Once Upon A Time In The West.......Midlands!

I have not posted for the last week as I have been on a little holiday break to Shropshire with my girlfriend Rachael. We were visiting Rachael's Nan Betty as it was her annual garden party, this year with a wild west theme. I knew that I wanted to take some quite specific images using external flash. I wanted to use as much flash as possible to create a strong contrast and large depth of field to the photos. This is something quite different for me as I usually shoot with a large aperture f1.8 to f2.8 to achieve a very shallow depth of field.

View this image here on my flickr page © Anthony Dorman

I was keen to re-create the old wild west images created with massive powder flash so I set up one of my studio heads with a shoot through umbrella on full power to the camera left. I did all this thinking that I would convert the colour RAW files to sepia tones. I did however like the colour images once tweaked in photoshop and was in two minds about which to use. I made the slide show video below for a laugh and as a way of saying thanks to everyone who had their photo taken.

Here is a selection of some of the sepia images featuring a variety of the misfits, outlaws, vagabonds and harlots ha ha.

The last image is of me (yup I know I look stupid) and my girlfriend Rachael who made my weekend/ year by agreeing to marry me this time next year as part of Betty's 2012 family party celebrations. Now that we are saving for the wedding I am available to shoot party's, family get togethers (no matter how silly) and all sorts of other events. I can be contacted via my website below.

www.anthonydorman.com

http://twitter.com/#!/AnthonyDorman

More 100 Strangers (The Art of Persuassion?)

Due to a mixture of circumstances I have been unable to update my blog and indeed shoot as much as I would like to. When I don't post I feel guilty and when I don't shoot I feel sad. I had a chance last week to get out with my camera with the specific intention to continue my 100 Strangers Project which I started over a year ago. After an initial flurry of shots (a number of them I'm not too happy with) I have really slowed down.

59/100 '100 Strangers' see it here on flickr © Anthony Dorman

The shot above was taken on the Metro which is train/underground system which connects most of the more populated areas of North Tyneside. I had been sitting opposite this guy watching him looking out of the window. The light was illuminating his reflection in the window and I knew I wanted him in my project. With only about 30 seconds to spare before my stop I plucked up the courage to ask him if I could take his portrait. Although slightly bemused by the request he agreed to be in my project. I realised that I had persuaded a complete stranger to not only take part in the project but also take direction all in the space of 10/15 seconds. I showed him the image on my camera to which he said 'let me know if I'm going to be famous' It is bizarre but I have heard this before.

My stranger featured below caused a bit of a spike in my flickr photostream stats, as she featured on Explore. I was on the lookout for strangers when I saw her sitting with a friend near Monument. She really stood out form the crowd with her fantastic vibrant colours and fantastic smile. It took me a while to pluck up the courage to ask her which is weird considering I took 1000 street portraits in 1 day back in March.

60/100 '100 Strangers' see it here on flickr © Anthony Dorman

I asked her if I could take her photograph, which she agreed to and I cheekily walked her and her friend into a more shaded area as the light was very severe that day. Like my metro stranger I was amazed who accommodating people can be once they have agreed to have their portrait taken. I was once told there is a famous quote about how being a photographer is the only profession where you are universally obeyed! I'm not too sure about that, I think there is some truth in it but I also think I managed to find two nice people. I am amazed that I get very few rejections for my 100 strangers project. I find the project helps me see good in people, I have been of late becoming very jaded and cynical about the general public. Having spent the last few years selling my soul doing something I hated as a job I have wanted to distance myself form the general public. Perhaps I have somehow manage to sell myself as someone without an agenda. I'm not selling anything, there is no money required just 2 minutes of your time - sometimes only a few seconds. I always try and capture the best or at least something interesting about the people I choose to photograph. I won't include someone I really don't like, perhaps I am subconsciously choosing people I think I would like.

I posted my 60/100 on my flickr pages and was contacted by my mate and photographer Chris Harrison whom I have posted about earlier in this blog. He had taken this lady's portrait in Northside Tattooz as she is a customer of Low who I have also featured on this blog. Talk about small world!!!!! Here is Chris Harrison's portrait for his Elvis Baby series: http://grimeandglamour.wordpress.com/2011/06/05/margo/

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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

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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

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Steetley Magnesite Apocalypse Now

I have wanted to visit Steetley Magnesite for ages but just never got round to it until today. My girlfriend had to go and work in Middlesborough for a few hours so I asked her to drop me off at this site on on the way.

View this image on flickr here © Anthony Dorman

View this image on flickr here © Anthony Dorman

 There was something quite peaceful about this abandoned site which is weird because most derelict sites make you very aware of your surroundings, your senses are heightened through fear and atmosphere. I have never seen anything quite like this location, its like something out of an episode of Lost or maybe a scene from  Bond film. The site is massive, I spent nearly 3 hours walking around it and inside it. In all that time I never saw another person once which was quite weird. It was nice just getting some images on my own and simply for the enjoyment of exploring with my camera.

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Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

This image of the BAFTA award winning TV Chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall was taken today at Taylor Seafood at the Fish Quay in North shields.

View this image on flickr here © Anthony Dorman

This is one of a number of candid shots that I took whilst Hugh was filming the latest series of Fish Fight programmes today. The aim of the series is to highlight the food waste caused by EU and government regulations that make fishermen throw half of there catch back into the sea due to red-tape. I have experienced this myself when I embarked on my North Sea Adventure and witnessed first hand the amount of fish that is thrown back to die in the sea. The regulations set in place by government do not help conserve fish as it is impossible to select what enters a net. Hugh is trying to change the law to help the fishing industry and to also show that the wasted food can be used to help society. Today I shot some images at a local primary school who were being fed with today's fishing catch of fish that normally would be wasted. I was worried I would be in the way of Hugh and the crew today however they were very friendly and accommodating. I look forward to seeing the new series.

I will be posting more images on my local blog www.intynemouth.blogspot.com very soon.

Check out Taylor Foods Website here: http://taylorseafood.co.uk/#

Check out The Fish Fight campaign here: http://www.fishfight.net/ Please sign the petition.

www.anthonydorman.com