T04:49:00.000-07:00

I have had my first sale via picture agency, Trevillion, so I'm very excited. I've been with them for just over a year and have about 15 images in their library. The shot above will appear on a CD cover in Germany. It just goes to show that it's really worth doing that kind of thing speculatively because otherwise my photos would have been sitting on my hard disk doing nothing.
So now I intend to shoot more, with Trevillion in mind, and have some fun visualizing book and cd covers that I could take. It all takes me a step closer to living the freelance life...

On a completely different note, you should check out the first ever Filmwasters podcast. At 55 minutes long, it feels fairly daunting but it's so much fun to listen to that the time just flies by. I loved hearing about what all my friends over at FW are up to and be party to some really intelligent discussions about photography.

2007-09-24T15:06:00.001-07:00

Ever feel like a robot? If I was one I'd love to be as cute as this one - it belongs to my son, but I'm constantly commandeering it to photograph because I love it so much. My only hang up is that it's eyes aren't very expressive, so I cut I some new ones from sticky paper for this shot. It's yet another photo that I plan to make part of a set - I seem to start lots of these sets and finish very few of them, perhaps I'll make it with this idea.
On the work front, I have been asked to run two 1 day pinhole workshops for A level photography students. I did one of them last year and it was great fun. We turned a room into a camera obscura and then made pinhole cameras and developed the results in a tiny art stock cupboard. Hope fully this year will be as productive and enlightening for students whose main experience of photography has been digital. I certainly learned lots from it.

Working late and unpostable film

2007-09-14T05:39:00.000-07:00

Work has been absolutely manic of late - resulting in 13 hour days and lots of angst. I haven't done half enough photography and I'm missing it madly. I recently acquired a Sputnik stereo camera (I'm blaming Cam) and I've put a couple of films through it but nothing worth posting yet. The first film I shot was all double exposures because I didn't wind the film on 2 shots every take. The second film I experimented with using a close-up lens and it put the offset between the 2 negs too far out to use. So, I'm working on a third film, which will hopefully render some postable images.
On the upside, I have had my first paid for photograph published this week in Junior Baby and Pregnancy magazine. You can see it on my Tearsheets blog . I used my trusty Rolleicord and a closeup lens to take it, as the Art Editor likes the vintage camera vibe. It's a dream for me to be paid to take photos with my Rollei, so that's what I'm working towards.

New Horizons

2007-09-06T06:51:00.000-07:00

I recently borrowed Mark's Horizon and had great fun trying it out and thinking panoramically.
I love working with new cameras and finding out their quirks and perks.
This is an early version of the Horizon with no aperture settings and 2 shutter speeds (slow and not quite so slow). This meant that most of my film was overexposed despite using a 100asa film in UK weather. I did get a couple of shots I liked though, this one of the Tour de France being one of them. To get the motion of the cyclists passing left to right I had to hold the camera upside down so that it panned along with the bikes - which meant I got even funnier looks than usual.

Etsy

2007-09-03T13:50:00.000-07:00

I'm very excited because I've been working on some jewellery that I now have for sale at Etsy. It uses my sweet photographs on shrink plastic - I used to use an earlier version of it when I was younger - which makes a durable, hard plastic that you can use for pendants and earrings. I had real difficulty putting a couple of them up for sale because I've grown so attached to them. Especially this one
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=6930980

Anyway, check them out and let me know what you think.

I'd rather be here...

2007-08-29T07:57:00.000-07:00

Vernazza, Cinqueterre.
I'm feeling a little low today as I heard that my entry to the Schweppes Portrait prize didn't get in. I shouldn't be surprised, there were over 6,900 entries, but a tiny part of me thought that I had a chance.

So, I'm wishing my day away, sorting out travel photography to send to various travel mags and agencies. Makes me want to go on holiday again.

Going Live

2007-08-23T03:14:00.000-07:00

Hoorah! To coincide with the article in Black and White Photography magazine, I have launched my website:
www.janetpenny.com
I'm hoping to be able to direct potential clients to it and keep it up to date with my new work. It has been designed by my good friend Mark Warner, to be simple and elegant. I'm so excited, I could lay an egg...

Two more from the article

2007-08-22T05:38:00.000-07:00

In Print

2007-08-21T00:58:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe it, but my image of Kate and an article about a darkroom workshop I did with an amazing printer has finally made it into Black and White Photography magazine. It is so wonderful to see the image in print, along with 2 others that I'll post later. Back in June I spent a day up at Lighthouse Darkrooms with Mike Crawford, which was really useful and opened my eyes to the art of printing. Before, I had always felt guilty if I needed to spend very much time making my print look 'right', feeling that if you need to work too hard at it then the negative isn't good enough. However, watching Mike tease out the finer details of my image and give it a look and feel that, I'm ashamed to say, I had never imagined could be achieved, was a revelation.
For me, the joy is in the process of taking the photo: visualising, setting up, making all those choices about camera and film, pressing the button. I love the anticipation too, waiting to see if you got that perfect shot. By the time it comes to printing I've moved on, I'm thinking about the next image. So now I guess I can see just how important it is to follow through so I'm going to try and do it from now on. Or, at least, get Mike to do it for me...

2007-08-16T09:03:00.001-07:00

Ahhhh! That's better. Apart from the 14 hour delay on the way home, Spain was good. I spent the holiday getting to grips with my new digital camera, a Pentax K10D, and I'm starting to enjoy using it. It's not a patch on my Rollei though, so I'm hoping not to get overtaken by the digital 'ease of use' phenomenon and keep wasting that film.

Taking a break

2007-08-01T01:00:00.001-07:00

Holidays! I love 'em. I'm just about to go to Spain for 10 days and I am so excited. I can't wait to unwind, stop thinking too much and having to organise things. But, at the same time I'm already worrying. What cameras should I take? How much film? What if I get there and I haven't got the camera that would get me that perfect shot? I always go away hoping to bag some amazing holiday photos and then I spend the whole time concerned that I haven't. So, this time I am determined to go and not stress about 'the shot', I WILL have fun. Now, 3 cameras and 10 tonne of film should just about cover it...

All Fingers and Thumbs

2007-07-31T01:26:00.000-07:00

Another plate image. This was a still life with forks. I have 2 boxes of these glass plates waiting to have new life breathed into them.

Ooo, I've just had a shivery premonition that I'm going to end up in an episode of CSI, where someone plants my fingerprints on a crime scene and frames me for a murder I didn't do. I hope it's the original one, I like Grissom.

Wish me luck

2007-07-29T13:17:00.001-07:00

On Friday I took a trip down to London College of Communication and dropped off my photograph for the Schweppes Portrait Prize. I didn't expect there to be quite so many people there, it was a little off-putting but quite exciting too. I've always been the sort of person who enters competitions, not because I ever think I'll win them but I just can't resist them. Still, I guess I wouldn't enter if I thought there was absolutely no chance at all. You've got to be in it to win it right? So, there I was queueing up with my portrait along with all the other hopefuls this year. You never know...

Just what you didn't expect

2007-07-25T13:48:00.000-07:00

I love this blogging lark, it's so nicely laid out, it makes everything I write look interesting...

I'm thinking about starting a mini-series with these images. They were made from glass plates that I loaded into my Rollei plate adapter, exposed and then developed, only to discover no image but this wonderful abstract. This shot should have been a close up of a pile of white napkins. I love the idea that the latent image never appeared but that I still made my mark on the plate. For me, it speaks volumes about artistic intent and unexpected outcomes.

talking and listening

2007-07-24T09:10:00.000-07:00

Do you ever get the impression that you're talking but no-one is listening? I'm not just thinking about this blog but life in general. I often feel like I spend so much time and effort, working on websites, contributing to forums, trying to sell postcards and convince people to put on exhibitions - sometimes I get fed up with doing all the chasing... Just once I'd love someone to call me up and say "Hey! Really like your work, what to put on a show for us/ publish a book/ earn loads of money?" Hmmm, not likely I guess. I'll just keep talking.

Making lists

2007-07-19T12:42:00.000-07:00

In order to try and become a freelance photographer I have had to take stock of what I want to and am able to do. With two young children at home I have limited time at the moment, which will change once no. 2 goes to school (another year). So I have lists and lists of ideas for money making schemes that will take up minimal time. Given that I love photography and want to be taking photos all the time, this isn't too much of a chore, but I also have to be realistic. Here is my current list:

1. Picture agencies
2. Selling prints (via Etsy, exhibitions etc.)
3. Selling postcards (Etsy, local bookshops and artshops)
4. Environmental portraits
5. Competitions
6. Running workshops (school's activities weeks)

These 6 things are all ideas that give me scope to work when I am able to and yet, hopefully gain some income. I'll post some more lists tomorrow. My notebook is full of them.

The First Post

2007-07-18T05:52:00.000-07:00

OK, just for the record, my life is not particularly exciting. Please do not expect posts about weekend climbing trips or bungee jumping. What I can offer is some words and links about my passion: photography.
At the moment I am spending time and money on trying to become a freelance photographer. I seem to be spending a lot of money on kit, portfolios and products and not recouping very much at all. I don't mind paying out too much because I have a part-time job that I quite enjoy, but it's in London and it takes me an hour and a half to get there, which is a pain.
I don't know if I'm going to make in the world of photography but I am, to some degree, an optimist, so I can only hope...

In the meantime, here is an image to get started with: