FloYd

Queen Elizabeth 2

Wed, 31 May 2006 20:17:51 GMT

Queen Elizabeth 2, originally uploaded by floyduk.

Well we're back and very very tired. Just time to post this and a few other "contractual obligation" shots from our short cruise. Over the next few days more pictures will escape my hard drive and appear on Flickr.

Kelly Louise

Wed, 24 May 2006 11:55:50 GMT

Kelly Louise, originally uploaded by floyduk.

It's about time I blogged something again and this is something I've just finished working up. I have a bunch of other new images as well that I've worked up in part or whole but not posted yet. I think with Lee here I've just been racing from one shoot to another. I hope I can catch up with all the post processing eventually. But anyway, this was shot along the canal from Anderton Boat Lift in Cheshire. This is a bit of a return to style for me but I really felt that the duotone style would work for the canalboats. I'll see if I can work up some of the others as well.

Swettenham Arboretum

Wed, 19 Apr 2006 19:14:01 GMT

Swettenham Arboretum, originally uploaded by floyduk.

This is the lake at Swettenham Arboretum. Spring has arrived and the weather last week was fine. Glad I had the chance to get out there with my camera one day before the rains arrived this week.

Chair-o-plane

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 09:43:23 GMT

Chair-o-plane, originally uploaded by floyduk.

Ruth and Richard on the Chair-o-plane at the charming steam fair we found while visiting Janine and Richard in Swindon this weekend. Rather than ride I preferred to stay on the ground and take photos with my new camera. :)

HMS Belfast

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 23:33:22 GMT

HMS Belfast, originally uploaded by floyduk.

I've uploaded a video tutorial on photowalkthrough.com covering the creation of this image.

Carsington Water 3

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 23:14:41 GMT

Carsington Water 3, originally uploaded by floyduk.

Mow Cop Castle Tritone

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 23:33:24 GMT

Mow Cop Castle Tritone
Originally uploaded by floyduk.

I love going back to an old shoot and seeing if I can do better. I did it once at Weston Super-Mare and now I've done it again going back to Mow Cop Castle. This shot was taken a few days ago when we had a spot of sun. I've processed it similarly to the other Mow Cop shot but I like this much more. It's only a shame the clouds weren't more interesting.

On a side note I've just opened up my photography gallery website where I'm showing my work as well as possibly selling some prints and maybe picking up some paid business too. This is, of course, in addition to my flickr collection where I'll be a lot less discerning about what gets uploaded. I think of Flickr as "scratch space".

Anyway you can find my photography gallery site at http://www.johnarnoldphotography.co.uk.

Mow Cop Castle

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 10:53:59 GMT

Mow Cop Castle
Originally uploaded by floyduk.

This is a structure that sits atop Mow Cop, a local Cheshire hill. It's not part of any larger former structure but was, in fact, built to look like a ruin when seen from nearby Rode Hall.

This is another from my quite large back catalogue of crappy old images that I never did anything with. It was taken in May 2005 with my old Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 EX lens which isn't nearly as sharp as my new Canon 17-40. I can really see the difference. I had done some preliminary photoshop work on this image but my skill level at that time prevented me making anything decent out of it. Whether this version is "decent" I shall leave up to your good selves.

Weston Beach

Tue, 07 Feb 2006 17:16:25 GMT

Weston Beach
Originally uploaded by floyduk.

Today I've dug out yet another old image from our visit to Weston-Super-Mare in March 2005. This is proving to be a rich vein of images that never made the cut.

This time I'm playing around a lot with colour and trying to reproduce some of the same kind of burning and dodging that I do in my B&W images. I hope you like it.

Weston at low tide 2

Mon, 06 Feb 2006 23:50:12 GMT

Weston at low tide 2
Originally uploaded by floyduk.

Rediscovery is a wonderful thing. This is a picture I took at the same time as my old Weston at Low Tide shot. I was looking through some old directories today. I was just checking that my new backup mechanism - an old PC with 2x250G drives and a copy of NASLite+ - to make sure it was working and there, lurking in the old folder were some of Weston cast-offs. This one in particular I'd done an apalling job on editing. But there was a diamond in the rough. So this is my re-worked version. Sorry but you'll never see the crappy one. :)

Now while I'm here there's something I've been wanting to vent my spleen about these last few days. And that is our right to free speech.

I hope it won't surprise anyone to hear that there were some comic images of the prophet Mohammed posted in a Danish newspaper and henceforth in a variety of other european newspapers. And as we all now know it's a very strong Islamic taboo never to make any image of the prophet for fear of making and worshiping false idols.

The question over whether we should be allowed to post images like this has, of course, been raised with the publishers saying that of course we should since we have a right of free speech. And this seems to me to be quite correct. We *should* have the right to post these images. What's missing is that we should *choose* not to do so. Since doing so was obviously inflammatory and offensive to a great many people.

What's really incensed me, though, is the vicious response that these comics have drawn. Has it ocurred to the protestors that we might find it offensive to see them burning our flag? Or burning our embassies? Or holding plaquards that say "behead the infidels"?

Now god knows I'm not a christian but christianity is the basis of much of our western moral code and christianity teaches tolerance and turning the other cheek. We hear endless rhetoric from liberal muslims saying that Islam preches peace and decries violence. So why is it that the publication of an offensive comic is grounds for beheading someone?

I understand that muslims feel embattled at the moment but the actions of a minority of their faith over the last few days has seemed vicious, intolerant and opportunistic. They have done the public image of their people a great deal of harm.

Ok, that's off my chest. Now go and look at the photo. :)

Kavey

Tue, 31 Jan 2006 00:07:10 GMT

Kavey
Originally uploaded by floyduk.

This is one of my personal favourites from the London get together the weekend before last. Kavey was just sat in this natural frame. The light and texture was interesting and her pose beautifully relaxed. I like it very much.

Cheshire Sky 3

Thu, 26 Jan 2006 21:04:02 GMT

Cheshire Sky 3
Originally uploaded by floyduk.

We had some amazing lights in the sky yesterday evening. I have no idea why but when I looked out of the window I saw blue and orange stripes in the clouds. So I grabbed my camera and went for a walk.

This was shot as a series of 17mm shots and then stitched together in autostitch. The colours are real but boosted and dodged and burned a little. There are 3 others but this was my favourite from the set.

And yes I know I should be working on my pictures from the TFTTF London GTG but this interested me for a few minutes.

HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge

Wed, 25 Jan 2006 11:07:10 GMT

HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge
Originally uploaded by floyduk.

Here's the first of my shots from the London get together last weekend. A crowd of people from the Tips From The Top Floor forum met up under the benevolent dictatorship of Mistress Kavey and visited a few of the London sights.

Since getting back I've been almost totally occupied with fixing my broken web server but I did find the time to work on this image. It's a plaque on the HMS Belfast which is moored as a tourist attraction on the Thames next to Tower Bridge.

Winter Sunlight

Wed, 18 Jan 2006 00:32:08 GMT

Winter Sunlight
Originally uploaded by floyduk.

Another winter sunlight image taken from the same car window on the same journey as the last one. This is a slightly better image and I've spent longer on the post processing this time. I actually did two versions of this - one B&W and this colour version. After polling opinions on which is better it's almost 50/50 but leans slightly in favour of the B&W. Personally I prefer the colour one. So here it is. Hope you like it.

Winter sunlight

Mon, 16 Jan 2006 20:42:12 GMT

Winter sunlight
Originally uploaded by floyduk.

This was shot from a moving car as Andrew drove me up to Consett where we spent the day with the inestimable Pete and Karen (Thanks for a great fun day guys and wonderful food!). The light as we drove was lovely and I just had to shoot some shots from the car window. This isn't actually the best of them but I wanted to try some new post processing techniques inspired by the amazing work of Kathleen Connally (http://www.durhamtownship.com/). She has a definite style that is much admired so I decided to try and emulate it. I had considerable success but then started tweaking the image to something that is more to my own tastes. As a result this image is a blend of her style and mine. I learned a lot doing this one and I'll make use of what I learned in my future work as well.

Frosty Garden 2

Fri, 30 Dec 2005 10:54:20 GMT

Frosty Garden 2
Originally uploaded by floyduk.

I'm somewhat disappointed this morning. I was promised snow and what I got was rain. I was all ready to head out with my camera and catch some real wintery scenes. Perhaps I'll get another chance over the coming months. But for now I'll have to make do with a series of pictures I took in the garden yesterday. There was a heavy frost and although there isn't much in our garden worth shooting I was attracted to this dash of colour.

Isle of Man view

Wed, 28 Dec 2005 16:59:57 GMT

Isle of Man view
Originally uploaded by floyduk.

This shot was taken from one of the highest points on the Isle of Man. Behind the stone wall is a road that forms part of the famous TT motorcycle racing circuit.

My mum bought me some framed photo prints for Christmas and they're lovely but she also said something that really set me thinking. She said she thought I should see about getting some of my own images framed and possibly try selling a few.

I showed my Weston at Low Tide image last time and that's one of my all time favourite shots. So it seemed to me that I should work on refining that style. I dug through some of my old unused images and found this. It seemed like a good candidate for a make-over so this is my second re-mastering of an old image and I've intentionally used the same style as for my Weston picture. I'd love it if I could make a matching set of images and I do enjoy this style.

As usual you can click the image to see a larger version on Flickr and you can then click "All Sizes" above the image to see an even larger version if you wish.

Weston at low tide

Thu, 15 Dec 2005 17:20:26 GMT

Weston at low tide
Originally uploaded by floyduk.

For those of you that remember my submission to the dpchallenge.com Ansel Adams challenge (http://www.dpchallenge.com/image.php?IMAGE_ID=153148) this is my "remastered" version of that image. At the time I thought I'd done a good job of processing it but I've learned a lot since then and I'm enjoying going back to some of my old favourites to see how they can be improved.

Lily Circle

Tue, 13 Dec 2005 22:47:01 GMT

Lily Circle
Originally uploaded by floyduk.

Just another quick lily image. Here's an amazing circle based on that image. I kinda like it.

Lily

Tue, 13 Dec 2005 21:38:53 GMT

Lily
Originally uploaded by floyduk.

Yes, it's been done before but this lily is special. It's from Laura and Jeremy's rather excellent wedding. They sent us away with a couple of flowers from the arangements and I deliberately chose some lilies that hadn't opened yet. A few days in some water and one of the flowers opened quite beautifully. Here it is.

This shot was taken in a 5 minute window just as I was supposed to be going out but I suddenly realised that a flower had opened. So I shot a few and then headed out the door. I'm glad I did because the very next day Ruth threw it away without asking me. There were still 2 more good flower heads ready to open! I had all these plans and I know I could have done better than this shot if I'd had the chance.

Anyway, here's what I got. Hope you like it.

Snowy Cheshire in Twilight

Wed, 30 Nov 2005 00:08:21 GMT

Snowy Cheshire in Twilight
Originally uploaded by floyduk.

It's another snowy night in Cheshire. I've been occasionally working on a project to record images of the Cheshire countryside and a snowy landscape at twilight was too good to miss. I'd like some shots of the snowy landscape in daylight too but twilight was a challenge. And the mist was attractive too. I must find a spot where I can capture that better.

Organ Circle

Sat, 26 Nov 2005 12:00:30 GMT

Organ Circle
Originally uploaded by floyduk.

Here's an interesting one. Brenda Starr (a friend from Flickr) posted something similar which caught my attention. She's an amazing flower photographer already but this technique (amazing circles they call it) is really interesting.

This image is based on a shot I took of a steam organ at the Dorest Steam Fair. It's heavily post processed and I added some rotational symetry too.

In other news I guess you all already know that my nephew James was born last week. My first set of pictures is up on my Flickr account - here. We're all VERY happy - he's just perfect and my sister seems very happy and well. Can't ask for more than that.

Fish

Thu, 17 Nov 2005 05:04:58 GMT

Fish
Originally uploaded by floyduk.

I just wanted to post something to the whole world to say how very happy I am that my sister has had her baby and despite her being very tired and bashed about both mother and baby are doing well. I'm an uncle at last!

On the other hand I just KNEW the little bugger wouldn't wait until we got back from Florida. Something in his genes if you ask me...

Oh - and here's a picture of an amusing looking fish.

Painting with Light

Tue, 25 Oct 2005 21:11:37 GMT

On the daily trivia front, my toothache (actually gum infection) is starting to abate. Damn well should considering I've almost finished the course of antibiotics. I tried a night without painkillers last night and I managed to sleep through. But It's still sore.

Anyway, I just wanted to post my latest photographic effort. This is part of another "Tips From The Top Floor" forum assignment. Someone suggested taking pictures of things that look like letters and making a whole alphabet. Elsewhere on the forum the topic of painting with light had come up. So I put the two together and came up with this.

The basic idea is that you use a very long exposure (4 seconds in this case) in a darkened room. You draw out a shape with a light source (such as a maglite) and then fire a flash right at the end to expose the full scene. You get this wacky effect where it looks like you've written something in the air with a stream of light. Neat eh?

Anyhoo - you can see the alphabet thread on the TFTTF forum here. You can get to my flickr account by clicking the image.

I hope you like it.

John

Sidewalks, Pavements, Pathways and Sisters

Fri, 07 Oct 2005 12:00:58 GMT

First of all, I just wanted to mention that my sister is currently in hospital due to a high blood pressure reading and ketones in her urine. We're not sure what this means but since she's pregnant I think they decided to take her in for observation and enforced rest. We're not too woried at the moment but we're keeping an eye on her.

Hmm, I'm still not sure how to write about just any old crap here but I thought I'd give it a try. I've been meaning for a while to try and do a photo blog in order to encourage myself to take more pictures and improve my photography. I already take part in a couple of websites related to that (www.dpchallenge.com and www.tipsfromthetopfloor.com). Yesterday I completed a mosaic of pavements which was a group project on the TFTTF forum.

I like it - it's an interesting bunch of textures and working on it helped me to focus in on details. These aren't photographs - they're MINI-photographs and each one can't have too much going on in it otherwise you can't make it out. So it's an exercise in seeing an interesting detail or angle and shooting that. You can see the rest of the mosaics on the TFTTF forum here. The diagonals thing was just my own spin on the project.

Oh and on Monday I fly out to California for a week to see Davegee. I can't wait!

John