Warmth in the winter

Well finally my heating is working properly again (after 3 visits from the heating engineer and many cups of tea)

So finally I can start my photo a day blogging

The 1st image I bring to you is of the Platform Supply Vessel MV Sophie Siem at work in Great Yarmouth harbour in Norfolk UK

The vessel belongs to the Norwegian company, Siem Offshore and was built in 2006. Interestingly Siem Offshore is based in Kristiansand in Norway which is twinned with Letchworth which is the town next to my home town of Hitchin in Herts UK


The vessel is a Platform Supply Vessel designed to carry out regular supply functions and cargo transport for
the oil industry as well as Standby functions. The vessel is designed with a well deck for maximum protection
for cargo and crew.

If your business needs images to promote its activities especially in the marine sector please do get in touch to discuss your requirements

The best laid plans of mice

Well I really had planned to blog about an image every week day but ......

Then the weather dropped below 0 and then my central heating broke down so rather than spending too much time shivering next to my little fan heater I decided to spend a few days warming up at Antonella's place. I was already due to be helping her at a WiRE (women in rural enterprise) networking Christmas bizarre where she is showcasing her boudoir and portrait photography.

More blogging tomorrow and this time there will be pictures and I will be waiting in for the heating engineer - burr

A new track for my blog

As I have mentioned in previous blog postings I quite like some graffiti and this rat recently caught my eye on a "I don't know much about art but I know what I like" basis. So I have decided to make it the 1st image as part of a new track that my blog is taking (excuse the track pun as this rat adorns a railway footbridge quite near to where I live in North Hertfordshire).

My plan is to post a picture every day but as this is almost the weekend I thought I would start with a personal image rather than starting to showcase my commercial & client work

Please check back every weekday to see more of my work as well as more textual blog postings.

It would also be great to hear about any graffiti in your part of the world that interests you

Thanks

Paul

Where does the time go ?

I had an interesting time on Friday with Antonella, one of her images was used by Alfa Romeo as part of some artwork used to celebrate their centenary in 2010 and we had to drop into her local Alfa Romeo dealer (Desira) in Norwich to collect her personalised copy of the artwork. Then it was off to have a professional sensor clean on some of our camera bodies which gave just enough time for a most agreeable lunch to be taken in. We also spent some time in the city buying some items for the forthcoming show season which will no doubt form part of a future blog posting.

Where does the time go ? Well Friday seems to have flown by as have the several months since I last posted on my blog

The photographers eye and a Dog Full of Money

Good photographers are often said to have better eyes than those who are not blessed with the capability to do more than take snaps.

A good photographer sees things differently and can often "see" things that are not yet there by pre-visualising a shot in their head. They then turn it into reality by positioning the subject in the environment, choosing the right camera angles and settings  and sometimes adding props and lighting. 

I think I am lucky that I also can see things that others don't see - I'm often the one in a group who says "ooh look at that" when the rest of the group had missed it. My son is lucky that I seem to have passed on this ability to him.

Over the years my son and I often spot things when we are around town and set out to document them photographically and are often surprised how many of these hidden items pop up over time when you seek them out.

Following on from my blog posting a few weeks ago on local graffiti around my home town of Hitchin in Hertfordshire (You can't find a decent bit of graffiti when you need it - but is it art ?)

I thought I would post about some other "found art" - this type of image started off in a very low key way but we soon found that actually they were breeding like rabbits which is ironic given that they are dogs, a very special sort of dogs

To begin with I though that Dog Full of Money (DFM) would turn out to be a local band and these were promo stickers but it turned out they are a celebration of those collection boxes you used to see on the High Street to raise money for Guide Dogs for the Blind. The producer of the stickers seem to have a Bristol connection and also a strong foothold in Hitchin.

In the years since these images were take many of these stickers are now faded remnants proving that art is only temporary

Not all of them featured the Dogs themselves there were others with the letters D, F and M and often shared their space with graffiti 

And they came in a number of designs, some with cut outs like the one at the top

Sometimes they shared a post with some band stickers

These 2 were placed on a the mounting for a CCTV camera, I don't suppose the camera can look straight down

Virgin Media cable TV boxes were a favourite target, here with the 3 headed dog

and I am amused by the fact that this post box is right outside another photographers studio

I will miss them when they are all gone but I'm always on the look out for the next thing to say "ooh look at that" 

What is there in your environment that others overlook ?

Well it made me smile

Do you think these two will have a long and happy marriage or will he turn out to be a little wooden or maybe she could turn out to be just like her mother ? and anyway shouldn't they be inside the venue enjoying their reception not outside directing their guests

What funny things have you seen at a wedding, I'd love to hear, please add a comment below

What goes on behind the scenes at my photo shoots or maybe not - reality comes to advertising

I recently came across this behind the scenes video that shows what has to happen in order for a large corporation such as Domino's Pizza to shoot a few seconds of a "cheese pull".


 It shows some of the 150 people including a hand model (wearing gloves until the last minute before the shoot in order to protect her hands), lighting crew, grips and  the dozens of food stylists who adjust the pizza after it is cooked using spatulas, knives, cotton buds and tweezers to make the food looks as perfect as it does when it arrives at your door ;-)


You'll have to watch the video to see the use of power tools and other hardware but please do continue to read the blog after you have watched it





In reality it was shot for a Domino's campaign called Show Us Your Pizza, where they promise to bring reality in to their advertising photography and film making and also offer up to $500 to their customers who send in their own winning pizza pictures


Russell Weiner, Chief Marketing Officer of Domino's makes the following promise

Our Photo Promise

Here at Domino's, we don't think our inspired Domino's pizza needs the "extra" things typically done to food at photo shoots to look mouth watering. Our pizza is good enough to stand on its own. That's why we're making the following promises about how we photograph our pizzas from this day forward. Did we just buck the food photography trend? Oh yes we did.

We will only photograph real, honest-to-goodness pizzas.

That means fresh from our own ovens, with exactly the same ingredients we deliver to your doorstep. Nothing else added.

Our employees will make the pizza we shoot.

Not an art director or model maker or food stylist. A Domino's employee trained to make pizzas the only way they know how: by hand.

We will not artificially manipulate the food we shoot.

No tweezers, no steam guns, no model knives cutting perfect perforations in the cheese. The only thing that will touch the pizzas we shoot is the pizza-maker's hands and a standard Domino's pizza cutter.

I think it will be interesting to see other food suppliers coming clean and making a promise about the reality of their images

Next it could be Anchor butter folk  telling us these were pantomime cows in their recent advert and not real cows



What do people think ?

Please post your comments below