Photography 1 - Light - Exercise, Judging colour temperature, part one

These four scenes were photographed at the same 3 times during a single day; morning, midday and evening.

The colour of the light is strikingly different in the morning, midday and evening shots. 

The morning shots have a bright yet cool light with the evening shots producing a much warmer tone.

Futureland Now

"So what did you particularly like about the exhibition?" asked the young lady on the till. "Erm..... I particularly the erm.... the contrast between the scale and the erm.... " The rest of the transaction was conducted in embarrassed silence amplified by my lack of art vocabulary.

Let's try again. I was try to describe my impression of the image 'HIDDEN'. There is a stark contrast between the abandoned jet aircraft and it's it's unlikely location on moorland under a dark and threatening sky.



It was the first image that caught my eye as I entered an exhibition that has returned to Newcastle upon Tyne, 20 years after it was first shown.

Futureland Now 'continues to question the post industrial photographic aesthetic and 'industrial sublime'...... (the photographers) photographic landscapes invoke the language of the sublime to explore the the current post-industrial period of uncertainty and, potentially, seismic change.

Some of the images I felt to be of monumental scale and clearly conveyed a sense of awe and granduer of things man made.



Whilst I understand the rationale behind semaphore images I thought the number of these made them repetitive. Ditto the men in red jackets....

Photography 1 - Light Project The intensity of light Exercise Higher and Lower sensitivity

Leeds railway station

All images captured at the largest aperture available of f4.5

iso 800 - 125th sec

iso 100 - 2.5 secs

iso 1000 - 20th sec

iso 800 - 20th sec

iso 800 - 30th sec

iso 1600 - 60th sec

iso 1000 - 60th sec

iso 100 - half sec

iso HI -1 - 125th

iso 100 - 25th sec

iso HI-1 - 100th sec

iso 800 - 20th sec

iso 800 - 25th sec

iso 100 - 3rd sec

iso 1600 - 50th sec

iso 100 - half sec

iso 200 - third sec

iso 400 - third sec

The use of a range of iso sensitivities were required to freeze motion in these images of the railway station late in the day. Examination of the images reveals higher granularity at higher iso speeds. This would have been easier to see if I had used a tripod to ensure crispness in detail at the slower shutter speeds.

What makes great photography

Nan and Brian in bed, Nan Goldin 1983

My reading - this is a self portrait carefully composed to explore the relationship between men and women. Nan looks upset as she looks at Brian enjoying a cigarette after having sex. She looks dissatisfied whilst he seems relaxed in the world.

Val Williams - almost as above...

What makes great photography

Cafe Lemitz, Anders Petersen 1978

My reading - This is part of a series of photographs telling the story of the lives of working class people in Sweden (?). The woman is one of only two in the bar and she stands defiantly aware that she is in an unusual place for a woman. She is tolerated by the male clientele who are also aware of that her presence is unexpected.

Val Williams - the Hamburg bar provided an enclosed space to portray the intimacy of the relationships. More of a family album.

What makes great photography

Untitled film still, no 3, Cindy Sherman 1977

My reading - Again I know something about the work of Sherman. Here she has created a fictional still from a non existent movie. In this image she is playing the part.of a house wife washing the dishes or cooking the dinner whilst surreptitiously observing activity behind her.

Val Williams - a social comment on Womens place in a consumerist society (?)

What make great photography

Migrant Family, Dorothea Lange

My reading - I know something about this photograph. It is one of a series of photographs created by a small team of photographers commissioned by the Agriculture agency in the USA to capture the plight of migrants leaving the Dust Bowl states for a new life in California. Lange produced a number of images of this family but it is this one that has become iconic. It has become emblematic of the condition of migrants worldwide. Close cropping of the image and the turned faces of her children clearly focussed attention on the careworn face of the mother facing an uncertain future.

Val Williams - a child either side has a powerful symmetry - a Madonna flanked by Cherubs bedraggled by poverty (too MUCH!)