Where the Hell is Matt?

This is a lovely video, it's not life changing, romantic or anything, it will make you smile though!


Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/



Thank you Matt, you made me smile :)

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Life takes Time

For a while now, as I am still growing up, I think we never stop do we? I have grown into the realisation that life takes time, time to plan, to do a job properly and no matter what gadgets you have and time saving devices you possess, it all still takes time.

When you are a kid, everything seems to happen instantly, you come home from school, your tea is just about ready, the programs that you love are already on TV, after eating, there is homework to be done which takes about ten minutes and then by the time you have finished that, your bath is ready and after that, it's bed to wake up for another day. Its organised, quick and efficient.

When I left home to live by myself, I came to a shocking realisation very quickly, something that they don't prepare you for in school, things don't get done automatically. The bins don't get emptied, the washing up isn't done and there is dust on everything! Wow. I kinda knew in theory that these things don't get done, heck I did my share of chores at home with mum, but we were a big family, so while I was washing up, my brothers would be mowing the lawn, taking out the bins and dusting. It just happened.

Fast forward ten years. I can cope with the house now, it took about six months if being in shock but I think I do ok, I haven't died from food poisoning and I stay clean and healthy. Of course, while working, the house takes a back seat, but on my day's off (Sunday mostly) I'll blitz the house and by Monday It's looking as good as ever.

While more and more work comes in, the time I have off is getting less and less so the house is getting more messy by the day. I still find time to wash up, do the washing, Hoover and dust, but the piles of paper, the bits and pieces that I use everyday are just left piled around and while clean, my house is looking like a bomb site... I'll sort it out Sunday.

 

I am desperate to do some personal work. I've swamped with commissions at the moment. Personal work has to wait. However I do have a system. At about 9pm after the minimal housework, I'll sit down to watch the telly and chill out. I take my sketch pad and start sketching scenes. This is where I came to my realisation. a good sketch complete with lighting and people that really look like people takes a long time, an hour or more.

From doing what I do, post processing time is about 5-10 min's for a quick touch, 10-20 min's for a more in depth touch and 30+ min's for a complete overhaul. Because this is work, I don't factor it into my spare time, I'm getting paid, I do the work. Simple.

I used to do a lot of art, I grew up in an arty family. I went to college and got an A-Level in Art. I love photography more, the art background has helped but I don't have time to pursue it as a hobby, once Ii get stuck in I really get stuck in and can spend a whole day on just doing the base sketching of a painting so you can imagine how long it takes me to complete it... I've tried doing rough sketches of the ideas in my head, but after some time, I can't decipher what I was on about so I have to do it properly so I can read what I was seeing at the time.

I think in series, by that I mean that I think of a visual story so I need to get it right first time otherwise I haven't a clue about what I was thinking, this takes time. Lots of time, I have finished a series, looked at the clock and seen it was 3am... not good, especially if I have to get up a six. I can't stay up all night anymore. I have to have sleep.

 

So what was my point? Well this is aimed at young people mainly, don't think life is  fast, it takes time, so enjoy the process of living and don't try to rush it!

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Feeling Photography - 3.0 Composition

So what do you think when someone says 'Composition'?
Do you think of the old masters paintings like the Mona Lisa, do you think of stories, writing types or something completely different?

As a photographer, I think of the 'rules'. There are so many rules, do this, don't do that, turn around three times with a spoon in your ear. For new photographers and artists, the rules can be a huge stumbling block to creativity, on the other hand they can be liberating, freeing the newbie from having the stress of failed pictures due to a poor composition.

There are roughly two main compositional rules.

1. The Rule of Thirds.
   
2. The Golden Spiral.

The rule of thirds is pretty much the easiest rule to grasp for the new photographer and we'll discuss this in the next post, the golden spiral rule it similar to the rule of thirds but is a little more esoteric and takes a lot longer to grasp fully.
There is one other rule, but it is for landscape photographers mainly. It is called the rule of fifths, we will touch on that later on in this particular series subsection.

So what exactly is composition?

Composition
Com`po*si"tion\, n. [F. composition, fr. L. compositio.]
1. The act or art of composing, or forming a whole or integral, by placing together and uniting different things, parts, or ingredients. In specific uses: (a) The invention or combination of the parts of any literary work or discourse, or of a work of art; as, the composition of a poem or a piece of music. "The constant habit of elaborate composition." --Macaulay. (b) (Fine Arts) The art or practice of so combining the different parts of a work of art as to produce a harmonious whole; also, a work of art considered as such. See 4, below. (c) The act of writing for practice in a language, as English, Latin, German, etc. (d) (Print.) The setting up of type and arranging it for printing.

- Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.

So according to the source above (The art or practice of so combining the different parts of a work of art as to produce a harmonious whole) composition is the best way of making or enhancing your message, your point. (I'll cover the difference between a photograph and a snapshot later on. I want to keep this short.)

In painting & drawing it's all good. It's easy to move a building in a scene two meters to the left and get rid of the tree right in the way. Photography is waaay harder, unless you have a gazillion pounds, moving buildings trees or whatever is pretty impossible. What you can do is move yourself, although moving yourself can throw up new and interesting problems...

Sure you can take a series of photographs and then spend hours in Photoshop combing and layering but while I think for certain things, I'm a firm believer in getting it right in camera as much as possible.

Photographers work with what's there, it's a dance between your vision and the reality. The great photographers go it nailed, but you can bet they sucked at first, but you never get to see those pics.

So next time I'll chat about the rule of thirds. Take care for now!

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