Church photos

Festival of Light

The parish church in the town where I work is having a Festival of Light, each organisation in the town has decorated a Christmas tree. I visited today to get away from the crazyness that Christmas has become. I just needed to sit and be quiet. It was a beautiful sight.

Busy time

I have had no time to write due to getting ready for Christmas.

I have played in three Christmas concerts, been out playing Christmas carols several evenings, trying to fit in shopping for presents, making presents and working full time.

One of the scarves I have knitted:

Photography class

We have only two more weeks of photography classes before the end of term. Photography classes are now much more relaxed now that we more or less know what we are doing. We have handed in our first assignments and are working on our 2nd. We can all develop films, without too much help, print our contact sheets and make prints. The tutor is more available for help and advice. After those first frantic weeks of learning so much, it is now much more enjoyable. I am working on taking photos to demonstrate depth of field and shutter speeds. I wish I had more time; it is dark when I leave for work and dark when I get home so I only have the weekends at the present time for taking photos.

Concert

The concert went really well. We had a three hour rehearsal in a cold church in the afternoon, then the concert in the evening. The Karl Jenkins was very complex in places and the fact that the score didn’t match our parts didn’t help much, but I managed to play it all and have such a feeling of achievement. I enjoyed playing Haydn’s Nelson Mass, it was not too difficult and I was able to play my son’s D trumpet which is a lovely instrument to play. We did not have a lot of time to rehearse the Haydn but it was not difficult to play. I really enjoyed being in the world of the professional musician and feel privileged that I have been able to experience it.

New experiences

Tomorrow will be a big test for me. I am playing trumpet with a choral society. At first I volunteered to go along and play alongside the second trumpet just to gain some experience. I have now found out I AM the second trumpet! It will be a good experience for me but I am quite anxious as I have never done anything like this before. The music is playable for me but some parts are quite complex and fast. I just hope I will be able to play well.

Leaves photogramme

Leaves photogramme
Originally uploaded by starnitesky.

This the photogramme which I feel was the most successful, it was created by using a negative of a tree and then placing leaves directly onto the photographic paper - great fun.

Update

I have not been able to blog for a while, as I have been unwell. I suffer from a condition called adhesive capsulitis or frozen shoulder which causes loss of motion and severe pain. The cause of it is unknown; I have been suffering for about 18 months now. Luckily with physiotherapy I now have the movement back but am still suffering considerable pain. Writing causes a great deal of pain so that I do not seem to be able to write at all now, I can manage about half a page then the pain starts and I have to stop. I had this flare up due to being asked to take minutes for a meeting at work, it was known I had this problem but to “prove” I couldn’t write I was asked to try, which I did, not realising the severe pain it would cause. I thought I would be in pain for a few days but it turned into 2½ weeks of pain. I am now recovering and have been able to go back to work (clutching my note from the Dr to say I should not minute meetings).

Now I have a heavy cold and cough so I am still feeling sorry for myself, I rarely get colds so it is a shock to my system when I get one.

Photography is going well, I am just about ready to hand it the first assignment on photogrammes. I will post my best one when I get around to scanning it.

I went to Birmingham for the first time on Saturday, travelling in thick fog all the way so could not see any of the countryside. The train went alongside the River Severn (I think) which would have been pretty to see. The fog had cleared by the time we reached Birmingham so I was able to take photos, which I hope to develop soon.

I have the next couple of days off – what bliss, although I enjoy my job I do wish I didn’t have to work full time as there are so many other things I would like to be doing – like photography and music. Our tutor was saying how wonderful the light had been recently for taking photos, I would love to be able to get out when I want but its just getting light when I go to work and dark when I come home.

Leaving

I am feeling sad this evening, two colleagues have left to work at another office. These people have been great to work with. One the kindest man I have ever met (except for my father), always calm, thoughtful with a terrific sense of humour, the other has helped to restore my faith in humanity after my previous job where I was treated so badly - I won't go into that. She has been a wonderful person to work for. I will miss them both.

I hear the rain outside, it has rained every evening this week. I do not like the dark evenings - when can I take my photos? My dog dislikes the rain. She dislikes walking on wet grass in the garden but will seek out any puddle on a walk and splash through it. This weekend will be the horror of fireworks so I will have a very unhappy dog.

Catching Up

We made our contact prints and we have now made our first prints, here is mine:

It is rather crooked and dark on the right.








My next attempt a different view of the same place:





I think this is rather overexposed but not too bad - I must remind myself that this is my first attempt at printing!












I then decided to print a lighter print:


The door needs to be in the centre of the picture and again is slightly crooked, I will return and take some more photos as I like the contrast.

My first film

Success!! I have developed my own film, maybe that doesn't seem exciting to all the photographers out there in the world but it is an achievement for me. Of course after I have developed lots of films it won't be at all exciting, but the first one was exciting for me!
All that counting of minutes and different chemicals, its a wonder I have got my little strips of negatives safely sitting in my folder. Now I have to wait a whole week to do a contact strip.

I am researching other photographers, I saw a documentary on James Natchwey, he became a photographer after images from Vietnam and the American Civil Rights movement had a powerful effect on him. He specialises in documenting crital social issues, conflicts and wars. His images are thought provoking and heart wrenching and worth looking at.

Sunday

I finished the film ready for class tomorrow - we are going to be developing our films for the first time. We went to Deerleap, Chelsea enjoyed running around. Richard took some photos on the digital camera. I am finding it difficult to think in black and white, it will be interesting to see the photos I have taken.

A bad week

There is so much going on in the world, why do I concern myself with all that is wrong in my world.

This week has just been so stressful. Nothing seems to have gone right. Monday at photography class is when it all started to go wrong. First the enlarger would not switch on, so I moved to another enlarger and the timer wouldn't work properly so my printing was ruined. I could not do a decent photogram. I had taken lots to do but gave up because I was just wasting my time. Its also very frustrating not being able to talk to the tutor as there are so many of us.

I opened up the back of Dad's camera and discovered it was all sticky so I cannot tell if it is sealed properly and not letting light in. I need to put a film through to find out. Of course I have not been able to do that this week due to lack of time and the fact that it rained all day today.

Work has been very stressful, I spent a lot of the week preparing a report and didn't get thanked for all my hard work. I don't like being taken for granted.

Band this morning I feel like I wasted my time. I couldn't play well at all, having two out-of- tune trumpets next to me didn't help, it just sounded worse when I played. We are preparing for a British Legion concert, all the music is so bitty and I need to practice it all - when I have time. I love playing trumpet and wish I had more time to practice.

My blog

Well here we are - this is my blog. This blog will be a journal of my photography course and the things that happen to me and the world.