Camera

So the priority would be, money before photography right now. The reason for that being I want a Plaubel Makina 67 medium format camera of which boasts a Nikon 80mm f2.8 lens. It's one of the only cameras that I have not heard any bad things about at all. The main reason being; most of the photographers I researched for my dissertation of who form a major part in all things I do photographically used it at some point in their careers.

See; http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/plaubel.htm

The obvious attraction is the sharp lens that the camera has, boasting an aperture of f2.8 it must have been a pioneering piece of kit in its day and remains a very well respected camera trusted by many. I have however let a few sub £1000 ones slip through my hand on ebay recently. I'm not happy buying one off ebay but it seems the only place to find one.

Spending that much on a film camera may beg the question why am I not buying a decent digital SLR because, film is much of a fine art route in photography yet digital at the moment is very mainstream with little out there that comes close to such beauties like this so called 'Texas Leica'.

Even though having this camera would not automatically produce crisp, sharp photographs it is all about the eye that sees through the lens as well. To have a tool like that would surely help along the way.

It begs the question why does one need such a camera when any good photographer can make decent photographs no matter what the tool they are using. I have been very much a fan of using my camera phone, right from my very first one all those years ago. I haven't tested the BlackBerry photographic capabilities just yet (something of which I don't hold out much hope for). Once I have established how to take the sluggish, I mean desperately slow auto focus off then maybe I can road test it.

An interesting piece of work that I stumbled across is by a photographer called Chase Jarvis. A well known photographer of who I have just established. He is on a quest taking 1000's of photographs on his wait for it . . . iPhone. Some might say a daring task, but it is to be fair always in your hand or pocket waiting shoot images left right and centre. It might only be 2 megapixels but it records objects and light in much the same way that every other camera does, it's just the resolution and sensor size that depicts how big you can enlarge the photos but when you have established the best conditions to use it much like any camera then you are onto a winner.

see; http://www.chasejarvis.com/index.php#mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=0&p=5&a=0&at=0

Regardless of this is still want to buy the Plaubel among other cameras of which I will eventually make a wish list, I may have to make do with what I have got at the moment. Camera phones are fast becoming tools used to record data more and more yet it's not quite there yet. Even David Bailey has got involved with with it.

see; http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/sep/02/david-bailey-nokia-camera-phone

Maybe it's time to take it further use the camera phone further . . .

Priorities

Its difficult to predict what life throws at you. The university bubble burst after about a month of finishing. The questions of what do next, photographically and in terms of ones life. The ambition to carry on taking photographs to the standard of which I want has to wait. Money needs to be saved to enable me to buy the cameras of which I want to take my photography further. After a few weeks unemployed wondering what the future holds and with a rather depressing recession looming over everyones head the time to get a job happened. Low and behold I found one, photographically the only thing I can think of is Anna Fox's work named work stations 1987-1988

see; http://www.annafox.co.uk/index2.html

I wrote about her in my dissertation, paying particular attention to her immaculate eye for colour and use of light particularly in the offices in 'Workstations'. The photographs were shot deep in the Thatcher era that shows a very dark and changing Britain, one that was not afraid yet stumbling in going forward. A time where consumerism low and jobs were even more fought after than what they are now. This is very much like the Britain of today, in fact I would go as far to say most of the world right now. A job is hard to come by, faith in anything to do with politics and money is very low. A happy face is few and far between from one stretch of the eye to another.

So it goes without saying after a little stray away from my point, I am working in an office, I had never done it before it has to be done at some point in my life so I thought I would get it out of the way. In many ways its everything you would expect; non succulent and brain numbing but underneath all that lies a happy unit of workers. We all know no one really wants to be there but its the money that gets them there and keeps them there for sometimes a short but mostly a long period of time. You have those that are happy their day to day routines, some that are succeeding where others don't, there are those vying for a higher place on the so called hierarchy of the job and of course the people in charge. All eager to be top dog. To photograph this is very very appealing, to catch the thoughts, the wasted moments whilst waiting for the next task or call, to capture even the most normal every day things like a chilling water machine. It's a dream. But how to photograph differently to that of Anna Fox?!

The obvious choice would be to simply shoot anything and everything but how do you ask about such a thing> I think it might be a bit early after just a month to ask permission. At least for the moment it's a start for the brain being active with a photographic mind :)

Website

After a month of working on my website it is finally online. Without putting my hosting company in bad light, they were to be fair not that helpful in helping me overcoming the problems of which halted me in eventually uploading it onto the net. My sole purpose of the summer was create a website to not only show case my work but allow the world to see my way of photographing. The idea of anybody in the world being able to see my work initially felt like I was walking out of the house with nothing but shoes on, being naked to the world outside. Showing them everything. Although this was not case, it certainly felt like it.

The address www.davidtuckwell.co.uk

With my first foray into a website I am quite pleased with the results, there are some parts that need working on, and indeed more work. I have however, not taken a photograph in a few weeks, due to the fact I am deliberating what to do next. Obviously I need to take myself to the next level but how, what and where is a different question. The word 'How' shouldn't come into it, I know how, its more of a case of when. The weather has played a massive part in the lack of photography. The constant downpours contribute immensly, I have almost become accustomed to waking up to find no sun bursting through my windows. Without looking through the windows it is the sound of the water beneath the tyres of the cars that pass the house that enlightens me to the fact it is raining outside. Summer I fear, will never be what one remembers from their childhood.

The Bike

One of my most recent photographs taken whilst in Wellington as i was getting my book bound for my final major project hand in. Whilst on this journey I took a Hasselblad and my most favoured lens the 150mm F4 Sonnar T lens. The lighting was very strong with the light beaming down upon us from the sun. There were a few things in this small town that caught my eye, one thing i noticed was the amount of people eating ice cream. Something of which I will show you at a later date.

This bike stood out to me due to the fact that 1) it wasn't locked and 2) it looked as if it was no longer 2009 through my lens.

The ideology of a photograph that could be deemed to be taken at any time, any place anywhere is very appealing to me.

Film or Digital?

Yes they should be placed in that order, not alphabetically because that would make Digital superior. Of which in my opinion it is not. Long has the debate in my head be going on, probably pushing for 4-5 years now. Having only owned two compact digital cameras in my life dating about 4 years ago. They were a Canon S70 and a Sony P200 the only thing that set them apart from the others was the simple fact the incorporated a certain amount of manual control. Both of these camera's were 7.2 megapixels, at the time this was something major. Fast forward 4 years and we are looking at 12-15 megapixels as standard. So does the 'Megapixel' have any worth at all if the same camera comes out with the same size sensor yet more pixels added to re-market it as something else. Some of them claim to have different features but do any of them actually claim to be any better than the predecessors? The answer is no. Until the day I am absolutely blown away by a digital camera then film is for me.

The aesthetics of film for me are very pleasing. The unwrapping of the film, the unrolling and the loading of the film knowing that this light sensitive strip of paper hold the key to ones photograph making. The wait of anticipation as the leader card goes through the development tank, watching the electronic display of which is showing me like a version of 'Snake' on Nokia phones the journey of my film. The initial look at the film to see if they have all come out and also to see if the exposures are consistent. Nothing in digital terms can beat that. With digital you've already seen the photograph on the screen, the only thing you are doing on a computer that’s different when you upload them to a computer is that your shining an even bigger back light on the photographs from the monitor. Loosing the thrills of a film has from the developing to the printing stage.

To be continued . . .

If only . . .

One could only wish to be be like the great William Eggleston and say next to nothing in description of his own work. Never was a true explanation given as to the meaning or context of a particular photograph. The only few I've seen are in the film 'William Eggleston and The Real World' (2005) which even then are as vague as they are thought provoking. His work speaks for itself in his instance.

Unfortunetly, in the world that we live in today is a car cry than that of the 1960's and 70's. With the ever changing times of modern technology it is becoming clear that there are lot more photographers out there now plying their trades to try and sneak themselves into the category of 'one of the greats of photography'. An explanation and clear concept is needed for nearly every single piece of art not to mention photography.

This maybe be why I have found myself writing on a Blog, creating my own website and flirting with Flickr. The website to showcase my work as a whole, Flickr to add 100 megabytes of photographs to a month and this the Blog... To explain, to ramble and to put right my thoughts and findings within the field of photography.

The first photograph that paved the way forward

This photograph is taken from the 4th roll of film in the 2nd to last final major project. Although shot on 400 ISO film I knew I was onto a winner. I believe it was the 1st film I shot with the Hasselblad. I had been struggling with the words 'PHOTOGRAPHIC LANGUAGE' throughout my whole degree, what did this term mean?? would a tutor tell me? No is the simple answer. The idea of using the square format of the Hasselblad was to cut out the excess around the shop facades. This was mainly due to the fact that the majority of shops in and around Plymouth have a square front. With this in mind I was cutting out what I didn't want within the frame. Thus allowing myself to realise that everything within frame allows the photographer to show his 'Photographic Language'.