When the lights fail…

Photographing this year’s Welshampton bonfire with the lighting problems we had was interesting to say the least and a few people have asked me about this so I thought I’d cover it here.  I didn’t get a proper chance this year to do much in the way of test shots as unfortunately there was an issue with the lighting desk during the Tech’ rehearsal on the Friday evening before the event.  Not the end of the world I though as after photographing this event for the previous seven years I thought I’ve more or less got the hang of most the problems it can give you.
I was wrong.  Around fifteen minutes before the performance was due to start on the Saturday evening the light failed, again.  I’m sure everyone involved had their own issues caused by this but my thoughts definitely went along the lines of ‘bugger, how am I going to do this then’!?
In previous years the issue has always been getting the exposures right with the lights changing in colour and intensity constantly throughout the show, this time I was going to have to try and do a good deal of lighting from the camera.  So with the event now being lit by little more that a couple of ambient background lights illuminating the bonfire build and a follow spot which I had no control of I find myself feeling very happy in the knowledge that my trusty Nikon SB600 strobe had a fresh set of batteries in it!  Once attached to the camera, and we were off!
After a few shots it became clear that using the strobe at any high power as needed was spilling too much light around the surrounding area’s and so I tried using the grid I had with me to limit the light spillage and ‘spotlight’ the area’s I wanted to.  This worked really well and so I used it throughout the rest of the performance.  What made me even happier is this is the classic ‘made with black tape and black straws’ home-made kind of grid so following the commonly held view by many strobist photographers that when it comes to strobe lighting high cost equipment is often unrequited.
After an interesting evening of constant ongoing image reviewing followed by constant ongoing sodding around with strobe power settings to add to the usual photography fun it all seemed to go ok in the end.
To those of us that are involved and know how it could have looked the lights failing was a real blow as the drama, colour and effect was lost but I hope for most of the audience that wouldn’t have know about any of this that they enjoyed it without knowing something was missing.
So with the decision that the Welshampton bonfires are now over and there will be no more we move onto other events and other things.  The Panto in February and a new type of event for us all together in the summer!  Looking forward to it all.
So finally, here’s a selection of images that made lighting this years, final bonfire, so interesting… 

This seems a shame that it is a little colourless but at least it is a cake and so is fine being white.

This one is a mixture of the ambient light of the backlit windows and some low power strobe light illuminate the build itself.

And then going for some without the strobe to get a contrasty skeletal look

A longer exposure of 3 seconds for a bit of sky and foreground

This is a combination of two shots, one exposed for the volcano and one with the gridded strobe to pick out Sir Mike in his boat

The Goddess lit with low power strobe to pick out the metal work

And then without the strobe to pick out the flames

Again, this does seem lacking in colour but I’m sure the audience still enjoyed it anyway

Ahhhhh, that’s a bit more colour!  Three second exposure to try to get some dramatic fireworks

I always like this bit, the start of the burn…

And the burn just gets gets better!

…and Hotter!

Welshampton Bonfire

So it’s Welshampton Bonfire time again!  This year there is a nice upbeat feel to it all as we all know what we’re doing and where it’s going.
I have had little time to do much and will update this later but for now a few images of how it’s all going… 

     

Poetic Terrorism and the ‘temporary autonomous zone’

I have been reading a few interesting things on the net that have got me thinking over the past week or two which has eventually led to this blog entry and the concept of  ‘Poetic Terrorism’.  This started by looking at a book that was put my way called: ‘Temporary Autonomous Zone’ by Hakim Bey.
This is essentially a guide, manual or manifesto for guerilla art and a free thinking way of life.  Much of it is wayyyyyyy out there in the category of  ‘spaced out’ thinking but there are parts of it that are also very thought provoking.
So just what-the-f*** is the ‘Temporary Autonomous Zone’ and this ‘Poetic Terrorism’ lark I hear you ask???
Poetic Terrorism is the idea of creating an event, a disturbance, a creative disturbance even, that makes people stop and think, then just may make people smile and wonder.  This is a brief moment where people have to re-think about something, and perhaps look at things a little differently.  This is then the ‘Temporary Autonomous Zone’, the moment when people simple aren’t sure what is going on and autonomous thinking kicks in…

A few quoted suggestions and idea’s from the book to give you an idea of the kind of things we’re talking about here…

• Unauthorized pyrotechnic displays…
• Earth-works as bizarre alien artifacts strewn in State Parks.
• Pick someone at random & convince them they’re the heir to an enormous, useless & amazing fortune, say 5000 square miles of Antarctica, or an ageing circus elephant…
• Bolt up brass commemorative plaques in places (public or private) where you have experienced a revelation or had a particularly fulfilling sexual experience, etc.

You get the idea.  Silly… possibly.  Mischievous… yes, fun… probably!  The first example that sprang to mind of real world Poetic Terrorism or Guerilla Art was flash mobs.   The unannounced performance by a crowd of people who assemble unknown to the public, do whatever they have planned and then drift back amongst the public.  If you don’t know this is going to happen and are in the middle of it then there must be that first moment of ‘Errrrrr what’s going on here’ followed by realisation and smiles, finally followed by phone calls to tell people and a day that makes you smile.
Here’s an example of an interesting one at Grand Central Station.  There have been plenty of others.  Another example of Poetic Terrorism would be street art;

A couple of examples from Banksy (and more Banksy here).  Great pieces of street art continually appear (generally overnight) in most cites, they are created by unnamed guerilla artists who do it simply because they want to.  Banksy is an exception to this rule as he is now a well known artist but I’m using him as an example as I think Banksy’s art (like much good street art) has lots to say when you look at it.  The first one here questions the perception of graffiti in a very tongue in cheek way.  The other demonstrates the reality that so many of us do swear our allegiance to Tesco’s and so turn our backs on our local ‘real’ shops in a simple and striking way…
Banksy’s works now sell for hundreds of thousands and there has been a call for some to be listed after one was recently whitewashed by mistake.  The point here though is that they were originally done illegally and without thought of glory or recognition, in the knowledge that they may be removed the very next day but knowing that they may also make some think or make someone smile.
As Hakim Bey puts it in ‘Temporary Autonomous Zone’;

• The Poetic Terrorist behaves like a confidence-trickster whose aim is not money but change.

• In order to work at all, Poetic Terrorism must categorically be divorced from all conventional structures for art consumption (galleries, publications, media).

• Don’t do Poetic Terrorism for other artists, do it for people who will not realize (at least for a few moments) that what you have done is art.

And his advice on getting away with this kind of activity;

• …don’t stick around to argue, don’t be sentimental; be ruthless, take risks.
• Dress up.  Leave a false name.  Be legendary.  The best Poetic Terrorism is against the law, but don’t get caught. Art as crime; crime as art.

I have to say a bit of me thinks this all sounds like a bloody good idea.

Lots  more cool street art here

Going Strobist

I’ve recently not had a huge amount of time to play around with the camera, finding the time coupled with feeling I had got into a bit of a rut of not wanting to do the same things I’ve done before meant that I’ve not done much new for a while.  I have for a some time though wanted to have a go at using remotely triggered off camera lighting, not continuous lighting (where there are additional issues of power and large heavy gear to set up) but remote off camera flashes, strobes.  So when it was suggested that one of the Shropshire Community group meetings should be a ‘strobist’ meeting in an Urbex setting I was instantly sold on the idea.

This is a shot from the same location taken around 18 months ago.  A bit more of this sort of thing I thought, I can live with that.  The plan was to get a group of people together and experiment with remote lighting but nearer the meeting the plans changed.  It was announced that there would also be two models coming along.  I have to admit I wasn’t initially thrilled with this, I was looking forward to shooting an Urbex setting and wasn’t sure if a model shoot was what I wanted to do but on the other hand, it was something I had never tried and so thought I would give it  ago.
I have to admit I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would and it left me thinking much more about what I could do and how I would want it to look etc.
I didn’t really come away from the day with much usable stuff but did come away inspired and wanting ‘go strobist’ and also do some more planned work with models.
We went to the abandoned Airfield building at Press Heath and once there started with one of the little tumbledown sheds, the old favourite with the crumbling car.  I didn’t want to try anything glamour-ish but just wanted to play around with some idea’s for something a bit off beat and possibly odd looking.  So, no smiles, no poses, just errrrrr stare off into the distance and let you arms hang etc…

I am quite happy with this one as the lighting  worked out the way I wanted to (which is always good when your trying this stuff for the first time!).  After the initial messing around getting some of the different bits of gear between us to work together we were off.  With this one the derelict car was lit by a softbox to the far left of the camera and the model lit by a strobe with grid (to produce a narrow spotlight) just to the lower left of the camera.
The other few images were all taken in a very, very dark and derelict building and I have to give our model Keighley credit as she was far from thrilled at all about the idea of being some where dark, creepy and full of mice and spiders but was also all for making sure that whatever shots anyone had in mind, that would be fine .  I’m not sure where I was going with some of this, trying for a bit of a cinematic look I guess.  None of these are really what I wanted them to be and are far from as good as they could be but they are my first attempt and as such I’m happy with them.

With that I have now put together a ‘basic’ strobist kit (two strobes, two light stands, diffuser, grid etc.) and the plan is to use light more, in more interesting ways and to find out what woks and what doesn’t.

A few changes

In my last post I side stepped events that were happening at the time and just thought it worth mentioning the exhibition, now that things have happened it’s probably time for an update.  Towards the end of last year my Mum was diagnosed with lung cancer.  After a brief period of uncertainty it was made pretty clear that it was inoperable and untreatable.  We had to watch as she deteriorated very quickly and by the end of January she had gone, only three month from diagnosis to death.  But enough of that and moving on…

I was also informed in January that the small consultancy firm I had worked at for quite a few years was winding down due to the owner looking for his ‘route to retirement’.  When I say ‘winding down’ what that actually meant was he was going to continue as a lone consultant but was looking to off-load the staff.  I can safely say, January was not my favourite month.

With the frame of mind I was already in it was a big welcome to uncertain-ville!  It’s funny how life seems to go through periods of stability and upheaval, some times you plan it sometimes you don’t, either way it happens.  So it was looking like it was time to look for another job, but then there was an alternative.

So me and Andy (my ‘was’ co-worker and now co-owner) formed our own business.  I have to say it wasn’t quite as straight forward as that (as I’m sure that anyone that that has set up a business will tell you).  There was a brief period which involved lots of  ‘is this the right thing’ and ‘can this actually work’ and then onto the niggling issues of office premisses, equipment, servers, remote working, banks and accountants.  Once these were out of the way we could concentrate on the real time killing issues like getting a working phone system in place (just how hard can it be BT)!

So here I am, a director and co-owner of my own IT company… which of course, in the real world means absolutely nothing more than if we don’t make any money then I don’t get paid.  That bit seems pretty straight forward then.

I’ve never worked for myself and so have never had to think of things like logo’s or how invoices should look or how a company should be run but so far it’s all good.  I’m thoroughly enjoying being in control of where it’s going, what we’re going to do and how it will be done.

There has been a down side.  The down side of this is that it has taken up just about every spare minute I’ve had for the past few months to get it all set up and running which has meant I have a camera that’s been gathering dust.  Not good.

So now things are returning to ‘normal’ and there may even be some spare time around the corner I feel once again the need to pick up the camera and do something…

Onwards into 2011

So here we are into the new year and there have been lots of ups and downs.
A little while ago I ran my first photographic exhibition which was an interesting experience.  It was at S.P.A.C.E in Ellesmere over the 2010 Winter festival.  I had around 30 prints and 4 canvases on display covering a range of things that have interested me, local landscapes, a few buildings and some derelict images.

I was happy that the landscapes did not provoke a big response as this is a direction that I feel I have done everything I need to do with it.  The derelict images on the other hand got a very good response.  There was a good deal of feedback that these were interesting and much more intriguing, this is great as it’s a subject that I feel I want to do more of.

This year I have set myself the challenge of using off camera flash (going strobist) as it’s something I really want to have a play with but have just never got around to yet.  My other challenge is regarding the Welshampton Bonfire.  As it has been generally agreed that this will be the last year it seems a good time to put together a book chronicling the event over the past 10 years.  Will be spending quite a bit of time doing that this year I’m sure but I will also be calling on the fine writing skills of Janet Jones to assist me with any long words (well actuall to help with all the words)!

The History Man

And so ends the Welshampton Bonfire ‘The History Man’ for 2010.  A visually stunning and great event.  It has been a very full on event for me as taking on making one of the puppets soaked up what little free time I had at the moment and left little for photography of the build or the people but I’m glad I did it.  One of the really good things about being involved in this event is the community side of it all, this year we had a whole bunch of Irish volunteers from Galway which was great.  They all seemed a happy crowd and contributed to making it a great event.  The question as to if this will be the last event has hung over this all the way through and I do wonder myself.  I think it will go on next year but I do wonder if there will be any urge to push it onwards after the 10th event…

For now a few photo’s of how it went… 

Nearly there…

The build coming along and the Raven puppet taking shape…

Workshops and Puppet building so far…

Well the Welshampton Bonfire so far this year has been eerrrr, interesting!  But looking on the positive site (after all the glass is always half full) I am enjoying lots of it.  The workshops have been great, Mary Lewery has done a good job with them and the turn out has been great.  There’s now many a wobbly star, odd shaped fish (and a green tentacled jelly-fish) heading down to the field this year!

I am responsible for producing a large Raven puppet which has been an varied and interesting experience so far.  Right at the start of this process just about every bit of my free time fell into the deep, dark bottomless pit of ‘putting right plumbing and central heating disasters’ that our house had in store for me.  I have come to the definite conclusion that without doubt plumbing is indeed the trade of Beelzebub himself as little else has driven me to complete despair like the never ending sodding about that is called plumbing!!!  Most things I will have a go at but I have made it very clear (no if’s, no but’s no further discussion needed!) to my seemingly infinitely patient wife Cathy that I am never touching plumbing again and next time for the sake of my sanity we get it done by a plumber!

Anyway, back to the puppet.  I feared that as I could see I had no time to spare that the Raven puppet was going to be a biiiiiiiig problem but then Tony Boyes (and Rosemary, and Becky, and Craig, and David) came to the rescue.  Not only has Tony done a great deal of work helping with building this he has also wanted to make sure the way it is built and the design is still very much mine even though time has been short.  A big thanks to Tony needed here 

The body is pretty much done and the frame for the wings have now been built.  This weekend I will be making the head which should be fun.  I really want to make this move fully in all directions with the use of some levers and ropes etc.  The head will be operated by the to people inside the body.  and there will be another person under each wing Watch, I really hope it’s not going to be too windy on the wing operators will have their hands full (in actual fact if you get a good gust they may have their hands very empty and be watching a large ravens wing sailing away)!

The build itself is looking good.  An awful lot to do in a week but Gav doesn’t seem to be panicking (yet) so I’m sure it will be fine.

Moving forwards with new things…

Lots going on here at the moment, too much in fact.  Firstly I have booked in to do my first photography exhibition which will be at S.P.A.C.E in Ellesmere which I’m really looking forward to doing.  Have been thinking about doing something like this for a while now and it has been helped along by me being pinned down to some dates which is probably a good thing as it will mean I’ll have to get my act together and get it sorted out.  So, need to start thinking about, what’s, how’s, if’s, maybe’s and possibly’s!

This will be the first time I’ve really done an exhibition and so don’t really know what to expect.  I think it will be my view of Ellesmere, mostly landscapes (lets that that out of my system) and I’ll see where it goes from there.

The Welshampton bonfire has also got under way which in some parts for me, is not a happy place to be.

There’s been a whole lot of  issues with people not being happy with a beer tent on the field, that has raised various issues with licenses and council officials etc.  This all seems to be resolved now but I also feel that due to various reasons the bonfire meetings have become tense, bureaucratic and humourless and so I have decided not to go to any more of them.  I’m not opting out of the bonfire or my involvement, just the meetings…

So what is my involvement?  This year I have taken on one of the large puppets, the Raven.  I have designed and am co-building (to be honest Tony Boyes is being a huge help as due to my free time being minuscule at the moment he is doing a lot of the actual building…) the puppet.  It will be operated by four people, two in the body and one under each wing, just hope it will works and looks ok!  I also wanted to make the head of the Raven move.  I want it to look left and right and up and down, this will of course involve pulleys and ropes and ‘stuff’ but hopefully will look good!

The bonfire build itself  looks like it’s going to be a very visual one this year.  There will be lots of volunteers and so I don’t really know how involved with the build etc. but I plan to be photographing the event as ever.  Also have a new camera this year with better low light capabilities so that should be interesting to see what results I can manage.

Here’s some early photo’s of progress so far…

A Photo a day…

The Shropshire Community photography group I’m a part of are doing a ‘picture a day‘ for the month of May and I have decided to have a go at it.  The idea is that you must take a photo every day in the month of May, not so easy if you’re trying to make them all interesting and creative.  By then end of the month I’m hoping to have a collection of images that hopefully will be some sort of reflection of things I do and see every day.

Edit after 31 days:  I really enjoyed doing this and soon realised it’s harder than it seems.  Finding the time every day to try and do something interesting hasn’t always been easy.  There have been a few days where I have resorted to the good old reliable 50mm lens and a nice shallow depth as a quick way of getting something interesting.  These pictures are a mixture of the things around me, the things I see most days and the things I thought might make an interesting shot.  To me they are a little record of the month of May but then most of them remind me of what I was doing that day or where I was and a good deal of them make me smile.

Click here or below to have a look:  Photo a Day – May 2010 page

glimpse

A bit theatrical…

It feels like the there’s change in the air (and I’m not talking about vaporous promises made by various politicians to seduce you for your vote, oooh no).  Spring seems to be here and the sun is shining, yeahhhy 

It’s all been a bit theatrical here lately.  Firstly there was the highly acclaimed second year of the Welshampton Panto.   This years production was  ‘Goldilocks’.  Cathy and me were both quite involved as she was ‘principle-boy and Frippet’ while I was  ‘stage manager and co-producer-ish person’ so many an evening was filled by giving the script a damn good frowning at.  There was a good deal of scribbling on lots of bits of paper and mutterings of ‘I’ll never learn all these lines’ in our house for a few weeks but when all was said and done a good time was had by all (and possibly by some of the audience too)!
Cathy really enjoys her role in the Panto and I have to admit I think I might give organising a miss next year and have a go at performing.  Not something I’ve ever done but I think getting out of your comfort zone and trying something different once in a while is a good thing.

Following on with the theatrical theme we went to seen Medea at the Lowrey Theatre in Salford last week.  It was a Northern Broadsides production and was very intense stuff indeed.  The story of a woman scorned told in quite a minimalist way with some interesting uses of music and we both enjoyed it hugely.  As we stayed over we had plenty of time to have a bit of a wander around and both thought the re-development of the Quays has been done really well and has a good feel to it, this was helped by just about everyone we came across being very happy and helpful.  So after the play had finished and we’d had a look around it was time for a stroll down the Quay side to eat.  After following a woman with possibly the most fake-tan-orange legs in the whole of Manchester we had a lovely meal at Cafe Rouge where I would recommend the beef bourguignon.  Mmmmmmm
I took a few shots while there and as ever was more drawn to the rust and peeling paint of the old loading cranes rather than the shiny new buildings…

Next it’s off to see Giselle at the Hippodrome in Birmingham and we’ve just booked our tickets for Othello at Ludlow castle in August.

Lovely.  Good times 

…stark raving bonkers really

It is indeed frustrated rant time on the blog!  I’ve always been reasonably happy with the world around me and have to admit I’ve never really thought of the world as anything other than a nice place to be.   Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not saying I live with a Disneyfied view of the world where everything is sweet and pretty and quite annoyingly happy.  No, not at all.  On a small picture, individual ‘people’ level I have seen the crap and hassle that people can cause thank you very much but on the grand scale, the big picture, I’ve never really thought much about it until recently.

Maybe it’s an age thing as I feel like as I’m on the wrong side of forty I’m almost a gown up , maybe it’s just I’m not as stupidly ignorant as I was but I can’t help looking around at the big wide world and thinking that quiet a lot of  it is all stark raving bonkers really.

I’m not the first to point this out and I’m sure I wont be the last but it seems to me the western world is full to bursting with it’s own Hippocratic bullshit.  And when I say the western world, lets be honest, that’s mostly the Americanised world.  I feel we here in the UK are just becoming a mini-America with all the problems that that brings.  We are  in a society where capitalism is deemed as waaaaay more important that just about anything else, where people and our backbone of manufacturing are allowed to fail by the society that we live in but the money markets and banking institutions are so important that they are not allowed to fail to the tune of billions.  I can see why it’s important and it would almost be understandable, almost all right if you then didn’t have unbelievably ethically bankrupt bankers trying to justify publicly why they should still be paid huge bonuses while still owing the tax payer billions.

There are some things that the Americanised world prides itself in that are indeed wonderful ideals if only they worked as well as they should.  Democracy is a wonderful ideal and was beautifully summarised by Winston Churchill;

Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those others that have been tried.

The problem with democracy in an Americanised world is that materialism is king and democracy sits at the feet of capitalism, the true driving force of the western world.  This is where a good deal of my frustration is, in the sell out culture and homogenisation of everything.  Where we are told how to look and how to be.  Not just in the clothes we wear but in how to think and in what physical mould we need to fit into.

A friend of mine, Phill Evans will be reading this with a smile as I know his view’s on this kind of thing so well.  It seems fitting to finish my little rant with one of his illustrations that says so much.

Anyway, time to stop whinging, whining and bitching about it all, perhaps I’ll give the world a damn good frowning at! 

Why am I doing bloody landscapes again!

Now that the snow has gone and I’m still processing some of the images I find myself reflecting on the same thoughts I often have…
“Just why am I doing bloody landscapes again!”
It’s a habit, OK, I admit it.  My name is Ian Andrew and I have a landscape problem.
It’s true that landscapes in Shropshire can be wonderful.  Don’t get me wrong, landscapes can be stunning and beautiful and I’m not knocking anyone that does them.  Within walking distance of my house in Ellesmere there is an abundance of Meres, mist, canals and sunrises and I do enjoy capturing them…

But… for me, it is fast becoming creative stagnation.
I don’t get a huge amount of spare time to pick up the camera and sometimes its just too easy and comfortable to fall into doing the same thing when you know you can get results that you’re going to be happy with but this also gets creatively dull.  I’m afraid that there’s only so many sunsets/sunrises I can do (let alone see of other peoples) before they just become repetitive.  I may be in the minority here (photographicly) but hell it’s my blog and so as far as I’m concerned landscapes are now something to avoid!

With that in mind I want to push myself into doing some more interesting stuff.  Sometimes I look at other peoples work and think yup, that’s more like it!

A good example of this kind of image was recently posted by Alex Taylor in the Shropshire Community group on Flickr.

This is utterly brilliant, a few bits of cutlery from Poundland, some nice creative lighting and a good dash of creativity.  This is exactly the kind of thing that makes me think I need to stop doing (bloody) landscapes!

Another couple of recent examples of images I have found inspiring are here;

On the left ‘Green Gate’ by Gnato and on the right ‘Alley’ by Dave Andrew

Gnato can be found on DeviantART which is a site that is a bit more edgy than Flickr (which is generally a bit ‘nice’).   This one grabs me as it’s back to one of my favourite subjects, dereliction and Urbex.  I’m always drawn to derelict buildings and have visited and photographed a few, images like this one make me think I must do more.  The way it leads you in and the colours, just great.  The image on the right grabs me due to it’s drama and the sense of a frozen moment.  I love images that seem to have a narrative or story, as if it is a still from a film.  I also love images like this that are a bit dark, when Dave does this kind of thing he does it well.

So for me that’s where I’m at and that’s where I’m heading

Walking in a Winter Wonderland!

A lovely evening last night carol singing around Welshampton with a smattering of Frippets and all the other usual suspects.  It turned into a very Christmassy evening as the snow started to fall and crunch under foot as we made our way a-wassailing from house to house.  There was a good crowd of friends and singers and so much Winter-Wonderlanding, some Silent-Nighting, a good deal of Welcome-All’ing and even the odd a bit of Pat-a-pan’ing!

As we went from house to house we had the occasional mince pie and were treated with more than one glass of Mulled wine.  Couldn’t help thinking what a lovely thing to be doing of an evening, carol singing in the snow with Mary leading us with her fine accordion playing, two lovely lantern stars and Gav adding a little drumming too!

Finally once we were all sufficiently cold it was back to Derek and Dawns for warm mince pies and mulled wine.  Lovely!

Happy Christmas all