photography – Page 5

B279 – MIGHT WATCH ZOOLANDER A FEW TIMES

January 8, 2018 joshfspearLeave a comment

One of the perks of having a girlfriend that works in fashion is that she’s always up for taking photos, yesterday morning we decided to travel over the Greenwich and have a little adventure finding cool locations and seeing what sort of photos we could take. its fair to say the weather was freezing and definitely not just cardigan or roll neck weather, so me being the amazing boy friend I am decided that every time amy had to take her jacket off, I would do the same. Thats some big boy friend points right there.

Fashion photography is really something I want to explore a bit more, what I think interests me so much about it, is the fact that fashion can be interpreted in so many different ways, so you cant really go wrong. and as I’m someone who practically get everything wrong all the time, that is a concept that really appeals to me. the only problem is Im not that much of a fashionable guy, maybe I need to watch Zoolander a few times and get myself up to speed with the lingo. It is mens fashion week this week so maybe Ill go to a show or something and take some photos of the people going into them, they all seem pretty trendy.

Apart from my aspirations to be the next top photographer, today I went on my first run of 2018, only a 2.5 mile run but my plan is to run 2.5miles three times a week for the next 4 months after that I will step it up to 5 miles and then 4 months after that Ill step it up again. I think the injury I had in the middle of 2017 was probably good for me, its taught me a lot about my body and probably made me a better runner. but for now, its back to me getting my leg used to running again and also time to lose my baby fat.

its currently Monday morning and I’m on a mission to keep myself busy with some ideas I have and want to put in place. I had a job cancel on me at the last minute so now im unemployed this week, so if anyone wants their car cleaned or grass cut theirs just a chance I might take you up on it.

Here are my photos from yesterday, enjoy.

B279-1 — – this is her complaining its cold –

B279-1-8 — – greenwich is the perfect place to take photos –

B275 – I CANT MOVE

January 4, 2018January 4, 2018 joshfspearLeave a comment

Day three of being ill and im no better to feeling normal, i really think I need to spent some time watching Netflix and doing nothing. i thinking about it ive kind of been ill for the past month or so on and off, and then last night I ended up trekking out to a 24 tescos to try and get hold of some medicine at 2am, so right now I’m trying not to do anything to much and just chill in bed and watch some junk tv. Its days like this when doing this photo challenge becomes even harder, I wanted to get up and go swimming but then I didn’t think it would be fair on all the other swimmers if my boogies where all in the pool.

I do want to have a little goal for today though, I want to try and find a dish that I can cook which will help me get better, is there any recipes out there that I should try and cook that will help me get back on my feet? will spice help? garlic? ginger? that kind of thing.

On a different note yesterday while at tescos getting some food, (literally tescos has been the only place ive been too in the past few days). I had to pick up some random fruits for an idea that Amy and me have come up with, its kind of like a mini 2018 project that we want to work on, I cant say any more than that at the moment, and as soon as I can then ill let you know what we are up to.

I really hope this blog post isnt too boring and my photos are amazing today, but this time in bed should really help me plan a few blog posts and get some better material out there too you. I might just spent this time writing up ideas. who knows.

Anyway heres my photos from today, i hope you like them.

B275-1 — – a photo from my 2:30 am trip to tescos –

– trying to find the weirdest fruit I can –

– checked a local off license too, thought I picked up a dragon fruit, it was actually a pomegranate –

B265 – WHAT A YEAR

December 25, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

Merry Christmas everyone and a happy new year! its literally the perfect day, as well as it being christmas its also my last 100 days of posting. I’ve made it to the final stretch. as its also the end of the year and also my last 100 days I thought I would show you some photos that Ive taken these past 265 days.

Its probably been one of the best years Ive had, not only have I been working pretty much non stop but Ive also been to some places that I never thought I would go to, I’ve spent 2 months in America and now have a working visa of the states, which i’ve wanted for ages, Ive also been to Canada, china and a few places in Europe. so its been pretty exciting. Amy also asked me out at the beginning of the year, and next year she should be moving into my flat, well thats the plan anyway. who would have thought I would been living with a girlfriend. its crazy and I suppose when you do that your kind of becoming an adult and having responsibilities, which in away is quite cool.

this blog has to be one of the best things Ive done, its literally taught me how to write and in given me confidence to try new things and just work harder to get what I want, and also when I write emails now theres a lot less spelling mistakes, its never good when you write emails and its grammatically incorrect or just doesn’t make any sense but because of the sheer amount of writing I do now I learnt a lot of new words and can spell so much better, I think anyway.

I think this blog has been good because a lot of the time its easy to think up ideas and then even easier to think up excuses why you cant do them and this has really made me just forget the excuses and just go with my gut and try to get the job done. thats why next year ive got a few plans lined up for this blog and also things that I want to try and do work wise. im planning on getting a second job i think just to help pay for all the things I need todo and the adventures / holidays im going on. Its time to up my game and smash 2018 out of the park!

Thank you 2017 its been a pleasure!

oh and sorry my blog didn’t have any photos on it yesterday, i literally have no idea how that happened. WordPress was just having a bad day I think.

b081-1-1 — – amy and me exploring the town of Ratio on the Amalfi coast –

b208-1-of-1 — – I also went to my first american high school football game right, this was like 10 minutes away from Harvard University –

b209-1-of-1 — – Flying out of Newark Airport in New York. That is definitly a place Ill be going back to soon! I love New York –

b257-1-3 — – a picture of Soho in London, I quite like this photo. Might have to get it made into a print –

b261-1-4 — – the shot from the Barbican last week, im just happy with this photo and really like the way the man is –

b056-1 — – this guy was definitely a highlight –

B264 – UP AND DOWN THE COUNTRY

December 24, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

Well… where to start. I just wrote a whole post and then pressed delete by accident, well done josh.

I’m writing this post as I navigate my way around London with a million bags and just try to get to my cousins in one piece. I don’t really know how to write this post, but I suppose I’ve just got to give it ago and see where we end up.

Yesterday I had a Christmas meal in Norfolk with all of Amy’s family and friends, as per usual they put out an absolute spread and a good amount of cheese, but by that time I’d had a few beers so forgot to take any photos, but I did get one of the pre dinner snacks. I don’t think I embarrassed myself at all last night and pretty sure I was sensible, so that’s also a pulse.

As I said I’m now on the train to My cousins on the other side of London, I’m a place called Petts wood to see my family. It’ll be good to see everyone, Christmas is a good time of year to catch up with people you haven’t seen in ages so that’s what I’m most looking forward to and also giving flo all the presents I got her.

I’m also going to a pub tonight with my mates, so I’ll try and take some photos of that but I’m not sure if they’ll be any good.

also for some reason WordPress won’t let me add captions to these photos. So the top one is from a dog walk yesterday afternoon along the beach park cliff bit.

2nd picture is of the pre dinner snacks, Christmas food is the best food.

3rd photo is from a quick pub drink we had after the dog walk. I love country pubs.

And also I want to say thanks to Amy Family and co. It was a really good food and an pretty fun evening.

B261 – THERES NO PLACE LIKE THIS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD

December 21, 2017December 21, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

last night I decided thats its been too long since I last spent some time playing with a slow shutter speed at night and theres also one place which I really need to explore and spend some time at, obviously im talking about the Barbican Centre next to Liverpool street, this place is called “Brutalist” or something because of the crazy amounts of concert and sharpe edges it has, its literally like a hipsters oasis in the middle of the financial district.

built in 1982 and designed by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon architects it was designed to be a brutalist styles and with lines on the floor to help people work there way around the housing estate and also the creative arts centre fully equipped with a theatre, music collage and also some weird rainforest room with loads of cool plants and stuff oh and in the water are Koi Carpe, that surprising haven’t been stollen yet and are still there to this day. its literally the coolest places to live, what used to be a housing estate where the upper classes wouldn’t even think to live has changed and become a place to be.

My plan for today was to try and get better at symmetrical photography one thing that I just cant seem to figure out, my eyes seem to lye to me and when I get home to edit the photos I notice that my photos just aren’t symmetrical. I was trying to measure the sides and even use the rule of thirds but its still not proving easy to get that perfect photo. Im not giving up just yet though, I will the perfect symmetrical shot. On the other hand though I did take one of my favourite photos today, its one I’m really proud of and its of a side on shot of the staircase in the Barbican with the guy walking out of the light almost likes its ET and we are all inside some new Steven Spielberg remake of ET.

One thing I would like you guys to know just so you can see how much its changed in 20 years. Frank Harris a local estate agent is currently selling an apartment in Blake Tower which is one of the iconic Barbican towers for £3.7m. I just hope that one of the original owners that probably brought it off the council 20 years ago managed to get a fair portion of its current value. but hey if I had that kind of cash I would probably splash out on that apartment, its located in the best looking ugly building that you can find in London and its actually a pretty sick apartment.

Heres my photos from last night, I hope you like them as much as I do.

B261-1-3 — – my trying to be symmetrical –

B261-1-11 — – this shot feels like something out of a movie –

B257 – THEY ARE BACK

December 17, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

Firstly I want to apologise for this post being late, I was trying to put it up earlier but after last night my brain just could focus and the laptop screen was hurting my eyes. I don’t think its got anything todo with the amount of beer I drank or even the because of the time we started drinking, I think its because I was up early and in the shops. Any other time and i would probably had said we started to early but our friends of Switerzland have come over so we had a mini party. so I don’t really remember much of the afternoon or evening. but what I can say is that we are having a proper Sunday evening now and you can read about it tomorrow.

We have a few plans this evening and thankfully none of those involve alcohol which is definitely a positive, im also not scared to brave the weather and travel because Im now in the doc martin boot gang and I cant wait to put them through their paces and see what these babies can do. I love buying products like doc martins because its fun to see what you can actually do with them before they break. I think I’ve got a few years in them yet before I need to replace them.

today might seem likes a bit thin on then writing and but its days like these where posting every day for 365 is hard but I need power through. Ill try and make some cool posts this week, I really want todo more portrait photography so I might try and find a model or someone to practise on and see if I can take a decent photo.

Anyway heres my photos and enjoy your Sunday. Also can people please read my post from yesterday and let me know what you think and if its actually any good? I really want to write more music reviews but not really sure if its helpful.

B257-1-2 — – Welcome back to london Pauline and gigi –

B249 – AN UPSIDE DOWN TEMPLE TO A COIN LAUNDRY

December 9, 2017December 9, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

From North Carolina to Shanghai, every build is different, foundations change, tactics differ and people’s ideas get thrown around. If you stand on the street in North Carolina, not in the city of Raighley, but on the outskirts in the suburbs. Things you take for granted like shops and restaurants are built quick and for maximum capacity’s. They are basically practical places to get done what you need to get done, they do what they say on the title. No messing about.
If you travel to some where like Kensington in London, that little part of the UK where a flat will set you back £1M or will all of a sudden be standing in a building that’s meant to not only stand the test of time but built to look like something from Mary poppins. Red brick the works.
Then you travel 12,000 miles to China and end up in Shanghai and all of a sudden you starring up at an upside town temple that looks like it’s been carefully put together out of 100 meter look match sticks. It’s literally like something that a baddest budist has dreamt up.

What I like about that all these buildings is that they all serve the same purpose really and that’s for people to use to eat a task done. It doesn’t matter if that task is to pray, live in or some where to wash there clothes. A lot of the time, I’ll just get from city to city and not really look up, even in London a place I’ve lived my whole life, I just walk around and don’t really take it all in. but if you actually just stop for a second and look around, everything is actually pretty cool in its own weird way.

Here are some photos that I’ve taken from the places I’m talking about. It’s a bit of a rushed post today, but we all have days like this right?

– the Mary poppins buildings around Kensington, London –

– a coin laundry by the side of a road somewhere in North Carolina –

B247 – STRANGE HELLOS

December 7, 2017December 7, 2017 joshfspearLeave a comment

As my christmas break has started and if I dont find some sort of project todo then I will spent probably the next 2 months sat on a sofa eating Pringles and watching Netflix. no seriously that is genuinely a possibility. Then im going to try and get myself down to as many gigs as possible and just try to photograph music and be around music for the next 2 months.

So last night I ended up going to a gig at the Seabright Arms on Hackney Road (Someone lied to me and said this place had shut down, its not. this place is open and ready for business!) the band playing were some guys called Strange Hellos, relatively new Nordic band they have just realised their first single, its kind of a mix between XX and something like Circa Waves. Nordic Review said this about the bands new single:

“We Are Trouble’ is a blistering 3 minute fusion of power pop and shoegaze, and they’re the second Norwegian band (the other being Pyke) to recently remind me in their sound of UK band Lush. This is just such a catchy track, with a real energy – great melodies, vocals, guitars and pretty much everything…..”

Heres a link to the band on youtube, have a peep:

This is one of my first posts about a band Ive just seen so maybe I need to actually sit down with this one and think about what I need to write about, I don’t want to be “fake news”. At the moment Im just turning up taking photos and not thinking about what im going to write about, maybe its time I upp’d my game. but for now Im just going to listen to Strange Hellos Sound cloud and see where I end up.

Ive now downloaded an App called Dice, which tells me about all the gigs going on in my local area, the plan is to get down to at least 2 gigs a week, while Ive got no work on.

Here’s my photos, I hope you like them.

B247-1-10 — – lead singer Birgitta Alida Hole –

B247-1-8 — -Guitarist Odd Martin Skålnes –

B247-1-4 — – close up guitar shot, worth the trip to the Seabright Arm –

B242 – I NEED TO UP MY GAME!

December 2, 2017 joshfspear2 Comments

very weird post today, last night I was working a night shift and was expecting to walk home along this really cool canal at like 7am and I could take some cool photos early morning of the river and the canal boats, sounds pretty cool doesn’t it?

well that kind of changed, I did work till late last night but instead of walking along the canal, I jumped in a taxi. it was still pitch black when I left and I wouldn’t of been able to take any photos with out a flash and thats something I didn’t have on me.

its all good finishing work early, but this had really put a massive hole in my plan for todays post, panic had now started to set in and my idea for todays post had completely gone out the window, and my photos are terrible.

What I ended up doing was taking some quick photos before and after my Taxi ride home, but this also went wrong when I only took two photos, now I’m completely screwed. so now I’m running around my flat trying to think of something to take a photo of, before I can to go out buy a christmas tree and then cook some food for my family to come round. So its a pretty busy day, but its started on completely the wrong foot, Ive just got to hope I can pull it back.

first stop is to try and find a tree and also really this is our last day to get an advent calendar, if we don’t get it today when we will be too late to the party and have to wait till next year. Ive missed it for the past few years and I will not miss it this year. any way Ive got about a million things todo before everyone arrives, so wish me luck and please don’t judge my photos, I will do a better job of photos today!

B242-1 — – this photo was taken out side of work, while waiting for a taxi –

B242-1-2 — – this was taken once I had got out my taxi. Welcome home Josh –

B242-1-3 — – this was taken about 2 minutes ago, once I realised I hadnt taken three photos yesterday –

B241 – WHY DO IT?!

December 1, 2017December 1, 2017 joshfspear2 Comments

Today Ive spent my time involved in some manual labour, Ive basically been scraping wall paper off my hall way and then painting it white, this has taught me two really important lessons, that I will definitely carry with me for the rest of my life.

Lesson one, if I ever need to scrap wall paper off a wall again, pay someone else do it, there nothing nice, easy or rewarding about scraping that stuff off. Ive been there and Ive got the medal now its time for me to sit back and in the future let someone professional do it properly.

Lesson two, painting a white wall white again, its properly just as fun as taking the wall paper off. I also managed to literally blow up a light bulb socket with my head so I’m not really sure if my paint job was even and will have to wait till day light or a new light gets fixed to actually see if my job is even. by the way it wasn’t on purpose, I stood on a chair and moved really quick and my head just made contact with the light bulb thing.

apart from those two extremely good life lessons its also been a good day, the hall way has been on my list of things to get done for a while and today I knocked it off my todo list. I’m now completely nackered but need to power on till 3/4am as Im working on an over night job Friday and need to try and get used to being up at night and asleep during the day, my thinking is 3/4am is a good time go to sleep.

When I was in the mist of completing the painting I was thinking of things to photograph, it was way to cold outside to venture out for some street photography so my idea was to show how a photo looks before its edit and also how it looks after a few changes. I wanted to use a boring photo as it makes it easier to see the difference as theres no “WOW factor”.

the photo you see below was shot in .RAW which basically means you can do a lot more editing and manipulation. how that happens is by the camera sensor remembering all the information collected when you press the capture button, meaning you can change the white balance, the thing that makes either white, white or makes white that weird egg shell colour you some times see.

If a photo is really dark, say you shot inside a house at night and were trying to take a photo of your family and when you looked at it back you noticed the only thing you could see was the light on the fridge door, well because you shot .RAW you would be able to bring the exposure up in Lightroom or photoshop and be able to see what is going on. The files are slightly bigger than .jpegs but if you camera can shoot .RAW. do it! you really wont regret it. just buy a bigger memory card, and back your photos up regularly.

have a look at these photos below and see the difference, they were shot in .RAW. look at the different shades of white on the paint pot and see if you can tell the different. If it was .JPEG they would near enough be the same colour depth and not looks as good.

B241-1-3 — – this is the original photo –

B241-1 — – I have changed the white balance to 28k and done a few other things with the contrast / exposure / highlights and cropped in a bit –

B241-1-2 — – this has a 55k white balance and is obviously back and white –