I’ve been so distracted with goings on in recent months. 

I thought previously that I’d keep going on WordPress with this blog, but I then decided to move…

To Tumblr!

My new blog can be found at:

http://hannahbillsphotography.tumblr.com/

- I thought it would be a good thing to wipe the slate clean and create an entirely new blog.

That’s where you’ll find my most recent Photographic movements!

Hannah

02/03/11

Enjoy!

Porto, Portugal, 2008

Trafalgar Square, London, 2009

Snowman and child, Greenwich Park, London 2009

Sushi, 2010

Droplet, 2010

Smile If You’re Irish, Paris, 2007

Tom Jones, London, 2009

Kids, Cape Town, SA, 2008

Wanting to get some shots on my DSLR, I went back a couple of days later for some colourful night time shots.

Here are the results:

Chinese New Year I

Long exposure of a car trail and lanterns blowing in the breeze in a street off the main drag of London’s China Town

Chinese New Year II.I

Chinese characters and street signs reflected in a London black cab parked next to the entrance to the main drag of China Town. A Chinese restaurant, complete with a waitress, customers and crispy duck hanging up is featured in the background of this image

Chinese New Year II.II

Close up detail of reflections in the black cab

Chinese New Year III

Festive Chinese lanterns sway in the wind, with a building on Shaftesbury Avenue in the background

Chinese New Year IV

Red, red, red: Typical Chinese colour and style from the entrance to a restaurant in China Town  

Chinese New Year V

Close up view of some green lanterns with some floodlit architectural interest in the background 

Chinese New Year VI

Overview of the main drag in China Town, decorated for the New Year celebrations

Chinese New Year VII

Colourful lanterns line the streets

So like I mentioned in an earlier post, I was going to try to scan some things in, and with my Printer/Scanner now properly configured, (Thanks, Miguel!) and also a newly consolidated knowledge for making contact sheets, I can upload some of my recent film work onto here. 

Probably the lack of digital work recently has been down to the fact that I’ve been getting to know my Canon 5 recently, shooting mostly with that.

Here are a few recent contact sheet scans:

ContactSheet1: Around Blackheath and Greenwich

This roll of film was the first I ever shot with my Canon 5!

At the time, as my shorter lens on my Digital SLR wasn’t compatible with this older body (it’s 15 years old and doesn’t take EFS, it’s an EF mount) and I had not yet bought a shorter lens for the 5, for this film I was stuck with using my 75-300mm EF lens.

It’s a selection of images, some I took, some others Miguel took, around Blackheath and Greenwich Park.   

ContactSheet2: LCC, Blackheath, in the Studio with Gemma

This roll of film was pretty much all portraits. I was disappointed by most of the ones from the studio, because I used my ridiculously powerful 580 EX MKII flash gun, and a lot of them turned out very overexposed! 

ContactSheet3: City of London Architecture

This film above was shot around the City in about an hour. I focussed on Architecture, and the amalgamation of London’s unique architectural styles. One of my favourite London buildings is featured quite heavily on this film- the Lloyds building. I love it’s design and aesthetic.

This film was shot and processed with negatives as the final result all in the space of around 3 hrs… Quick turnaround! (Beautiful black and white film photography for impatient 21st century affected people like me!)  

ContactSheet4: Partnership, Willesden Green and London Architecture

These images, also, are mainly Architectural. There are some images from around the Waterloo area, taken while I was waiting for a train, for instance of the disused Eurostar Terminal, but mainly, the shots are from around the riverbank near London Bridge. I particularly love the images of the new ‘Batman’ building, near to Tower Bridge.  

ContactSheet5: Elephant and Castle, The West End, Chinese New Year 2010

There was an old Routemaster bus I saw in the street in Covent Garden which was obviously decked out for a wedding, so I got a nice shot of that. At the time, I was meeting my sister who was flying out of the country that night, and after our coffee, she needed help with her suitcases, unfortunately causing me to miss a great shot. The wedding guests were on board the bus, and while lugging the suitcases, we saw the bride and groom walking towards the bus. The shot I missed was of them walking across a zebra crossing in all their wedding day finery! Sooo frustrating- it would have been a great shot! 

Most of the other shots were taken in the West End, with quite a few of the Chinese New Year ornaments. 

The next day, Sunday 21st, myself and Miguel returned to witness the New Year Celebrations, where I shot a roll of colour film, and a couple of days after that, I went again to China Town to get some night time shots on my DSLR.

Watch this space for the images, coming soon….

I was waiting to find of of a more decent value than the £22 or so the shops charge, and I succeeded yesterday in my mission by securing one that cost me a whopping…. 

99p!

Now if only I could find a nice ring flash adaptor for the same price………

I didn’t know whether they were looking for the obvious images you’d expect to see from a brief like this, ie. handshake shots and the like, but I decided to use a more lax interpretation of the brief for my image.

Here is what I submitted:

Partnership

-So this is my interpretation of Partnership, in a ‘the way different things are deemed to go together’ sense. This image would describe a coffee break…

Eventually though, I went for an image that demonstrated my love and desire to be behind the lens.

This is my final image that I submitted:

Behind the Lens: Self Portrait, 2010

So obviously I used a bit of Photoshopping to get to this final image, but I think it works well. The background image is of me holding the (Canon 5) film camera, (with a section of the lens visible on the left,) and for the top layer of this image I took a separate picture of my Canon 5 (using my Canon 50D, obviously!) 

I then started the post-processing, converting both images into black and white for continuity’s sake, and also, aesthetically, for a classic feel. I wasn’t happy with the exact imagery being shown in the top layer (the image of the camera alone,) so I digitally transformed it to get the exact imagery from the shot that I felt worked. I also, of course, fiddled with the opacity of the top layer until I found a compromise between the two images that I was happy with.

Apart from those major adjustments, the usuals- being curves, levels, etc. were also tweaked, until I came to the final image which I’m very happy with.

ANALYSIS:

I got David and Adrian to comment on my image, and they both really liked it, saying that the balance between the layers in the image was fulfilled successfully, the cropping was good, and that it had a classic, 1940′s Greta Garbo, romantic and nostalgic feel to it. Success!

They also said that the overall selection of this year’s submitted Self Portrait images was the best they had seen in years, so congratulations to the group for a collective triumph!

Here is a selection of my images:

Toyin I

Zany! -This image was taken as a snapshot at the start of the session. As Toyin booked the session this time, she decided to go with a bright colours theme, as you will see by the images! 

Toyin II

A nice classic style portrait pose with some Orchids here.

Toyin III

Fireball!

Toyin IV

Feeling hot, hot hot! -Making use of some very bold primary colours in this image.

Dina I

This image was all about pink! I really like colour continuity and the pink/black contrast as well as the light, playful mood of this shot.

Dina II

I really like this image and I feel it has, with the pink/green/black colour scheme and the Orchid feature, quite a cute, Oriental feel to it.

Dina III

A classic portrait pose here with Dina modelling.

Dina IV

I think this image is successful as the all the different colours really ‘pop’…

All in all, I really enjoyed using the ringflash- I feel it gave a brilliant ‘fashion’ look to the images’ results, and excellent illumination. In fact, it was such intense illumination that each of us gave in to wearing sunglasses for much of our modelling during this shoot!

So far, it has yielded some excellent results, and I’m happy to say that I’m really pleased with it.

Last weekend I shot a roll of film in and around Blackheath, and earlier this week I went up to the City to shoot another roll around the Gherkin, Lloyds Building, etc.

I’m also pleased about the fact that I’m now processing and printing my own films with perfect ease, and all the exposures have turned out great with my 5.

Soon, I’ll be going into the Studio and using my Canon 5 there, as I haven’t shot in the studio using film yet, so it should produce some interesting results. I’m already looking forward to processing this film of the future!

Check out this crazy stack of tutorials from about two years worth of DSLR Photography Magazines!

One afternoon last week I went through all these old magazines to take out all the interesting and inspirational articles that I can technically and creatively benefit from.

I have a lot to learn!