The Path

Sometimes your life takes you places that you did not expect or understand. Over the last few years I have chosen many paths, some have been great, some bad and some necessary. All of the paths we chose come with consequences and mistakes as well as great joy and excitement.

View this image in my flickr photostream here http://www.flickr.com/photos/16059306@N08/

I wish I had discovered photography when I was younger, who knows where it would have taken me. All I know now is that I will continue to learn and experiment and not give up on my dream even when the path is difficult.

www.anthonydorman.com

Nyx

Nyx was the mother of Morpheus and the goddess of the night in Greek mythology. However my long suffering girlfriend Rachael was available as a stand in :-)

view this image here on flickr © Anthony Dorman

This image was kind of an accidental image that I took today whilst shooting some imagery for another blog that I write called www.intynemouth.blogspot.com

www.anthonydorman.com

99 With Monkey's Blood Please?!!!!!!!

When I was little I can remember the excitement caused by the ice cream man's siren. All the kids would here it stop what they were doing and run home to beg and plead for spending money.

View this image here on flickr © Anthony Dorman

I used to struggle with the choices, a cider lolly, screwball or a 99 with monkey's blood. I better just clarify that "monkey's blood" was the name we used as kids to describe the raspberry sauce you got with your ice cream. Every time I see an ice cream van (like this fixed one in Tynemouth) I feel nostalgic and also a little sad. I'm sad because they remind me of things that perish, not just the ice cream but also the excitement in simple things that can leave you when you become old and jaded.

Every now and then I like to process a photograph in a way that deliberately mimic the poorly processed images we all have from the 60's and 70's in our family scrapbooks.

www.anthonydorman.com

Arabian Nights?

For the last two days I have been shooting some behind the scenes images for a music video being shot in the region. I will be posting a larger selection of images soon but I wanted to post one of the more unusual candid shots that I took yesterday. What makes this image unusual to me is that the image was taken in Marsden Bay South Shields and not somewhere in the middle east. It was also cold and rainy - how typically British?

View this image here on flickr © Anthony Dorman

I have always liked shooting in very low light conditions, I find that it can be way more dramatic and intense. People are always really pleased to tell me that the sun is blazing for my outdoor portraits which drives me mad. Intense sunlight can be a nightmare to photograph people in, horrible shadows and washed out colours. Over the next few months I am going to embark on a number of dynamic night portraits.

www.anthonydorman.com

I am a Robot

I visited the Toy Museum in Tynemouth to get some photos for my other blog www.intynemouth.blogspot.com today and fell in love with their collection of vintage robots.

View the image here on my flickr page © Anthony Dorman

And here is a video about being a robot by one of my favourite and local bands 'The Futureheads'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmuAZVqwWtk

www.anthonydorman.com

The Lookout

I have been asked to produce some photographs of local scenes that are suitable for postcards promoting the local area. These images below are not those, these are way too dark and brooding for commercial tourist imagery. I have always been drawn to dark photographs and and often darken or underexpose an image just to capture a more powerful image.

View this image here on flickr © Anthony Dorman

view this image here on flickr © Anthony Dorman 

The top image of the TVLB is a recent image whilst the old disused gun battery at Blyth was taken last year. I would love to live somewhere warm and sunny but the truth of the matter is that the North Eastern coastline is more blustery and windswept than topical and sizzling.  I will at some point produce some commercial pretty coastal images but I will always balance those by producing darker more powerful work. I have never been drawn to hugely commercial photography or artwork in general. Sometimes I have been surrounded by masses of overly commercial imagery in my life which I have always found difficult to deal with. Finding a balance between the truthful image and the commercial one is extremely challenging, I am struggling with this just now in my photography practice.

www.anthonydorman.com

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Anthony-Dorman-Photography/215934471764447?ref=hnav