Inhuman Portraiture

I am a firm believer in fear. In that one singular emotion having much power. For some people it runs their lives but for the rest of us it just comes and gets to us at certain times. I personally am a pretty fearless guy if I can say so myself. I've got a good logical head on my shoulders about nearly all illogical fears. Except one. I bet you've been wondering "What does this have to do with the painting mannequin?" Well, that's my fear. I'm afraid of mannequins. Larger ones of course, and not to any degree that it causes me pain to go shopping, but still, it's in my mind and I accept it. I've taken that fear and put it to use. I've used it as fuel in a fire of inspiration I started the other night. I've got this little guy (and I couldn't tell you why, by the way, I certainly am no painter/sketcher) and I've been playing around for a couple days when I started thinking of what I could do with him.

The last two photos are the beginnings of a series I'm working on that I'm thinking about calling Student. Basically using this little guy to emphasize some of the challenges faced by students nowadays (kinda following the idea, write what you know, except in my case, its shoot what you know). Respectively I might call them OSAP and Essay. The first two are part of a set that was trying out how to light the little guy, and getting a hang of being able to form a subject for what is essentially portraiture, completely however I want.

*If you don't care about photography you could probably skip this paragraph*
The lighting was fun and I used a whole range of lighting sources to see the effects; some ambient room light, a tabletop (warm halogen) lamp, another (cool, tungsten) lamp, a computer screen and a candle. I found that the unearthly lighting was best achieved with the cooler light sources and the candle. It seemed that both extremes of colour warmth achieved satisfactorily creepy effects. Another trick I used was in the background. See the first three? Seamless, white, 90 degree coverage background with no seam. It's a miniature cyclorama I made with a sheet of printer paper, some sticky tac and a cup. Basically you make the paper curve from the tabletop to the vertical back and stick it there so it doesn't move. Pretty simple, but I got the idea from one we have at school that is about 6 metres long by 2 metres tall and 3 metres deep. Aside from all that, Tripod, telephoto lens, closed aperture, long exposures, the basics for this kind of stuff.

Overall, I'm pretty damn happy with the results and I know I'll be pursuing this some more.
Archipelago Photography

THERE IS NO PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE SUBWAY SIR

So I'm taking a photo of a telephone bank just inside the door of a subway station. There's no one around so I take a little time to set up my shot, and then all of the sudden a voice comes booming over the loudspeaker "THERE IS NO PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE SUBWAY SIR!" I nearly had a heart attack. And I didn't even think to take my shot. :(
I did however make a whole bunch of photos earlier on  the subway. It's a fascinating subject with lots of cool metaphors and visual styles possible. Perhaps I'll have to risk another incident with "The Man" and explore more of this cities most interesting transit system.
Archipelago

Flying Vermin

Maybe it's because I'm still new here, but I don't hate the pigeons, I think they are kinda cool. They are so used to human contact that you can get so up close with them and they won't even flinch. That makes them interesting subjects, and some of the most calm wild animals I've ever photographed. The story behind the second one is interesting. I had seen the pigeons gathering at one specific place for about ten minutes and then, like clockwork, this man arrived. He stopped and the pigeons swarmed him but not touching him. Then he began to feed them. I deduced he must go there often at the same time and so they were waiting for him. Cool huh?
Archipelago

Bad Photographer Jokes

"It's a good thing they're using a safety light so the chicks don't over-expose!"
Is actually the first thing I thought when I saw these baby chicks last weekend. Perhaps art school is doing strange things to me.
Archipelago

My New 'Hood

So team, this is it. The new Archipelago Photography homebase, in Toronto. I've moved away from home in London to the heart of the big city, to study Photography at Ryerson University. I've found myself a cool little place to act as my home base for the next year at least. It's been an interesting experience being on my own. I've seemed to have more free time than usual but that's probably just because classes haven't really swung into full gear yet. Yesterday I went out and took some pictures of my neighbourhood. The first one is my street but the second is not my address. The third is some weird modern art in front of a huge building the second a construction site of massive proportions. the last one is one (or two) of a series of art pieces in front of a building a few doors down from mine. There are two wolves, a couple foxes, a moose, a stag and a doe. I don't know what they're all about but I kinda like to think it's a kind of Romulus and Remus founding this next chapter of my life. I'm sure I'll have lots more product to share in the coming time. For now, cheers.
Archipelago Photography

Marbled

 Marbles are a fascinating subject. They work very well to both reflect the objects/colours around them and refract the light sources they are being lit with. One can light a whole cup of marbles with just a few light sources. They are a very even balance of smooth clear glass, and also tiny, unique imperfections and chips. At first glance they all look the exact same, but upon close inspection, the tiny bubbles in the glass, bends, misshapes, and nicks out of the surface make every marble unique. So they other day, upon realizing the ridiculous number of marbles my house in infested with, I thought they might make some good practice for some still life studio practice.
Ingredients:
-Canon Rebel T1i
-35-80mm Lens
-Manfrotto Tripod
-One clear wine glass
-One clear glass dish-type thing (Candy-dish maybe?)
-Probably 3/4 dozen marbles (half clear, half "Cat-eye", one blue)
-Two desk lamps
-Some backgrounds for colour and a counter top for the marble-y space like refractions.
Instructions:
Set up and shoot for as long as you want, try every option you can think of. If you can, shoot in RAW and play with the photos to your hearts content later.
Archipelago Photography- insulae de cogitum lumenque, maritus cum nomen

Portraiture