So, I thought I would have a recap of two of my favourite images from Prague, so I have selected two that I was really pleased with, there are more, but these are just some of my faves. If you want, go HERE, and you can see the whole set from Prague on Flickr, so, let’s get into them!

The first photograph, although a little cliché, is one I’m really pleased with, and it is a market scene, at “Havelske Trziste” I believe.

So, why do I like this photo? There are a few points about this image that I am just really pleased with. The first point is: the colour.

This photograph, and in fact, both the photos in this post coincidentally, were taken with the Canon AE-1, a film SLR, and it was loaded with Kodak Ultramax 400. I didn’t look specifically into the film, but it was available in a bundle at WHSmith in the airport, so, you know.

Anyway, back to the colour, the main point to me is that it looks completely real, something I feel I rarely achieve using my digital SLR, and it’s great, it looks like it looked when I was there, the glistening, brightly coloured fruits, with the harsh fluorescent lights above them, it was just like it was in real life, and that, I love.

The next thing is the DoF, it must have been darker than I remember to achieve what I can only guess was f/1.8, judging by how shallow this image is, but I think it worked well, what I love is the grapes, hanging, crisp and in focus, over the OOF people walking in the background.

All in all I am really pleased with this photo and have actually got a large professional print of it done, maybe a picture that will get walled!

The next photograph is something I entitled on Flickr, ‘stormy sea’. I will explain all in a moment, first, the photograph:

This was a ‘hidden gem’ in ways, when I looked through the photographs, in the respect that I had forgotten taking it, normally I find I remember almost everything I have taken a photo of on a roll of film, so it was a nice surprise to find something I like, but didn’t remember on the roll.

The reason behind the title is slightly confusing, even to myself. Basically, I view the lines and shapes in the photograph as something from a stormy sea, you have that fence at the bottom, an incredible shape that looks like it could be a rolling wave, and then the other fence line, the roof line etc, and to me it all appears like waves; then, you have the crack down the wall, coming from the window, which is like a lightening bolt from the sky.

Wait, it’s gonna get more confusing:

What it really reminded me of, was an animation I feel like I have seen of a stormy sea, but made out of unnatural objects, like cogs and clockwork kind of objects. I don’t know if you’ve seen the film, ‘the illusionist’ but there is a scene when certain documents are found, and there is massive elaborate cog-work inside things, and imagining those spinning is how I imagine this. Also, to make it more confusing, you know the animations for a film production company before a film? Like the one with the long straight road, and then there’s the one with the lighthouse, it reminds me of one of those too.

All in all, I have probably confused you, but I thought it would be interesting to see if anyone at all would be able to understand my thinking. I’m going to scour YouTube and Vimeo for an animation video that explains what I’m trying to say. Possibly.

Anywho, so, I like the photograph for that kind of dual meaning, but I also like the simplicity and the abstract nature of it, it’s just one I really like.

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Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little blarb on the photographs, any thoughts are welcome via email, or just in the comments on the blog, also feel free to click on the photographs and visit them on Flickr!

I thought I would try and start a new kind of regular post to the blog, in which I analyse a photo that I have taken recently, and that I like, and try and work out what’s great about them, in my mind, and then hopefully hear back from you if you agree, and if you like them too.

This photo were taken in Edinburgh, with my Canon AE-1 Film SLR, and the standard 50mm f/1.8 lens. Let’s have a look!

This photograph was taken in the ‘honesty bar’ or lounge of the Glass House hotel in central Edinburgh.

It is a photograph I really like, and am glad I took some time to take a photograph of it. Of course, in this case, the subject really is fantastic, and therefore the image is bound to be quite nice, but I think there are a few interesting aspects to how I took the photo that are worth noting:

Firstly, the focal point; You can see that I focused on the papers that were in the rack, I did this, because of what I think many people will do in this lounge, you will look at the papers, and, so the photograph does too.

This coupled with the shallow depth of field has made it seem like the rest of the room is simply the background, but yet, you can still make out much of the detail. I particularly like little points of out of focus, (OOF), light, such as the candle, and the fireplace, they are very aesthetic.

The textures in the image I think also play a key aspect, there are so many crammed into the frame: shiny metal, plush carpet, hanging fabric (background), paper etc. All of this coupled with the really warm atmosphere created in the room, makes what I really think, is a nice photo.

So what key points can we pick up from this photo?

• Focus on what people would focus on in a certain scene
• Pick a suitable aperture for the DoF you want
• Maybe try and capture some OOF highlights
• Combine textures within your image

It may all seem incredibly basic how we are looking through photographs in this way, and picking out points that you may think are incredibly simple, but I really think it is worthwhile to think of all these things for every photograph you take, and it’s definitely something that using a film camera has reminded me of, to read more on that, have a look HERE.

Thanks a lot for reading, and please, let me know what you think of this idea, whether it’s worth continuing!?

Charlie -