Faces forgotten in a art classroom.

Faces

The next selection of photos are from a art project that is sitting in a art classroom gathering dust. I stare at it every time I go there as I find it absolutely amazing and almost life like.To be continued below the photos, I hope you enjoy these images.

Canon 1D MK III
Canon 100mm F2.8 L Macro lens
F22
ISO100
2 seconds (all natural light bounced of 4 reflection boards)

Please Click On The Photos To See It At It’s Better Quality.

I left the notes till last so you can enjoy the images. I used F22, I guess it wasn’t really needed to use such a low aperture but I didn’t want to lose any details of the faces. This is my second attempt at capturing these faces. I shot them the first time at F8 but lost to much of the detail. I hope you thought these faces as amazing as I did. Pure work of art!

I find the art department to have so many possibilities for photos. I might sneak in one day and spend some time taking as many photos as possible. I’ll have to leave that for another post in the future.

Photographs by Jacques …

Don’t you just love a beautiful statue!

I can’t help but love statues and the more abnormal in nature the statue the better.

Kenny Hunter’s Monument to a mouse, 2010. Across from the Robert Burns birthplace museum.

Tim Chalk’s From Furrow to Firmament in Four Loups (loup 4), 2010. Behind the Robert Burns birthplace museum.

In Edinburgh on the royal mile is a statue of David Hume by Alexander Stoddart. The right foot big toe sticks out and was rubbed by philosophy students to absorb some knowledge. This became a superstition and you can see the big toe is bright in colour compared to the rest of the statue.

Old water fountain on the Royal mile in Edinburgh. Sadly not in use any more.

Back at the Robert Burns birthplace museum area. No statues, I just like these two photos. Around the corner from the museum in the Brig O’Doon and this is view looking north west of the Doon river and bridges.

Photographs by Jacques …

Glasgow transport museum Part 2

Second part of the Glasgow transport museum tour.

Slowly it has dawned on me I might have found the part of photography I like the most. People say look at the bigger picture, I think I prefer to show the smaller part of the bigger picture. Everyone’s seen the bigger picture but the small things in life pass us by!

Camera: Canon 1D Mark III
Lens: Canon EF 24-105 L IS USM
All indoors photos:
Aperture: F4
ISO: 3200
All outdoors photos:
Aperture: F4 or F8
ISO: 200

Description are below the photo to first give you chance to decide for yourself what it might be.

Easy one, a train lantern.Front of the train with the lantern. The side of a tram.A classic truck radiator and radiator cap.Norton motorcycle.
Fire engine’s pumps.

Now the outside of the Glasgow Transport museum.
Small conclave on the right hand side of the building.
Love the way the angle of the connecting plates draw your eyes to the roof and onwards to the sky.
Just had to take this photo. Another excellent example of the brilliant art around the building. This is the bicycle racks.This is a curved window, see if you can make out the landscape reflected.
If you are ever in Glasgow made a point to visit the museum. In part 3 I will show you the Glenlee which is moored behind the museum.

Photographs by Jacques…

 

 

Glasgow transport museum Part 1

I have visited the museum a few times and always find new things. The more I visit the less I look at the bigger picture and get pulled into small details of the huge machines and building. As I look at each photo I feel my eyes being ‘forced’ into certain direction depending on the shapes in the photo.

This is Part 1 of a possible 3 part post.

Canon 7D was used. ISO was mostly 800, Aperture of F4 or F5.6 were used.

The last 3 photos were taken with my Canon 1D Mark III with the ISO pushed to 3200 and aperture of F5.6.

Photographs by Jacques …

Blast from the Past Part III

Blast from the Past – Part 3, Feb-March 2011

A few more photos from 2 years ago. The photos were taken in the areas surrounding Bathgate and West Calder in Scotland. It’s nice to look back over these photos as they bring good memory back of struggling with learning the basics of photography. The camera did 90% of the work as I didn’t know enough yet to get the best out of it.

Bathgate Korean War memorial

Torphichen:


The Knock, Bathgate:

West Calder Park:

Photographs by Jacques…

The importance of a portfolio Part 1, winter wonderland.

The importance of a portfolio:

Portfolios are such a difficult thing to pull together. How do you go through 1000s of photos and choose your best work? A photo you think is your best might not when viewed by another person. The age old dilemma of “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” I guess it might be that as the photographer you were there to see the full picture, experience the smells and enjoy the moment. Something that can’ t be put across on a photo to the same extent. The best we can do is try and give a sliver or glimpse of that moment in time to best of our ability and with the tools at our disposal.

I opened my first portfolio I did and pulled all the photos together into a folder. I think it’s a good thing to look back on your portfolio and see if you have improved and where you still have weaknesses in your experience. Photos that I thought were good enough to put into my portfolio I feel different about now. It’s shows growth and I have gained experience but not necessary that I have gained additional skills. The only time I will be able to gauge that will be when I do my new portfolio and compare them directly.

So without further ado below are part of my 1^st portfolio. I share them in stages as there are a few photos and a few categories.

Winter wonderland photos:
The photos were taken with a Canon Powershot SX200 IS point and shoot. I didn’t have my DSLR camera yet, shows you what is possible with a point and shoot.

While driving back down the A66 from Scotch Corner to Carlisle direction I saw frost coming down at a rapid rate. I tried to stop somewhere to get a few photos and eventually pulled into a side road. I walked up a small hill and this was the view I was gifted with. A year later I ended up at this same road again and found out it is the entrance of Whinfell Forest AKA Centre Parcs.

The photo that started me off onto this journey of trying to become the best photographer I can be. With one comment of a friend (you have the eye for it) about this photo and it changed my outlook on my photos.
These were taken in Livingston Old Wood, Scotland

This was taken a few miles away at the Almond river, Livingston.

Photographs by Jacques…

Blast from the Past Part I

Blast from the Past – Part 1, 21 st Feb 2011

For this week’s post I decided to go through my old folders and pick out the top few photos in the 1st folder. I hope to see how I have improved with time. The images were taken on my 1st DSLR camera, a Canon 450D.

I am happy to look back on these photos as I can now see I have potential. As it’s 1 year and 10 months ago and at the beginning stages of me taking photography more seriously I can see where I have improved and where I still have work to do.

As a photographer we always try and find interesting places to photograp and sometimes forget there are very interesting places within an 30min drive.

The images below were taken at the submarine barrier at Crammond Island, Edinburgh.
My 1st ever attempt at a macro photo. It’s a borrowed lens, Canon 100mm F2.8 Macro L IS.

Not sure if this is a pipe that’s in use or just a old piece of debris.

Next we went to Linlithgow Palace, this is the entrance of St Michael’s Parish Church which is in the same grounds as the palace. I love the way how your eyes are draw from the stairs to the door.

Still staying in Linlithgow onto the Linlithgow Canal Centre. The reason I like this photos is my eyes start at the bow of the boat and gets pulled slowly to the right. The rule of thirds in motion without me even knowing it at the time.

My last photo for this week was taken below the Aquaduct west of Linlithgow (Across the river Avon). My 1st attempt at capturing flowing water, this was done without a tripod just to make life a little more difficult. To date I can count on my one hand the times I have done this type of photograph, I think a investment in a proper filter will need to be looked into.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s entry. Please subscribe to my website and I’ll keep the updates coming.

Photographs by Jacques…