#NPMonthlyWord January Image review
Hello again, welcome to another blog from the inner workings of NathanPhoto, as this is the first one of the month let me wish you happy February, and true to timetable this one is a review of the #NPMonthlyWord for January, the word for Jan was ‘New.’ I kept the same word from last year as it seemed to fit quite well and thought it may be good to add a little continuity. But it’s not staying the same as, think I’ve already made the work (and selection’s) slightly differently from last year, this may go on or not, as I see what works and what doesn’t.
So rather than 7 or 8 images representing the theme, I’ve made them into 5 sections and made numerous images that fit in each of those, this is ‘new’ so I’ll see what works and what doesn’t after a little reflection. These sections also link to the directions I see NathanPhoto going in in 2023.
Without any more faff I’ll start; the first set are the Manchester scenes. Here we have 4 views from this beautiful place, mainly concentrated in the city centre as that’s where I’m making most of my work these days. I’m starting further efforts in looking for different viewpoint/angles, also looking for twee/nice/ordinary too as I don’t seem to have many of those but again that overlaps on my research practice but feel it may slip in here now and again as it suits NP. Here we go:
1) Made in the fog, this shot of two towers some of the many that have sprung up in Mcr, definitely new as we don’t always see them in the fog, like the inclusion of the lamp post but may possibly get rid of it in photoshop to see the effect. Done it, which do you think?
2) This was made on a little wander round the Castlefield aera of Manchester on one of those lovely twilight times that you only seem to get in winter, chilly and cold but crystal-clear lighting with a Salford sunset reflection on another two new towers being built with the olde-style lamps in the foreground.
3) Third is a brand-new view of Albert Hall, now they are knocking down the old Police station building you get to see new views like these all the time, eventually these will be covered up by new builds so they’ll be gone for a while, I wonder when the last time you could see this view from Albert Square?
4) Last and possibly least is a view from Market Street of the old Debenhams building with the Arndale, trees with lanterns in, food court escalator, bits of the street and the undercover bit near Boots. I’d never seen this view before let alone made an image so decided to, thoughts?
Next up on the subjects are a couple of play arounds with product shot type work, once a staple of my working life (looks to camera and shudders at some of the stuff I’ve had to make images of…) These are of my new kicks, now I know what some of you think of Diadora’s but I do love them, I think I love them because of the youth of today’s reactions to them, I remember having a pair in the 90’s and being the only kid with them, which wasn’t good back then but now I think is an asset, it beats all those ubiquitous mass produced ones named after the winged goddess of victory, bleurgh to those shoes. Anyway here they are in all their glory.
1) First up is a composite combining flash lit product shot as a cut out with a separately made background image. My cut-out skills aren’t the greatest but think it works well, could possibly push this one further on at some point.
2) Second up is a detail shot of the pair, with a nice out of focus effect on the yellow label, the focus may be slightly off for a ‘proper’ product shot but I quite like the effect, the way it does not compute straight away, and yes, I see the lace but think that adds some realism to it.
3) Using natural light this time to light up the details, love the label on the side and the white relief details on the white sole plus inclusion of the brown wrappers that they are protected by, when in the box.
Then in the next ‘new’ subject tag line, we have my new project based upon ‘Tasle Alley’ with a few images from my initial explorations of it, I’ll not discuss too many here as it forms a larger project, but I will discuss their newness with the way that they were made in an idea of establishing shot (which I discussed last month.)
1) Detail of one of the identifiers of the street, someone online suggested that Manchester is one of the few northern cities to still have these metal guides on their streets, a fact I can’t confirm as of yet, I thought this detail might be of interest to an establishing shot.
2) Is a long shot of the ‘Tasle Alley’ I’ve zapped the colours and compressed it by use of longer lens, straightening this image is a nightmare as the buildings all need their own angles, I’ve gone with a central roof straight, so interested to see the others fall about.
3) The next is a shot from the other way, this is a new angle and one that this project has facilitated, I’ve edited in a way that seems fashionable at the mo, a pseudo hdr-esque hotch potch, not sure it works but hey its new.
4) Last is a detail that I keep returning to the top down looking at textures of streets, this type of shot stems all the way back to my initial education in that college, the one I went to with the famous people. I’m trying to get away from these but when I do that I think I miss ones like these.
Last section consists of three images a comparison, a random and my favourite subject of light.
1) This is a side-by-side comparison of the shot I made last year for new, I absolutely get why I did it, so thought I’ll make another one with that in mind, didn’t have or look at the one I did previously so when comparing them I can see the differences in style and method. That’s new.
2) Next is what I can a random, it’s of my sons’ hands as I tried to wake him for the umpteenth time when he stayed over, I realise the change from when he was little, and he used to wake me early at weekends (cause I worked nights and had just got into bed!) so this is new!
3) Last but not least is the way light can show you something new, I\d walked past this tree numerous times but have only just seen it like this as the setting sun lit it up and cast a lovely shadow on the disused warehouse. Lovely.
There you go with the images, some work and some don’t as ever, but I’ve included them all. Have certainly fulfilled the brief in different ways but wether I have the shot I don’t know but form the choice which one wins ‘new’ this month then? Well I realise it’s like comparing apples with carrots in the comparison of different subject matters in photography, so I’ve whittled it down to a short list of these four:
And from those I think the clear winner is this one.
well I’m still undecided as of today so what do you think?
Thank you for reading. And if you have any feedback, thoughts, comments or anything’s, then please get me though the usual channels.