New Year in Amsterdam

We caught our 5.00pm flight out of Newcastle on Monday the 29th of December. Christmas was the warm up match, preparing us for the main event...
The prospect of spending 4 days over new year, in a beautiful city, with great company and a multitude of places to visit and things to do was an intense thought!

I had came equipped with my camera, sketchbook and notebook along with intentions of documenting our trip particularly with the two on-going units: Location photography and Observational Drawing still in the works.
I believed this holiday would prove a beneficial opportunity for me. This was definitely the case as we swiftly began our routine of a coffee and smoke at Rick's Cafe on our first morning. These few hours each morning allowed me to pull out my sketchbook, relax and take the world in as it passed by through the window in front of us.

Me on the left and Jake on the right. Photograph taken by Calum

I felt very productive and realised this ritual we had taken to each morning was essential if I were to emerge from the Netherlands with any observational material at all. I didn't take as many photographs as I thought I would. I felt as if seeing too much through the lens would affect how I saw things with my own eyes. Plus the camera I own is pretty poor in the dark and this was the time when Amsterdam looked its best, especially around this festive period.

I did record some footage of our trip. I'm starting to really enjoy working with video and capturing places people and areas on film. I have this belief that my mind subconsciously attaches emotions and memories to things that pass me by first time around. It's not until I review the footage later on then I recognise faces or objects that I thought I'd never noticed; but I really did. 

Noise and audio are things that attract me to video and editing. Our brains want to make sense of things, and when you are watching for example a short film with music, and background audio from the video you might find yourself piecing together what you see, with what you hear. I can't speak for everyone but this is definitely how I feel!

iMovie has allowed me to manipulate sounds and images to create a visually intriguing experience that questions the intent and reason for it's existence - this is what I want!

I collated clips I had recorded over the 4 days including - Calum reading from Jack Kerouac's 'On The Road', footage of passing foot traffic, Jake rolling a joint, Calum writing, and various others. I was struggling with whether to keep the film instrumental or add a track with lyrics. I saw a film 'Wish I was Here' a couple of months ago and a short song by Aaron Embry 'Raven's Song' was featured on the soundtrack. After much deliberation I realised that this song was a good fit!
So, below is a link to what I came up with. I tried to pay attention to Embry's lyrics and kept in mind what images were visible at the times where he was singing. 

This took me a solid hour. There are things about it I feel should be changed, the length is perfect I think, not too long and the amount of clips used are suitable regarding the different verses in the song.

I bought him a coffee for posing

I mentioned that I took along my sketchbook and pencils on the trip, this was a great decision! Whenever we fancied a coffee or were tired from exploring, I grabbed my sketchbook form my rucksack and begun. I adopted a technique of loosely sketching figures, street signs, coffee cups, faces, railings, electronic signs, trams, pavements, backs of heads, hands, beards, hairlines, lips, and anything that caught my eye or looked even a little interesting.

Doing this was therapeutic. I knew whilst drawing I was contributing to my Observational Drawing unit and this made me happy, but it was more than that, each time I drew a line accurately or glanced up then back down and realised that my drawing actually does look a little bit like what I'm drawing was great! I thought "Huh, maybe I am getting the hang of this drawing thing.."

Unfortunately, due to lack of planning and huge queues we were unable to get into the Van Gogh Museum. This was disappointing, but I am planning a solo trip to Amsterdam in the summer and so with a little forward thinking I should be able to book tickets for a tour and nose about.

I have found that a change of environment works wonders for productivity. I felt I had freedom, as if there were no shackles or irrational social boundaries to contend with.

With more drawings to add to my Observational Unit, I can power ahead with others I have half finished, and polish off annotation etc. Also, photographs I have taken may be eligible for submission regarding my Location Photography unit.

Holiday Photographs!

For the October break we visited Nairn, up past the Scottish Highlands. I figured I should take my camera along and see what I can come back with. I had ample opportunity to photograph my surroundings during our week there and came home with a total of around 500 images in total. I then proceeded to give a select few a quick look over in iPhoto, which led to me choosing these 6 photographs below.

I was aware during my time roaming around with my camera, that I was certain to end up with groups of images that looked very similar and had the same subject matter. So, during my cull of the original 500 I discovered this to be true. These 6 images below aren't my favourites or anything, I picked them because each one is different - whether referring to colour, composition, shape, light, colour etc.

This is the view from outside Primark in Inverness city centre. The sun was in my eyes and I wasn't exactly sure at the time what I was photographing...but I think it turned out okay.

This one was from a rest stop alongside Loch Ness. We stopped the car and continued down the small set of stairs that led us to a rocky patch of ground, and this was the view! The reflection astounded me and I like how you can just make out the misty fog lying on top of the loch in the background.

I quite like this image. The log you see in the foreground was about 6 foot tall and stood in the sand as if originally planted there. I took the photograph in black and white and made sure that my mum and sister had just about moved out of sight - this way the space on the left of the upright tree is left empty. Personally it gives me the feeling that the figures are going to disappear behind that log. I of course know that they won't completely disappear behind the log (they didn't) but, I can't help but feel that way when I look at the photograph. Strange!

This photograph was taken as a tester to see if the timer worked well. It seems 10secs was long enough for me to dart back across to the shore and pose so gracefully, unlike my sister and mum. I blurred our faces out on iPhoto to create an anonymity of sorts - I know everyone who will see these already know who we are but sometimes I feel faces distract too much and give away too much.

I genuinely can't remember where I was when I looked up at the sky and took this one, but I remember capturing the glare and light and thinking "I won't delete that one!". Composition was always on my mind whilst taking these photographs, I regularly remember that certain things in a photograph may look great aesthetically and pleasing to look at, but at the same time aren't technically in the right place. I hope that makes sense!

This one may not look like much at first, and you may notice that I took this from a moving car... But I guess the reason, or at least the main reason I kept this one was the juxtaposition of the trolley pushing couple in the foreground, and the fictional Specsavers customers in the background. Although not completely in shot, I think this little contrast is the main subject of the image. I struggled deciding how much of the left side to crop, I wasn't sure how much I should bring it in.

Holiday!

Up at Nairn for our annual family holiday. My granny, mum, sister, brother and I are having a ball already in the very warm weather!

Took a stroll on the beach just now and feeling the benefits of having my digital camera with me. I took over 500 pictures whilst at T in the Park last weekend and so am in the habit of capturing the environment and people surrounding me. I've always loved taking photographs, even when I was younger when it would be with my mums camera. And ever since I got my own a few years back, I've discovered how creative you can get just by observing and getting yourself in the right position to capture a collection of shapes, colours and figures around you.

Here are a few from earlier that I guess fall more into the category of 'artsy' rather than just 'observational'.