Chester Zoo On Film: Part 1

I’ve been promising these for a little while, ever since I showed a few of the images I took on digital, and I’ve now got around to getting them developed, scanned in, catalogued etc. So I thought rather than blurt them all out in one go and have them missed over I’d spread the photo’s out over a number of post’s. So This will be the first of a number of post’s covering my trip to Chester Zoo the other week, all were taken with the Canon AE-1 Programme and 50mm 1:1.4 lens on Agfa Vista Plus 200 (the finest film you can buy for a pound in Poundland).

I really enjoyed this place, it’s got the right idea of what a zoo is meant to be, conservation. All the animal’s have huge enclosure’s, in fact some were being moved to even bigger one’s when we were there (hence why I didn’t get to see any Orang-utan’s), and it seemed to have a genuine aesthetic of protecting endangered species rather than just putting animal’s on for a show.

Pebble Beach

Took a walk along the Wales Coastal Path, a part of it I’ve not walked before and stumbled across this scene, totally devoid of people despite it being not that far from civilisation.

 Nikon D5200, Sigma 10-20mm 4-5.6 EX DC, ND 0.6 Soft Grad Filter, ISO 125, F8, 1/40th Sec.

Project 52: Week 5; Landscape – Black & White

It’s Project 52 day again. Yes try to contain your excitement for a brief moment while I explain this week’s brief; Landscape – Black & White.

As many of you already know I shot a lot of black & white film and my street photography is pretty much exclusively in black & white as well, but when I shoot landscape’s I do not tend to go down that route. Why? Well I like big, bold, contrasty colours. I like sunset’s, I like long exposure’s of water and clouds darting across overcast skies. Basically I like to set up my tripod with my Nikon and big ol’ Sigma lens and take longer and longer exposure’s in peace and quiet, usually on a deserted beach or up a lonely mountaintop. What I don’t tend to do is shoot monochrome landscapes handheld with my Olympus when I’m on a day-trip, which is exactly what I did here.

Now this may or may not be cheating, I mean the brief said a black and white landscape it didn’t say I had to specifically go out with that in mind. So what I’ve done is converted an image I took earlier, not too much earlier as technically it was this week (Monday to be exact), into monochrome and gone with it. So below is the result of that.

 Olympus OM-D EM-5, 17mm M.Zuiko 1:1.8, ISO 400, F4, 1/80th Sec.

McCullin – Shaped By War

I haven’t written one of these for a little while so thought I would mix it up and write another article on one of the many photography book’s I own.

First off if you have never heard of Don McCullin I implore you to go online and search him out, he is one of the most important and finest photographer’s of the 20th Century, that’s not my opinion that is a matter of fact. Born into and growing up through The Second World War and the aftermath in poverty stricken London he emerged to become an incredible War Photographer, and despite not liking the title himself he did a pretty good job at it.

Street Photography – Olympus OM-D EM-5; Fourteen

Once again all on my Olympus OM-D EM-5 using 17mm M.Zuiko 1:1.8 lens and around the streets of Cardiff, which is where I live (exciting fact for you there).

ISO 800, F4, 1/20th Sec.

Choppy Lake On A Breezy day

 Nikon D5200, Sigma 10-20mm f4-5.6 EX DC ISO 125, F8, 1/250th Sec.

Skyline

I took a trip to London earlier this week, a day-trip so not for anything specific, and as such took a ton of photo’s. The vast majority were on film so I’ve got a few roll’s to get developed that are going to appear sometime down the line on the blog here, but in the meantime I thought I’d share a landscape/cityscape shot I took.

 Olympus OM-D EM-5, 17mm M.Zuiko 1:1.8, ISO 400, F4, 1/100th Sec.

Medium Format : Five

I’m thinking I may be blitzing through the image’s I’ve taken on My Yashica TLR a little bit quick considering how little time ago I started this blog series, then I looked at the image’s again and thought “nah, I want to share these”. So here’s another one for your viewing pleasure.

 Yashica D, 80mm, FujiPro 400H, F16, 1/500th Sec.

One Year of Photograph’s I Have Taken

Well well it looks like today is officially a year since the start of this blog, as I’ve said before I actually thought it was started around March/April of 2015 but there we go. So in celebration here is a happy Giraffe. Enjoy.

 Nikon D5200, Nikkor 50mm 1:1.4G, Iso 400, F1.4, 1/320th Sec.

Street Photography – Olympus OM-D EM-5; Thirteen

Street Photography once again taken with my Olympus OM-D EM-5 and 17mm M.Zuiko 1:1.8 lens. As usual feel free to comment.

 ISO 800, F4, 1/500th sec.