Photography Archives - Page 9 of 10 - Richard Spurdens Photography

A visit to the Hayward Gallery at the Southbank Centre

The Hayward Gallery at the Southbank Centre reopened after a major refurbishment in early February, with its first major exhibition being a retrospective of the work of Andreas Gursky.

Andreas Gursky is an acclaimed German photographer, well known for his large-scale pictures, so a visit was on my list when I was last in London.

This exhibition also marks the beginning of the Hayward Gallery’s 50th anniversary year. The Gallery is nothing much to look at from the outside and the exterior architecture is often described as brutal. However, the two year refurbishment has focussed on allowing the gallery’s pyramid roof lights to bathe the spaces below in natural light, as was in the original design.

The Southbank architecture

There are some hard lines and angles in the design of the Southbank Centre buildings but this can give some good lead lines and suited mono processing using the Fuji Arcos film stimulation.

travel photography - travel photograher - images from a visit to london this one in monochrome using the lead the top of a wall to take you towards the royal festival hall and the london eye beyond it — Richard Spurdens Photography – Concrete views Royal festival hall – Model: Fuji X-T2 Lens: XF18mmF2 R 1/680 @ f / 5.6 ISO 200

travel photography - travel photograher - images from a visit to london a view to three tower block at are being constructed with the cranes and of strong lines running vertically and cross wise in the image - what attracted me to this image was the the vertical lines crossed by the hand rail against the darkened sky — Richard Spurdens Photography – Tower and Cranes II – Model: Fuji X-T2 Lens: XF18mmF2 R 1/900 @ f / 8.0 ISO 200

Lots of new tower blocks are being constructed near the Southbank Centre. I was looking to capture the feeling of the cranes towering over the rising building in the two images below.

travel photography - travel photograher - images from a visit to london this one in monochrome showing the new towers been constructed surrounded by the tower cranes reaching up to the sky — Richard Sprudens Photography – cranes and towers – Model: Fuji X-T2 Lens: XF18mmF2 R 1/1700 @ f / 8.0 ISO 200

The Fuji Acros film simulation plus a red filter work for this one, which made the building and cranes stand out against the dark clouds.

Gallery viewing

But the main purpose of this visit was to view the images of Gursky. It was certainly worth the visit to see his range of work and some great large scale images. His images (often taken from a high vantage point) certainly have impact.

As the gallery information says : ‘these images make use of a ‘democratic’ perspective that gives equal importance to all elements of his highly detailed scenes’.

The newly refurbished Gallery’s pyramid roof lights seemed to work well and did bathe the spaces below in natural light, which made getting a few images of people viewing the images a lot easier.

As the gallery allows photography, it also gave me the opportunity to capture some more images for my Gallery viewing projects – some of which I have included below.

travel photography - travel photograher - colour image from a visit to the hayward gallery focusing on the visitors viewing the Gursky images two visitors lean forward towards a large image of a landscape the angle make the image as the rest of the Image is squares and vertical lines — Richard Spurdens Photography – Haywood gallery Gursky series – Gallery viewing I -Model: Fuji X-T2 Lens: XF18mmF2 R 1/180 @ f / 2.0 ISO 800

travel photography - travel photograher - colour image from a visit to the hayward gallery focusing on the visitors viewing the Gursky images in this one three man standing at one image on the floor a young student sits on the floor looking at the same image but her trainers are illuminated and this makes it different image — Richard Spurdens Photography – Haywood Gallery Gursky series – Gallery views Gursky II -Model: Fuji X-T2 Lens: XF18mmF2 R 1/180 @ f / 2.0 ISO 800

The illuminated shoes of the woman seated on the floor attracted me to this one.

travel photography - travel photograher - colour image from a visit to the hayward gallery all the visitor in this image are standing at different spaces in the frame no image are visible but a young lady with shoes that light up draws your attention — Richard Spurdens Photography – Haywood Gallery Gursky series -Gallery views Gursky VI – Model: Fuji X-T2 Lens: XF18mmF2 R 1/210 @ f / 2.5 ISO 1600

Often an opportunity comes along that makes a good different image – as per the couple seated below.

These next three images try to show the scale of Gursky images on display, with a viewer included to help with the idea of the scale.

travel photography - travel photograher - colour image from a visit to the hayward gallery this visitor has a blue jumper with matches the wall colours she is viewing a large image of strips of green grass and then a large strip of water — Richard Spurdens Photography – Haywood Gallery Gursky series – Gallery views Gursky XV – Model: Fuji X-T2 Lens: XF18mmF2 R 1/180 @ f / 2.8 ISO 800

My favourite image of “people viewing the images” was the Rückblick (the title of which translates as ‘review’). The results are below.

travel photography - travel photograher - colour image from a visit to the hayward gallery focusing on the visitors viewing the Gursky images a man with a walking stick stand and views the fashion shot of the four head of state from the back sat in front of a red wall — Richard Spurdens Photography – Haywood gallery Gursky image series – Gallery views Gursky XVII – Model: Fuji X-T2 Lens: XF18mmF2 R 1/140 @ f / 2.0 ISO 800

image taken in the hayward gallery focusing on the visitors viewing the Gursky images — Model: Fuji X-T2 Lens: XF18mmF2 R 1/200 @ f / 2.2 ISO 1600

travel photography - travel photograher - colour image from a visit to the hayward gallery focusing on the visitors viewing the Gursky images there are numerous visitors all with different and interesting poses again shoot in front of the famous shot of the four head of state from the back sat in front of a red wall. — Richard Spurdens Photography – Haywood Gallery Gursky series – Gallery views Gursky X – Model: Fuji X-T2 Lens: XF18mmF2 R 1/200 @ f / 2.2 ISO 1600

So the visit to the Hayward Gallery at the Southbank Centre was fruitful in terms of seeing the work of Andreas Gursky and seeing results of the refurbishment of the location. It was also good for getting some more images of my Gallery viewing project.

Certainly recommend a visit in the future.

The final image is a colourful stairway, processed using the Fuji Velvia/Vivid stimulation.

architecture photography - architecture photographer - colour image of the the bright yelllow concrete steps which you can take to the finnish rooftop sauna and bar — Richard Spurdens Photography – Yellow steps to the southbank center – Model: Fuji X-T2 Lens: XF18mmF2 R 1/320 @ f / 5.6 ISO 200

General, Photography

April Images

A selection of image taken during the month of April, hence the title April Images.

As I seem to be failing at the moment to get my Blog posts going on a regular basis, I am trying this approach of having a posts each month where I can just add image and a little text about them. I keep taking lots of images but never seem to get them into a blog post.

Lets see if I can keep adding images into the post.

image shot at bradford foster square station on a mist april morning — Model:X-E1 Lens: XF27mm F2.8

Spotted in Leeds

What attracted me to making these images was the lead lines on the platform and the misty red light at the end of the platform, it a long platform and seem to work using the lines to take you in towards the mist in the distance.

image showing the leeds bid team using a steam cleaner of the paving stones in the millinumn square — Model: X-E1 Lens: XF27mm F2.8

Just loved all the blues in this one

General, Photography

Photographing Rome at night

Photographing Rome at night was the only real option I had during a recent visit to the city.

A visit to the city of Rome had been on our list of places we wanted to visit for a while now and when the chance came up to combine it with a fashion shoot and masterclass organised by Valentina Feula, founder of Fashion Artwise Productions we planned a short visit.

As we arrived on the Friday afternoon and given that I would be shooting all weekend at a location outside the main city centre, I decided to go out and photograph the city at night.

Photographing Rome at night gives you some different images to the normal and gives you different challenges too. You really need a tripod once the sun has set. I had my trusty travel tripod the 3 Legged Thing Brian with me so that came out to help with the longer exposure times. After sunset, the colours from the lights at the locations offer an opportunity to make some different images of some of the iconic locations available, but the exposure times drop and hand holding becomes an issue.

Going into the city centre and exploring the locations, involved taking the metro into town and choosing a station from where to explore the popular locations on foot to see what night photography was possible

travel photography - travel photographer - Image of the eculator lines on the rome metro system — Richard Spurdens Photogaphy – Rome visit series – Model: X-T2 Lens: XF18mmF2 R 1/60sec @ f 2.0

The Spanish steps covered by the tourist crowds

travel photography - travel photograher - colour image from a visit to rome this one from the spanish steps with the crowds of tourists covering the majority of the steps — Richard Spurdens Photography – rome series – the crowded Spainish steps – Model: X-T2 Lens: XF18mmF2 R 1/60 secs @ f / 8.0

Photographing Rome at night I expected that there would be fewer people around at the popular locations, that was certainly a wrong assumption as you can see at the Spanish steps.

The side street gave a few opportunities for some street photography too. This lady was certainly not interested in anything but her phone !

travel photography - travel photograher - colour image from a visit to rome this one a street image spotted on a side street a lady sitting on a chainlink fence lost in here phone (february images) — Richard Spurdens Photography – Rome visit series – a instagram moment – Model: Fuji X-T2 Lens: XF18mm F2R 1/125 secs @ f / 8.0

The crazy Piazza Venezia roundabout, with cars appearing to come at you from all directions yet it seems to work.

travel photography - travel photograher - colour image from a visit to rome this one taken a the piazza roundabout howing cars negociating the roundabout in the evening light — Richard Spurdens Photography – Rome series – the piazza roundabout at night – Model: X-T2 Lens: XF18mmF2 R

When the Piazza Venezia roundabout is almost free from cars you get the chance to see the impressive Monumento Nazionale building

travel photography - travel photograher - colour image from a visit to rome this one across the piazza venezia roundabout showing the impressive Monumento Nazionale building lit up by the buildings lights photographing rome at night — Richard Spurdens Photography – Rome series – venezia roundabout with the Nazionale flood – Model: X-T2 Lens: XF18mmF2 R

Crossing the Piazza gets you up close to the Monumento Nazionale building – to its impressive and imposing statue and the carving around its base. The blue lights made this for me.

travel photography - travel photograher - colour image from a visit to rome showing the impressive Monumento Nazionale building lit up by the buildings lights photographing rome at night — Richard Spurdens Photography – Rome series – Monumento Nazionale building – Model: X-T2 Lens: XF18mmF2 R

A short walk took me to the Trevi Fountain square which contains the wonderful fountain and even bigger crowds considering this was around 20:00. Here I chose to include the visitors in my shots. Very difficult to exclude them really.

image from the trevi fountain square shoot around 20:00 still lots of tourists stood in front of the fountain (february images) — Model: X-T2 Lens: XF18mmF2 R

travel photography - travel photograher - colour image from a visit to rome this one from the trevi fountain square shoot around 20:00 still lots of tourists stood in front of the fountain — Richard Spurdens Photography – Rome series images – Trevi fountaino crowds I – Model: X-T2 Lens: XF18mmF2 R.

travel photography - travel photograher - colour image from a visit to rome this one from the trevi fountain square shot around 20:00 still lots of tourist and on lady is standing out as she poses for a picture in front of the great fountain. — Richard Spurdens Photography – rome visit series – Trevi fountain II – Camera Data. Model:X-T2 Lens: XF18mmF2 R

travel photography - travel photograher - colour image from a visit to rome this one from the trevi fountain square shot around 20:00 in the bottom are three tourist one is taking a phone picture the other two are looking at the results of the self they took in the back ground is the fountain lit by the flood lights — Richard Spurdens Photography – visit to rome series – Trevi-fountain crowds-III -Model: X-T2 Lens: XF18mm F2 R

A sign of the times with a very obvious police presence at this popular tourist spot, and other places too.

travel photography - travel photogarpher - image from the trevi fountain square shoot around 20:00 still lots of tourists stood in front of the fountain showing the crowds and the police keeping a watchful presence — Richard Spurdens Photography – Rome visit series – The trevi fountain and its crowds – Model: X-T2 Lens: XF18mmF2 R

image from one of the main shopping streets showing a couple walking hand in hand against the on coming cars (februay images) — Image from a visit to Rome in Center, on February 162018. Photo: Richard Spurdens …………Camera Data……….. Model:X-T2 Lens: XF18mmF2 R

Some of the side streets had good colours and the street lights gave them a different feel.

travel photography - travel photographer - image showing interesting colours of the walls in the side streets of rome shot at night and illuminated be the street lamps — Richard Spurdens Photography – Rome visit series – Model: X-T2 Lens: XF18mmF2 R

Spotted the orange coloured windows and the arrow and then the guy went out into the middle of the road for some reason.

travel photography - travel photograher - colour image from a visit to rome shot from behind a street food seller he is selling warm chestnuts and is illuminated by his stands lights in the back ground shopper walk be with there warm coats and shopping bags — Richard Spurdens Photography – Rome visit series – ..Camera Data……….. Model:X-T2 Lens: XF18mmF2 R

travel photography - travel photograher - colour image from a visit to rome this one shot at night shows a set of columns illuminated by the flood lights surrounded be the modern building of rome — Richard Spurdens Photography – Rome series images – …………Camera Data……….. Model:X-T2 Lens: XF18mmF2 R

The Rome columns and ruins gives an interesting foreground to the iconic building lit by the flood lights.

travel photography - travel photograher - colour image from a visit to rome a night shoot of the rome building lit by flood lights against the dark night sky. — Richard Spurdens Photography – Rome visit series ruins be flood light Model:X-T2, Lens: XF18mmF2 R

The orange glow from the flood lights gives this set of building a different look.

Final image for this blog is of a street artist working with spray paint to produce fantasy type art images

Events, Fashion, FIAP, General, Photography

2017 a year in review

So as 2017 comes to an end I thought it was worth taking a bit of time to reflect on this years photography.

Two of the main highlights from 2017 that spring to mind are being awarded a third London Salon medal for one of my images entered in this years (2017) London salon. Having been lucky enough to have been awarded medals at medal at previous Salons – I never thought I would get a third.

The second highlight was having an image in Great Britain entry for this years FIAP colour biennial .
I also achieved the EFIAP/Platiumn award which has been a long-term goal for me. (see below).

Studio wise, I have been busy in there and I have also done quite a number of location shoots too, which offers a different challenge to working in the controlled enviroment of a studio. I have enjoyed the challenges of working on location and learnt a few things too.

There have been chances to work with a number of new creatives again this year and I have enjoyed working with them and together we have created some great images, and also had good fun playing with different light approaches.

New creatives this year have included:

Dancers: Alexa Hilton, Charlie, Jay and Erica Mulkern.

Dance Photographer - Dance photography - dance moves by alexa hilton — Richard Spurdens Photography – Alexa Hilton – Canon EOS 5D Mark IV -Lens: EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

Dance Photographer - Dance photography - dance pose by dancer erica mulkern — Richard Spurdens Photography – dance photography – Canon EOS 5D Mark IV – Lens: EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

Models: Rachelle Summers, Nicole Rayner, Scarlot Rose, Pippa Doll (who is a karate expert, dancer and skate boarder too) and finally Zoi Morgan.

fashion photographer - fashion photography - colour image from a fashion shoot at pipewwll hall featureing designes by Jane-woolrich-design. model is seated in a red winged chair wearing a pink negligee and slip — Richard Spurdens Photography – Canon EOS 5D Mark IV – Lens: EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

portrait Photography - portrait Photographer - colour image of subject looking out to the right hand side of the frame shot using nature light she is wearing a light brown blouse which is off both shoulder and she is holding it in the middle of her chest. — Richard Spurdens Photography – Rachelle Summers – Canon EOS 5D Mark IV – Lens: EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM – 1/60 sec @ F / 14.0

fashion photographer - fashion photography - colour image from a fashion shoot with model wearing croped demin jeans and a striped shirt she is stood against a dark brown back ground with one arm hold the shirt coller and the other resting on the opposite leg — Richard Spurdens Photography – studio shot with model Pippa Doll – Canon EOS 5D Mark IV : EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM 1/125 sec @ F / 8.0

Fine Art Nude Photography - Fine Art Nude Photographer - a toned monochrome image showing the model holding a bunch of white tulips against the skin — Richard Spurdens Photography – four tulips -Canon EOS 5D Mark IV – EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS 1/125 sec @ F / 3.2

I have also worked with a number of others from previous years including: Carla Monoco, Madame Bink, Ivory Flame, Elle Beth, Mischkan Scott and (aerialist and model) Em Theresa.

Richard Spurdens Photography – Madame Bink with white hat – Canon EOS 5D Mark IV EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS 1/125sec @ F / 4.5

Portrait Photography - Portrait Photographer - colour portrait head shot image of a subject looking directly into the camera lit from the window light on the rhs of her. — Richard Spurdens Photography – mischkan scott hs white top Canon EOS 5D Mark IV : EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM 1/125 sec @ F / 3.2

dance photographer - dance photography - colour image of the dancer wearign a large floaty blue dress kicking her right leg high out the the lhs of her with her arms reaching back behind her — Richard Spurdens Photography – Blue Dress moves – Canon EOS 5D Mark IV – EF50mm f/1.8 II 1/125 sec @ F / 6.3

fashion photographer - fashion photography - colour image from a studio fashion shoot subject is wearing a red ball dress, shot using natural light — Richard Spurdens Photography – fashion shoot – Canon EOS 5D Mark IV : EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM 1/125 sec @ F / 2.8

In terms of the FIAP distinctions trail; I was pleased to received my EFIAP/ platiumn award in June of this year, which a great achievement. So that goal was finally achieved within the 5 years I had set out for it. As I mentioned in my last review (2016) I had really scaled back the number of exhibition I have been entering, only entering mainly prints and looking to support exhibitions that maintain a good printed exhibition catalogue. I have managed to maintain a good rate of acceptances and also have managed to pick up a few awards as well. A couple of my images have been on the front covers of the exhibition catalogue, which is always a good result for an entry into the salons.

Image that was the front cover of the Cotswold Salon 2017

artistic nude photographer - artistic nude photography - monochrome image the model in using a white posing box she pushing up with her arms at the back of the box and her left foot to lift herself off the box her other leg is lifted and pointed at ninty degress towards the light. which is a single side light to the right hand side of the model. — Richard Spurdens Photography -artistic nude figure study titled: A simple point of the foot – efiap platinum level image

I was also invited to be a judge for a number of national photographic exhiditions in the UK, which took up quite a few weekends in the first half of the year. As always, it was hard work but rewarding in being able to see what other photographers have been creating around the country.

I have also supported Walters Wardrobe (Jen Brook) and her couture themed shoots at some great locations. This year these have included a shoot at Western Park in Shropshire (Ruffles & Ready), which featured the designer: Mishi May, with styling by Jen Brook, Millinery: Donna Graham, and MUA: Sophie Battersby. The models included : Victoria Coutts, Jodi Lakin, Nicky Philips and Kamila Nowak.

We also returned to the vast stately home at Wentworth Woodhouse (Dance of the Decadent Dolls). This was with Designer: Rosie Red Corsetry and Couture, with styling by Jen Brook, and Millinery by Donna Graham, MUA: Sophie Battersby, Olivia Morewood, Rebecca Cordell, Sophie’s MUA/hair assistant: Rachael Doig. The Models for this event included: Ayla Rose, Ivory Flame, Jaye Yip, Rebecca Cordell.

The final shoot for this year was Sandon Hall Staffordshire, (Beauty and the Feast). This featured the designs of Katie Newsam, styling by Jen Brook, assisted by Jodi Lakin, Livvy Morewood. MUA: Sophie Battersby. Models: Amelia Mary, Katie Talyor, Charlotte Burton, Catherine Ashworth.

Images from the Walters Wardrobe shoots of 2017

colour fashion image of a model wearing a ruffle designed full wide skirt and match bodice and hat designed by Mishi May — Canon EOS 5D Mark IV – Lens: 35mm

fashion photographer - fashion photography - colour image of model wearing a red and gold ball gown with makeing red hat she is seated on a stone plinth in the garden room- shot on location at sandon hall, Dress Designer: Katie Newsam, Styling Jen Brook, Walter's Wardrobe Productions — Richard Spurdens Photography – Fashion shoot at Sandon Hall – Red and Gold dress – Model: Fuji X-T2 Lens: XF50-140mmF2.8 R LM OIS WR 1/80sec @ f / 5.6 ISO 800

colour image of the model wearing a sculpted figure huging design of designer Mishi May — Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Lens: 35mm

fashion photographer - fashion photography - colour image from fashion shoot at sandon hall, Dress Designer: Katie Newsam, Styling Jen Brook, Walter's Wardrobe Productions, model wears full lenght purple ball gown with scalloped purple swirl running from the left shoulder down to the right foot of the dress — Richard Spurdens Photography – Fashion shoot image designer Katie Newsam – Model: Fuji X-T2 Lens: XF50-140mmF2.8 R LM OIS WR 1/60sec @ f / 4.0 ISO 400

pom pom dress seated on the stairs — Fuji X-T2- Lens: F18mmF2 R 1/125 sec @ F /5.6

Fashion Photography - Fashion Photographer — Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Lens: 35mm

Dance Photographer - Dance photography - — Fuji X-T2 – Lens: XF18mmF2 R

Dance Photographer - Dance photography - colour image showing dancer on pointe wearing a white corset dress and to her rhs is a swam with eggs and balllons so the image is called dancing at the swans party — Richard Spurdens Photography – dance photography – Fuji X-T2 – Lens: XF35mmF1.4 R

General, Photography

48 hours in Glasgow with my Fuji XT-2

The first time I visited Glasgow in the early 1970s it was a city that gave the impression of being dark, grimy and unwelcoming. All the streets seemed to be empty and the bars didn’t seem to have any windows at street level. The only restaurants that we could find open were on the central railway station.

First impressions can be lasting, but today Glasgow has a completely different feel and look as the old grime seems to have been washed away. It’s historic beauty created by architects of the likes of Charles Rennie Mackintosh has been blended with the modern architecture designs, like Zaha Hadid with “the Wave” (the Transport Museum). This is now a modern vibrant city and well worth a visit with your camera.

If you are in the centre near the Central Station, a good place to start is a visit to The Lighthouse. This building was designed by C. R. Mackintosh in 1895 as the offices of the Glasgow Herald, and it is now home to Scotland’s Centre for Design and Architecture. The city scape views from the top are well worth the climb of the corkscrew stairs. There are also several levels of galleries which offer exhibitions and portfolio overviews of contemporary artists and designers.

Images from The Lighthouse location

glasow roof top views from the lighthouse tower — Fuji X-T2 – XF 18mm F 2.0 R – 1/3sec @ F / 16

One of the views from the top of the building.

window views of glasgow city scape — Fuji X-T2 – XF 18mm F 2.0 R – 1/1250sec @ F / 5.6

View across to The Lighthouse Tower.

a view of the lighthouse tower in the winter sunshine — Fuji X-T2 – XF 18mm F 2.0 R – 1/2000 sec @ F / 4.0

The view from the bottom of The Lighthouse tower stairs which start on the third floor of the building.

looking up from the bottom of the lighthouse stairs — Fuji X-T2 – XF 18mm F 2.0 R – 30 sec @ F / 11

A visit to Bellahouston Park is also well worth making. It’s out of town but well served by buses or take a train to the nearest station. There you’ll find the stunning “House for an Art Lover”, built in 1996, based on an unrealized C. R. Mackintosh design from 1901. The other good thing is that you can take photographs inside which is always a bonus.

Images of the iconic Mackintosh designs

close up of the Stain glass design by mackintosh — Fuji X-T2 – XF 18mm F 2.0 R – 1/125 sec @ F / 2.2

Image showing the design details of the wood work designed by mackintosh — Fuji X-T2 – XF 18mm F 2.0 R – 1/280 sec @ F / 2.8

wooden panelling artist designs by mackintosh — Fuji X-T2 – XF 18mm F 2.0 R – 1/450 sec @ F / 2.8

shadows of a window playing on the opposite wall in a corridor — Fuji X-T2 – XF 18mm F 2.0 R – 1/125 sec @ F / 4.0

The house is in some great grounds too and with the low winter sunshine and winter frost gave it a different look worth photographing.

Landscape Photography - Landscape Photographer -colour image capturing the hard winter frost on the brown grasses and trees in this location — Richard Spurdens Photography – winter frost and morning light colours

Modern Architecture

It’s not just the classic architecture that makes Glasgow interesting; there are several large modern buildings which are worth a visit to photograph, including the SEC Armadillo amphitheater and the UFO-like SSE Hydro Arena. Both of these were designed by N. Foster and Partners.

Fuji X-T2 – XF 18mm F 2.0 R – 1/250 sec @ F / 11.0

Another great building to photograph is the Riverside Museum, designed by the architect Zaha Hadid, with a roof that resembles waves of water.

The building is Glasgow’s Transport Museum and houses a collection of more than 3,000 historic cars, trams and motorcycles.

a black and white image showing the design of the wave building designed by Zaha Hadid — Fuji X-T2 – Lens: Touit 2.8 – 1/500 sec @ F / 5.6

You can walk to this musum along the River Clyde which has now been redeveloped and gives some good photographic oppertunities as the images below show.

landscape view of the clyde Arc and the finnieston crane — Fuji X-T2 – XF 18mm F 2.0 R – 1/250sec @ F / 11.0

The Finnieston Crane or Stobcross Crane structure and its shadows made an interesting image

Structures and shadow on the the finnieston crane structure — Fuji X-T2 – XF 55-200mm F 3.5 – 1/125 sec @ F / 6.4

The Tradeston pedestrian bridge

the tradeston bridge a pedestrian bridge across the River Clyde — Fuji X-T2 – XF 18mm F 2.0 R – 1/60 sec @ F / 14.0

The BBC Scotland building and the Bells Bridge

a landscape view from the clyde river and clyde arc bridge — Fuji X-T2 – XF 18mm F 2.0 R – 1/30sec @ F / 16.0

The final image was a scene I came upon outside the transport museum – bungy jumping Santa Claus! This was fun to watch and a good reminder of the festive season to come.

a bungy jumping santa clauss as he leaves the jump platform — Fuji X-T2 – XF55-200mm F 3.5 – 4.8 R 1/250 sec @ F / 9.0

FIAP, News, Photography

FIAP colour biennial 2017

on pointe expression — Canon EOS 5D Mark II : EF 50mm f/1.2 L USM 1/125 @ F / 9.0

FIAP colour biennial 2017

Every year FIAP (International Federation of Photographic Art) hold international competitions called FIAP Biennials. These are hosted by different Federations around the world, under conditions laid out by FIAP. This year the competition was hosted by Norway and was a colour Biennial.

This is the first year that FIAP have merged the colour Print and Projected Image Biennials together.

In 2018 there will be the Black and White and Nature Biennials.

Within each medium, each country chooses its own theme for its entry, and puts together a panel of images or prints on that theme aiming to get the entries as coherent as possible.

During the competition the panel of entries is given both individual scores for each work, and also a mark for how coherent the panel is.

Obviously then the country with the highest combined score is the winner.

This year the Great Britain theme was “Dance and Movement” and the PAGB selectors selected 10 images to make that theme, including an image from myself.

Other authors representing GB were Dinah Jayes, Roger Parry, Derwood Pamphilon, Steve Marriot, Pauline Pentony, Joan Blease, Tim Pile, Greg Duncan, and Valerie Duncan.

In the competition the entry received a coherence score of 45 and an individual print score of 119, total score of 164.

There were 19 countries entered into the Colour Biennial (Print) and this score placed us 5^th overall and we also received an honourable mention. We were one point off the FIAP Biennial bronze which went to Norway. Other notable awards were to Dinah Jayes who was awarded the FIAP Biennial individual gold medal for her image.

The overall winners of the World Cup were Italy.

Gold went to Luxembourg and Spain picking up the Silver, Norway the bronze medals

In the Projected Image Biennial, GB came second which was also a great result.

It was great to receive the printed catalogue showing all the print entries and I was especially impressed with the coherence of Luxembourg images, which was on a theme of ‘Black and Red’ .

General, Photography

Le Train Bleu Restaurant -Images

As I recounted in this blog. I have been lucky enough to attend the Austrian Super Salon Gala Dinner and awards evening in Linz. Another successful year at the Super Salon Circuit Salon meant I received an invite to attend the event so we need to plan another trip to Linz.

With a few days of research by my wife on how best to get to Linz with out flying, resulted in us opting to going by train. Which gave us the option of taking a few other places we had wanted to visit too. We found that we could get a visits to Zurich, Linz and Vienna as part of this trip. (We opted to fly home from Vienna). So instead of flying both ways as the last time see my blog about my visit to Munich we opted to go by train. (Thanks to the man in seat 61)

The trip started with a train down to London on the East Coast main line an overnight in the London area then out from St Pancras by Eurostar to Paris. A few stops on the Paris Metro to Paris Gare de Lyon. Where the modern French TGV-Lyria train leaves for Switzerland. It whisks you across France and on into Switzerland via Basel and then Zurich. Running at up to 320 km/h (200mph) you arrive in Zurich around 4 hours after departing from Paris.

Le Train Bleu Restaurant.

Before I post some of the Zurich images I though it was worth sharing these images of the historic Le Train Bleu Restaurant (“The Blue Train”) which is located in Hall 1 of the Gare de Lyon station.

The restaurant was originally created for the World’s fair (1900) and each of the ornate dining rooms are themed to represent cities and regions of France and they are decorated with 41 paintings by some of the most popular artists of that time.

Initially called “Buffet de la Gare de Lyon”, it was renamed “Le Train Bleu restaurant” in 1963, after the train of the same name. It was designated a Monument Historique in 1972.

Having seen the website we decided that it was well worth getting to Gare de Lyon station with a few hours to spare so we could pay a visit to this historic Restaurant.

A few Images

train bleu ceiling — 1/60 sec @ f11 ISO5000 Touit 2.8 12mm

train bleu interior 1 — 1/60 sec @ f5.6 ISO1600 Touit 2.8 12mm

train bleu interior 2 — 1/30 sec @ f9.0 ISO3200 Touit 2.8 12mm

It is not cheap but is well worth spending the extra euros just to take in the interior decorations, which are certainly very impressive as you can see from the images above – no one seemed to mind you taking images either.

The final image is as we started to pull out of the station on our way to Zurich really liked the all the lines and the feeling of traveling with this one.

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Architecture Photography - Architecture Photographer - high and low Lines — Richard Spurdens Photography – High and low Lines

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Events, General, News, Photography

Bilbao visit part II

Following on from, my recent blog post on my visit to Bilbao in September. Which mainly featured the architecture and areas around the Guggenheim.

I thought it would be worth sharing some of the other interesting places that are worth visiting whilst you are there.

Starting off a the tourtist information center where there was this interesting use of light bulds and photographes of the city of Bilbao.

Travel Photography - travel Photograher - light bulds and hotographs of the various locations in bilbao — Richard Spurdens Photography -travel photography series XF 35mm 1/60 sec @ f/4

The river Nervión runs through the city and you can walk on either side of this river and cross it by many of the different bridges that have been built at regular intervals in the centre. These are all different and some are more photographic interesting than others.

foot bridge sweep — Touit 12mm, 1/125 sec f13.0

Some of the outdoor sculptors along the banks of the river make interesting subject too and I choose to photograph them using a low angle to make these strong shapes stand out again the sky.

Travel Photography - travel Photograher -monochrome image of commemoration day of the sea sculptor bilbao — Richard Spurdens Photography – commemoration day of the sea sculptor series XF 35mm 1/60 sec @ f/16.0

travel photography - travel photographer - commemoration day of the sea sculptor — Richard Spurdens Photography – commemoration day of the sea sculptor

Travel Photography - travel Photograher - one of the commemoration day of the sea sculptor bilbao — Richard Spurdens Photograhy -commemoration day of the sea sculptor series. Fuji XF 35mm 1/60 sec @ f/16.0

Commemoration day of the Sea – XF 35mm 1/60 sec @ f/16.0

Another good place to visit was the Azkuna Zentroa, or in English the (Azkuna Centre) previously known as the Alhonhiga Bilbao. It is an interesting building which was originally a large wine warehouse designed 1909 but following it closure around 1970 was finally renovated between 2001-2010 by the architect Philippe Starck in collaboration with Thibaut Mathieu. This is now a multi-purpose venue which houses: a gallery, cinemas, café, shops, fitness center and a swimming pool.

circles of light — 2.0 secs @ f/8.0 Touit 12mm

But this is a swimming pool with a difference, it that at the top of the building and has glass panels in the bottom – so you can walk underneath it and look up at the swimmers in the pool back lit from above.

Architecture Photography - Architecture Photographer - a view from underneath to a swimming pool on the roof of the building — Richard Spurdens Photography – 1/125 sec @ f/11.0 Touit 12mm

The whole building make for an interesting place to visit: the open space has some interesting lighting and areas to sit and chat in.

Even the pillars supporting the internal structures are all different with attractive decoration patterns.

the ornate tiling of one support pillar — 1/4 sec @ f5.6 Touit 12mm

travel photography - travel photographer - monochrome image of a decortive brick support pillar under a building in spain — 0.5 sec @ f/5.0 Touit 12mm

As I said above you can walk around the city but there is also a very good tram and metro system, if you need to travel quickly or go further out of the city. Of course the metro system, which was designed by another fine architect Sir Norman Foster and as you enter the system by what the locals call ‘Los Fosteritos’ you feel you are entering a futuristic world. Once you have come down the escalators or glass lifts you are lead through tunnels to cavernous stations. With mezzanines floors above the trains and stairs from these lead you down on to platforms. Here are a few images from the stations which feel light and airy compared with some of the other metro systems that are around Europe.

metro esculators — XF 18mm 1/5 sec @ f/6.4

ticket barrier pop — The ticket barriers were worth a look at a bit of selective colouring. XF35mm 1/125 sec f/5.6

travel photography - travel photographer - colour image showing the station platform at moyua station with all the various lines runing towards the top of the image — Richard Spurdens Photography – Bilbao visit series – FX18mm 1/15 sec @ f/4

travel photography - travel photographer - colour image showing the station platform at moyua station with a train in the platform with the station name reflecting in the carrage windows — Richard Spurdens Photography – Bilbao visit series – XF18mm 1/30 sec @ f/2.8

We used the metro to go out to the Areeta metro station to visit the Vizcaya Bridge, known to locals as the Puente Colgante (hanging bridge) which is a link between Portugalete and Getxo. It is the oldest hanging bridge in the world and was constructed in 1893 of iron and was designed so that the passage of ships would be interrupted.

the hanging bridge — 1/180 sec @ f/16.0 XF-18mm

Another transport hub that is worth a vist is the railway station located in Abando near the old town. It is know locally as Bilbao-Abando and locally named as Estación del Norte (“North Station”), it is an interesting build and has a great station glass window showing the industrial heritage of Bilbao.

The skyline of Bilbao has some other notalbe buildings that are worth a look photographing, there is the Iberdrola tower ( Iberdrola dorrea) the head quarters of Iberdrola( the spanish electricity company) it certainly towers above the skyline and makes a interesting subject in various lights.

Reflected blues and whitess — Iberdrola Tower XF -18mm 1/180 sec @ f/11

Iberdrola Tower sunset II — XF-55-200 mm @ 55mm. 1/125 sec @ f/ 5.0

office block colours — XF-55-200 mm @ 200mm. 1/125 sec @ f/ 6.4

The final images I shot were at another transport link the airport which is also designed by Santiago Calatrava and the terminal is a sleek design and looks like the front of a large arrow pointing to the sky. This is a shot from the interior departure hall.

Architecture Photography - Architecture Photographer -bilbao airport interior roof — Richard Spurdens Photography – bilbao airport windows FX18mm 1/125 @f /10.0

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News, Photography

Rosa Brighid

In January of this year I had chance to work with a new (to me) model Rosa Brighid. She is based in Plymouth but was in my area and so we arranged to work together. As it was January a studio location was the best option, so I booked Hallum Mill in Stockport. It turned out to be a very wet day (glad I had chosen to work in the studio) so having collected Rosa Brighid from where she was staying, we headed over the hills to Hallum Mills.

I got to know Rose a bit on the way across and she certainly looked to be going to be a popular model as she outlined the various shoots she had planned during the year.

As I mentioned earlier this was a very wet day so there was not a lot of natural light available to shoot with. I chose to work with a couple of different lighting setups. The first image (below) was from my first lighting setup were the main lights were placed behind the model (fitted with a small reflector and a grid). They were setup high and aimed at separate bounce boards which were positioned to the right and left of the camera in front of the model. These bounce boards bounce the light back towards the model and produce an incredibly soft and flattering light. As can be seen from the image the lights picks up the edges of the body and hair and create a rim light on the body contours and hair. It then hits the bounce boards and scatters and produces a soft front light.

The second image was lit using a continuous tungsten light source “daylight balanced” which means that you can see exactly were the light is falling and for this set the light was positioned to the right hand side of the camera.

It is interesting to see the two different lighting set outputs.

Boudoir photographer- Boduoir Photography monochrome image of the rosa wearing a white textures blouse and textured knicker looking down away from the camera — Richard Spurdens Photography – boudoir with Rosa Brighid textured blouse

Boudoir photographer- Boduoir Photography monochrome image of the model wearing matching bar and knickers looking toward the viewerRosa Brighid lingerie — Richard Spurdens Photography – Boudoir with Rosa Brighid

Fine Art Nude Photography - Fine Art Nude Photographer - monochrome image of rose standing on small set of library type circular steps she is reaching her nearest to the camera hand to the top of her head, the other is holding the step post. — Richard Spurdens Photography – Rosa Brighid single light to the rhs- Canon 5D MkIII – 1/125 @ f /4.5 EF70-200mm F2.8

Fine Art Nude Photography - Fine Art Nude Photographer - toned monochrome image of rosa stand side on the light so it is highlighting her figure shape on the rhs she has one hand on her head the other hand is across her stomach as arches up on one foot — Richard Spurdens Photography – Rosa Brighid single light to the rhs I – Canon 5D MkIII – 1/125 @ f / 9.0 EF70-200mm F2.8

The darker more moody images were lit using a lighting setup which consisting a one main light fitted with a strip soft box which also had an egg crate grid attached to control the light spill and make it very directional. Which keeps the light from falling onto the back ground. The result is that you get dark backgrounds and good light and shadow areas on the contours of the body.

Richard Spurdens Photography – Rosa Brighid with textures added – Canon 5D MkIII – 1/125 @ f / 9.0 EF70-200mm F2.8 L

Fine Art Nude Photography - Fine Art Nude Photographer - Fine art nudes - toned monochrome image of rosa with her hands behind her head looking down towards the rhs of the image the lighting is highlighting her face and left breast the rest of her figure is in shadow — Richard Spurdens Photography – Rosa Brighid facing the light – Canon 5D MkIII – 1/125 @ f / 8.0 EF70-200mm F2.8

Fine Art Nude Photography - Fine Art Nude Photographer - toned monochrome image of rosa standing with her arms behind her head and she is holding her hair behind her and looking down to the lhs of the image. the light is playing across her chest and stomach and producing nice shadows and light areas across her body — Richard Spurdens Photography – Rosa Brighid turning away from the light – Canon 5D MkIII – 1/125 @ f / 9.0 EF70-200mm F2.8 L

Fine Art Nude Photography - Fine Art Nude Photographer - toned monochrome iamge of rosa she is sitting on a table to at the rhs of the image her feet are on a chair and her hands a resting on its back. the light is coming in from the lhs and is highlighting her arms arms and shoulder and hair the rest of her figure is in shadows — Richard Spurdens Photography – Rosa Brighid seated on the table with a chair – Canon 5D MkIII – 1/125 @ f / 8.0 EF70-200mm F2.8

It turns out the Rosa is a bit of a climber so here is one to finish with, were we worked with a rope ladder suspended from the ceiling. Again using the strip lighting set up to light the scene.

Fine Art Nude Photography - Fine Art Nude Photographer - toned monochrome image of rosa hanging away for a set of rope ladders her figure is arching away to the left hand side of the lighting which is coming in from the rhs — Richard Spurdens Photography – Rosa Brighid rope ladder series

So thanks to Rosa for producing some good poses to go with the lighting.

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Photography

Roswell Ivory

I finally have had some time to start to work on my image backlog after a hectic few months of image making. In April alone I had 5 model shoots and a trip to the Isle of Skye for a weeks break and also a change to work at getting some landscape images.

Roswell Ivory is based in Milton Keynes and had contacted me a couple of times in the past to see if we could arrange a time for us to work together.

But somehow the dates we had available never quite matched up, or I already had a shoot booked when she was in the area. So it was really good that in February we found a date that we both could do. This fitted into a tour she had organised so it meant that she was able to come up to work with me locally so we could be fairly relaxed with the time and a venue too.

This was a studio shoot as February is a just a little bit too cold for working outside, the studio has some good natural light so most of these image were shot with just the natural light in the studio.

The artist nude figure studies were shot with a single studio light on a simple black ground.

Roswell Ivory is great to work with and as she is also a trained contortionist and as such she can make so great shapes with here body.

The location had a large mirror so we used this to create a set of legs and shoes images using some of Roswell Ivory vintage lingerie collection.

So here a few I liked from the session:

fashion photography - fashion photographer - reflections of shoes and vintage stockings and suspenders — Richard Spurdens Photography – vintage fashion series

portrait photographer - portrait photogrraphy - red head head shot — Richard Spurdens Photography – portrait series

artistic nude photography- artistic nude photographer - figure shape seated on the floor — Richard Spurdens Photography – artistic nude series

artistic nude photographer - artistic nude photography - the model kneeing with her back to the camera with the light playing across her back and figure shape — Richard Spurdens Photography – Back curves

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