Old school.

Bought an old 35 mm camera the other day. A NIKON f55 for about  8 pounds off of eBay. Wasn't sure if it would be compatible with my lenses, but the two primes I've attached, a nifty fifty and a 35 mm 1.8 have both worked fine.

I was inspired to the purchase by picking up a negative scanner the other day from Lidl, as I've really enjoyed the mechanical feel of having a film camera in my hands again.

Strange too though, as I keep looking at the back of the camera to see what my shot looks like. Interesting the way you become conditioned to have certain expectations.

Bought some colour and black and white film and hoping to get it developed to negative only.

Took some shots, digital and 35mm black & white (on what my eldest describes an ny "rubbish" canera thanks to lack of screen, and that I was shooting black & white, to which she has stange aversion), of one of my daughters on the beach that look pretty good. Then other daughter arrived and took a few more of them paddling in the almost white sea under pale skies.

Hopefully uploading some shots tomorrow.

Jesus Loves You

Jesus Loves You, originally uploaded by AnthonyGibbons.

No really. He does.

But he doesn't want you for a sunbeam.

Mine?

Mine?, originally uploaded by AnthonyGibbons.

Via Flickr:
Bought a negative scanner and have been going through old negatives.

In amongst them I found this shot, whicch I have no memory of taking. Love the shot, and it's clearly amongst other shots which are more obviously of my hand, this one seems unlike my other work.

Off Ground Touch

Off Ground Touch, originally uploaded by AnthonyGibbons.

This guy runs a mobile Massage service from his bike, very environmentally friendly, and I took a few shots for him for a magazine ad (never heard of the magazine but it looks dead trendy - called "eat me") and a bit of a press release that he's putting together.

Expect that some of the images will eventually be used on their website: www.offgroundtouch.co.uk/

Cool to be taking pictures on a parrticular brief, which goes against all my usual instincts. Fun though. Although I felt dead ill on the day. Glad to get home of the cold in the end.

Vicar

Bride and Groom framed, originally uploaded by AnthonyGibbons.

He's not a priest. Had to keep telling myself that.

The catholic Atheist in me found it hard to use the correct word.

A lot like hard work

A lot like hard work, originally uploaded by AnthonyGibbons.

Shocked at how long the processing has taken for the wedding pics from last week.

Note to self forfuture: keep next day totally free for processing - don't fill the day with kids party.

Probably just me being a perfectionist, but even the pics that are relatively straightforward need a little work, and some of the more arty ones a little more.

On the other hand, this evening the work has been distracting me from toothache, so there's a definite up, this evening.

At the moment I'm mainly putting up the arty shots, which are likely to be the ones that stay on Flickr, but I will be putting up a range of others, at least once the happy couple have seen them.

First Wedding

Black and White or Colour, originally uploaded by AnthonyGibbons.

On Saturday I photographed my first wedding.

I'll be posting more pictures to my Flickr photostream in time and the blog, but I'm particularly pleased with this one.

It was an interesting experience, and one which I'll feel comfortable recreating, for money (this was a freebie) at a later date.

It's pretty challenging, trying to get a mix of the standard, expected shots, combined with the kind of creative shots that are the reason I take pictures in the first place. I pretty much got all the standard shots, which was a relief, no problems there and a sprinkling of the more creative "arty" shots that I'd hoped for.

I was extremely tense in the run-up to the wedding, sleepless nights aplenty, and there was lots of pre-planning involved.

I rented a Nikon D300 (lovely camera) for the event, and in the end used that as my main camera for the delay, my D80 slung over my shoulder with a bigger zoom for close-ups.

Still reckon I've got a bit to learn. I tend to be the sort of photographer who records events, but I reckon that to do this stuff successfully it helps to be able to encourage the couple to pose a bit more or to be more creative, and that requires more of an adventurous mindset on my part. Got ideas for next time though.

Still processing all the images, bit of a task in itself, but for me it's the only way to really get the images as I want them.

Next task, help them put together the printed Wedding album, a whole new challenge in itself.