Jay Maisel - a photographer I like

Jay Maisel is an American photographer whom I admire. His love of photography and unassuming character comes across clearly in his work. A short film biography about Jay can be seen here which will explain more than I could possibly in words;

Documentary on Jay Maisel (7mins long)

His passion for light and colour and the way the camera is part of his everyday existence inspires me. I feel I am struggling with the practical exercises in the Art of Photography course, not because I'm not technically competent, not because they aren't worthwhile, maybe slightly because I have such limited time, but mainly because I like to photograph what I want to photograph...like Jay Maisel...with no agenda....

Work of his I particularly like;

Boy and Inner Tube - Jay Maisel

You can feel the cool water and the imminent splash in this photo. Frozen action with the reflected edge light on the partially silhouetted characters. The focus in the mid-foreground really works for me.

Don't Walk and Red - Jay Maisel

 This photo reminds me of a Banksy mural........

Chet Baker - Jay Maisel

 I love the old black and white photos from the Jazz and Blues eras, this grainy monochrome image is ultra cool in it's un-posed subject and the laid back way the trumpet is held......

Red Wall and Rope - Jay Maisel

 The high contrast between the blue boiler suit and red background is awesome and the captured movement and energy makes this a great shot.

Statue of Liberty in Mist - Jay Maisel

This photo of the Statue of Liberty takes on an almost abstract form. It reminds me of those picture of Loch Ness and Nessie for some reason. The opportunity to get this shot with the low light and mist is amazing.

Exercise - measuring exposure part 2

In this exercise I have taken a series of shots for each photo using 'bracketing' for the exposure of +1 stop, + 1/2 stop, at the recommended exposure with the camera's meter, - 1/2 stop and then -1 stop. I am then going to compare the resultant images to see if the 'correct' exposure is what works best or if any of the 'under' or 'over' exposed images work in their own right.

Example 1. This first set of photos are of a cast iron fire basket set against the sky.

Camera 'correct' exposure

+1/2stop over exposure

+1 stop over exposure

-1/2 stop under exposed

-1 stop under exposure
 

I think for this 'silhouette' type image all the exposures work to an extent. The 'correct' exposure is OK if a little boring for this image. My two preferred are the most over exposed image which brings out the rust cast iron colouring of the subject and this works against the paler looking sky. The most under exposed image I like as it has a powerful mood with the almost black subject against a darker and ominous sky.


Example 2

This statue of an Angel in Ross-on-Wye cemetery is my next subject for this exercise. I chose this image as it has many elements within the frame, detail and form of the statue, some sky and greenery and much colour too.

-1 stop under exposed

-1/2 stop under exposed

Correct exposure

+1/2 stop over exposed

+1 stop over exposed

In this example I think that the best result is the 1/2 stop under exposed as the colours really come out and the sky isn't too burnt out. The correct exposure image works very well. I like what happens with the sky in the most under exposed image as the blue starts coming through. I am not keen on the over exposed images as the sky and wall behind become burnt out very quickly.

Example 3
In this next series of shots I have taken a landscape scene with some water reflecting light to see how that is affected by exposure.

-1 stop under exposed

-1/2 stop under exposed

correct exposure

+ 1/2 stop over exposed

+ 1 stop over exposed

I think for this image the correctly exposed image is definitely the best result with a nice vibrant image with plenty of colour. This would makes sense as the camera manufacturer would opt for a 'tourist shot' such as this to give great results from the cameras metering. The +1/2 stop photo has great colour in the foreground water areas. The most under-exposed image loses so much detail in the dark areas.

Exercise - Measuring exposure

In this first exercise I have produced 4 photos which are darker or lighter than average.

 This shot is nearly all dark except the light from the low evening sun bouncing off my guitar. I wanted to achieve an atmospheric abstract which I was pleased with. There is much more dark than light in the frame, I used spot metering to take the photo.

 This is a view of chimney and pylon taken from the sand dunes in Hayle Cornwall. I wanted to balance the chimney with the pylon and incorporate the technologies from different eras. As the horizon is low in the frame there is nearly all sky and I had to be careful with the exposure to keep some detail in the clouds which resulted in the foreground being underexposed. This photo is lighter than average.

 Helping a friend with an art project I used low level sun light to pick out the detail in this miniature ceramic tile. I wanted to get a crisp focus on this but had to use a wide aperture so the depth of field is quite shallow but this adds to the artistic look so I am happy. The frame is lighter than average as the is far more 'white' background.

In this final photo of a sunset over Gloucester there wasn't much light about except in the sky where you can see. The frame is much darker than average and as the light was coming from one particular place the foreground is heavily silhouetted which adds to the dusk atmosphere.

A sequence of shots for a work brief

Although this isn't part of my course I recently had to take a series of photo's for my work blog at Skyhook Studios where I am a recording engineer.

I am currently working on an Album project with Stroud based singer David Ireland, the album is called Cosmic Glue. You can find out more from my work blog at:

http://mikecooling.blogspot.co.uk

I was recording a drummer called 'Alan Tocknell' who makes beautiful and stunning sounding drum kits. To keep the 'techie nerds' happy and as an informative post I took a series of pictures to show how I set up the microphones to capture the sound of a drum kit. These photo's were taken quickly mid session in a dim studio so although they are not 'great' pics in themselves I think they communicate the information well. I think this is a very important area of photography.

Alan Tocknell -Drummer and Drum-maker

A Tee Drums Snare 

Tom from Tee Drums

Alan setting the pace

How to record a bass drum with 2 mic's
one inside the shell!

How to mic a snare drum with an SM57

Toms recorded with clip on AKG D40 mice

stereo mic's overhead 

A ride cymbal recorded with a Rode NT5 mic

A floor tom mic'ed with an AKG D40

Review of 'Capturing Light -The heart of photography" Michael Freeman

Having had my copy of Michael Freeman's new book for just over a week I have been glued to it's pages. The book is in the same format as previous works such as "The photographer's Eye' also with publishers ILEX.

It just happens that my particular section of the course is on Light so this book is of particular value to me. Michael Freeman's work has a very strong practical bias with lots of tips and ways of working to achieve the results which are shown with numerous examples. There are some amazing photographs within and they can be very inspiring. The great thing is that the methods used to get them are right alongside so a 'learning photographer' such as myself has a good 'starting block' to kick off from.

One of the really valuable sections to me personally was the inspiring pages on Gray Light (which is usually the case here in Gloucestershire) and getting awesome pictures when the 'Golden Hour' of low warm light with long shadows is unavailable.

The book on the whole is a fabulous resource for any Photographer and my only negative criticisms (if they are negative?) are my personal frustration with not having the time and resources to go to the stunning locations available to the author and the pressure finally applied to purchase an Apple iPhone so I can use the Helios app. mentioned in the pages on Timing/Elevation with regards to the suns position in the sky. There is probably an android app. equivalent though if I search.


Capturing Light -The Heart of Photography
Michael Freeman 2013 ILEX

New book just arrived :)

Hot of the press and just published....

"Capturing Light - The heart of photography"  Michael Freeman ILEX 2013

My copy just arrived from Amazon and it is so relevant to the particular part of the course I'm on and indeed the essence of photography completely. This will be my bedtime reading for the next few evenings and a review is to follow.

Now out into the rain for work..............