Photo web connect

Getting it right

susanfurber — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:00:18 +0000

Studland Bay

Over the weekend, I did a shoot with a friend on the Isle of Purbeck, near Studland Bay. ‘Old Harry’s Rocks’ was about an hour away from home by car, over the very short car ferry and then about a 20min walk to the cliff face. The location was gorgeous, very lovely coastline and considering the forecast was originally for a clear night, we had some awesome clouds to add some texture to the shot. We spent a couple of hours shooting, and I did struggle a bit to find a composition I liked. One of my favourites had a lovely painter sitting in it, who was also enjoying the end of day light in the middle of it!. I have spent a couple of nights editing a few of my favourites and trying a few things, but I think I have to admit that I just haven’t quite nailed it unfortunatelty. The interesting thing is trying to work out why. I think I did actually get a composition that I quite liked, sorted few a few traps and problems by changing positionts a few times, and the light was lovely, just tipping the tops of the rocks as it dipped behind the cliffs. The colours were great and I think I have it balanced now with my edits, so I am happy enough with that. But the horizon is bothering me and it is missing a wow factor, something I know now that I need for my shots to put them in the finals arena.

So, proving that all the conditions can be right, right place, right time, but there can still be something missing. The good news is that the location can go on the re-visit list now, and I will spend a bit more time looking through my shots to work out what I want to try differently for next time. So, it doesn’t make the website I’m afraid, or indeed phase 2 of the portfolio, but let me know what you think. All part of the learning!

Location location

susanfurber — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 15:50:16 +0000

I just love exploring new locations. As a photographer in training, I know I need to work on return visits and I am trying to do that this year, a lot more than in the past, but there is something about going to a new place that you have never been to before and exploring the potential, and just soaking in the new elements. It’s like looking for a house in many respects, I tend to go on gut feel whether it feels right (or not). Locations are a lot like that for me, I either fall in love with them, or it feels a bit wrong. Its why I love travel and it is what draws me to photography in many respects. I like the new, the unexplored and the challenge of exploration.

Today’s find was literally just down the road – easy to get to, parking a bit expensive, but I think there may be a cheaper option and some great photographic potential for phase 2 of my profile….great stuff. There was also a lot of detail opportunity with masses of fishing nets and pots and all sorts. The shot in this post I took on the walk along the quay, exploring what was around. There were a couple of windsurfers in the water, with the wind picking up quickly the conditions were just right for them. Not so for me really, and the exposure on this one was a bit tricky so I have tried a few editing techniques to try and give it the feeling I was after…hopefully not overprocessed. Feel free to let me kinow what you think.

PS – don’t forget to follow me on facebook for more images and news…

https://www.facebook.com/Furberphotography

Susan Furber Photography comes to Facebook!

susanfurber — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 20:55:12 +0000

It has been on the cards for a while, but a bus journey contemplation this morning, cemented in my head, my social media strategy for 2012 for my photography (it wasn’t that long a bus journey really!). I dabbled last year with a few things, redbubble, photo web connect (blog and facebook), love/hate relationship with flickr and taking all things into consideration I have decided to change direction slightly and feature Susan Furber Photography, as both my website and facebook page.

I will use the page to launch my new portfolio of images in March/April and to feature some of my other projects, trips planned for the year and hopefully successes along the way. I will aim to bring you the best of the best, and it will free my facebook timeline to feature some things in my life other than photography for a change!

Photo web connect as a FB page will therefore be phased out over the next few months (sorry to my 10 fans….), but I will retain this blog to continue to document my journey. I found it very cathartic last year to be able to write about my frustrations, challenges and ultimately a few successes. I will probably use this less for visuals, and more for links and thoughts…but you get the drift I hope.

So, if you are a FB follower and would like to find me, follow me and hopefully LIKE me, find me at

https://www.facebook.com/Furberphotography

See you there!!

Black and white portfolio pending….

susanfurber — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 15:09:16 +0000

I am getting excited now! Since probably end of September last year, I have been working on all of the elements to enable me to put together a portfolio of my very very best current black and white work. I have spent quite a bit of time thinking about shot selection, editing, working out whether the shots work together as a set and talking to trusted photographers for input and feedback. Yesterday I received some invaluable expert advice on some of the editing of my selection of 10, and over the course of the next month, I hope to be packaging up the set as my current portfolio. After my printing course in London, I will look at presentation/printing/display. There is a lot to do, and the challenge also is adding to this portfolio during the course of the year, so it keeps fresh and ‘live’. Any potential additions now, to the trusted set of 10 need to be carefully scrutinised, edited, printed, checked and I am hoping to add at least 5 fresh prints during the course of 2012.

Strangely enough, I may have one from this morning! I ventured out for a bit of a drive this morning to Poole Quay. I had chosen the location because i knew where it was in general, and without a satnav yet, I am extremely directionally challenged. I went early, but not sunrise early, more to avoid the traffic as much as possible, but I did happen upon a lovely misty morning at Poole. I spent a bit of time at the waters edge with a few different subject matters, and not giving away any secrets I have a definite favourite as a result. I really liked it in camera and now I have give it an initial edit and even a test print, my excitement is high! I will be letting it mull and come back to it in a few days to see if that still holds.

So, encouraging, that while the portfolio is still being finalised, I am working on expanding it. So, needless to say, its not today’s photo I’m afraid, as this one has to be kept under wraps. I have instead featured my ‘experiment’. This drain thing has captured my attention twice now at Poole, but not had the right conditions or result either time – something to work on…as tides and conditions and time of day all need to come together to make this vision a reality I think!

Let me know what you think of the basic idea…oh, and just for a change, its not a swan this time!

Adjusting

susanfurber — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:11:17 +0000

It’s week two, (nearing the end of), my return to f/t work and attempted balancing photography p/t again. Have struggled a bit more this week, but this time I am blaming the weather. A couple of nights I wanted to go out after work and try some evening shooting, but it was too flippin cold. I am only just convincing myself to do the walk from the bus stop in town back home (about 20mins) with a temp guage in the minuses, so a shoot in the dark, and cold on top of this is just not happening. But this will change…sun is already starting to rise earlier and set later, and around about March I am hoping i can start some post work shoots. I really pushed myself last weekend, and did manage to achieve a shoot each day. An early morning in the cold and an evening on sunday when is was a bit milder, and at my Feb location of choice. I am working on trying to get a specific shot from my location for Feb, nearby Hengisbury head. The plan is to add it to my portfolio, which as the moment i am in the process of trying to sort out some review and then some printing towards the start of March. This weekend going to try and go a bit further afield on one day and then my feb location on the other – well that’s the plan. Having to adjust to the weather again no doubt…..

I think it must be the return to using my brain more, but i have lots of ideas buzzing at the moment. I am going to look at a bit of a re-launch of Photo web connect and see if i can’t do a bit more with it as well – so stay tuned for that. Other ideas are buzzing. For now, its about getting as much shooting in as possible and finalising my portfolio. Into London for a printing workshop day in a couple of weeks too..exciting!

Shot of this post is a shot i included in a recent travel portfolio i put together called Zanzibar life. All the images will be going up onto my website this weekend. It is giving me a warm feeling on this cold winter’s night!

Ice

susanfurber — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 11:57:38 +0000

I have to say, I am quite dissapointed that it hasn’t snowed yet this year. Most people from England would think I am nuts saying this, I know and really… I shouldn’t be wishing it on, after getting snowed in at Heathrow for 4 days last xmas, it should be the least of my wishes. But strangely, it is one of those things that still gives me a sparkle, and makes it vaguely bearable living in such a cold climate. We have had a few days of very low temperatures recently, so some frost and ice. Looking out the window this morning I could see my car was iced over significantly, so I thought is was best to venture out and see what I could find. I have only just started driving again, so I am sticking close to home this weekend, building up to some longer stretches over the course of the month, so I decided to visit Hengistbury head which is only about 5mins away. It took me about 30mins to defrost the car and be able to see out the windows, but arrived at Hengistbury just after official sunrise to capture some frost with sun. I have been there a couple of times now, and I knew it offered ocean, as well as hopefully some frost. I wasn’t dissapointed, with fields of frost – there was even frost on some poor grazing cows in a nearby paddock, poor things. A lot of the water was iced over as well, so I spent a bit of time trying a few different compositions. I even pulled out my macro lens, which I must do more often as I got some interesting ice details shots.

So there may not be snow, but it did feel a bit like I was in a different country as I shot away in the frost, ice and -5 temperatures!

PS – the shot I have chosen is one from the macros. I quite liked the little hold in the ice, as it gave a small glimpse into the depths below, surrounded by the white crisp ice. I tried to capture the texture in the shot as well and I tried to give it a depth of field that showed some of the black surrounding it as well – as always, comments and thoughts welcome.

Different perspectives

susanfurber — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:13:35 +0000

I remember when I did a workshop in Venice, back in 2009, being guided to a Josef Hoflehner photograph of the Eiffel Tower. A very iconic location and subject matter, the photograph was taken from a very unusual perspective, with the tower only featuring in a very small corner, and the rest of the photograph featuring the delicate branch of a tree. The same idea was intended to inspire and be through provoking in another iconic location (ie venice). This photographer, and shot came up again during my mentoring program and I spent a bit of time studying the shots of Hoflehner during the program, with a project set in london as well as another look prior to the trip to Zanzibar, as he has some beautiful interpretations of the lovely dhows. During my editing process, I came across this one, which I really quite like. I don’t think it is as strong compositionally as the shot i was subconsciously thinking about, but you sort of get the idea of what i was trying to do hopefully. I tried it in colour as well, and quite like it, but the beautiful white sail of the dhow just comes alight in b&w which is why i have gone that way with my final edit. I think i might try using this approach a bit more, although not so many iconic locations outside my back-door, i am sure i can still find some captures. Let me know what you think..

Yellow light

susanfurber — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 09:49:10 +0000

I am absolutely fascinated with yellow light. Sounds a bit strange I know, but there is a very specific light that in my eyes has a very distinctly yellow colour (yes I know the sun is yellow!)…. but its very muted, and vivid at the same time (hard to explain). I don’t remember ever seeing it in Australia. Maybe I just wasn’t looking, or maybe its because the sun is so much stronger and brighter that the conditions are not really suited to it in Oz. The most amazing yellow light I saw was upon arrival into Iceland for the first time in 2009. Driving to the hotel, the mountains were just bathed in it, it was stunning and made me fall in love with Iceland immediately. I have also seen it in England a few times – a few nights back in summer, crossing the itchen bridge home from work…it’s very beautiful over mountains or water.

I have just been reviewing some of my images from last year – mainly the Greenland, Iceland and Zanzibar locations and I came across an image from Greenland that has a hint of my favourite yellow light as well as some beautiful reflections. I really like this and have added it to my website/Icescapes profile – I think I might see how it prints up as well…Let me know what you think.

All change please..

susanfurber — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:45:19 +0000

Today is the last day of my ‘sebaticle’, as I am starting a new full-time job on Monday. It is definitely with mixed feelings that I take this step. On the one hand, I am looking forward to getting stuck into some project work, earning some cash and doing some local travel in my new role as an intranet editor. On the other, I know it will provide challenges on the photography journey…to find time and opportunity in a part-time capacity again….but then in many ways it feels like they have been there all along and it is about how I respond to them that counts.

The last 7 months have been a massive learning experience for me, you just have to have been following my previous posts to know this!. I have most definitely found them to be some of the most challenging, for me, for quite some time and along the way I have questioned many things from location to approach and a lot of other things mixed in. The one underlying fact though, regardless of the frustrations and the doubts is that I want to keep going forward with my photography. The fire that was emberring has come alight and I want to do what I can now to keep it burning…(how poetic am I!!). January has been an extremely uplifting month for me and I go forward with the rest of 2012 holding onto that. I have made plans for the year ahead to strive for, but I know that things change and there may be more curves in the road…reality…

I was watching an episode of master chef the other night. Not even sure how old it was, and it was probably about half the way through the competition. A group of want to be chefs were cooking a selected course for their peers (ie for previous winners of master chef). The guiding chef was speaking to them all as they were in the midst of cooking, disasters and all, and they were all at different mental places. He told one guy, who responded to his question of whether he thought his dish would be a success with ‘hopefully the dish will be amazing’….with, answer me that again, but don’t use ‘hopefully’.

So, I will not say hopefully I can keep moving forward and bring balance to my photography journey,…but that I look forward to doing so and I will keep working hard, sharing the bumps and successes along the way. Stay tuned for the next phase and the release of my first portfolio!

PS – the photo I have chosen for this post is one my favourites from last year. It was taken in December,in Scotland and it symbolises to me a few things

- you need to shoot for yourself. Photograph what you love and trust that others will love it too

- always strive to improve and get better. While I feel I made the best of the conditions and got the shot I wanted here, there are always improvements that can be made – this is a reminder to always keep trying to get better.

Meet George

susanfurber — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:27:21 +0000

I have been doing some image selection today, for a new portfolio that I am putting together on travel photography, featuring 2011 travel images from zanzibar, greenland and iceland. It is great looking back over images, as you often see them in a new light after a bit of a break from them. Also, fresh in my mind is ‘the photographers eye’ composition book I am currently reading, as well as the ‘brief’ for what I am trying to put together, so I am looking for things that are just a bit different, interesting and representative of the feeling of travel… Going well, until I got a bit distracted by this little fella, he kept looking at me, so I just had to process him to see how he turned out. Meet George..!