Analog.....

This caught my eye in the press the other day an exhibition entitled Analog - " last one out "....
It brought back fond memories and started the search for some old transparencies I knew I had knocking about in some Ilford 10"x8” paper boxes....more on that later...

...Analog is an exhibition by photographer Richard Nicholson,
photographing the disappearing commercial darkrooms......

He spent three years photographing them in London. It's scary that when he began his project in 2006, there were more than 200 thriving darkrooms dotted around the city, when he completed in 2009, there were just 12 !
Dread to think how many are left now...

My first photographic job was working in a black and white darkroom 20 plus years ago.... 

at the tender age of 17... 

 ( see image below )

It's me with my favourite toy of the time, a DE VERE 504 drop baseboard enlarger with an Ilford multigrade head. You can still buy a 504' new amazingly
( link )  but modified for the digital age.

Hours must of gone by filing down neg masks so I could print “full frame”  with the negatives black borders showing.
Fond memories of Radio 4 afternoon plays, red lights and the smell (or rather taste) of fixer which needed to be replaced once a month. Syphoned off with a tube into 5 litre containers ready for the silver to be reclaimed.
I can still taste it now.

Looking through Richard's shots it's amazing how similar all darkrooms are or evolve into.

While delving into these boxes I also came across more embarrassing pictures of me...

these are of me, going self employed....first press release shots...contact sheets even !
oh how I miss contacts....

a Hasselblad was almost a right of passage then.....

...and now the red lights have gone...its predominantly me and my 17” MacBook Pro these days....
so much more flexibility (I'm a huge fan of Silver effects pro ) but it's nowhere near as much fun...
must be getting old and I also wonder what's in store for us photographically in the next 20 years......

Photography @ " Matrix House "

champagne reception this time.....
Top 40 achievers under 40 and a new location again as well..
Vine Street London W1

a small selection below....

nice H'ordeurves as well....

Matrix House just happens to be opposite
  Chris Beetles Fine Photographs ( link )

they specialize in photographic prints by the world's most sought after photographers........Prices range from £1400 to £50000+

this Picasso for example is £75,000 ! taken by Irving Penn
( link )

another print currently on the walls
Malcom X by Eve Arnold

( link )

it is nice to see original framed prints rather than posters or books...

you just smile nicely at the lady, press the buzzer and you're in.

just round the corner and up the road a bit is Regent Street...

and the Apple store...

a quick pop in....play with some toys...
but......
I'm waiting for the 25th March
and the big decision?

to iPad 2 ..... or not to?
watch this space.......

Photography @ " The Dorchester "

back at one of my favourite hotels.... The Dorchester

a hotel full of history (more details here)....famous visitors have included Sir Winston Churchill, General Dwight D Eisenhower and T S Eliot to name but a few.....
it opened it's doors on 18th April 1931....so this year it will be celebrating it's 80th birthday !

there is also a fabulous tree out the front called The Dorchester Plane (Platanus x hispanica)

more details here

 

 I was there to photograph The PAM awards...

this year's host was Alexander Armstrong...

good host...

various awards later...

great food but.... £17:50 for a glass of house red !
(Blackberry Phone Photo below)

 and the night's over by 1:30am
all that's left is to upload approximately 600 pictures.....match them with audio files for the names 

and the night's done....

250th f8 ?

I wish !
I seem to spend my photographic life at f2 and whatever shutter speed i can get at iso 1250.
Normally with my  24mm f1.4, 50mm f1.2  or  135mm f2

It’s amazing how times have changed with digital files compared to the quality of high speed film.
Ive been shooting indoor sports activities this time for a local sports arena.....

Gymnastics....

and Climbing......

The Glamorous side of re-touching......

Not all jobs are high end fancy reworking of images for glossy publications.
Some are just as taxing but with much lower budgets...here's an example of a property that is in a state of construction.
The original image shot on a wet and miserable day.
The builders obviously want to get it on the market as quickly as possible but it's still far from being completed...

so here we go...

removal of the cement mixer...now....the relaying of some grass...

finishing off walls...

even the removal of window stickers...

The property still needs a door but its almost done...... sky added and colour tweaked...

and after a bit of time spent we can now see the potential of the house in question weeks before it is finished...... from Building Site to a Home in no time at all.