Modern Romance

I had an idea for a series of photos on insomnia. I thought of images of a woman lying in bed, in the dark, unable to sleep, eyes wide open, staring straight up. And I imagined another with a couple lying in bed, each on their own with no connection, both stuck in their own insomniac mental wanderings. Setting it up I would ideally have liked the camera looking straight down at the bed. The best I could manage was an awkwardly contrived tripod with one leg up at about an 80° angle, propped on a suitcase, with the other 2 legs pushed up against the bed. I left the room lights off but allowed street light in through the window behind the camera and room light through the door at the opposite side of the room. I used the Fuji’s base ISO of 160, resulting in exposures ranging between 2½ and 4 seconds, using a remote. Here are a couple more from the shoot, which in the end I decided was more about anomie than insomnia.

Lightboxes

As mentioned in the last post, these are some glass sculptures outside the Lightbox in Woking. I took photographs through them of my classmate, Reeve (who kindly agreed), and myself on the evening of our private viewing of The Gathering (see the Exhibition page for more info.)

Glass

The Lightbox, Woking, UK

On 31st January we held a private viewing of our UCA Photography MFA student work, The Gathering (you can see information about it now on the Exhibitions page). On the way out, in the evening, I stopped to photograph these glass sculptures with variable colored lighting in the entrance park. I couldn’t find any information about them.

Iconic

Paris Photo was held this year at the Grand Palais Ephémère, a massive marquee erected on the Champ de Mars, at the other end of which stands the Eiffel Tower. We therefore stayed in a hotel nearby and found ourselves confronted at frequent points in our walks, by sights of the iconic structure which it is impossible not to photograph. So let’s try and get that out of the way at once! (Click any image to see them all full-sized.)

Some more haiku sketches

These are a few more shots, potentially for the haiku project. They are 2 different shadows on the wall, slightly before dawn, cast by the security lights of the construction site outside my apartment. Shooting at base ISO yielded exposure times of 2.1 and 4 seconds respectively.

Bonfire Night

Part of our introduction to English customs included attending the Farnham Bonfire festivities

Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Guy Fawkes Day, Bonfire Night and Fireworks Night, is an annual commemoration observed on 5 November, primarily in Great Britain, involving bonfires and fireworks displays…” (see more at Wikipedia).

Click any image to see them all full size (from the browser). Note the effigy of the Guy in blue, who took a long time to finally catch fire.

Basil

Farnham, UK

I woke early, thinking about a photo project I’ve been returning to, based on Ezra Pound’s famous haiku. I slipped up to the living room attempting not to disturb my sleeping spouse and saw the security light in the street below shining through the frost on the window and silhouetting the basil plant on the sill. I grabbed my tripod and took a few pictures at different distances and heights, this one at 1.3 seconds at f2.8 (and the Fuji base ISO of 160). It looks a little zen, no?