Ryan and I hadn’t seen one another for a while, and so we caught up over a Cinnamon Steamer in Tinderbox (I don’t even know what a Cinnamon Steamer is. I think it’s what babies drink before bed) . He told me about his new music video filmed for his band, These Little Kings, which involved smashing guitars and cymbals and expensive musical equipment. Afterwards we overdosed on carbs with hot dogs and fries presented in a plastic red basket. It all felt very American – the only thing missing being plastic red cups. We finished off our evening by hitting GAME and watching some PS4 trailers; Watch Dogs, InFamous and Destiny. I am excited for video games. I …
May on Buchanan Street
Remember my November on Buchanan Street photo? It was damp and rainy. Well, this is my May on Buchanan Street photo. It is also damp and rainy. Scottish summer!
Temporarily Lost
…and I have no idea what I’m doing. I know a lot of ‘creatives’ get into this lull from time to time, but my lull has been worryingly prolonged. I am putting it down to my time being taken up with other things, and – as a result – I’ve found myself picking up my camera less and less. I do have a shoot planned with a girl early May, and it will be good to push myself while doing the style of photgraphy I know will excite me.
The Dark Knight Rises at IMAX
Considering I had wanted to go on release day, but couldn’t due to shooting a wedding, I’m only a little late to TDKR party. And since I had left it longer than anticipated, I had to do it the right way and watch it in IMAX. All my friends and everyone else in the world had seen it by this point, but I dragged Ryan along, who had a private screening of TDKR the day before it was released. OOH.
Anyway, what’s to say? Catwoman. The entire time I watched Anna Hathaway’s performance as Catwoman, I was itching to get back in the gym and train. She is so strong and lean and limber. I love her. The other stuff …
Ryan and His Beanie
Whenever I hang out with Ryan I photograph his face. How can I not? He has good bone structure and happily allows me to direct him into all sorts of positions. Wait, that sounds wrong. We just did a couple of quick portraits in my living room while watching Dynamo (seriously, that is the first time I’ve watched it. HOW?). There is another on my Flickr.
Food Fiend
Ryan is my food fiend. We will both maintain that we eat healthily, yet when we get together there will always be cake and hot chocolate.
I was kicking myself today. There was a RAF gathering at George Square, which would have been perfect for some street photography. I only brought one lens with me, though, and that was the 28mm (which was an accident. I thought I had my 50mm with me). In hindsight I’m kind of glad I was lumbered with the wide angle lens. I need to use it more often, and it’s the perfect companion for close-up dog portraits.
Post-Processing: Ryan
Something that is consistently said to me, and I thank those for their compliments, is that my photos have a “crisp, clean” feel to them. There’s no secret, I think that’s mostly achieved through a well exposed photo. I feel I’ve definitely got a groove I work to now, a style I’m developing from simply spending so much time taking photos. Today I tried something a little different, though, after taking the notion to desaturate one of the photos I took on Friday. I made a video, you can watch it on Vimeo. Let me know if you want more of these, or if they are a complete waste of my time.
Portraits
Had a few friends come round last night for some pizza and cider, so I busted out the camera for some straight-up portraits. It’s nice to stand on a chair, be taller than everyone and do some straight-up portraits. These two guys are both called Ryan. They play in These Little Kings with another guy called Ryan.
Wee Ryan
I took a photo of Jane and published it to Flickr, so it was only correct I took a photo of her boyfriend and published it on my blog. To regular visitors Ryan will be very familiar. Whenever I need to practice or take a photo, he lets me abuse his chiselled face. Thanks, Ryan.
Anyway, I don’t have much to say this week. I am patiently awaiting the phone call from AJ Johnstone informing me my 28mm ƒ1.8 is fixed and good to go. It’s the widest lens I own, so I’m looking forward to getting it back. This photo of Ryan was taken with my 45mm ƒ2.8 TS-E, and it’s actually two shots stitched together vertically.
