Tag Archives: murphyz
It Looks Like We Made It
Here we are. It’s been a year now and I have uploaded a new blog post every weekday without fail, and a few on the weekends too. Come public holidays, vacations, illness or a hangover the posts have been going up daily and I’ve managed to maintain a level of passion for this wonderful hobby that I feared may not last, and which has no signs of slowing down.
Whether it’s happy birthday or happy anniversary I don’t know, but I’m thankful for everyone who has stuck with me along the way and given me the motivation to continue to post my images and work hard to try and get unique shots. This one’s for you, and for the year ahead.
To celebrate this occasion it was suggested by @foolhandy and @andthesewalls that I post my top ten images and have you lovely readers vote on which of them is your personal favorite. Finding 10 is a tough task, and my recent New Year run down was only made easier because I had to choose one from each month of the year, which is not the case here.
So below you will find 10 images which I either class as my favourite or which mean something to me for one reason or the other, and I would appreciate it if you could take a moment to look through them and then vote for your personal favourite using the polls – I’ve placed the poll before and after the images for convenience, but you can only vote once I’ve removed the bottom poll as it doesn’t appear to work too well. Thanks again for all of your support, and have a great weekend.
1. Inferno (Dante) – One of my earliest and most successful attempts at spinning wire wool.
2. Staircase – My favourite black and white shot.
3. The Day The Music Died – An image which turned out far better than I had conceived when composing the shot.
4. Cell 3 – The one shot I wanted from this urbex location, and I was pleased with it when I got it.
5. London’s Burning – Revisiting this popular spot after learning a lot more about HDR made it clear to me how I had improved.
6. St Paul’s – World AIDS Day – This shot won me 1st place in the competition held by St Paul’s Cathedral.
7. Double Tap – One of the rare shots that turn out exactly as I had conceived when setting it up.
8. Alone – This location in the far north of Scotland was awesome, and had me running barefoot through the sea to get several shots.
9. The Bridge to St Paul’s – One of the first images where I appreciated how much other people enjoy my work.
10. Shard Sunrise – My favourite view from my favourite location during a great sunrise.
Self
Friday at last, and what a long week this has been!
Here’s a quick shot of myself, or the hoodie character if you prefer, as I’m descending in a 1930′s lift. Looking at the shot through the eyes of tonemapping, tonal contrast and a few other filters it also appears to have not been cleaned since 1930.
I hope everyone has a great weekend lined up; mine will be pretty chilled – hopefully a bit of photography will be thrown in there. See you on Monday.
2011 Roundup
I’m not one for New Year resolutions. I have tried them in the past and never stuck with them…and as far as I’m concerned I have a long list of things I want to do, and places I want to be and when the real motivation is there for me to do them, they’ll get done.
I do, however, have a list of things that I want to aim towards in order to take a further step with my photography, and it’s a list I’ve had for a while now but haven’t really done much with. A few are hopefully going to progress in the following year, but I’m not going to hold myself to them and if they don’t happen then so be it, I will not beat myself up about it.
So, here’s a quick look at a few things I wish to do in the near future, a few words to those who read this blog, and also a look back at some of my favourite shots over the past year.
The list:
New camera. I wish to take the leap into full frame and will hopefully do that very shortly. I’m awaiting the outcome of something else to see if I have the available funds, and then I’ll likely jump right in there and buy the Canon 5d Mark II. My only real stumbling block is whether or not to hold off for the announcement of the 5d Mark III which will likely be in the around the end of Q1/start of Q2 of 2012. Knowing me, though, I’ll just buy the Mark II and consider an upgrade if it’s worth it and if the price is right when the next model is released.
Sharing. I wish to share a little more about my workflow and how I produce a final image and I guess the best way to do so would be via a few videos that look at my processing an image from the camera through to release. I think this would also be an opportunity to get feedback from others on how they work differently to myself, and that would be very beneficial. Along with I’ll like to add a page with software reviews and links to discounts. I’m starting to get more and more people emailing me with questions on how I do something and taking the time to build this resource will save me time in the future, and help more people.
Participate. I’m the first to admit that I fail quite hard on this in comparison to others who tweet, comment and promote other photographers a lot more than I do. I would like to start spreading the love a little more.
Sell something. Photography is pretty consuming, and pretty expensive. I’ve recently been given an opportunity to get some of my work out there and start selling it, and I look forward to delving into this and hopefully making a little cash to pay for all of the hardware and software I use.
That’s it. Nothing too major, but steps towards doing something a little more than I am already and which I feel will be beneficial.
A few words:
I really just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who has dropped by and supported me throughout this year. Whether you leave a comment here or on one of the photo sharing sites, whether you tweet or like my work, whether you email me or link to my posts, it’s all appreciated and doesn’t go unnoticed. I don’t think I would be able to keep up a daily post if it wasn’t for those who appreciate them, so thanks very much for providing me with the motivation to do so, and helping me to try and raise my standards so that what I do post is of quality. I’m looking forward to continuing to share my work with you in 2012, and growing as a photographer.
A few favourites:
I’ve published about 237 shots on this blog since February of this year, and I have a lot of favourites within there, so much so that it is difficult to pick a top 5, 10 or 20. So I don’t bore you with all of the re-runs, here’s a simple way for me to do it. What follows is one image from each month, 11 in total as I started this photoblog back in February. Sure, there are some months that may have a few of my favourite shots, but I think it’s fair to split it this way.
February – Misty Morning
March – The Day The Music Died
April – Stairways & Shadows
May – I Dreamt I Was Batman
June – London’s Burning
July – At Night I Stand Watching
August – Lone Tree
September – Head in the Clouds
October – Shard Sunrise
November – Ascend
December – Birdwatch
The Vault
Breaking into a vault is a team effort, and here are four of the best at work. Well…one to attempt to turn the handle, one to hold the torch and the other two to sit around bickering and making snide comments about why it’s taking so long.
This shot was taken in the basement of a disused bank. It was pretty dark down there so we used a couple of speedlites to cast a little light on the scene.
Head in the Clouds
I often have my head in the clouds, but not so literally as in this image.
I encourage others to do things only with which they are comfortable with. The majority of people I go on an urbex trip with don’t so much like the edges of tall buildings, or the edging out to somewhere a little more precarious. Others would do things that I wouldn’t feel comfortable with, but if they are happy to do it then so be it. If you’re not comfortable doing it, then don’t – it’s that simple. If you know the risks and are confident in yourself and the situation around you then by all means push yourself that little bit further.
I’ve been in far more dangerous spots that you see here, however, as this image is pretty deceptive. I’m sat on top of some window cleaning apparatus here, and sure it may be 30 storeys up, but the apparatus is firmly on the roof and so I would only fall to the rooftop below me – it will be painful and I may break a bone, but it’s not really a fatal drop, and certainly not as high as the image suggests. By cropping out the rooftop that the camera sits on the illusion of my sitting high above London like a crazy fool is complete.
Lounging Around
A bit of Friday fun.
I was walking down the South bank last Sunday after a little photowalk and noticed these large bits of furniture outside the National Theatre. I’ve no idea why they were there or how long for, but I notice they are gone now.
I set up for a shot of them and a couple were sat on the chair at the left cuddling each other (I say ‘cuddling’, a later inspection of my initial photo shows his hand down her top), they didn’t wait too long before making a hasty retreat leaving the whole scene to me.
Though intending just to take a quick shot of me in the oversized seat I quickly decided to turn this into a multiple selfie, shooting images of me in various poses and locations. It was pretty good fun.
