The original and the best!

There was a time when people used to ask me if my hair tasted of Irn Bru. A joke from some - a serious question from others!!!

Time has darkened my hair and thickened my skin (to some things at least) but, despite my deteriorating memory, I will never forget the stick I used to get for having 'ginger' hair.

I thank God that the internet wasn't around in my youthful days as I have come to learn that there is a 'Kick a ginger' day. In Glasgow (and most likely even further afield) this would really involve more than one kick - or perhaps worse. I have been threatened at knife-point more than once in my life, all because of the colour of my hair. How I managed to escape, I just don't know.

Anyway, I don't get that much harrassment these days as my hair seems to be getting quite dark - it's more like a lovely auburn now (in my opinion) - so you can all put away your tiny violins. I don't know that I'm happy that it is losing its vibrancy. It makes me feel like I am supposed to calm down in my life since my hair is calming down to a dull, uninteresting shade. There are always dyes, though, watch this space :)

So, now that I have a few public followers (and a few hidden) I am going to make a concerted effort to updating this site with something [hopefully] worth looking at. I'm really chuffed that people are having a look on here and I thank you all for giving me the time of day :D

For now, I will leave you with a photograph of a vintage Irn Bru can that I bought from the college machine just before Christmas. Remember these?

Reflections!

A colour assignment for College....

My Plan A (window reflections) didn't really work as too many things went wrong.
I was 'grilled' by a drunkard who wasn't happy that I might be taking his or anyone else's photograph without permission. I couldn't be bothered putting him straight about the laws but did try to explain that, as my camera was pointing up near the top of the 5 story builing in front of us, no-one would be in the photograph. It didn't stop him from trying to be in the shot as he moved from left to right while he tried to figure out just where to stand so that the lens was facing him. His comprehension of physics was obviously skewed by his alcohol consumption but it was quite amusing to watch him dance around for a while. He got fed up trying to get in the frame and came back for a second mega-rant. Time to move along, Ams, before this gets too scary!!

Even more of a problem was the fact that the beautiful Arch windows that I had spied, from a distance in the car, didn't actually have glass in the frames. Even the drunk guy would know that I could never get a reflections shot from them. Gutted!!

By this point it was too foggy to be able to see anything, anyway. Back home to mope about my lack of success.

Returning to Glasgow another day for Plan B (reflections on water) and I completed my second roll of film. Only after taking all, bar 2, of my shots did the reflections become really colourful so I'm not sure how this will turn out on submission. Acceptable? I hope so.

Here are two of the images, scanned from print. Both are taken at the River Clyde in Glasgow.

BBC Building


Finniston Crane [Clydeport] and the Squinty Bridge

Pass me the fork 'n' knife!!

I've not really had much time to do anything lately as I've been toiling away with my college work. The type of prints I'm producing are a bit boring, I'd say, but hopefully they meet the brief (lighting, darkroom techniques, etc).

My neighbours must think I'm crazy as I'm usually hanging around the garden taking odd pictures. I had a funny moment when I was lying sprawled on my stomach on the front path, trying to get a contrast shot of the manhole cover in the drive. A neighbourly couple drove past and slowed down the car. I was about to wave until I realised they had looks of disgust and confusion on their face and had slowed down to try to figure out what I was doing.

Sigh!

The scan doesn't really show the print very well but here is an example of a 'full tonal range' print. I took this shot in the garden (as usual), placing a fork on a stack of slabs. It was originally intended to be my 'high contrast' print but my lecturer helped me to tone it down with a yellow filter on the enlarger. I will have to study the resultant prints to see the differences.



My 'high-contrast' print is of a frost-covered picnic bench on the college grounds. I got funny looks taking this picture also and my fingers were freezing. Such is the hard life of a photographer.



Anyway, I hope they'll be good enough to pass and that I'm forming the necessary knowledge and skill to improve my printing to a far superior standard than what I am currently at.

First Darkroom Print!

I've delayed adding to this blog long enough so now I'm going to inundate you with lots of images. I'll try to take it easy on you....

This first image is scanned from my first completed print in the darkroom at college. The image is of the stones by the water feature in the college courtyard, taken on the first film I was given to shoot with - Ilford 100 - on the college camera (details to follow as my memory is bad and I can't find my notes!!).
The paper is Ilford, resin-coated, multi-grade (glossy) and the magenta filter is up full (175 on the enlarger I was using).