Focus and feeling

Somehow, after 3 years of pin sharp focusing at Poppit Sands, I am finding that my ideas are shifting towards the slighty out of focus. Actually, when I am shooting at Poppit nearly everything is a tiny bit out of focus on purpose as the sands just reflect light and you get a million tiny specks. When I started walking the streets of Cardiff everything was way out of focus and blurred - once again on purpose. So you could say that I hardly ever actually shoot much that is in focus. Strange really.

More studio work

I find that I am being drawn further and further into studio shooting. The work seems to be running along side my new darkroom experiments - as if they were made for each other. Admin work is being pushed to the side as I shoot models during the day and shoot Poppit in the evening. The two subjects are feeding off each other as they overlap in my thoughts.

Studio work

Studio work is such an unusual concept for me - being able to control things such as lighting and posture of the model. However I find that the same basic truths apply to working this way as with working at Poppit. I still think of the sands at Poppit as a kind of model in a way - and this has allowed me to transfer most of my way of thinking into the studio.

Latest Poppit Work

The ups and downs of new work

There always seem to be days when nothing works - and yet you come back to the work later and it all happens within minutes. I find that the massive highs of creating new work is matched with the miserable depths of repetition and re-working.

But they must both be there - for some reason I always have my highest creative highs after a long batch of admin work or marketing. For some reason the low and boring points are essential - I have no idea why. I often hear of photographers or artists who are upbeat and on the go all the time.

How they do it I have no idea - because without those lows I think my perspective and judgement on my own work would be thrown sideways. I know that when things are not going easily I am very critical of my own work - and therefore edit it down to only the best I can do - and that is essential.

And realising this makes those admin duties a bit more bearable, as they seem to have more than one obvious purpose.

New Poppit Work

Three good evenings at Poppit gives me one keeper.

Astronomy Tower, Swansea

I very rarely include two of the same subject in any series of work - but this Astronomy Tower in Swansea really has me in its grip. There is something about it that is so unusual and special. Maybe it is the light - or the fact that it is on the sea shore - or maybe it is the curves and the whole feeling of the place. I was thinking about this - trying to figure out why this building excited me so much and I suddenly realised that it resembles a rocket launch pad (to me anyway). My Poppit Sands work was very strongly influenced by my childhood excitement of space and the Apollo missions - maybe the Astronomy Tower is another link into that same part of my childhood without me realising it.

New work from Swansea

After researching Swansea for a while I have finally photographed there. I knew which structures I wanted to shoot and luckily the weather was good.