Day 126: channelling Mapplethorpe at Kew

It's the second day of the Heather Angel macro flower workshop at Kew Gardens and after a wet and windy night we're back in our classroom. The lovely old wooden sash windows are struggling against the ferocious gusts, we're going to be challenged today keeping everything pin sharp. We learn about focus stacking and how it can really elevate your macro photography. If I can procure one of the focus slider tripod thingies for a bargain price, I'd be tempted to give it a go.

Before taking our own photographs we start off looking at more inspirational images, and there was an old favourite of mine. I've always been a fan of Robert Mapplethorpe's photography since first becoming aware of his work over twenty years ago. I'd come across a giant black & white print of a calla lily promoting one of Robert Mapplethorpe's shows, I think in a gallery or museum shop. I had the purple text cut off and then professionally framed and hung above my bed. After that I stumbled across a small calendar on another museum visit and again framed a couple of smaller black & white flower images of his. And in my ignorance, I thought that this entirely represented Mapplethorpe's photography.

In November 1996 I learnt that the Hayward Gallery was doing an exhibition of Robert Mapplethorpe's work and secured myself a ticket for an evening show after work, as I was handily contracting at IBM on the Southbank. I remember feeling awfully prissy in a less than sombre work suit queuing outside whereas my fellow art lovers seemed all aggressive in bondage trousers and studded leather. "Not the crowd I'd expect to like black & white photographs of lilies" I thought. And they probably thought of me, "she doesn't look like a big fan of explicit hard-core gay porn". Well, I realised quickly that it was indeed eye opening, and I'd been ignorant of this particular oeuvre until now! Subsequently I discovered that I was at a terribly controversial art exhibition with rare viewings of pieces that had been banned elsewhere. And not so many flowers I hasten to add! I could still admire his style, the clean, uncluttered monochromatic graphic images. It was definitely an education! Back then you couldn't just Google an artist and be enlightened. Firstly it was a couple of years before the birth of Google, and secondly I certainly didn't have access to a computer on the world wide web. Our computers at work had been used for word processing, spreadsheets and databases, and had access to internal email only. When I went for an interview shortly after I'd had to decamp to a library to use their single computer to have a hope of doing the necessary research for my required presentation.

I'd seen an article in the Observer magazine about the Antony Gormley Field for the British Isles (thank goodness for Google now) a while back. And courtesy of a poster discovered the show happened to be at the Hayward Gallery at the same time as Mapplethorpe, so I went off in search. In fact the sea of terracotta Gorms staring blankly up at me arranged in a way that you couldn't see the extremities of the room, was profound. Maybe the simplicity, the strange dumb trust was some sort of antidote to the mind-blowing images I'd seen next door. I remember crouching down next to them and feeling very tranquil.

 

 

 

Fast forward to present day. As well as Mapplethorpe we examined other flower artists to inspire us, Heather showed us some images from Flora Photographica, and as it was one of the reading list books I'd already stocked up on, I was delighted. She explained her paraphernalia for studio flower photography. We had pop up light cubes, a variety of backdrops, diffusers, clamps, bellows, reflectors and a jar full of flower specimens, Heather picked before we arrived. There was a mass erecting of tripods and I was very keen to get my hands on the white bells and wanted to try them against various backdrops. I was trying to channel Mapplethorpe but couldn't quite get the background to be as black as I liked. Heather showed me that I should opt for manual and a tiny aperture, rather than my customary 1.7 and get everything in focus plus blackening the backdrop. That was exactly the look I was trying to achieve. I then recreated the idea with the pink spray of flowers. it was also interesting to see the effect of a wide-open lens had on the white backdrops. My preference is for the black, but the paler has merit too.

 

After the studio, everyone was itching to get out in Kew again. I was keen to revisit some of the previous day's images and see if I could improve on sharpness. And as I'd had the foresight to bring my new rose covered high-heeled wellingtons, it seemed wrong not to break them out. I headed for the peonies and was shocked to see that overnight they'd been so battered by the winds, they were almost flat and the delicate papery petals were crushed and absent. These sad snaggle-toothed flowers were so depressing and a few others I'd intended a second go at were far from pristine too. I returned to the alpine house and was intrigued the effect of a smaller aperture on some of the blooms. The first purple one is taken on the initial visit and the second throwing more into focus a day later. I'm not sure as to my preference in this case.

I had planned joining the others in the waterlily house but was warned that my camera would most likely fog up and so thought I'd stay away being mindful of time (I'm not sure how long my little Leica would take to recoverm but knowing how easily it gets drowned I wouldn't risk it). Instead I thought I'd explore ferns, as they hadn't been so ravaged and see if I could end up with a single tulip specimen.

 

For those who didn't have to rush off we presented some of our images. I preferred the ones that had been taken on the workshop as it's always fascinating seeing other interpretation of similar photographic opportunities. I was the only one who'd been able to present any of the studio shots from today as I post-processed one over lunch (though I was thankful it needed very little)

Before I left I couldn't resist purchasing a couple more of Heather's books. I'm so hoping I get the opportunity to explore another one of her workshops. If I can fathom the Kew workshop booking system (extremely frustrating) I intend to keep an eye out for more. At least I have a Robert Canis wildflower workshop signed up for in July, and he gets to do the travelling this time!

 

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Day 50: The mint with a penguin

I was unwrapping a Fox's Glacier Mint and thinking how it did look like a tiny iceberg. It got me thinking that my teeny, tiny penguins haven't had an outing for ages. There's some white boxes behind reception that I've had my eye on, sometimes they have books or newspapers stashed inside but today they are empty. There's one that made me reminiscent slightly of a light box, though with solid sides. But I did think the shiny white sides and back will make a nice neutral backdrop for what I have in mind.

I do need some extra light thoygh, there's a massive standard lamp near where I'm sat on the floor but I can't find find a a place to plug it in. I will have to resort to an iPhone torch instead. I ponder how many mints, how many penguins and after several scenarios, settle for the lone tiniest penguin stood on an open mint with a couple still wrapped.

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A juicy peach of a place

After our elegant pit stop we hit the meandering roads en route to the peach farm. I am not entirely sure I knew what to expect…except for perhaps peaches. But it actually transpired that the harvest had been early this year and peaches were now in surprisingly short supply, certainly on the trees. No branches heavy with perfumed fruit, though we did find some apples and luscious grapes whilst exploring the fields and orchards. Luckily they had held back a stash of their velvety peaches as they were certainly the finest peaches I have ever tasted. And they make rather nice subject for a photograph or two too!

 

Our tutor has family connections on the peach farm and they certainly rolled out the red carpet for us. They were so hospitable and invited us to stay for supper. I had been introducing the joys of miniature photography with Marcel the balloon seller to their lovely son, who was most keen to practise both English and photography. I didn’t have another Marcel to hand, but luckily I had my emergency back-up penguin (naturally) and could donate that to the cause of macro photography. Perhaps a rare occurrence of a penguin going to live on a farm!

 

After we had admired their photobooks, created from photos of a recent exotic holiday, it was time to take some more of our own. We checked out their impressive vintage tractor collection and fired off some shots of the fruit pickers at work. Then we went investigating the furthermost orchards, hoping for some late fruit, but the nectarines we found weren’t so photogenic. Undeterred we soon started to explore the joys of a dandelion clock, a gold/silver coloured framed sun-bounce reflector and the dying rays of sun.

 

Firstly we thought we’d experiment with the different effects achieved by flipping the reflector whilst ‘plamping’ the dandelion clock to have the sky in the background. But then we were struck by a desire to destroy every single dandelion seed head in the entire orchard by attempting to capture an action shot of the individual seeds parachuting away after blowing on the said dandelion clock. I cannot recall how many times we attempted to capture this effect in a single shot, in the end I had to resort to burst shooting and stacking multiple exposures in post-processing. Beyond frustrating! But on the bright sight, they won’t be troubled with dandelions for the rest of this year and possibly the next.

After our weed eradication we returned to the farm for the planned supper and join their other guests who had popped by. It transpired to be such an unexpectedly special and unforgettable evening. Only one of our group spoke French, but even without English we could somehow generally follow what was going on. We enjoyed fabulous cured meats courtesy of the twinkly eyes pig farmer (who, I suspect had better English that he let on!), lots of other delicious food and of course finished off with more of those astonishing peaches. What lovely people and a sublime, convivial evening. It was very hard to tear ourselves away to return to our rooms in Curnier for one final time. Tomorrow we have to leave all this and head home.

 

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Those little things...

Back on November 24th I happened to be picked up by a black cab driver called Terry (I've since discovered his name) who told me all about ICM (intentional camera movement). http://reddotsnapper.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/day-328-i-see-icm.html He extolled the virtues of two photographers, Doug Chinnery and Valda Bailey. He also mentioned he undertook all night workshops in London with Doug, and he was in charge of driving the attendees around. A photography workshop by cab, that's got my name written all over it, where do I sign up?

I checked out Doug’s website and put myself down for the macro workshop at his house today. I'd never heard of Worksop before but it sounded a fair spot for a workshop. I discovered it was rather further north than I'd envisaged so opted to grab a night at the local Travelodge so I wouldn't have to get up at stupid o’clock and catch four trains plus, with alarmingly tight changing times.

So after a surprisingly nippy night, it's much chillier up north it seems, Doug's wife Liz kindly collected me from the hotel and the fun begins. There's only two of us (Doug keeps the groups small when the session is at his home to guarantee room to manoeuvre) so after a chat about experiences we start exploring the flowers Doug has set out for us. We both plump for the vibrant tulips. Doug has attached a wooden curtain rail to one of his sitting room walls 90 degrees to the large floor to ceiling window. The cunning idea is that when he's setting up as a studio, he clips large sheets of white paper forming a backdrop and extending to cover a table pushed against the wall. He explains he's not a huge fan of a tent as it so restricts your movements. When he's finished and dismantles the studio, the table is restored for dining, and a picture hangs from the wooden rail.

The respective tulips are placed in vases and we commerce finding a good angle. I've got a tiny bottle filled with water with an eye dropper and try adding some drops to the curve of the tulip petals. It's actually really challenging and Doug recommends administering the 'raindrops' with the aid of a wooden skewer. A useful tip for next time.

Next I turn my eye to the colourful autumn leaves and Doug has another tip. He carefully sellotapes my chosen leaves to the window turning the pane into a giant light box. I can squash my tripod up against the window to photograph the detail of the leaves illuminated by the sunlight.

Next it's a yellow rose which I'm determined to turn into black and white. I'm struggling to balance the vase close enough to the edge of the table to get my closeup filters to focus. I have to get so much closer than everyone else using macro lenses. I suddenly remember I've brought my new Plamp with me, a handy device for photographing stems, flowers, holding back stray branches and bring able to play around with angles. Doug hasn't seen one before and intends to add one or maybe two to his kitbag immediately. The other participant also suspects he's going to plump for a Plamp. I always wonder what my purchase will be after a photography workshop or holiday. So far my credit card is safe.

The seed head is next to be gently clamped and it was interesting varying the background and seeing the impact on the image. I think they make a beautiful diptych.

Next I'm rooting through the box of curios and selecting shells and seahorses. The first thing that catches my eye is a nautilus shell displaying that fabulous golden ratio. I shoot it from every angle and finally opt for the classic full frontal. It's such an iconic design of nature, I even detected that spiral in the yellow rose from earlier.

After a tasty lunch at a local garden centre we return just as the rain starts. The raindrops on the window give me an idea and I spend some time seeing if I can get an interesting reflection of the wrought iron table, chairs and the garden beyond in the droplets.

After that I start checking out some of the other flora. It transpires that the biggest insult of the day is if you think you've shot a photograph that IKEA might turn into a print. Though you could argue that "we should be so lucky!" The chrysanthemum could lend itself to a fine art print I think, especially in monochrome.

My final subjects are the orchids and again I decide to work on a diptyc. The entire effect is very Japanese.

I'm the only attendant now so Liz has been trying out both her new camera and new MeFoto tripod and I think I might be in trouble. I love my carbon fibre tripod but it's still bulkier than I'd like and I'm sure it could be lighter. Liz's tripod is more compact than mine as it folds back on itself and despite it not bring carbon fibre, it annoyingly lighter. I will have to check them out, I think.

I've loved the workshop today, I always learn something new and really appreciate the license to utterly immerse myself in photography and hopefully have some fine shots to add to my collection. I hope to join Doug on his workshop later this year in London, my taxi awaits!

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Day 359: Happy Penguin Christmas

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me ...nine ladies dancing, eight maids a milking, seven penguins skating...seven? Not exactly my true loves but thanks to the very kind E(D) and LLcT I have this shiny new penguin interloper to join the throng/flock/gang (as mentioned previously, there doesn't seem to be a designated collective term for penguins). I thought I would carefully arrange them in front of my Christmas card based on the Narnia-esque view from my front window earlier this year, to show them off.

They really didn't want to all stand up and seriously tested me but eventually they were all in a row and with my tripod I could get the picture I wanted. I needed some extra light do had yo use my iPhone again. I purchased a wonderful off-camera flash over a month ago but the delivery company managed to not deliver it to me. Nor could I discover any attempt they made to do so. (I won't name them but they share their name with a Greek god and a considerably more reliable designer handbag maker) I set myself this fiddly project before going down to the conservatory for a celebratory Christmas lunch. I suspected lunch was going to be fabulous and it truly was! Happy Penguin Christmas everyone!

 

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Day 254 : meet Pinguino!

Penguins have featured occasionally in my life and definitely reappeared with a vengeance more recently. I’m not entirely sure where the mild obsession began. I can't recall if I had a particular toy penguin that might have been the genesis. My first and most favourite toy was a odd, scruffy little panda called Pierre. There was a much loved teddy that plated “twinkle, twinkle little star” curiously. I was definitely a fan of a Penguin chocolate bar and my parents’ extensive paperback collection had a plethora of Penguins. And, a habit I picked up from them, the booked were filed by colour. There was a row of little orange Penguins and nearly two of green Penguins, my parents always loved a crime novel.

Years later I had a yen to learn origami, both inspired by my first viewing of the Blade Runner movie, and being impressed by a friend who was incredibly adept at making elegant paper cranes. I was working near Covent Garden and around Neal Street was a great stomping ground for Japan-alia. I bought a book and plenty of coloured squares and started learning. After practising a few designs, the penguin immediately became my favourite and, especially when I was travelling, I used to churn out little armies of the papery flippered creatures. Whilst I was training on the dark art of Excel formulae, I’d set fiendish exercises and whilst my students were slaving over a hot spreadsheet, I'd be walking around the room, checking their work and folding tiny squares of paper. These would be dutifully collected by the trainees and kept as souvenirs.

I also seem to remember creating an icon for ’special paste’ in Excel and drawing a little penguin to depict that function, I can only assume the origami penguins influenced that curious decision!

When I first started collecting tiny HO 1:87 scale figures (from model railway layouts), I explored a whole gamut of forms. I initially collected standing and sitting figures, workmen, a lone policeman sporting a ’proper’ helmet, painters and decorators, then cats and dogs, chickens, other farmhouse animals, including pigs, zebras and then penguins. Buoyed by CJ’s challenge of her scary dogs sniffing out my penguins, the taunting began, and my penguins like to prove their bravery. Their MINI fame was the cherry on top so it’s really all about them now. I carry my four remaining ones in my handbag, doesn't everyone, so they're always prepared for their next close-up.

I can't blame Pingu, Mr Popper’s, Happy Feet or the penguins of Madagascar for influencing me as other penguin fans might say. Though I was very drawn to Feathers McGraw in Wallace and Gromit’s The Wrong Trousers, my Pengzilla reminds me of him somewhat, though minus the rubber glove chicken disguise! So I don't know how it started, but I seem to like penguins.

Last week another J had said I was difficult to buy a present for (particularly jewellery), naturally I beg to differ as I think I'm very easy, but then I know what I like! To prove my point I undertook a spot of sparkly surfing and hit on a few possible gaps in my collection of blingy fabulousness rather quickly. But then I know what I was looking for. Tina Lilienthal is a good option, as you can’t beat a skull pendant. I already have a black strawberry and a large black skull with spiky silver antlers but there's always room for more! I was then wracking my brain for the Italian jewellery shop on Sloane Square that sold little charms when it finally came to me - the not so extinct Dodo. Dodo are part of the fine Italian jewellery company Pomellato, and I'd been drawn to their charms on several occasions but I'd been a little put off by too much yellow gold. But it seems a little black diamond penguin charm was calling me from my iPad screen so I vowed to go and check it out in the flesh (metal?) after work. Sadly the boutique on Sloane Square packs up too early in the day for us working girls so a mad dash to Harrods instead was in order.

I just scraped into Harrods before the heavy brass handled doors slammed shut for the evening. The jewellery department seems to be under some refurbishment but I manage to find the Dodo animal charms lurking in the corner. They are very sparkly and lovely and okay, a bit too yellow gold on the black diamond ones but there's always black rhodium if needed. Yep birthday present for myself, sorted!

I figured my new Italian sparkly penguin or pinguino should meet the other little flock. I think they're a little in awe of him. He's showing off his fabulous sparkliness with the aid of a well placed iPhone torch. And he is indeed, molto favoloso!

PS I've since discovered that penguins are like magpies, not just in their colouring but their love of shiny things. And I am rather fond of shiny things too! Hmmm, I may be part penguin!

 

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Day 239 : don't touch the banana!

After doing my research on MINI last week and seeing the Not Normal campaign they are running I was determined to have a go at submitting one myself. Other submissions seemed to be detailed MINI sandcastles, elaborately crafted MINI cakes, a MINI made out of biscuits, salad and snow. Some of the images are pure photoshop trickery but I wanted to for straight macro photography.

And I figured it would probably also have to include penguins. I already had a 1:87 scale banana coloured mini MINI and my beloved 1:87 scale tiny penguins, really it seemed to write itself.

I had this idea of the MINI, hotly pursued by the penguins over an undulating landscape of oranges. In reality the MINI just looked a little marooned on top of the orange. I needed either a much minier MINI or a much larger orange. I’d thought of using a banana as ’the road’ but hadn't been able to discover a way to keep the banana at the jaunty angle I desired. However really the answer was staying me in the face, oranges! I could carefully balance the bananas on said oranges, pad out the sides of the fruit bowl to stop them rolling and try again. The background was a problem, the wall in the office was plain, good, but just dull and with weird shadows falling across it. I was sat on one of the wheelie stools we have around the breakout table trying to get tiny penguins to stand unaided on the curve of an orange (nigh on impossible) and a banana (slightly less hopeless), which is also where we keep fruit bowl. The wheelie stools are all different colours and an idea sprung to mind. If I just balance the blue one of its side on top of table, my little tableau would have a much punchier background.

In the end I had to resort to Pritt to give the penguins a fighting chance standing on the banana. After I fired off a handful of shots I had to rush and get on a 7pm conference call, hoping I nailed the “Not Normal” brief. I left everything set up with a plan to return in an hour. After the hour of machinations on the phone I go back to tidy up and efficiently the cleaners have beaten me to it. The stool is back in its proper place, the orange restored neatly in a bowl, my penguins and MINI carefully placed on the window sill but the banana - nowhere to be seen. Now I'm not a fan of bananas, but this is my boss’s banana and I'm not entirely sure how attached to it he was. Clearly he’d been hoarding it for a while, but maybe that's he likes them.

Our cleaners are Spanish so when I asked if they knew what happened to the banana, my complete lack of suitable Spanish vocabulary meant I was met with shrugs. I then total inexplicably thought I'd mime the missing banana, as you would. They look puzzled, mildly alarmed and one them just keeps pointing at the fruit bowl saying “orange, orange, orange”, clearly I’ve gone well past the realms of “not normal” now!

But just in case I ever have issues with wayward bananas again and need to interrogate any passing Spaniard, I have been suitably armed with useful phrases “Por favor, no tocar el plátano!” or “¿Dónde está mi plátano”. Sorted!

 

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Day 174 : b-day

Curiously less than an hour ago I was enjoying AL’s glorious celebratory birthday barbecue feast alongside the pool in the rose garden, and had been discussing macro photography with KR. We’d been pondering the challenge of capturing a bee shot as they don't generally linger long and there's the jeopardy of getting stung if you get too close.

Not so long afterwards I was meandering my way home, feeling the urge to walk off some of the Lacey’s Pieces, armed with my camera and I stumbled across some bees.

This bush, smothered in tiny pink flowers was attracting a small troupe of busy bees, loitering briefly on each flower before buzzing to the next. With my close-up filters attached, I have to get extraordinary close and trying to focus on these frenetic bees was a real challenge. As soon as I think I've got a good, sharp shot I click and the image revealed is either entirely devoid of bee or has a fuzzy yellow and black stripy blur to one side. But I keep trying, narrowly avoiding being very stung, channeling Winnie the Pooh’s advice regarding interacting with bees. Though he was trying to steal their honey and I just wanted to capture their image for posterity. Though I'm not entirely positive bees can be distracted, Pooh suggested humming a song about being a cloud but I opt to try not to look like a flower (though to be fair, I'm wearing a dress covered in large B&W photographs of flowers topped off with another huge grey flower) so possibly failing on that point.

However, I just about managed to get my bee shot and remain blissfully unstung, happy days!

 

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Day 154 : ladybird, ladybird fly away home

We have a little oasis round the back of our new building. It has a few benches, a fountain and a curious telly-tubby mound in the middle of it. The hillock thing is very odd, it seems too sloping to sit on, perhaps you could shimmy up the steep sides and sit cross-legged on the top. Needless to say the brief time we've been here I haven't seen anyone find some use for it. We sit on the more traditional benches to eat our sandwiches and a ladybird is sat by us.

When I little, we believed that ladybirds with these markings were poisonous, that only the ones with three spots on each wing were safe to be around. Now I know that it’s just a different species. But I think I still prefer the ones with less spots though, just in case!

 

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Day 149 : webbing

To continue the theme, the close-up filters are still firmly screwed onto my camera and I have a little time to kill. I want to see if I can photograph a cobweb.

This ended up being my favourite because of the small circle in the desig . I think the web could be enhanced with raindrops on the silken threads. At this exact moment there is no rain, though it will soon I suspect, with our schizophrenic weather of late, I won't have to wait long. Alternatively I could add my own raindrops as I have a little plastic bottle and eye dropper in my camera bag for just that purpose. Next time, I will give it a try.

 

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Day 148 : still getting close

Back home and the rain continues to fall. Embracing the attitude of my mini French holiday of working with rain I found an obliging leaf decked in diamonds of raindrops and yet again am whipping out my close-up filters. These +4 B+W (not black and white, but Biermann and Webber, originally a Berlin based company that manufacture quality filters from Schott glass) filters are fast becoming some of my favourite pieces of kit.

 

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Day 147 : trailing a snail

It just seems so appropriate to capture a picture of a snail to add to my portfolio of French memories. But this innocuous desire was more challenging as armed with my close-up filters, I have to get pretty close. And definitely closer than the snail wants me too. As I try and sneak up on it, first one eye stalk disappears, then the second, followed swiftly by the head...and I'm left with a shell. I wander away to check at the roses, and feeling braver Monsieur Snail, or possibly Brian the, emerges again. But as I approach again, I am thwarted. I really just have to remain practically on top of , barely breathing until he feels safe again. Eventually I got my close-up. Obligatory French image...done!

 

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