Book End

Apologies. It's been a bit quiet on the blog this last month or so. I've been a very busy bee. A number of blog posts are on their way including one that has been delayed far too long due to work. Everything seems to come at once and time just vanishes. One of the more urgent projects that needed completing quick was the Solo Photo Book Month book.

Well good news! It's finished. I managed to get everything in place today, so i uploaded the completed book a clear 24 hours before the finish deadline. The photographs and book look great, so much so that an 'extended' version of the book will be coming out soon featuring even more photographs.

My Solo Photo Book Month 2010 book (9.5Mb) can be downloaded at:-
www.richardflintphoto.com/photobook/making_movies.pdf

Final 40

A sunset at Whitby - North Yorkshire, UK

I'm coming to the final stages of my Solo Photo Book Month project 2010. I have just over a week to shoot more photos and design the book. Plenty of time. So far, I have around 47 image so far and i think I'll get more photographs this week to make the number of final working book photos come to around 60. From that, I'll edit it down to the final 40.

The photographs I've taken have been a great mix of styles that i described in an audioBoo podcast as 'snapshots'.  Maybe not a totally accurate way of describing the image capturing process, but it's close enough. Has the project turned out as i expected? Yes, better than I'd imagined actually.

My SoFoBoMo project book 'Making Movies' will be uploaded on July 7th and a download link made available on that day from the blog and my website.

Staff Only

A 'Staff Only' still life found on a door at Goathland Railway Station, up on the North Yorkshire moors.

I love the red shades of colour mixing with light and shadow, the lines within the door, the various marks on the door from years of use and the fact that the keyhole cover sits at a jaunty angle.

SoFoBoMo Week One

The film's director lines up the camera for a take

The Solo Photo Book Month project has started strongly. I need a minimum of 35 photographs for my book detailing the making of the vampire film 'Christian', and i already have around 9 that i am pleased with. The Polaroid look works great too, creating a familiar laid back look to the images. The book layout and design will start next weekend, ready for me to easily add photographs later this month. Alongside the photography, I'm also shooting video on the phone with surprisingly good results.

More photography is on the way. This week, I have a load of promotional photography to take of the various film characters for the posters, website, DVD box cover, etc, etc. I'll be using a combination of digital and film to get those, although it will be the b&w film shots that I'll be paying extra attention too. A mixture of 35mm and 6x6 film will be used for the portraits that will have a Gothic flavour to them. Lighting at night will be tricky but I'll use available street light, portable lights and flash as and when needed. I always adore a lighting challenge.

The weekend has seen me working to rid myself of a bad cold ASAP. I may, or may not, make it to Monday night's shoot. I don't know yet if I'll be fit enough yet, although it seems to be going.... slowly. I suppose that I'll make that decision on Monday morning. Colds are easy to catch, and sadly, less easy to shake off. Fingers crossed i can loose it quickly. I don't want to infect the entire cast and crew with my cold.

Vampire Nights

Actor Carl Isherwood (Christian) through the movie camera viewfinder

The filming of the vampire movie 'Christian' commenced yesterday and i have to admit that i had quite a lot of fun. As the director of photography it's my task to help the director with the visual style of the film. Lighting and the framing of scenes are really the essence of what a DoP does. I love lighting stuff.

The shooting will continue during weekday nights for around four weeks, possibly longer depending on the weather/technical problems etc. The film' website can be found at http://www.christianmovie.co.uk/ . Check out the movie's Twitter feed too for audio and video podcasts, photos and updates direct from the film set.

All that Jazz

Dexter Gordon, Royal Roost, NYC, 1948 - photograph by Hermann Leonard

Long ago, when i was a student, i had a housemate and friend called Andy who was a massive jazz fan. Andy was a photographer who had combined his passion for music with his photography resulting in a superb collection of jazz portraits/concert photographs. The jazz clubs and festivals in Newcastle Upon Tyne acted as the perfect place to develop his portfolio.

A big influence over Andy's work was Hermann Leonard, an american photographer who photographed many of the jazz greats of the 1940's. Leonard's work fused the atmosphere of the smokey jazz clubs with the performance and persona of the artist he was photographing. The resulting images are among the greatest photographs of pro musicians at work ever taken.

As i wandered through the internet today, i came across Hermann Leonard's website, and his magnificent images in the portfolio section brought back all kinds of great memories of late night photography discussions as a Miles Davis album played in the background. Great days. Even if you aren't a big fan of jazz music, I'd recommend taking a look at Leonard's work. It is the work of a true master.

Hermann Leonard's website can be found at http://www.hermanleonard.com/

Reel Reality

Looking back towards Cromer from the pier

The final films shot in Norfolk last year were developed this week. Yes, not before time i imagine you'll say and it's true, those films should have been processed ages ago. So why weren't they? I don't have any great excuses, but i will admit that processing large amounts of film can be problematic for me. I'm just not geared up to develop more that ten 35mm rolls at any one time. For 120 film that figure drops to four.

The problem is drying developing tanks and reels so that they can be loaded again. I have no way of speeding up the process because i don't have a drying cabinet, so i rely on natural drying which can take forever. If you try to dry tanks/reels with a cloth then you often get an increase of dust and hair fibre marks on the negatives. My solution has been to buy more tanks and i'm going to buy some more this year.

I currently use four, however, i want to raise that to six or seven. I could get a really big developing tank that processes five, six or even ten films at a time, but i prefer working with the smaller (approx 700ml) 35mm reel tanks. They are far easier to handle and the quantities of chemical needed to fill the tank are also much smaller. I prefer to process two films at a time anyway - it's the way i've always done it.

Two more developing tanks will make all the difference. It will increase my workflow and the number of films i can process in a session. So it's off to eBay to try and find a few bargains. If i can find some tanks at the right price i may even splash out and buy three or four.

Thanks Dennis

The photojournalist from Apocalypse Now played by the wonderful Dennis Hopper

Yesterday brought the sad news that the actor Dennis Hopper had died at the age of 74. He had been ill with cancer. For me, Hopper will always be the enigmatic photojournalist in Apocalypse Now, the 1979 Vietnam war movie made by Francis Ford Cappola.

Dennis Hopper's portrayal of a burnt out, partially insane photojournalist really captured the persona of a number of Vietnam war photographers from that era. Two that spring to mind are Sean Flynn and Tim Page who both had a tendancy to push their luck when it came to getting the shots. Page was mentioned by Cappola as a main influence for the photojournalist character.

Hopper had some memorable lines in the film, but the one that i love has to be where the photojournlist remarks that if is the middle word in life. So true.