Well today was my first day of my Project 365 and I managed to get up close and personal with the Chinese Dragon during the Newcastle Chinese New Year (more on that to follow). Im pleased to get the first photo in the bag. Just 364 to go :)
On the 8th and 9th of October, I attended a Studio course with Tom Charlton Photography in Wallsend. I didn't really know what to expect, but it was one area of photography that I wanted to explore. The first thing that surprised me was the size of the studio, although not overly large it was surprising big. At one end of the room was all the backdrops and the lights, the top part was a large table with a lot of equipment laid out. The first hour of the course was spend going through the equipment leaning what each one was and what function it did. Next we went down to the studio part as I was introduced to the various backgrounds and the lights. After nearly 2 hours still not a shot taken in anger. At last we picked up our cameras and set them up to work with the studio lights, for the technically minded we shot in Manual mode with a shutter speed of 1/125 and an aperture of f8. The first few shots were used with the on camera flash to demonstrate how harsh the flash can be and the sort of shadows it casts.
After a few shots using a plain white background and the on camera flash at long last we moved into the studio area to use a blue background. Fitting a Radio Flash trigger to the camera, we set up the first shot. A single light with shoot through umbrella and reflector. Before shooting you need to use a light meter to set up the light so it is in sync with your camera. Again we took a few practice shots
Still not perfect and a horrible shadow in the background. This time we added another light to the right had side and fitted a snoot to it. A snoot is like a long tube, which you use to create a hair light.
A definite improvement, The next set up we took away the hair light and set up a light just behind the model and fitted a honeycomb grid, a honeycomb grid controls the overspill of light similar to the way a snoot would, but on a much larger scale, an interesting note here when you are adding and taken away lights you have to keep on checking with your light meter to make sure all the lights are in sync with your camera.
As you can see this is a good portrait, but we didn't stop there with the colour background, we added another light fitted with a silver reflector umbrella, so now
we were using 3 light and again each one had to be set.
A nice evenly lit portrait. We put away the coloured background to prepare to work on a black background. We were back to using one light again but with a softbox fitted this time. The main light needs to be higher than the camera.
For the next part of the background set we added some diffusers to the softbox and added a hair light to the right of the model.
For the last setup of the day we introduced a trireflector, as the name suggests its 3 reflectors in one, this was placed underneath the models chin and about chest height.
So that was the day finished, if anybody says that taken photos of models in a studio is easy, its not. Its enjoyable but hard work, and I still had tomorrow to go, where I would learn how to use 6 lights together.
On Saturday I had a most enjoyable day working with the Cosplayers from Newcastle
Wikipedia describes Cosplay as follows:
Cosplay (コスプレ kosupure), a contraction (or portmanteau) of the English words "costume" and "play", is a Japanese subculture centered on dressing as characters from manga, anime, and video games, and, less commonly, Japanese live action television shows, Japanese movies, or Japanese pop music bands. However, in some circles, "cosplay" has been expanded to mean simply wearing a costume.
Ian (Digitalrevolution) and myself followed them around Newcastle capturing the event on camera. It was a fun day walking round the streets visiting various shops before all heading towards Leazes Park.
Both Ian and myself enjoyed the day and it was different from taken the usual landscapes and floral shots. I look forward to working more with the Cosplayers in future.
Links:
Newcastle Cosplayers My Space Site
The Gateshead Millennium Bridge is a pedestrian and cyclist tilt bridge spanning the River Tyne in England between Gateshead on the south bank, and the Quayside of Newcastle upon Tyne on the north bank. The award-winning structure was conceived and designed by architects Wilkinson Eyre and structural engineers Gifford. The bridge is often referred to as the 'Winking Eye Bridge' due to its elliptical shape and its rotational movement.
Its the world's first and only tilting bridge!
Interesting Facts:
* Featured on a first class stamp in 2000.
* 36,000 people lined the banks of the River Tyne to watch the bridge tilt for the first time on 20th November 2000.
* Contains enough steel to make 64 double decker buses or 16 Chieftain tanks.
* Cost £22m to build.
* Each opening and closing takes four and a half minutes.
* Cleans up its own litter – anything dropped on the deck automatically rolls into special traps at each end of the bridge each time it opens.
* Can withstand a collision from a 4,000 tonne ship travelling at 4 knots.
* Has concrete foundations stretching to 30 metres, anchoring it to the river bed.
* Is powered by eight electric motors – enough power to run more than eight Ford Focus cars.
* Sits on 19,000 tonnes of concrete.
* Stretches 126 metres across the River Tyne.
* Was lowered into place by Europe's largest floating crane – Asian Hercules II.
* The very top of the arch stands 50 metres above the River Tyne when in its normal state.
* Weighs more than 800 tonnes.
* Is adjacent to an area called Baltic Square: an open-air performance space which has been host to a number of high profile events such as the first ever TOTP outdoor event in July 2004, Orange Evolution music festival 2005.
* Has been used in numerous television, film and media projects such as 55 Degrees North (BBC), the national football film GOAL! (GOAL Productions) and on the front cover of Bentley magazine.
100's of Harley Davidsons roared into South Tyneside at the weekend to pay respect to the thousands of servicemen and women fighting on the front line in battle zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan.
Organised by the Badlanders Motorcycle Club, based around North East England, more than 100 bikers made their way to South Shields coastline to celebrate the first Armed Forces Day.
The bikes parked up on the field of Bents Park and visited the various stalls set up by the Army, including paint-balling activities.
The free open day, organised between 205 Battery and the nearby squadron 324 Air Cadets, featured various Army-style activities throughout the day, including field craft demonstrations and drills.
And people got the chance to see an Army rocket launcher up close, while the kids found out how to apply camouflage face paint from professional soldiers.
Last weekend I had a shoot in Newcastle with Ian and Vee, Vee is with the Flickr "Shootaboot" group and is based in Milton Keynes. Although the weather was terrible with it constantly raining, but it certainly didn't dampen the spirits. The first place we called into was Central Arcade an elegant Edwardian shopping arcade built in 1906. For years the arcade was used by Buskers as the acoustics it provided was amazing. Moving across Grainger Street we next called into the Grainger Market.
The Grainger Market is the City's largest traditional market, situated in an elegant, classically styled building in Grainger Street near Grey's Monument. This under-cover market was the largest in Europe when first built in the 1830's. It sells mainly meat and vegetables with a good variety of game available. There are many other stalls, each with its own particular character. Hidden within is the unique "Marks and Spencer Original Penny Bazaar", the world's smallest Marks and Spencer store. Some Great photos were taken, not just of the market but some of the characters that work there.
We left the Market and headed down Grainger Street towards Newcastle Central Station. The Central station is the mainline railway station and is a principal stop on the East Coast Main Line. It opened in 1850 and is a Grade I listed building. The railway station is connected to the adjacent underground Central Station Metro station on the Tyne and Wear Metro. Whilst in the station we met up with an interesting group of youth who did cosplay. 
Cosplay, short for "costume roleplay", is a type of performance art whose participants outfit themselves, with often-elaborate costumes and accessories, as a specific character or idea. Characters are usually sourced in various Japanese and East Asian media, including manga, anime, tokusatsu, comic books, graphic novels, video games, hentai and fantasy movies. They were pleased that we actually came over and asked if we could take some photos as a lot of people just try and take sly photos of them. A few of them got into poses. We are planning to go again when they have their next meeting so we can take more organised photos of the day.
Moving out of the Station we headed down towards the Quayside, one of the most photographed places in Newcastle. At this stage we had to taken shelter as the heavens once again opened with a vengeance. We took a lot of photos in this area, not just on the Newcastle side but the much forgotten Gateshead side We headed back into the Centre of town for a much needed rest and a beautiful meal in a Sicilian Restaurant, here we had time to have a laugh check what photos we had already taken and relax.
No Visit to Newcastle is complete without a visit to the Flickr Wall:-
A TYNESIDE alley has been transformed into a beacon for urban artists. Bell’s Court is a narrow pathway, dubbed Newcastle’s Secret by chalk artists, which branches off from Pilgrim Street and has become home to a growing mural of drawings and poetic messages.
Contributors to the mural run a dedicated page on image-sharing website Flickr where they post photographs of their latest chalk creations.
The web page has been running for more than three years and has a cult following of members who have added markings to the wall over time to transform it into a pocket of colour in a concrete street.
From the Flickr wall we headed back down towards the Quayside to take some photos of the bridge in the twilight hours. Just by the Millennium Bridge was these two musicians, entertaining the crowds that gather on the Quayside visiting the various clubs and pubs in the area.
The Day, despite the weather was a great success, it was great to meet Vee and would love to meet up again for another "Shootaboot". Fort anybody else reading this and they fancy a shoot around in Newcastle just drop me a line, Im always willing to meet us with fellow togs.
