IMAGING INTERESTS |
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To skip the chat about my personal motivations and objectives below, click in the left frame on:- 'Gallery' for a selection of my images split up into 8 groups. 'Digital Info' for details of imaging equipment. 'Web Sites' for favourite imaging organisations and virtual galleries. ON THIS PAGE (click on heading to go to section) 1. MEDIA 2. PICTORIAL PHOTOGRAPHY 3. ABSTRACT PHOTOGRAPHY 4. USE OF FRACTALS 5. WHERE AM I NOW, AND WHERE NEXT? 6. CREATION OF A VIRTUAL GALLERY 7. EXHIBITIONS 1. MEDIA For many years. I worked exclusively with 35 mm slides. Prints were produced at commercial photographic laboratories until I acquired my own slide scanner. Images were stored on my computer with a resolution of approximately 3000 X 2000 pixels. After manipulation, these files are used to produce photographic quality inkjet prints, and (now no more) slides. Initially I used a 3.4 Mpixel Nikon digital camera and an Epson 1270 A3 ink jet printer to produce images of up to 15 in X 11 in on a variety of papers. More recently I have used the Nikon 8800 eight Mpixel camera and Epson 1800 printer and their performances meet my requirements. The archival qualities of inks and papers have been much improved in recent years . Thus I am no longer dependent on commercial processing laboratories except for prints larger than A3+. The bottleneck now is the amount of time that I wish to spend editing and printing images. Given good photographic opportunities it is easy to take several hundred digital images in a day and they can be quickly transferred to storage equipment or a computer, but editing and printing them can be time-consuming. (top) 2. PICTORIAL PHOTOGRAPHY My interest in pictorial photography never fades: I don't think pictorialism will ever be exhausted. The principal attraction of photography for me was composing pictures from behind a camera rather than working in a darkroom. I used different lenses and a wide variety of filters to balance exposures as well as to produce creative effects. As many, but not all, of the filters can be emulated using digital imaging facilities I travel lighter these days. The polariser remains one filter that it is almost impossible to emulate on a computer. Nevertheless, Digital image editing software extends the range of possible creative effects well beyond those achieved with filters on cameras. I could name many books, but three that inspire me are:- Mountain Light by Galen Rowell, 1986 ISBN 0 7126 1582 2.And by the Japanese photographer Shinzo Maeda (do visit his excellent Web site):-A Tree, A Blade of Grass, ISBN 4-7661-0278-9,The Nippon Alps, ISBN 4-7661-0306-8
In my landscape photography I seek to portray a sense of wonder at the beauties of nature. Similarly I wonder at mankind’s creative abilities, and enjoy photographing artefacts, cityscapes and recreations. In these too, I concentrate on pictorial aspects, sometimes manipulating the colours heavily in the hope of emphasising moods that images. bring to me. Colour induces strong and varied moods for me, just as does background music in films. Such moods are, however, frustratingly subjective which is so apparent when talking to other photographers and artists. I create effects to please myself and must leave the interpretation of abstracts to the viewer. I am truly fascinated by the different responses, which raise the profound question of how human artistic values arise. To what extent are they spiritual, genetic, or due to environmental and historical considerations - and so on? (top) 3. ABSTRACT PHOTOGRAPHY I much enjoy looking at abstract paintings (e.g. Kandinski, ISBN 0-600-35303-6)and photographs (e.g. Michael Tcherevkoff, The Image Maker ISBN 0-86287- 385-1) and enjoy producing abstract images myself. My abstracts may not be enthusiastically received by some of the more purist members of photographic societies.! That could be attributed either to my level of skill, or to their staid outlook, i.e. preferences for longstanding traditional categories like record, nature, portrait or photo-journalism! The fact that some of my abstracts have been accepted in FIAP international salons encourages me to press on regardless. I'm am enthused by the recent developments in digital manipulation techniques. They are especially powerful when applied to abstract expression. VORTEX. ( This is photograph of a paper weight illuminated by coloured lights, and
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produced before I had access to digital techniques.) My abstract work is often just an exploration emotions and how they are stimulated by colour, form, and texture, but sometimes I add elements which are light-hearted, and on other occasions more subtle elements which are metaphors relating to different aspects of life. It is fascinating and tantalisingly difficult to explain why the reactions of different people to the same image are so variable. For example one person will relate red to sunsets and tranquillity, whilst another will relate it to anger and war. Are these differences due subconscious associations with past experiences, part of our genetic make-up or what? Does the explanation lie somewhere in the deep mysteries of art and metaphysics or a combination of all these factors? See:- Concerning the Spiritual in Art, Wassilly Kandinski, ISBN 0-486-23411-8, Art Meets Science and Spirituality, ISBN 0-312-06172-2. One is left puzzling about what constitutes a good abstract photograph in the eyes of other viewers. 4. USE OF FRACTALS Mathematical curves can form striking images, especially fractals, and people have been making an art of producing fractal images for many years (Click for typical Gallery) but it is less usual to combine fractal patterns with photographs to form abstract compositions. For me they can be used to complement or enhance photographic images like theme music enhances a film. The program FRACTINT is a very versatile and effective piece of software for producing fractals and I am enormously grateful to the authors, who generously supplied this free public domain program. A shareware program called 'Fractal eXtreme' is not quite as Versatile as Fractint but it has some powerful features associated with Windows, including some clever colouring tools. I generate, distort and colour all the fractal patterns myself. I do'nt get any satisfaction scanning fractals generated by anyone else, exquisiyte as some of them are!. Fractals do generate moods for me just like landscape scenery and the skills required to form a good image are much the same. The image below is made up of manipulated fractals, except for the crystal. Click on Fractal Products for a selection of my images derived from photographs and fractal images. WARP TUNNEL; an image based on fractal patterns 5. WHERE AM I NOW, AND WHERE NEXT? After retirement, I obtained an Associateship of the Royal Photographic Society, using a combination of pictorial and abstract slides, and have had a number of slides of both types accepted in international salons. Such recognition was very satisfying for a rational physicist floundering in the world of art, but I have taken a break from entering competitions and salons. I am contented for the moment to develop my digital imaging skills using the breathtaking computer power and the tools that have become available. I was involved with the use of various computers as part of my professional career, and foresaw their development, but the developments of home computers have exceeded all my expectations. Most people that I talked to in the 1990's thought my predictions of developments in computing very optimistic whereas they have proved to b e pessimistic. These days I can think of very few applications where I would require more computer power or more versatile software. Image manipulation is now as straightforward at word processing. I greatly enjoy exploring the wonderful new outlets for creative expression that these facilities bring. In choosing images, I follow my instincts and save eclectic files of images. Themes emerge as time progresse, and I have picked several themes for display as panels in my virtual gallery. Gallery I may continue to develop some or all of these themes, or initiate others. I don't have pre-determined goals. The two compositions below were produced at the start the digital imaging development trail (1996) when I was exploring both surreal effects, and the use of fractals images. They are accompanied by commentaries made at the time. I leave them for display but they do now (2006) seem tentative and dated. I do feel as if I've moved on! There is so much to explore and of course I have had a lot of feedback on my work most of which I have found helpful.
Some of my digital images have proved be saleable as mounted and framed prints, or as book My collection now numbers many thousands of images, but it seems belittled somehow, when stored on DVD discs or a 40 Gbyte pocket media centre (Epson P-200) I have separate archives for images scanned from slides and images produced using digital techniques exclusively. From time to time I remove some of the images that appeal to me least, otherwise the collection would become impractical. My Epson 2000 pocket media centre which heralds the digital future. It stores 40 Gbytes of files and connects to digital projectors, TV's, computers and hi fi equipment. It will read directly from compact flash cards etc. and doubles up as an MP3 player with earphones or loudspeaker docking station. It has its own 600 X 800 pixel screen for stills or movies and still it fits comfortably in my jacket pocket. Technological advances are just amazing but I don't expect them to stop there! (top) 6. CREATION OF VIRTUAL GALLERIES Without making attempt to focus on any specific categories when photographing, I have found retrospectively that most of my images can broadly be divided into about eight categories. Several images from each of these categories are displayed as panels in the virtual gallery. There are about 100 images in total and I suppose that is about as many as I wish to present, although I do change them gradually, one at a time when the mood takes me. The resolution was initially chosen to fit 17 inch monitors but now 19 inch monitors are more common have begun to upload bigger images so pleas excuse the resultant untidyness! The originals have a much higher resolution, but of course would still take too long to download especially for viewers without broadband I do take some pictures using RAW data (or NEF as it is called on the Nikon Camera). However it is not worth using RAW in my opinion except in special circumstances, e.g. very contrasty lighting. The resolution of RAW images from my cameraa exceeds that of the human eye, and processing RAW images is more time-consuming. Also there is no agreed standard for RAW among the various camera manufacturers which is inconvenient and disappointing. 7. EXHIBITIONS I participate in local print exhibitions with IMAGinE, a talented group of digital enthusiasts drawn from the Harrogate Photographic Society, and at other venues with other organisations. The durability of inkjet prints has improved markedly in recent years, the archival qualities of papers and inks are so much better and there are markets a market for digital ink jet prints in the photographic and art worlds. (top)
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