Plas Newydd Llangollen

I have been bitten by the joiner bug on a recent visit to Collen Church I couldnt pass the oppertunity by, the skies were so blue inbetween the showers. I have compiled a small joiners to do list that Id like my visual to match my minds one. On this list was Plas Newydd so below are a few images of that days visit.

                                             
                                                  
                                                                    The  Joiner

The  Garden  1

The    Door

The   Garden  2

                                                                        The   House

 

The   Grounds

A  Shutter on  the  window

The Fringe Festival LLangollen.

I belong to Llangollen Camera Club. I can't believe 12 months has passed us by already. Once again we have been asked to contribute to an exhibition  about "1000 years of Llangollen". Last year our contribution was about "Pobl", which means "People" in Welsh. We decided to call last year's entry "Home and Away" due to our photographs being about people here and abroad.
So far, our title has been talked about being called "A Window into the Past". This was discussed at one of our club meetings about our contribution. I put forward my idea, which I explained to the rest of the group. This was that as there are at present not many members in the group, this allows us to be able to display 4 framed photos each. The next part of my idea was that visually, each 4 photos would look good displayed as if they were a window. Members then had to decide for themselves if they wanted their photographs displayed either portrait or landscape.
The process we used to decide what we wanted to photograph was to write down everything we could think of visually associated with Llangollen. As 1000 years is a large aspect to cover, many of the landmarks were written down as choices such as Plas Newydd, Dinas Bran, Valle Crucis Abbey and Collen Church.
Debbie came up with the idea of water and the River Dee. We then drew her attention to the fact that the bridge is one of the 7 Wonders of Wales - which surprisingly she didn't know! Martin, after a few glasses of wine, thought that his contribution should be the pubs in Llan!
Recently one of the college projects was to create a "Joiner" and I had done  mine on Whittington Castle. This then inspired me to try out another one and I thought this would be a great opportunity to incorporate what I had learnt into this display.  I said that whatever we did I would like to do mine in the form of a Joiner and to some members of the group I had to explain what this method was.
My first idea was to do Plas Newydd but another chap in the group lived virtually opposite it and due to his other commitments it was only fair that he had that choice.
Debbie suggested Collen Church to me which at first I wasn't too sure about  the fact that visually I was going to do it justice in a way.
I went into the churchyard, there were 3 areas where I viewed the church to try to get the best possible view of it and the churchyard. This was very difficult due to the season it is. In May trees are in full bloom and whichever way I viewed the church, some trees made it difficult to get the best shots of the church itself. So the viewpoint that I eventually chose was the best in my opinion.

                                                         
                                        
                                         This is a joiner of St Collen Church I have produced.



I noticed as I was going around the church that both the windows and doors are decorated with stone heads. Some are of women, most are of men. I also could see that some were damaged - particularly in the nose area!
I like taking photos of statues and other carved figures so I took a few photos and then thought about what I could do with the photos.
In college we had investigated how photographers create "Typologies" which are a series of photos taken of types of things and for college I had concentrated on car wheel hub caps. I thought that perhaps I could use these photos of stone heads in the same way for another part of my exhibition entry.

                                    This is my typology of stone faces on the outside of the church.
  


I have already got in my head the idea that my other entries would be the church windows and the roof. The reasons being that I have found out that the wood used for the roof came from Valle Crucis Abbey and the windows maybe, like the church, are 16th. century.
I am still toying with the idea of how to present the last 2 photos in my window presentation. When I get to the church on my next visit the "Big Guy" will send me some inspiration!

                                         This is meant to look like a postcard of the windows.



I visited Collen Church yesterday (22nd May) and I would like to say thank you to the vicar, (whose name has slipped my mind sorry), whom I talked to. He was very friendly and made me feel welcome. He took the time to tell me some history of the church and explained some of the alterations that have been made over the years. He was very informative. I enjoyed our conversation very much.

                             
                                         
                                             My selection of interior shots in the church.
                                          



The dates of the festival are: July 15 - 23, 2011 but the exhibition is normally on a little longer so please phone the pavilion to check details.                                          

Aperture Camera Club 

come and join us 

LLangollen photographic club is attended by a small group of dedicated local photographers.

The group meets every 2nd Thursday in the month

7.30 pm - 9.30 pm

At the Rafa club,

Canalside Gardens,

      LLangollen. 

            

How I have found the first year now that is is comming to an end?

I can't really comprehend that the year has ended and this may be due to the fact that the academic year is  different to what I'm use to. It took me a while to settle in due to a totally different environment, the pace of everything and seeing so many other people every day on a larger scale. I have been grateful to student support for everything they have helped me with, without this everything would of been so much harder. Linda, my helper no 2, and my main helper Janet have both been exceptionally supportive and encouraging.
                 In so many ways It does feel like a second home  but at certain times and in certain places I do feel more safer than in other areas .
 Most of the lectures I have enjoyed and the talks we have had from different people, including Futures Week. It's just that as I have written before, I find keeping still and concentration hard at times.
Trips I have gone on have been LLandudno for Freshers Week, Liverpool directive studies, Stoke for animation and not forgetting my first ever trip abroad  to Paris for photography and they have all been really interesting and educational in more ways than one.
                 I find that many of the other students within Regent St. are really friendly and do acknowledge others. This may be due to the fact of the environment being small,also a few of the others that are in different medias from Freshers Week stop and chat. The lady in the art shop and the domestics are really friendly too, whereas in the main campus its mostly the 3rd floor staff in student support, the ladies in both coffee shops and a few domestic ladies that make the effort to  talk to you. Despite this there is the usual early morning coffee drinkers that congregate and acknowledge each other. Oh not forgetting two on the reception that are always friendly.
                         The assignments we have been given I have enjoyed. They have all challenged and stimulated my cravings for brain activity in so many ways. We have had quite a mixture, the adverts to do, story boards too I have enjoyed and found fun. I have always been fascinated by how they have gone through the thought process to achieve what we see as an advertisement. So many times I have enjoyed watching an advert for the entertainment and construction factor of it.
                          Filming - I guess the amount of planning and preparation that goes into achieving a 5 to 10 min film I hadn't anticipated and many times due to long periods of concentration needed on  certain tasks within this area my concentration span was limited. Despite this the teams that I had joined to work in  had shown their dedication to these tasks in the work that was produced and these included the following films ( The Spy Who Chased Me, See John Run, Dark Symmetry and the latest The Wrong Way).
                          The Audacity program for making a conversation out of many to sound like one is full of different connotations and was really cool to use. This I really enjoyed learning about and it has then enabled me to look for sound effects not only for the movie but in the decades slide show we produced.
                            At times I found the briefs a little confusing and changeable which was disorientating because I thought that I had got the gist of a task when explained, but then this seemed to change into wanting something else achieved within the brief.
                            The studio work I enjoyed especially in a small group as it doesn't feel so intimidating. I like this work because when your subject relaxes you see their personality come out and you see the different sides to them. You wouldn't see this in a larger group. I am hoping to revisit this area before we start again next term.
I enjoyed the lectures that we had, mainly due to their content, but not always their delivery. I have also visited some of the websites that were recommended at the lectures and I enjoyed looking through them as part of my general research. I have yet to visit and watch the Ted talks online.
I've missed our earlier sessions when we discussed and viewed  other students work as I enjoyed these as they showed me how other students had interpreted their briefs. Despite this statement, we have had a critique yesterday and it was great to see how other people have used film and music.

The music video

                                                             The music video.


This was the last assignment that I completed. I had initially envisioned a total different outcome. I am grateful to all of those who helped me on this project, as my knowledge of programs and how to get what I want out of them without taking a week's trip to arrive at where I want to be, would have been a distinct possibility. I'd have been awake all weekend getting no where!
             It was really great to be able to get together with an old friend David who I always like to collaborate with. Somehow we understand our strange  way of communicating.We had spent previously many hours compiling tunes and on some tracks using samples off others' music.
  Due to technical problems we were not able to make a soundtrack with vocals. I have always liked Eurythmics' acoustic version of " You have placed a chill in my heart " and also many of Alison Moyet's other acoustic arrangements. I had hoped to produce my interpretation of something that was acoustic in sound. Secondly the other hic-cup was that we were not able to get a connection from the camcorder to the laptop. Although in the past I have made many films to music by plugging in and out sockets into the stereo and then taping onto a video - Technology has progressed and I am therefore a little behind in connecting up and achieving what I'd like to achieve in the new digital world.
             Despite this early Friday abrupt start to the weekend I had come up with a backup plan. This was influenced by snippets that I had seen on Sky's "The Landscape " channel. Instead of moving images to classical music or panpipes arrangements of well known music, I had decided to use our piece of music which I felt was a feel good piece of music to chill to, with something visually relaxing. The next idea was to incorporate some of my own photography images.
We called the piece of music we created "Sunshine" and I searched through my photos to find suitable visuals which would give an added feeling of relaxation. I used Picasa, with some help and guidance, to match sound to vision.
I am happy with the result and it has inspired me to explore this media further. I will need to progress a little more with using the digital technology because I have an idea of matching up some of my films of mining  industrial building with a music backing track and possibly will be able to develop this further during the holidays.          

Comments and pics on the last module pack ( assignments completed ) part 3

                                          

                                             Filming in Talacre for the film The Wrong Way.

                                                 

                                              I think it was too cold and early for everyone!
                                                                     "Where is Sue" ?

Inside what is referred to as "The Grotto"

                                                           Can you spot Sue at the end?

                                                           One of the entrances - exits.

                                                     A shelving area made out of many things such as
                                           shells and quartz in what we refer to as " The Shell Room"

                                                   The room with no roof  leading to the grotto

     Summary of filming

Filming in Talacra was cool, due to the fact it was somewhere I had never come across or seen anything like it before. I also became a small accomplishment for me that it was another place I could drive to without navigation. In many ways it was not what I had envisioned it to be like in my mind, due to the verbal descriptions I had been given. Luckily it was less scary than my mind had conjured up. It was a great find of Gemma's as a location. I don't think anywhere else would of given the same atmosphere.
                                        Horror is a genre of films that I had stayed away from, due to the fact that the types of films I watch and like are about cool cars like "The Fast and Furious", psychological thrillers, action, marshal arts and true life. The fact of being in a creative art school means that you have the opportunity to explore areas that are out of your comfort zone. This in hindsight was an excellent chance to dip my toe into these waters. I enjoyed being a part of the team, I especially enjoyed using my particular interests and talents to hopefully enhance the project.
                                       For this project I spent quite a bit of time behind the camera, so it resulted in an improvement in my skills in that department.  I also kept an eye on continuity which was something that I enjoyed due to my organised nature.  Even from behind the camera, I was involved with several scenes - for example, in one scene, Dave is dragged away - although off camera I was there to break his fall!
                        Post production, having been given a list of sound effects  and music needed, I was solely responsible for finding and recording them - this involved good communication between myself, and Gemma & Sue, who were doing the film editing. Communication in fact was a very large and important factor through this whole project, as it was the biggest production of this sort that we had ever tackled. From the early planning stages, through to the very end, it was good to have the constant exchange of ideas and feed back between myself, Sue, Gemma and Dave.
                        Another good part of the experience was seeing how we dealt with Dave's absence, for most of the post production stage, due to his being away for 3 weeks on honeymoon - even though we missed him it was a good example of our team work in that we all pulled together.
                

During the making of the film, we began to discuss having a group name and logo. Sue came up with '4Sight', as a name, and I immediately could envisage an eye forming part of the logo.  I came up with the following design, as a basis for how we could develop the logo.

                                                       This is the design that I came up with.

                                                                    Sue added colour.

                                   Sue neatened it up and then played with the fonts on photoshop.

                                   


Gemma then developed it into this.

Working in a team.

Working as a team is something that I have never really been to good at, even when I was in the outside world of the working environment. I feel lucky to be a part of a group that doesn't seem to have a negative attitude towards my difficulties. Despite this I deliver what is asked and required of me. I feel that as individuals within a group we all bring different skills, this is a more balanced way that a team can work. Ideas and suggestions can be made an are looked at, discussed and sometimes incorporated if the team feels that they could work. Within the dynamics of any team problems can arise, I feel that it is due to the environments that our team members have previously been a part of helps to enhances the lines of communication.

I have learnt on this shoot that my continuity skills need to be sharper. Trial and error of using a recorder with a tripod. Each film is like sipping a fine wine each sip gets better. strangely how to drive to Talacra in rush hour with thick soup fog. The importance of how glue holds a team together and finally how I need to relax and enjoy the experience more.   

                                                                                                                          

A summary of the last module pack given.

                                        



The last module pack that I was given and have completed, I found firstly for me personally a little over whelming in the aspect that maybe I was spoilt for choice. I think that I would have coped better by having three at a time. With my style of learning I have difficulty in producing what I see visually and then producing what Id like to achieve as a solid form. Many times I find that I have to research images of what I see as a helping tool  and then I take parts out of many images to then produce one piece of work. This takes a lot of time and energy in working out my final images of a piece of work.
               I also find that my creativity can be a waiting game for me which I find extremely annoying when time scales have to be met. Creativity seems to be something that I find I am not able to do on demand. I find that on so many occasions I can also become too analytical in reading to much into and confusing myself with briefs. Maybe in hind sight this may not be a bad practice as I tend to try and cover many angles that may need to be looked at, being too self critical can and is a hurdle for me to over come. Another is trying the impossible of being a perfectionist, as this seems to be one of life's goals just to keep you on your toes, and an impossible mission to accomplish.  I am trying to replace this with the compromise  of personal satisfaction instead. This is why I appreciate the help that I have in place, so my fixations can be recognised and a different side of analysing things is discussed. This helps me to reach my full potential.
             Despite everything I have thoroughly enjoyed each task and appreciated them for what the learning out comes have been. Each module I found took me to a new level of achievement in learning how to tackle new aspects of photography that may never have been brought to the forefront of my mind. Images can quite easily be taken for granted - it just needs that little something to draw your attention to it.
 The work that I have produced I feel that I have done best to my ability and have pleasantly surprised myself. There have been so many areas that have captured my enthusiasm that I have re - explored some modules.  There is a fridge magnet that I have at home and I find the caption very true of me it reads " I'm in my own world its OK they no me hear ". In reference to this, I feel that I do on many times, find it easier to be in my own world of viewing and seeing, visualising, appreciating and analysing the many things that surround us in every day life. I call this my child's inner view of the world. To me it brings an inner peace, comfort, a sense of devilment in a good way, humour and if I'm honest I feel lucky to have this. Despite this, inquisitiveness can have its down falls. I just like to question many things, and I then presume that anyone I ask knows the answers.
The more I'm exposed to the university environment, the more I am  tending to build a picture in my mind that looks like a family tree with the word Photography at the top. The lines then come off as genres with new doors/avenues of exploration and categories.
I feel that what I have learnt within the briefs and the visual research that I have conducted has helped me to understand a little more about the photographers and appreciate their style.


The films that I have watched many have been enlightening an visually amazing  - some of these were the Koyaanisquaa films  which I managed to find the other two on You Tube. I enjoyed many others which were shown earlier such as " Daily motion - we have decided not to die" which I thought was a very moving piece of cinematography.

As the days roll by just like the sand slowly falling into the waiting glass below of the egg timer, I feel that time is passing me by. Its also feels like I'm standing still and the outer space around me is spinning faster and faster a blur to the human eye. Just like that child confronted in the candy shop with so many choices before them I too stare with my eyes wide open trying to comprehend how I can accomplish all that Id like to explore and learn about within my environment. Id like to explore clay stop  animation, how to be able to colour images in with water colours, learn about filming software to name a few. Although there has been a few lessons on filming with "Hollywood Dave"  I have felt too bogged down with  the completion of other tasks to be able to commit and fully be able to attend and progress in these lectures. I am  starting to feel a little left behind and  that a pool of knowledge has been a missed opportunity so far.  The other area I feel that I am missing out in is studio work , again due to the fact that I am completing other work. Slowly I'm starting to feel like I am stuck on a conveyor belt and can't get off to try all the other things. Hopefully next year will be different?
 The help I find within the college is around, but I sometimes am slow to ask for any and then getting a convenient time slot can be difficult. Sometimes I don't finish tasks as quickly as others do which frustrates me, and then it doesn't leave me as much time for experimenting and  accessing other peoples' knowledge as I would like to. This is a double edged sword for me as I  like to spend loads of time trying things out for the modules, but I don't want to hand in shoddy work - or be behind schedule so I have to forfeit other areas sometimes.

Comments and pics on the last module pack ( assignments completed ) part 2

4                                                                   Street Photography



                These are taken in Paris.

This is a favourite of mine - I like the look of contemplation.

                                                    A typical look I thought of impatience.

                                       This made me smile - the care free laid back approach to life.

                                                                Peek a boo I can see you!

                                                         Dog tired after a hard days work!

                              I liked the relationship between the two, in a protecting way of the adult.

                                               I hope my boss doesn't recognise me skiving!!

                                                   I bet its a woman they're looking at!

                                            They could of taken it to a car bootie or to be recycled!

                                  I found the body language between these two entertaining.





                     These are taken in Wrexham.

                                                  See no evil, hear on evil and speak no evil!!

                                                        Just let me get home expression.





I really liked the opportunity to explore this aspect of photography as it was an area that I hadn't even thought about. Confidence, picking the right moment and praying you hadn't been seen doing it were a few barriers to over come.
I'd like to carry on and explore this further and maybe I have to find the environments that tolerate this intrusion. Despite research findings, I feel that not always monochrome does the picture justice and that is why I some of my chosen entries have been a mixture. For example, I love  the photo that I took of a woman eating chips - compare it to the colour version and to me the monochrome appears flat and not as interesting. An example of this statement is included below.
Trying to find the right mix of invasion and not letting society make you feel awkward for taking photos of children and the innocence of doing that has now been made to make you feel perverted in a way. Despite this there are still so many exquisite photo opportunities for capturing children's innocence that they could become lost to the photographer.

5                                                                 Still life.


      Coins


I initially used coins to explore the colour relationship between gold, silver and bronze. I found finding a way to display the coins a little complicated for what I had imagined so I moved on to explore how i could pile the coins up and make them interesting, visually. I do not think I quite managed to portray exactly what I envisioned.

The thought process for the next 2 pictures. I thought, were a bit of an epiphany for me. What I wanted to do, but I don't think you can see it very well, is that as you look at the picture, from top to bottom, the 2p coins in the middle are shiny, new coins. These are the new design for British coinage. The coins in the centre going from left to right are the old issue of coinage and show the Prince of Wales' feathers. The outer side to the right of the centre row are the duller, first issue coin with the young Queen Elizabeth face. To the left of the centre row are the 2nd issue of the Queen's face and appear slightly duller.

The 1p coins to the right of the center are the new edition and to the left are the older ones.

The 5p coins are the earlier design, like the ones and twos.  

The 5p coins are the 2nd to last coin that I placed in position to complete the Union Jack flag. To me  I was representing the flag with the coins in age and design issue.

To try and explain the picture below, the smaller triangular inserts are all pound coins but I have laid them out to show the differences between the designs issued for Wales, Scotland and England. There are 2 sections for England and the differences are in the 3 lions and the shields used. My collection of Welsh £1 coins are showing the Welsh dragon and my Scottish coins show the thistle and the crown.

In the point of all of the triangles I have used the last and the latest issue of the Queen's face.

  
                                               A lot of money went into the making of this!



        Coal.

I thought this was another good idea. All the carvings in the pictures are made from coal - and have been "Made in North Wale"s underneath!  One of the figures, the man with his butties in a snappin box, is the face of Ted Mackay, an ex miner and a well known figure from the industry.

 The lumps of coal - 1 is from the local Bersham Bank - another is from Apedale - the third is from  Caphouse Colliery at Wakefield  - try this link   http://www.ncm.org.uk/     one of the deepest mines in Europe. I went underground in Apedale and  Caphouse  with NWMAT, the North Wales Mining Association Trust, which I belong to. 

I like the shadows in this photo.

I have included in the background picture of the headgear at Bersham. I have put it in on purpose to pay homage to the working men at  Bersham.

              I have used the lighting to simulate what it would have been like working underground.




The images I have chosen.

I wanted to call this picture "Addictions". I wanted to include without going visually overboard, some items that I thought were more general like alcohol, tobacco and drugs. I had also included in other pictures other  addictions to prescription medicines and gambling . I did do some but I took them out. This was due to the fact that I became confused by the brief of either using natural or man made items. I think I was being too literal when trying to interpret. It took me ages to decide what to do - even though I really wanted to do this task. I enjoyed this task and it would probably be something I would try again. It made me think about where to place the light to get the best effect. I used a make-shift studio at home and experimented with lighting.

6      Human landscape

After doing some research, with reference to Bill Brandt in the brief, I got a little confused about exactly what was expected. Once I had discussed this with a tutor it became a bit more clearer and I made some decisions about what I was going to experiment with and then produce.
I found this brief quite challenging due to the fact that it was something that I had never contemplated before.
I did enjoy the experimentation with lights and taking pictures of body parts so that they were not recognisable as specific parts. To help me achieve the outcome I have cropped some pictures. Below are a selection of the cropped versions but not to the standard for completion. To hand my best work in I still need to work on them a little more.