City of Towers: Tuscan Reportage

Around Cairn Toul: Caingorms

Amsterdam

Around Geal-Charn: Central Highlands

Po tym jak nam sie udalo przetrwac, na jednej z nielicznych szkockich autostrad, jadac niezwyklym Nissanem Micra z niesamowita automatyczna skrzynia biegow... oraz korzystajac z cennych uwag Adama ("a teraz w lewo... nie to lewo! kurwa hamuj!") - wcielonego w postac mojego pilota... Dotarlismy do Dalwhinnie - ostatniego miejsca do ktorego mozna dostac sie samochodem (zreszta bylo to zbyt pochopne mniemanie jak sie pozniej okazalo, ale nie uprzedajmy faktow)...

Still Life

I was busy last time... the end of semester... work... etc.

But now, I've presented new stuff from still life studio shooting... :)

Almost Everythings for Sale: Personal Project

The first was an experiment if is this technique possible? Like James Clerk Maxwell... One full colour picture is formed by three images in different colours (red, blue and green), by means of exposing one frame three times with an immobilized camera and diffrent filters... but not in the same time. This technical trick causes peculiar disturbance of the commonly subscribed to and accepted essence of photography like 'cut through time', 'decisif moment'...

And some shots for this project...

Hogmanay: street tripping

Unfortunately, I'm working the back shift on Sunday so I had to celebrate Hogmanay a bit earlier... during a fireworks test :)

Drawing with Light: an experiment

The recipe for this image.

Get:

- a digital camera (x1),

- a tripod (x1),

- a pillow (x1),

- a string (1m),

- a torch (small),

- a sticky tape (5cm).

Put the camera on the pillow. Join the torch with the string and the tripod, if necessery, use a sticky tape. Push the torch. Apertures and shutter speeds to your taste. Enjoy! :)

Musselburgh: the location stock unite assignment

The race to the cars - the last smells of the poo :)
Ups... The horses were too fast... and I saw only ass'... :)

It was the final session of Musselburgh for Adam Elder - the tutor of the location stock unit.

Red Hot Chili Peppers: Road Trippin'

The good piece of music: Road Trippin' by Red Hot Chili Peppers, so now, you know how I've found the title of this blog. :D

Homage to the Doughnut: Andalusian Reportage

Those few images are memory of a friend in need... and little homage to him :)

Our friendship has become a contract with his parents, it isn't good for start.

The first meeting was in the night, so nobody was sure about colour: 'golden' or 'green-pea'*? And was called: the Doughnut.

Life was spent on recreation...

... and the rural idyll in Ronda's El Sur...

...or watching on sunrises on the biggest screen, for a reasonable price...

We were in a bit of tricky situations like wilderness in Los Millares...

...rocks in El Torcal...

...sheeps in El Chorro...

...winds in Costa del Sol...

...fogs in... somewhere...

...parkings in Gibraltar...

...and unfaithfulness!

After all, I looked after him...

At the end, we spent exactly 2470km together. Thanks you for everything, my sweet doughnut and, I hope, see you soon :)

*Ford gives information that it is 'arena metalizada' or, in english, 'sublime (metalic)' :)

Ola+Marcin: the social photography assignment

Ola and Marcin were shot as 'on location of a couple in a romantic setting'... but in Scotland is nearly impossible to have weather permitting for this kind of pictures, so we were shooting in the Glasshouses of the Royal Botanic Garden.

It was quite funny experience of taking picures cos the 'weather' condition was variable from desert to tropical climat... it depends on the suitable glasshouse... ;)

The Family: the social photography assignment

A clear order was given by Pauline Johnson: Organise a sitting for a family (or other) group in the studio. Prints must be submitted by 14th December. Presentations can be in PowerPoint with music or you may show digital files and discuss them. These will be projected on Thursday 11th and 18th January...

Photography isn't only taking pictures :(

Cats vs. Dogs: Andalusian Reportage

The 'Royal' Cats from the Palacios Nazaries in the magical Alhambra, which is one of the most sensual palaces ever bulit...
The Cats were everywhere... in the harem as well...
What is this: Bicolor, Tuxedo, Van, Tabby, Tortoiseshell and Calico etc.etc??? There are cat coat patterns... and all of them we can find in Granada...


The Guardian of the Generalife - the gardens and summer palace of the Nasrid rulers... Sleepy?
Cats conserve energy by sleeping more than most animals, especially as they grow older. Daily durations of sleep vary, usually 12?16 hours, with 13?14 being the average. Some cats can sleep as much as 20 hours in a 24-hour period...

Cats are also in Pop Art.

The Dogs... are less indenpendent, so are more similar to people.

Sometimes, cats have serious problems...

...but dogs, I think, have more existential problems... How are dogs going to tackle it?

Usually I prefer cats... with the exception of the Samoyeds.
I dream of this dog and, in Ronda, one thrust at me... Unfortunatelly, he can 'speak' in French :) but few hours, we were going together.

Lou Rhodes: the gig

A quite old pict from the Lou Rhodes' concert in the legendary King Tut's Wah Wah Hut in February.

It was in a very good mood and intimate atmosphere performance. Her music is softly-softly folk, pastoral imagery and brittle voice... I can recommend a piece 'Fortress' from her last CD: Beloved One...

...but it is probably the image of Mike Simmonds - a violinist and also member of band 'Oddur' which is a quite good performer...

Anyway, the gig was excelent!!!

Me, Myself & I: the portraiture assignment

Narcissism? I don't have too much admiration for myself. It's done for an assignment from Simone O'Callaghan - my lecturer in portraiture.

David Bailey style: the portraiture assignment

Some new stuff... It's still hot!

David Bailey is legendary, but his style is quite simple: Bailey cut off the tops of the subject's head or cropped in closer than most traditional portrait photographers would have done at the time. The background was brighter (around 2 steps) than the foreground which was lit up by one flash, giving a quite hard contrast... Yeah... Quite simple... In theory.

The Corrida: Andalusian Reportage

Honestly, it's really disgusting. See one time - no more... It should be enough for everyone.


If you want to know about bullfighting links can be found at http://www.mundo-taurino.com/

However, in Andalucia is a strong anti-bullfighting pressure group - ASANDA.


Once the ring is empty, alguacilillo opens the toril (the bulls' enclosure) and the bull (weighting 500-600kg) appears - a moment of great physical beauty.

The bull is made to charge of the horses, at which moment the picador driver his short-pointed lance into the bull's neck, while it tries to toss his padded and blindfolded (on the right eye) mount. The whole purpose here is to tire and weaken the bull's powerful neck and shoulder muscles, thus forcing him to lower his head - without which it would be impossibly dangerous to fight and kill on foot.

The next stage... Banderilleros delivers in turn, attracting the bull's attencionwith the movement of his own body rather than cape, and deftly placing the banderillas (barbed darts mounted on coloured shafts) whilst both he and the bull are running towards each other.

Occasionally a canny animal sets off in pursuit of his tormentor...

The matador displays his skills on the (by now exhausted) bull. He uses the movements of the cape (a red muleta) to attract the bull, while his body remains still. If he does well, the band will start to play, while the crowd ole each pass.

The matador attempts to get the bull into a posision where he can drive a sword between its shoulders and through to the heart for a coup de grande. In practice, they rarely succeed in this...

If the audience are impressed by the matador's performance, they will wave their handkerchiefs and shout for an award to be made by the president.

The president can award one, both ears, and a tail - the better the display, the more pieces the matador gets... but if things get really bad - the cuadrilla ends the business with a puntilla, a dagger stabbed into the base of yhe beast's skull.


The bull may be applauded fot its performance, as it is dragged out by the mule team.

to be continued...

Andalucia 2006

The first post... In this way I've started my adventure with the blog... but at first, a bit of the memories of... Andalucia - one of the most photogenic region in the world, then one of the most photographed...

Is it possible to add somethings to long pictures list of Andalucia? After all, almost 150 years ago the 'magic' images were taken by Charles Clifford*... About his picture 'Alhambra' Roland Barthes wrote that would like to live there... Next famous - Robert Capa with extraordinary, documentary pictures of the Spanish Civil War (with a famous, but also controversial, picture 'The Falling Soldier' - which was taken in the andalusian town - Cerro Muriano)... In addition - David Alan Harvey - the one of my favorite photographers, who has been repeatedly drawn to the passion and lyricism of Spanish culture both in Spain and the New World.

The series of my andalusian pictures are comming soon... I warmly welcome :)

*click 'imagenes' in the top left-hand corner.