Website

I have created a Clikpic website for my photographs to show my work until the website I am designing myself is complete. I have signed up for a years hosting with a two year domain name which is allanmclellanphotography.co.uk. I have kept the layout clean, clear and simple with easy access to all the images. There is nothing on the sight that is complicated to use that may distract the viewer. I am very happy with the site and believe it will do a good job until I finish creating my own designed site.

5x4 Scans

I have started scanning my 5x4 scans and editing them in Photoshop. Overall the scans are pretty good, the most editing I have had to do is taking dust out of the scans which look like they have come on from the scanner itself. The hardest part of editing several scans is getting the same tones and colour range for all the images.

I'm really enjoying using the 5x4 camera and the images I'm creating I believe are the best images I have ever produced. I prefer the slower process of photography rather than just shooting rapidly with a digital camera. The whole process needs to be slowed right down. Everything needs to be checked over about 3 times to make sure nothing is out of place or not attached properly and most importantly no light is getting into the camera and destroying the film.

5x4

I have decided that I am going to use the 5x4 camera to shoot my portraits on for my final project. Yesterday Vinnie spent an hour with me before lunch showing me the ins and outs of the camera and all its functions and then let me play about with it for an hour over lunch so i got a feel for it. The last hour of the day I got to shoot two portraits of a friend with the camera on transparency film.

I really enjoyed the whole process of shooting. I realized that you have to slow right down in order to get the shot. Everything needs to be absolutely perfect otherwise your wasting the shot and the film. I also spent about half an hour putting film in and out of the dark slide getting the feel of it inside the dark bag.

The overall process i found very simple but everything needs to be perfect. It may sound simple but everything needs triple checked. I am looking forward to shooting properly with this camera as I believe I can produce some great portrait images with the kit. I also feel that I personally get more out of it because I have put a lot more work, time and effort into creating the shot just for that split second the shutter is open.

Doubletake Studios

I recently had an interview with Doubletake studios in Birmingham for the position of a photographer. Unfortunately I did not get the job as there was such a high demand and my lack of experience. Although I didn't get the position I still learnt a lot from the interview itself. I now know what they are looking for in a photographer and what skills they want from you.

Webiste update

I have found a web designer who has taken my website designs which i have created and is going to work on them to create the finished site. He is going to start on the framework before we get together to discuss what I am finally going to put on the sight and if anything may need taken out. I have created 4 pages so far for him to work around to create the rest of the sight and I'll let him do the rest as web design just goes straight over my head.

Freerange 2010

I have decided that for my project for Freerange I am going to create portraits of people who have underlying health issues. This may sound strange at first but since my girlfriend was diagnosed with Celiac disease earlier this year I have witnessed the effects this diagnosis has had on her and the changes she has had to make to her lifestyle. 

I want to photograph people with all different illnesses that affect them in different ways and I want to capture this through the medium of photography and portraiture. I want to see what different emotions I can capture within each individual that I photograph. Each shot will be in the studio with a white backdrop this making the individual the focus. I will use the Canon 5D Mark I and II with a 50mm prime lens with a low F-Stop to create a shallow depth of field which will allow me to focus on the main facial features. I may well do full body shots as yet I am undecided.

I feel that this project has more meaning to it than any other portraiture shoots I have done before as this has real emotion and feeling coming through. It isn't just photographing a random person for the sake of taking portraits for an assignment. These are people who suffer from life changing problems no matter how severe.

The main influences I have had for doing portraits are the likes of Dan Winters and his "Periodical Photographs" work which I found to be a great series of portraits. Also Antonin Kratochvil and his "Incognito" work, as well as Anton Corbijn. These photographers manage to capture the emotion from a person better than I have seen from anyone else. 

Millennium Images

I have completed my images for the Millennium brief given to me. I am pleased with the images I have produced but if there is anything that I would do anything differently it would be planned better in advance. I felt at times that I didn't know why I was taking some photographs and felt that they were great images but they didn't fit with the range. This annoyed me and I hated having to not put in work I liked because I didn't plan it well enough in advance. Next time I will find my focus on what I want to take images of and why so I can plan and execute in time what I want to photograph.

I have also finished my artist statement which I found to be a different approach to normally writing about my own work. Im not used to writing in third person and I certainly learned a lot from researching and carrying out an artist statement. It made me think differently and find out new ideas about my own work that I may not have realized before hand. I feel artist statements work really well in portraying your work in a small amount of words and you can really express yourself and thoughts about your own work.