The mood was muted as I returned home. I felt different. Something had changed.

City of angels.

Just a little taster of a project I’m working on focused on suburban America. Being from the U.K. I find this completely fascinating and completely different to anything we have back home.

A simple captured moment at lunch time at Yerba Buena Park.

Last night was an interesting night. For some reason the energy was just off.

My new favourite piece of kit. This lens is a beauty. Today I trotted to the civic centre, I wanted to see the Major, don’t ask me why but I did. I also tried to get into the dress rehearsal for the ballet. My accent nearly opened the hallowed doors. But not enough to actually get me in. Disappointing. There is light at the end of the tunnel.

You know when you see something and you have to stop and capture it? Well coming back from the Google offices this morning I took a highly risky moment.  Having no idea where I was going, I took the exit off the freeway to take this shot. I would love to go back, same lighting conditions with a fine art concept.

Photography is a mixture of the technical delivery and the creative concept. Technical perfection with no conceptual thought equals nothing but a technically excellent shot. With infinite ideas and no technical ability, the idea great as it may be will never get translated.

Quality of light is a tough class and is focused on technical learning. Reading and using light. This week we were tasked with lighting ratios. Our goal is to ratio the front to back ratio (or drop off) – from seemless to light and using another light, ratio light from side to side. This involves a small amount of maths and minor panic on my part. Having shot the assignment on Saturday and reviewing the files I decided I needed to revisit the assignment. The results I am more happy with.

Shot one is a ratio of 1:1 left to right and 4:1 drop off

Shot two: 3:1 left to right and 3:1 drop off

Shot three: 5:1 left to right and 2:1 drop off.

This is the technical work that will enable me to assist other photographers and accurately deliver great work. And don’t ask me to explain the ratios. I can but it will take me a long time!

I love walking around the city and ‘finding’ things. It’s also strange that I love to photograph in cloudy weather when if you know me, you’ll know how much I love the sun!

This project is focused on wasted land. There is so much of it around. The muted colours work perfectly with the bleakness of the settings. I’m going to keep searching as I really enjoyed the time I spent on this.

It’s been a while since my last update. Apologies. In between Christmas and New Year, plus a visit from my mum it has been a busy time. Also I had finals. Class is over for now, it was a very very good semester. Here’s a share from my Photo History and Concepts class.

The idea was to re-create images from the past in the style of a chosen photographer. One of the categories focused on war photography. My re-creation is of Robert Capa’s D Day landing images.  I used toy soldiers, sand from the beach and a wonderful assistant!

Capa took 4 rolls of film but in a rush to develop them for publication in Life Magazine all but twelve images were ruined. I have attached the most famous shot from the collection. Robert Capa’s influence on photography is unquestionable and the twelve images captured are precious.

Questions have always been raised over the accuracy of a photograph. For me too I question how one can read any truth into the capture of a single moment in time. Then I look at the work of photographers such as Robert Capa and although that doubt will always remain without their images I would have nothing to question.