New Light / Old Subject

Sometimes it's difficult to make time for the things that that you love. Recently I have been working so much that trying to find a spare hour or so to get out with my camera. Although I have been producing some commercial work nothing excites me more than spare time and my home town of Newcastle to explore.

View Tyne Bridge on my flickr page here © Anthony Dorman

I ventured into the city very early in the morning and was mesmerised by the winter light. I hardly ever take photographs of the Tyne Bridge as it's done to death. Don't get me wrong its an amazing iconic bridge synonymous with Newcastle but there are too many standard images of it around. Saying all that I simply could not help myself, the light was too nice. I have to say that I do like the image, although it's square format it feels cinematic to me and I am always drawn to images that could be movie stills. I posted the image on flickr and it had a great response. 

View Breathe on my flickr page here © Anthony Dorman 

As the morning was getting later the and the light was becoming stronger I saw a young guy about to light up. I watched him for a short while to see how the smoke would show up in the sunlight. Deciding that it looked great I walked up to him and told him I wanted to photograph him. Like a lot of people in my city he was quite relaxed and said 'OK'. I told him to forget I was there and just enjoy his smoke. The way the sunlight, smoke and hair looked in the contrasting light suggested black and white was the way to go. I quite often set my camera to B&W when shooting as I like to read the image in its highlights and shadows. I always shoot RAW just in case I am wrong and want colour.

I'm still struggling with time to shoot what I want but will hopefully be out and about with my camera soon including two location model shoots which I'm planning.

Korcula Procession of Candles

I have been on honeymoon with my wife in Croatia recently. We stayed on the wonderful island of Korcula which is a fantastic destination on the Dalmation coast. Its a real gem, not spoilt by overly commercial tourism like many other European holiday destinations. Twice a year there is a candle light procession through the streets of the old town where crucifixes and other Catholic icons are carried through the streets by the local men.

 © Anthony Dorman

 © Anthony Dorman

 © Anthony Dorman

 © Anthony Dorman

© Anthony Dorman

One of the things that impressed me about the island and the procession was that children are actively encouraged to participate in every aspect of life.

These shots were taken with only the available light which was tricky as there was very little. A large aperture and high ISO was used with slow shutter speed.

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The Many faces of James

As part of my 100 Strangers Project I am often found wandering the streets of Newcastle for someone interesting to photograph. Often as in this case it can take hours to find someone of real interest. I was about to give up shooting and head home when I saw James swaying from side to side saying hello to passers by. Most people would have gone out of their way (everyone else was) to avoid James but not me. I asked him if I could take his photo and was treated to 10 minutes of surreal emotional entertainment. This guy had so many expressions it was amazing, as we talked II just kept shooting and got the following images (and more).

James is one of those characters destined to be on the fringe of society, he was erratic and unstable in his dealings with me, one minute happy, the next intimidating. Above all he was a dream subject because he played to the camera and offered a human insight that you rarely observe from the general public. If James ever sees these photographs I would like to thank him again and wish him luck in life. 

See my photos of James on my flickr page here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/16059306@N08/

The Eyes Have It

In a pretty awful week I did see this and it made me smile. I love it when you see a little piece of stupidity in an unexpected place.

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Ron Bedford

I have been shooting some comercial work recently which has taken a lot of my time and therefore neglected this blog. I have been writing another blog http://www.intynemouth.blogspot.com/ also - this is a blog to showcase the people, busineses and events in my village Tynemouth. I had a spare half hour today so went stranger hunting for my '100 Strangers Project' Before long I saw Ron standing at the traffic lights on the opposite side of the road from me. I waited for him to cross onto my side of the road and asked him to be in my project.

Ron 58/100 '100 Strangers' see it here on flickr © Anthony Dorman

Ron agreed and the image above is the result. the image has been treated in photoshop with a sharpening mask, some surface blur, dodging and burning and contrast tweeks for anyone interested. I gave Ron a card and he gave me his, Ron is a local singer songwriter - this is one of his songs on YouTube www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDX32jEzNDU I got another interesting starnger on the train my way home but that is for another day.

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Trashy Lingerie

Taken whilst in Soho with my girlfriend last summer. I feel comfortable taking candid street photography in any city other than where I live. Somehow major cities like London or New York lend themselves to this kind of photography.

Trashy Lingerie

check out the "Trashy Lingerie" on flickr © Anthony Dorman