Project Welsh Pony: Progress Report

Time for a bit of an update on another project, the long-exposure railway shoot which spawned out of the "Inter-City" series I did for the South Square open call last year.  The plan this time is to have a train in the shots, with a camera rig moving at the same speed (so the train will appear fully focused and 'frozen' in a blurred landscape).  I'm also planning to do some passing-by shots, replicating the sorts of pics I sometimes do from the lineside with real trains. 

I've tentatively set a shoot in October for this, to give me a deadline to work towards, at least for the concept pics, and this has given me a list of things required- the locomotive "Welsh Pony", a short train which can be illuminated for night-time shots, and a length of track.

When I did the Britannia Model Village project the track was "Triang Big-Big" O gauge track sprayed brown and badly hot-glued to lengths of wood.  By "Intercity" a slightly more elegant solution was attempted, with semi-permanent lenghts of track ballasted with small bits of garden gravel; looked better, but the gravel went bloody everywhere.  This time I needed a better solution that was more portable, looked more realistic, but which was more robust too. 

It was planned to keep this project both easily storable and transportable by having it fit into a couple of delivery crates from work, which dictated the lengths of the track to no more than 44cm.  Toy train track from various cheapo sets was glued onto bits of reclaimed wooden planking, which was in turn attached to a hardboard base.  To join the tracks together on shoots, short bits of plywood were placed underneath, with holes drilled to accept coach bolts and wingnuts.

Seen above is almost the entire available track- its not much, but it doesn't need to be for the concept shots... if they work out as planned, I can make a bit more for the main shoots.

In an attempt to disguise the track going off-scene, I'm using a model railway technique and having track curving off under a bridge (loosely based on a bridge on the Welsh Highland Railway that I use for one my regular photography locations).  It doesn't need to be massively detailed, as its going to be a blurry background item, hence why its cobbled together from cardboard and bits of scrap wood.  Hopefully when its plastered up with other detailing, it wont look quite so basic.  Again, it will do for the concept shots.

To disguise the edges of the track boards, I glued on lengths of sloped card (mountboard)...

...and then did another trick from the later stages of the Model Village project, and glued on strips of hanging basket liner as grass...  More detaililng required soon, but its getting there.

 

A quick progress report on "Welsh Pony", the main bodywork is done- detailing parts left to fabricate include the distinctive front handrail (which is an annoyingly fiddly shape), a working headlamp, and a couple of other odds and ends.  The chassis also needs some attention to raise the ride-height slightly, then its time to paint it up.

Project: Airborne... concept test

The nature of my Day Job is that I’m very busy over the spring/summer/autumn, but have much free time in the winter, which means an opportunity to get some projects done.  I have a few which I’m aiming to do this winter, the main ones being to play around with long-exposure pictures using miniatures.

There are some types of photography I’ve fancied doing for a while, but which are difficult to replicate, at least without using Photoshop and the like.  I’ve been wondering about trying to do some sort of aircraft shot in-camera with miniatures, with little or no involvement from Photoshop, as a run-up to doing the Project: Thunderbolt pictures.

I figured that the best way to get a shot of a plane flying against the blurred background was to have the camera and plane fixed together on some sort of rig- it’s a development of the “Intercity” project I shot last year, where the camera was mounted on a railway wagon and propelled through a scene with a long exposure.

Developing the idea for aircraft shots involved coming up with some sort of rig to keep the plane model and the camera fixed.  I had wondered about the good old “Thunderbirds” method of having the model suspended by wires, but it would move around too much (it needed to be rock steady) and the size of camera rig required would be bloody daft.  So after a bit of though, I shall be using a stick instead; much simpler.

The failiure of an early attempt (due to the weight of the model and the poor attachment of the rig to the camera) led to the test rig Mk.2, which is a slightly more glorified form of stick.  The attachment to the camera is a Poundland mini tripod, which in terms of material quality seems to have been made from tin foil, so it has been heavily reinforced with hot glue.  One of the rubber feet from the bottom of a tube was removed, and had a small length of square-section wood inserted, on the end of which was hot glued a small plastic tub which had previously contained glitter.  The reason for this is that the tub has a tight-fitting but rotatable lid (glued to the bottom of the plane) which will allow the angle of the plane to be varied- the leg of the tripod also rotates, allowing for more angles in each shot.  The stick was painted mottled greens to try and hide it against the scenery a bit.

The plane was a little trickier; being as I was doing this as a concept test, I didn’t want to spend hours building an Airfix kit, just to have it fall off and smash to bits the first time I tried to shoot any pictures with it.  So the plane chosen was a very cheap and nasty clip-together kit, which claims to be a Spitfire.  It took a fair bit of bodging together, and I had to perform a serious bit of modification to the wings, which amazingly they had managed to mould upside down and back to front, giving the wrong shape altogether.  Its still not exactly brilliant, but its good enough for the test piece.

Once it was assembled, it was quickly painted intoi something resembling a proper colour scheme, and lightly weathered.  A finishing touch with the pictures was a plan to incorporate a battery-powered fan to turn the propeller (as it happened, I ended up being too late to get one from the shops, stupid end-of-summer clearances…)

With everything built up, it was time to actually test the concept- I needed a high-up vantage point, so went up the valley to a path between Haworth and Oxenhope, and hey presto, a viable location... except that the Day Job got in the way, so I ended up shooting this off the fire escape at work, which provided a similar location.  For the sake of the concept shots I ended up just using my old Cannon 350 rather than the posher cameras, and I was reasonably pleased with the resulting shots. 

 

The next step?  Well I had wondered about using this technique for the “Project: Thunderbolt” images, but that model weighs a bloody ton, so that’s out of the question.  I do however want to try some more of these pictures with a better model (I have two available, both 1/48 kits which should allow for some better detailing).  Weight will be more of an issue with bigger kits however; and I want something a bit better than a stick, which will give a bit more flexibility.

The design for the ‘proper’ rig at the moment involves a special mounting built to accept a base-plate from a camera tripod, which should make things a bit sturdier.  The ‘trigger grip’ on the base should make the camera a little more controllable too, and to support the planes I will be using the same glitter-tub method as on the concept piece, but modifying the stick with thin, but strong, metal or similar as a substitute.  The intention is to have two interchangeable sets of ‘sticks’, one painted in green and one in blue, for differing shots.  Hopefully there will be more on this project before the month is out...

Winter Timetable...

Winter Timetable

Blimey, been a good long while since I’ve updated on here; a result of the Day Job (s) which have been busy over the summer, and also working on a major location photography shoot for an upcoming gallery exhibition (details here:  http://ribbonartandphotography.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/home-is-starting-out.html).  However, with work easing down for the winter, the time is coming when I can focus on getting a few projects done in my increasing spare time.  The plan for this winter is to finish a few odds and sods from older projects, but the main focus will be completing miniatures for a series of projects exploring long-exposure/movement photography techniques.  And being as I’m more likely to get things done if I write them down somewhere, the list for this winter (in no particular order) consists of:

“Project: Thunderbolt”

This is the increasingly-sprawling aircraft themed project, inspired by the work of the author Dan Abnett, set in the Warhammer 40K universe, and an attempt to do a huge action picture with loads of different miniatures, without resorting to Photoshop.  It’s nearly ready to shoot, the miniatures just need a bit of fine detailing and painting, and the set assembling… it’s a bit sobering that this ‘quick’ project has grown into something that’s taken 14 months so far, but it’s become a bit more complex than originally intended- my projects tend to develop what the Americans call ‘mission creep’, and this one is no different...  I’d estimate it has about a weeks worth of work left in it, indlucing building the set for the shoot, and actually taking the pictures.  I have one ‘main’ shot in mind, with options on a few others, time permitting (because it would be a bit daft making the models then only using them for one shot).  The above shot only uses minimal digital trickery and extra effects, incidentally, and was taken in the back garden by panning the model over the lawn with one hand and trying to match its speed with the camera held in the other.  The final pictures will be on a similar line, but with a rather more efficient camera rig, and bigger in scale.

“Project: Welsh Pony”

A major long-exposure photography project, this has emerged out of the work I did for “Intercity”/the “Dromology” exhibition at South Square Gallery in 2012, and will be done using custom-made, large-scale miniature trains.  The ‘set’ and the stock are almost built for the first location shoot (slated for mid October- I thought having a deadline might spur me on a bit more to complete it), with other miniatures –including a steampunk-esque Double Fairlie locomotive- designed and ready to build at a later date, depending on how the first shoots turn out.

“Project: Airborne”

Another long-exposure photography project, this time using aircraft miniatures… I’ve built an experimental camera rig for this shoot, and following the results of this shoot I am now working on a rather better rig which will stand up to more use out on location (pencilled in for the same timeframe as the “Welsh Pony” pics, depending on prep time).  It will also involve constructing a couple of large-scale aircraft kits I’ve had in stock for a while; this, if anything, is the more involved part of the project, as I don’t think I’ve actually built and painted a model kit as per the instructions for years. Generally I just use kits as a source of suitable parts for my own designs, so the thought of making something that looks like the picture on the box, and realistically painted, is a little daunting.

“Project: 50PH1E (‘Tanked’)”

Like Project Thunderbolt, this is another build set in the Warhammer 40K universe, and is linked to a possible graphic novel/short story I’ve been scripting... It will probably amount to nothing, but I keep being drawn back to the idea and doodling pictures for it, so I probably need to just make a couple of models and get it out of my system (and the models can always be folded into other projects anyway).  Basically, it needs a couple of freelance tank miniatures, which are already sketched and designed with parts acquired ready to start the build (the above model is an early shot from some concept work I did for a graphic novel; the model will be recycled in some form into this new project... what goes around comes around).  There maybe a few other odds and ends required for the project, I haven’t decided yet- basically I’ll see how it goes.

“Project: Iron Monsters”

Broadly linked to the above project, but set in the Britannia universe (in the ‘Decline Phase’ of its history in the late 2020’s, later than the other projects I’ve done so far).  Basically photographing lots of weird machines in such a way that they look like mechanical mosters and animals, out in real locations; again, as with several other projects this winter I’m trying to do as much as possible in-camera rather than resorting to Photoshop.

“Project: Cube”

Further developments of the Cube concept work I did in the summer, to spin it out into a mixed media project (with photography, miniatures, creative writing, etc).  In a way its linked with “Iron Monsters” so there may be a crossover there.  At the moment there’s no specific outcome for the project, but it may be that bits and pieces can be picked out of it for open calls, and I've a vague idea around a book or possible exhibition.

“Project: Sunken”

Basically some experimental underwater shots using miniatures- a development of the shoot I did a few years ago, but out on location (rather than shooting pictures in a bath, as above).  I haven’t decided what form the final images will take, or the subject matter yet.  It may also be a shoot for the spring, as shooting pictures in an ice-cold winter pond isn’t that appealing- at least with the bath I could run the hot tap for a bit.

“Project: Space”

A long-intended shoot doing photos using miniature spacecraft, very much inspired by the likes of Battlestar and Space:1999.  This is one of those projects I’ve been wanting to do for years- I got to the part-built miniature stage, and ‘miniature’ was stretching things a bit to describe a model spaceship that was 4ft long and so big it was never going to be finished, and I keep ending up putting this off in favour of other work.  I do however keep watching old episodes of “Red Dwarf” or the “Star Trek” films and thinking how wonderful space shots are with miniatures instead of CGI- as with ‘Tanked’ this is something I’m determined to actually get on with this winter.

“Shed”

I had hoped to complete a graphic novel based off some old webcomics I used to do- mixing cartoons with miniatures.  I have a story done, storyboarded, and a shots list, I just need to find time to complete the miniature ‘sets’ and do the proper artwork.  This summer has just been way too busy to do non-commission and speculative work…

Railways

As if the above wasn’t too much to get done, I also have a number of model railway projects on the go as well, the main one of which is a 009 narrow gauge layout set in Britannia.  These are fairly long projects not particularly intended for completion this winter (nor intended for specific photography project outcomes), just something to be going along with as a hobby more than anything else.  The above model is a "Britannianised" Double Fairlie model, a rather wonderful piece of 3D printing by a nice chap called Chris Ward, who's doing his best to make 009 narrow gauge railway modelling more accessible to the novice http://www.chrisjward.co.uk/ .   The below poster mash-up was done as early concept for the project (and an evolution of the Britannia Angel logo, based off the nose-art done for the Thunderbolt Project) sets the tone. 

These are the main projects to get done this winter; most are at a partially completed stage, its just a case of getting on and finishing building or detailing miniatures so I can do some pictures.  A lot of them were started last winter, but I ended up spending more time at work than I’d expected, meaning I had to shelve completing a lot of stuff until this winter… it does at least mean that I should be able to get stuff done fairly quickly.  There’s also a few odds and ends to finish off from other projects (so I can complete all the half-built models, shoot pictures, then dispose or recycle things and get some space back at home), plus whatever unplanned bits of work I might end up doing for open calls.  I’ll update as and when things get done, but I mainly intend to focus on the above, particularly projects “Thunderbolt” and “Welsh Pony” in the immediate term.In any case, it will all be documented on the blog over the winter…

Anything else?  Well just the one thing relevant to here, a print from the Steampunk project (the Salts Mill shot) is on display at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery in Bradford as part of the Bradford Open exhibition…  I’m pleased its on display, but the Steampunk project is fast becoming (like the Model Village before it) what I would classify as a Project That Refuses To Die.  I’m still sort-of drawn towards doing Steampunk stuff though, even if as a genre its gone so mainstream it probably has by now well and truly jumped the Clockwork Mecha-Shark, but I may end up revisiting the project and the vast amount of unused plans I came up with for it.  I did plan and even get as far as starting a model railway in N scale with working monorails, mechanical horses etc, but found time an common sense got in the way, thankfully.  But anyway, the image is on show at Cartwright for a few months, so we’ll see what comes of it.



Cube

This is a box.  A magical Box.  Shall we see what's inside?  That's right, broken glass and Christmas tree lights.

I've exhibited work a few times at the rather nice Cupola gallery in Sheffield.  Along with established artists, every year they do an open call for mixed shows, which gives people like me a chance to get their work into galleries, and one of the calls this year ("Kilter Kelter") was based on using recycled materials.

I struggled with what to do for it, but in a rather charged evening of jotting down ideas whilst listening to "Boards of Canada", I ended up with a slightly mad, science fiction concept.  Harking back to programmes like "Quatermass" and "Dr Who", I ended up with the idea of a fake documentary project, set in the whole alternate dystopia Britannia universe that plays host to a number of my projects.

The basic idea is that a mysterious scientific research body has begun finding and documenting sightings of strange, glowing cubes in the Cumbrian countryside.  The project is a snippet of these findings, with photographs taken on-site, and some excerpts of official reports and news cuttings. 

As it happened, it wasn't suitable for the Open Call, but at the moment its something of an exploratory project to see how things go; I'm rather enjoying doing it, and working out how it fits into the established Britannia time line.

From a practical point of view, the main focus of the project is the cube itself.  With the exception of the light source inside, everything came from my Day Job- the cube is some sort of broken display stand.  A hole was drilled into the base, allowing the installation of an upturned jar (so the internal lights could be sealed-in, watertight).  The rest of the cube was then filled with smashed clear and green glass from pop bottles.  A lid from scrap 5mil perspex was cut and glued in place, and the bottom of the box covered in electrical tape to disguise the base of it.  The lights were simply what was to hand, some old battery operated LED Christmas tree lights, blue tinted.

Location shoots were done at night, mainly around Rydal Hall in Ambleside (Lake District) whilst there for the gallery visit LINK.  The cube looked a bit bland by day, but in the pitch-black looked infinitely more sinister.  Long exposure shots were done near water to add to the strange look of the photographs.

 

I'm still working on ways to expand this project- the Cubes thing has been done to some extend actually by "Dr Who", but the basic concept seems alright; the next step is to to try and make a more elaborate illuminated shape...

Smack the "Pony"...

   This is another project born out of my desire to do an extremely complex bit of photography, and having neither the budget nor the resources to pull it off.  Basically, this is a development of my “Inter-City” project from last year, produced for the “Dromology” open call at the South Square gallery, which was a slightly abstract night-time rail journey through a city.  Not being able to get into the cab of a real train to get the pictures, I built a camera rig on an 0 gauge coach chassis, and cobbled together a set from odds and ends.  Keeping with the theme, but exploring it further, I want to replicate a shot I saw in a magazine a while ago, and I cannot remember the photographer…  It showed an American diesel loco seen from the cab of another loco coupled in front, so the camera was travelling at the same speed as the train; in effect, it was a lovely, moody shot of a train in focus with the surroundings blurred by motion.

   Now in order to replicate such a shot in real life, I would need to either arrange to be on a train travelling at speed a few feet in front of the ‘target’ train, or go to somewhere like the Welshpool and Llanfair where they have balcony coaches, and not mind that it would be a shot of a train travelling away from the camera and not towards it.  So, the usual solution then, do it with miniatures, and have the camera rig towing a model train along at speed.

   A quick check showed though that using 0 gauge trains wasn’t going to work due to the height of the camera compared to the size of the trains, which meant larger trains were needed.  And the mission-creep effect of this problem meant that I would then need to buy a larger gauge of train track, larger trains, and thus it would commit the capitol crime for one of my experimental projects, and cost money.  Or I could go down the narrow gauge route, which for those of you not wearing anoraks can be basically defined as big trains on rails that are narrower than ‘normal’ railways.

   As I mentioned in the last blog post, this is basically going to be a nod to the locomotive that had a fairly large influence on my becoming a railway enthusiast/ nerdy shut-in, the Ffestiniog loco “Welsh Pony”.  Said loco stopped working on the Ffestiniog in the 1930's, and by the 80's/90's was displayed on a plinth up at Porthmadog station, allowing people to clamber all over it.  Which I duly did whenever visiting Porthmadog during holidays.  Being very fond of this locomotive, and being as it has finally just been cosmetically restored for the 150th anniversary of steam haulage on the railway, it seemed fitting to do a model of it. 

   Anyway, to the model…  Being as I am working on a budget, and this was more about creating a striking, experimental image rather than an award-winning scale model.  Starting from the requirement to have a powered chassis, I’ve attacked some of the stock of 0 gauge battery-powered toy locos bought for the Britannia Model Village project.  These cheap and cheerful toys formed the majority of the stock for the model railway, and were converted heavily for that project.  One of them will form the basis of “Welsh Pony”.

The chassis is 6 coupled, and was therefore stripped down and had a wheelset removed.  My attempts to build slightly more accurate pistons and rods was abandoned due to the first attempt causing the wheels to jam and a motor to burn out.  It also occurred to me that moving at speed, the wheels would be blurring anyway so it didn’t matter too much.

   An early plan to build the body separate was found to be a bit impractical due to how the batteries are held in place on the chassis, so I’m building around the plastic loco body.  Working on the usual budget of nothing, the saddle tank has been formed around a gravy tub, clad in thin card.  The majority of the bodywork is being built up in mountcard and foamboard.  By a happy coincidence, the gravy tub has worked out as being about right in proportion compared to the wheels and chassis.  I like it when a plan comes together… 

With the saddle tank attached to the body, the smokebox was then built up around a length of cardboard tube, and the cab from reinforced mountcard, both built up around their respective parts of the original donor loco body.  Access into the cab has needed to be maintained to change batteries, so the back doors of the cab have been modelled open. 

   The smokebox presented a significant issue, in that I struggled for some time to find a suitable door- by one of those freaks of coincidence which has somewhat characterised this build, the perfect slightly dish-shaped door was actually discovered whilst hunting through the bits-box; its the transparent plastic lens from a push-button LED torch.

   The cab was estimated in size, compared to the rest of the proportions of the saddletank and smokebox.  I did manage to make a bit of a cock of this, and had to re-draw and cut a modified version.  Its made from mountcard, and reinforced with foamboard on the inside edges.  The rear doors of the cab are rather wider than on the real loco, a compromise dictated by the size of the batteries that need to be accessed through the cab. 

   So this is the state the loco is in at the moment...  Needs a lot more detailing and tidying, not to mention the construction of the tender.  Updates as it progresses...

Projects Update

Well, another few months have gone past, so I thought I had better update- its partially a result of using a dongle for Internet access, as we tend to only get decent Internet signal in our part of the valley for about 10 minutes a day, once a month, when the moon is full and when a unicorn walks in a clockwise direction round the nearest hill during a thunderstorm.  I’ve also generally held off on putting anything up on here because I keep starting projects then finding I don’t have time to finish anything, largely a result of having to work at the day job on my days off during the busy spring season- the ad-hoc time off to make up for the overtime isn’t conducive to organised project work.  Also, being of slightly low self-esteeem with my work until I have a finished product to show, I generally try to hold off posting stuff (mainly because my ‘ex-art student, bodge it together and make it up as I go along’ work practise seems to confuse and annoy some other model makers).  Still, I reckon its time for a little recap on where some of the projects stand:

Project Thunderbolt is on hold for the time being, largely because I need space and a good couple of days to set up what will be a very complex shoot.  I really need to crack-on with it though and get something done before the inevitable ‘damage by neglect’ happens with the models.  My biggest problem with model making is actually safe storage, as we have very little room in our house for this sort of thing, and the alternative option of a second shed in our small garden, or possibly some sort of bunker under the lawn, consistently meets with negative appraisal from authorities both domestic and financial.

Likewise the “Iron Monsters” project (which is set in the ‘decline’ period of my Britannia universe) is at a standstill, having got as far as the design stage.  I’m nearly ready to start making things ready to photograph, but until I’m sure of the final ‘look’ I want for the images, I don’t want to start making things.

The model of the model village from the original BMV shoots

One big project that is underway though (mainly because I have a tight deadline of September) is a mini-revival of the Britannia Model Village, in the form of a diorama in 7mm scale for the NGRM-Online forum.  This will be my first time working in 7mm scale, and this is only because I need to exploit the available footprint of an A4 piece of paper, which is one of the rules of the challenge.  When it has moved on a little beyond the present card mock-up stage, I’ll do a proper post on this.  I’m actually a little embarrassed my lack of proper progress so far on this project, not least because my mistake-laden, make-it-up-as-I-go-along progress documented on the forum seems to have provoked a somewhat confused or mildly sarcastic response from the ‘proper’ model makers on there.  In hindsight, when proper model makers are hand-crafting exquisite miniature mechanisms from brass, my shoving up badly-lit snaps of cobbled-together cardboard and old Thomas the tank engine toys is maybe not a move that’s going to inspire confidence in my ability to hit the challenge.

The very advanced mock-up for the NGRM diorama... and the likely reason proper model makers may be somewhat sceptical about the project...

On the subject of Britannia, my model railway set in the Britannia universe is finally taking shape after some 5 years of planning, re-planning, and house moves.  To get past the ‘chicken and the egg’ stage of model railways (what do you build first, trains to run on a layout or the layout which will decide what trains you need?) I’ve just got on and have been building trains ready for it, which is oddly fun- working in 4mm narrow gauge (009) means there’s almost nothing to buy ready-made anyway meaning everything has to be built from kit or scratch; the nature of Britannia means that stuff looks even madder anyway, resulting in (for example) narrow gauge police armoured trains.  So far the project consists of two parts, the main layout and a smaller ‘shelf’ being built on a budget of as close to bugger-all as possible, using recycled materials from work.  Again, it will get regular posts to itself as work progresses.

Very Britannia-esque locomotives under construction...

And a teaser for the model railway, based heavily on photography projects done along the Cumbrian Coast whilst at Uni.

Two big projects of sorts are on the horizon- “Cardboard City” and “Welsh Pony”.  The cardboard one is a potential for a recycling-themed open call, using a lot of the materials which end up accumulating in the Day Job, and will be inspired very much by the likes of the Megacities in ‘Judge Dredd’ and the like, but in a Britannia context.  I’m still trying to hammer the details for this one out, but expect something soon as the deadline is in July.

Project “Welsh Pony” is another train-themed project, and basically a love letter of sorts to a locomotive which helped get me interested in transport stuff in general (along with history, steam power, mechanisms, all the stuff which would be of great use should I ever discover time travel and head for the late 1800’s where a number of my friends think I belong).  Who knows, maybe if I hadn’t spent many years crawling around on the loco when I was a small child, I might not have developed the social stigma of being a train enthusiast, and would even now be a lager-swilling football fanatic who buys ‘Nuts’ magazine.  In hindsight though I’m not too unhappy about the outcome.

   I digress; “Welsh Pony” is an England Tank loco on the Ffestiniog Railway in North Wales, and one of the oldest surviving steam locos in the world.  When I was a child, the loco was sat on a plinth at Porthmadog, gently rusting in the sea air and somewhat neglected.  To me this engine was a symbol of childhood holidays to north wales, and my sisters and I climbed on and around this engine rather a lot during days out in Porthmadog.  Recently though “Welsh Pony” has been stored out of sight, but in time for the anniversary of steam traction on the Ffestiniog this year she has received a magnificent cosmetic restoration; hopefully I will get chance to get a few photos this year.

   In the mean time, I shall be scratch-building a model of “Welsh Pony” to use as the subject matter for another experimental shoot, loosely following on from the “Inter-City” series I did last year for an open call, and looking at motion blur shots using a miniature camera rig.  The project is presently awaiting my finding a suitable toy train chassis of the right size, but I’m ready to get going with it as soon as possible, so hopefully updates will appear soon.

The highly-advanced camera rig that will be used both for the "Welsh Pony" and "Thunderbolt" shoots... I'll do a bit more on this in a future blog.



Intervention in the Workspace

One of the perennial struggles of being a self-employed photographer and artist is trying to balance artwork with earning regular income (and as you can probably tell from the frequency of updates so far this year, I’ve had a little bother with this balance).  Earlier in the year I saw an Open Call which called for an ‘artistic intervention in your workspace’ which would have neatly allowed me to combine the two.  As it happened, I sacrificed one of my days-off from said day job to go into work anyway and shoot the pics, but still felt guilty that I should have been in there working instead (because another of my perrenial difficulties is leaving the job at the door when I go home, even on my days off).  As if to make up for this personal angst and possible deep-seated psychological problems though, I ended up missing the open call because I spent so long trying to find time to combine editing the pics with the day job, I thusly missed the deadline. 

For the sake therefore of having something to post on this blog then, and to make sure it wasn’t entirely wasted effort, here are the pics from the project which was provisionally titled “Café Culture” (because I couldnt think of anything less cliche when I was typing up the blog)

The Concept

As can be seen, this was an attempt to find something to do with some of the old Britannia Model Village figures which had been gathering dust for some time (pretty much everything else from the project is gone now).  In recent years a lot of photographers seem to have done projects using little figures, usually shop-bought ones in HO scale which are bought ready painted, and they pose them out in streets, with food, etc.  In this case, I thought there would be opportunity for doing something with the larger (1/32^nd) figures from the BMV, and slightly Project Britannia in tone too.  A selection of figures were chosen, repainted or repaired where required, and then the shoot was undertaken one sunny morning...

Ironically, about a week after this shot was taken, we really did manage to set off the smoke alarms with the toaster, resulting in the arrival of the fire brigade.  Still, at least we know the smoke alarms still work…

 Yes, horses do not belong in cafes, and this was taken about 2 days before the horse-meat scandal broke, lending this shot a certain irony.

A couple of shots which are rather more “Britannia” in tone…

In related news, a couple of pics from the “Intercity” series will be on display in Sheffield soon, at Cupola Contemporary Art.  More in a future blog entry…