People

Family shoot at Solva Harbour

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Ben and Rach asked me to get some pictures of little Eira while she is still small so we headed down to the harbour at Solva for an informal shoot to get some relaxed shots of them doing what they love doing most; spending time outside, in nature and preferably around the water. These were a real pleasure to shoot because they were made just how I enjoy creating images; in an easy atmosphere in between chats and wandering somewhere beautiful.

The science bit. These were all shot on my new Canon R6 which arrived earlier in the week. It was fantastic to use and although I have been shooting with good quality DSLRs in recent years, the mirrorless system in the R6 feels like a huge leap in quality and functionality. I’m looking forward to using it some more and especially with people in front of the lens.

Wedding Box

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I’m available for weddings both in Pembrokeshire and further afield in Wales and beyond. There’s a growing gallery of my most recent work here but this is an example of the presentation box of prints as part of the package I offer. A custom wooden box with a selection of prints and all images supplied on a USB stick. This one was for Alex and Deb who had a beautiful wedding in a stunning setting just outside St Davids a few weeks back.

Barley Saturday at Cardigan

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A few portraits of folk at Barley Saturday, the annual horse show in Cardigan. Unfortunately I had to rush off so wasn’t able to hang around for the horses so I snapped a few shots of the vintage car owners instead. Fun with the Mamiya but the Fomopan film wasn’t perfect. This could be down to the film itself or errors in the development so I’m waiting to see what the next film comes out like. A lesson in patience as it’s obviously not possible to get immediate feedback. I was pleased with these shots and managed to break through a block I’ve always had on shooting strangers. The clunky old Mamiya was a good ice breaker and after explaining I was using film and fiddling around with the light meter for a few seconds I found people had no problem with me taking their picture. Making images with a digital camera has a different feeling for some reason, maybe it feels more exploitative than the gentle process of taking one or two frames accompanied by the reassuring clunk of the Mamiya’s shutter.

First roll - Portra 400

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Well, I’ve finished my first roll and the pictures are back from the good folk at Filmdev. There was definitely a good dose of relief that came with opening the scanned files and realising that there was actually a set of images there. Halfway through the roll I had started to lose faith in my light meter; an old Weston Master V, and feared that I could have got the exposure totally wrong. As it was, aside from a couple of things I could have done differently, I was really pleased with the results. Here’s a selection of the best frames featuring a rare picture of myself, a triple exposure experiment and a deliberately underexposed portrait which has turned out looking good, if you like that muddy look!

Some observations about shooting film with an old medium format camera.

  • The cliche is true; shooting film makes you slow down the process and think about each frame. A 35mm roll generally comes with 24 or 36 exposures whereas a 120 format roll gives me just 15 frames. I was careful with each frame to get my metering just right, use a tripod where possible and ensure my composition was good.

  • There is some head-scratching to be done before each frame. I’m used to shooting in aperture priority mode on my digital SLR which means I set the ISO, decide on the aperture value and let the camera figure out the shutter speed. Consequently I don’t have much of an instinct for what aperture/shutter speed combination would work in a given circumstance.

  • Light meters are fun! My Weston Master V feels lovely in the hand and is a delight to use once I’d figured it out. It’s based on a selenium cell so doesn’t require batteries which makes it feel a little big magical. The design and analogue nature suggest a device from a different age and after some mid-roll worries I’m really pleased that it appears to have done the job just fine.

  • There are some limits on making an exposure. My Mamiya only has a limited number of shutter speed options and the fastest of them is 1/500th. This means that I am unable to shoot at a wide aperture in bright light as 1/500th isn’t fast enough to avoid overexposing the image. Shooting with 400 speed film at 2.8 in bright light would need a faster shutter speed or an ND filter.

  • People behave differently in front of this camera than they do in front of my digital SLR. There’s a certain reverence towards this chunk of camera. My niece and nephew are usually tricky to pin down for a picture but they stood quietly for me and everyone else also had an air of respect for the process which isn’t always there for a digital device; certainly there is little respect for a picture taken on a phone.

  • The process is expensive! Apart from the initial outlay, digital photography can be fairly cheap as you can shoot thousands of images without ever paying to see what the results are. A roll of film is expensive to start with and then to post it to a lab to be processed and scanned ends up costing over £20 for 15 images, hence the careful consideration of each frame.

I’m intending to shoot a limited range of things on this camera. Portraits mainly but also short projects shot in the same location or on the same day. 15 shots is a good number of frames to create a narrative around a place or event and I’m also looking forward to making more individual portraits. I won’t be shooting landscape images unless they are part of a sequence.

On the way in the post are a few rolls of Fomapan 200 black and white film which I’m looking forward to trying next. Check back for results in a few weeks!

George

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Portraits of George who turned 100 a few weeks back. As the local doctor in St Davids for many years he is something of a local legend. It was a real privilege to be asked to take some portraits to add to his memoir that his granddaughter wrote some years ago. His age has diminished his hearing and vision somewhat but he still manages to get out on his tricycle and enjoys reading the news. George has given a lifetime of service to the RNLI; the Western Telegraph gave a good summary of his lifes work in their piece on the occasion of his 100th birthday.

He served as honorary medical advisor (HMA) at St Davids RNLI for many years and launched with the boat a number of times for medical rescues.He became the HMA in 1956 and was also a member of the RNLI’s national medical committee for many years, researching medical incidents, finding and testing medical equipment and designing the medical training for lifeboat crews throughout the RNLI.

Dr Middleton was also one of the founders of Porthmawr surf lifesaving club at Whitesands over 60 years ago which is as vibrant now as was all those years ago and has a close affiliation with the RNLI lifeguards.

He also regularly accompanied the RAF rescue helicopters from Brawdy on missions off the coasts of both Wales and Ireland. Dr Middleton has been awarded the RNLI’s Silver and Gold service badges and is a life Governor of the RNLI.

Dr Middleton was also awarded an MBE in recognition of his services with the RNLI and other organisations.

From the Western Telegraph

Flicking through his memoir it’s interesting to read about life as the doctor in a small coastal location in the 1950’s. George loved to spend time at the beach but it was a radio blackspot so if he was needed in town, a local household with radio reception would hang a towel out of the window to alert him. When Search and Rescue helicopters were based at the local airbase, he would find himself onboard and taken out to all kinds of emergencies including trips out to the offshore lighthouses when they were still manned by a small crew.

I reflected that over the course of his lifetime, George can say that he has seen it all, and while tensions in Ukraine rumble on to an unknown conclusion, George reads about it in his daily newspaper and maybe it feels like a petty squabble when seen through the wideangle view of 100 years.

Bikepacking

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Throwback to Summer 2020 and a product shoot for a prototype frame bag for Ben’s bikepacking adventure to Portugal and a few portraits in the evening light in St Davids. Looking forward to the warmth returning for some summer bicycling.