I was going to write an intro for this but Gav explains it way better than I ever could….
I’m no photographer, all I know is that I love taking photographs. I was honoured when Tom asked if I’d be interest in doing a photo post, as I’ve always wanted to do more with my photo’s but never really pursued it. I think it’s because everything else creative I do, I’ve managed to shoehorn into my career somehow and made it more a professional thing.
Photography has always stayed in that hobby status, only branching outside and into professional-ish a couple of times. I think that’s why I love coming back to it so much, there’s no pressure or expectation from myself or anyone, I just enjoy capturing the things around me. Its taken me a long time to finally get to grips with the ins and outs of how cameras work, only this year I finally understood ISO and how that affects what I shoot. I first started shooting properly about 10 years ago, I bought myself a Pentax SLR, as I’d been enlisted to shoot my friends wedding (no idea why as I hadn’t previously shot anything of worth!) so that kickstarted me into the more ‘serious’ camera gang. That’s where it all started, using full auto to aperture priority to full manual – that journey has taken nearly a decade! Digital SLR’s sped up that process for me, as I could finally understand the difference between settings, seeing it in real time!
So, what you have here is a selection of my 20 favourite photos taken from the last 4 or 5 years, I hope you like…
01 – “Birds”
Lomo LC-A
My girlfriend bought me a Lomo LC-A, which takes really nice vignetted images. Its quite hit & miss to use, and they always break, but I got lucky with this shot, the birds flying off from the wires on the Clifton Suspension Bridge.
02 – “Danny”
Pentax SLR
I shot this whilst Richt and Danny painted the back of the skate ramp, which is out the back of the old Fifty Fifty store here in Bristol. Danny was shooting some Super8 footage, so I shot him!
03 – “Girton”
Nikon D40
I went to visit my brother in Cambridge, where he’s at university. He was based at Girton college, which is the furthest out of all the Cambridge colleges but it was beautiful, it was literally like walking round hogwarts! This is the chapel and was lit up one night, I managed to shoot this by hand – not sure how I stayed so still to be honest!
04 – “Cross”
Nikon D40
This is inside the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, around the back where the cross is illuminated from infront! I got lucky with standing still enough to take the shot again!
05 – “Catacombs”
Nikon D40
Under the streets of Paris, they have these endless tunnels of bones and skulls, it’s utterly surreal. Once you’re in, it’s a good 45 minutes before you see daylight again, it’s a very strange but fascinating experience.
06 – “Lights”
Nikon D40
Yet another Parisian snap. We were walking by the musee d’Orsay on the way back to our hotel and one of the gated entrances was partially open, and on the sidewall was this light installation – it was too good to pass up a photo op! This is my brother posing for me, he adjusted his glasses at just the right time!
07 – “Fog”
Nikon D40
When walking home from work one night, the fog was so so dense, you could barely see anything! Walking across the bridge looking back at the harbourfront, I was greeted with this beautiful sight. I couldn’t not snap a pic!
08 – “Confetti”
Nikon D40
Weddings are always fun to shoot, especially when youre not ‘the’ photographer as It means you can blend in with the rest of the guests and get some real candid shots! This is my girlfriends sister getting married, being covered in confetti!
09 – “Nick”
Nikon D40
This was a real big deal for me – after seeing some of my photography, the kind people at Aardman asked if I’d be up for shooting some profile shots of the legendary Nick Park! Obviously I was bowled over to be asked, and very excited. I’d met Nick a few times before and is a real hero of mine, the shoot went really well and was super simple. Just my D40 and one small studio light in his house, nice and simple. It was also the first time I’d shot RAW with the intention of tweaking afterwards. This is the most tweaked photo, made B&W and edited the background. Really happy & proud of this shot.
10 – “Boikz”
Nikon D40
A still of rider Dan, whilst out filming for my fixed gear bike film “BÖIKZMÖIND”
11 – “Graves”
Nikon D40
This was a snowy morning late December last year, and the light and atmosphere was beautiful. Eerily stunning!
12 – “Daniel”
Nikon D40
I treated myself to a flash gun in the New Year sales, and this was my first portrait I liked whilst using it. As you can tell, it’s a really crude portrait, with the flash gun just firing from the side, through my brothers belongings. I didnt have any reflectors or stands or anything apart from the flash unit itself, so I just stuck it in the corner. I quite like the result, with the white/blue light on the right and the warm yellow on the left.
13 – “Karen”
Canon EOS 1D Mark IV
This was my first portrait intended for print, which was another really exciting opportunity! This is Karen, the head of Aardman Digital and my boss. She had a feature in NMA (New Media Age) and I was suggested to be the photographer. I got real lucky with this as it’s usually NMA’s own photographer, but I got a lucky break and got the chance to shoot them. This wasnt the photo used, the magazine version is alot simpler and grown up, I just like this ‘out take’ shot as it shows how I see Karen, always laughing & smiling.
14 – “Ricky”
Canon 550D
I jumped ship from Nikon to Canon when the 550D was released, as the video capibilities were just too good to miss out on. I purchased a prime lens, a 50mm f1.8 at the same time and got obsessed with it for a while. This is Ricky, a resident Aardman genius, and his home made pinhole camera (it actually works!).
15 – “Brew”
Canon 550D
Another shot of Ricky, this time in a hidden building within the Aardman HQ that I didn’t even know existed! Its full of old relics and is a treasure trove for photography! The lighting inside is really old fashioned, this caught Ricky just at the right time. I like how you can only see hints of his features because it’s so dark.
16 – “The Hatch”
Canon 550D
This was taken at Stourhead, which is a huge old mansion with a gigantic man-made landscaped garden. In the middle is a walk through cave thing with a water feature. I was busy snapping a pic of the water feature when I turned round and these German tourists were peering out of the other side. The light streaming in made it feel like when they first saw the hatch in LOST!
17 – “Ouch”
Canon 550D
Every year Bristol put on a “Bristols biggest Bike Ride” event, where they lock down alot of the city and make it only available to cyclists. Theres 5 types of rides they put on, from a ‘family fiesta’ which is 9 miles long to the ‘Clevedon Challenge’ which is a 38-miler. A group of fixed riders decided to give the challenge ago, and all was fine until we spotted one of our lot by the side of the road, changing a tyre. Behind him was a guy, a full on road racer, just sitting by himself. We went over to check him out and it turns out he was mashing along, a good 30mph, but hit a deep pothole and went flying, knackering his bike and himself. My first instinct was to ask to take a photograph of his hand, which felt like a big step for me – I always want to shoot pictures in those situations but never dare to ask for fear of being too insensitive. I was happy I did ask because I like the shot. (The rider was ok in the end, he got picked up and taken home)
18 – “Cooling off”
Canon 550D
I got elected to be ‘official photographer’ at my cousins wedding, purely because I had the poshest looking camera. I wasn’t ready for it at all, just having the regular lens and nothing else. I manned up and started shooting, forcing myself to use everything on manual. That felt like a big step for me, as previously I’d feel the pressure and shoot Aperture priority or Shutter priority but I gave it a whirl on full manual and it worked out just fine! After the ceremony we all went back to the brides parents place, which had a heated outdoor pool! Their huge dog had its favourite ball fall in the pool, so it decided to go and get it. I rushed round to snap a picture of him before he disappeared!
19 – “Dance”
Canon 550D
Dan Efergan, creative director of Aardman Digital got married last week in a beautiful old converted barn. They had a fantastic lighting set-up which kept changing but was really subtle and classy. I kept snapping whilst they were having their first dance but I got lucky with the light illuminating just them and then the purple in the background.
20 – “Tunnel”
Canon 550D
Last weekend I spent my Saturday night in a dark, damp tunnel with lots of other people on bikes with no gears, do drag races through the tunnel! It was pure cinematics, the tunnel itself giving off this beautiful yellow glow. This was the opening of the tunnel when you first approached, as it’s on the Bristol > Bath cycle route. It must have been pretty daunting for the guy who had to cycle through halfway through the race who had nothing to do with the race and just wanted to get home!
There you have it, my favourite 20 photos! I hope you like them and if you do, check out my flickr or my website !
Many thanks for taking the time to check them out – Gav
