Todays thoughts xmas 2012

So xmas is now out of the way and a good time was had by myself and my 4 lads.....now it's back to work,. I'm still revelling at the amazing cinematography in Peter Jackson's Hobbit, the 3D was awesome and something that particularly interests me. I loved the amazing planes of depth and perspectives as well as the beautiful landscapes and fantastic world portrayed. My youngest son Skye had the Sword (sting) which glows blue and I had a little fun on xmas afternoon with him, his new weapon and my camera.

"Sting"

 A brave hobbit with 'Sting' in action.......he would have been just as happy with a 'light saber' as you can see from his tee shirt.......

I also managed to be given two new photography books as presents which were most welcome;

20th Century Photography - Museum Ludwig Cologne, Taschen 2007

I love this book of Iconic images of photographic art which you can browse through for hours with fantastic art from so many photographers.
A couple that instantly captured my imagination were;

Philippe Halsman "Dali's Skull of Nudes" 1950
the eye see's the familiar form of the skull shape and then recognises the form is of nudes posing.

Robert Doisneau "Pablo Picasso in Vallauris with Francoise Gilot"  1950
my eye first sees the the beautiful french look of Francoise in the left foreground and then leads to the famous artist sitting cross legged in the background in a very simple domestic setting.

 This lead me to seek a look at other work by Doisneau and I hadn't realised he was the photographer who took this iconic image of a sailor kissing. I love his work, out in the street, real life and artistic but a documentary too.

The other book was an interesting technical book;
Mastering Filters for Photography, Chris Weston, Amphoto books, 2009

I've only had a brief look so far but there is so much you can do with filters and up to know I've only used a skylight and polarising filter so this is a huge area to explore...much food for thought and experimentation.

Todays thoughts

With xmas approaching it's a very hectic time both at work and socially. I've just had my tutor's report to my first assignment back which is very encouraging and gives me a good bench mark to work towards in my second assignment due February. I will upload assignment one here shortly however I am going to re-work one of my contrasting pairs of photo's 'Hard and Soft' as they were my weakest set. Overall though I feel pleased but determined to improve as well.
I have just been reviewing some recent photo's from my last trip to Cornwall. I particularly like this sunset shot of St Michaels Mount. I love the reflection of colour in the river as it winds out to sea leading your eyes towards St Michaels Mount on the horizon.

 In this photo I managed to capture the fantastic site of the gathering of migrating birds, thousands and thousands of them flying together at sunset like giant waves in the sky. I've never seen anything like this before and for once my Nikon was in my hands already!

I love the deep contrasts in this next photo of my son Jack, at the shoreline with the last remnants of the evenings sunset through the distant clouds on the horizon