Author Archives: peter

About peter

'Death by Sushi' Fish can kill me. When I was very small (maybe 3 or 4 years old) my grandfather, who lost the sight of one eye from a bullet fired by a German sniper (fortunately not a very good one) during the Battle of the Somme in World War 1, wiped my face with the corner of his apron, an apron he had used to wipe his filleting knife on. He was a grocery shopkeeper who specialized in wet fish.

Painting out is painting in. #printmaking

I have begun to work over a screen printed canvas (the painting below is the one I have reworked) in the studios of West Buckland School, to illustrate/show a student how to edit a painting. It is important to remove all the noise from a image to get to a meaningful statement – too much clutter, to much overkill detracts the eye from the real deal.

The image above is a photograph I took with a Pentax Spotmatic 35mm camera using ‘old stock’ (March 2000) Agfacolor HDC 200 film. My current preoccupation with 35mm film photography as taught me to look at things again – capturing the odd moment or peculiar juxtaposition. The colours and layout are similar to the painting I have created from the screen printed painting below (I will post the finished painting image soon).

“Reflections Ilfracombe Harbour Jubilee Day 2012?

The composition of this painting is based on a Union Jack and is a combination of screen printing and painting.

The reflections in the harbour in Ilfracombe always amaze me – the dirty sea water mixed with the vivid colours of the reflected boats, the bobbing flotsam and jetsam, the sunlight and oil spills.

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Get people to read more

Still life with cans and glass 

New books by top authors for only £1.00 – to encourage more people to read.

Here is a great initiative – try to support and help with this mission: Quick Reads, which has a huge impact on helping thousands of adults improve their literacy, will be encouraging adults to ‘start a new chapter’ in 2013. A new website is expected to launch at the end of October, where full details of the six new titles will be available:

These books are bite-sized novels which are clearly printed and presented.

Since its launch in 2006, Quick Reads has sold and distributed over 4 million books through supermarkets, bookshops, workplaces and prisons. NIACE has led the outreach work since the start of the initiative and continues to work with employers and workplaces to encourage adults to read more and improve their skills.

 

Jenna is known as The Ice Cream Girl. She doesn’t mind the name one bit. After all, it’s a happy name, and there are far worse jobs than selling ice creams on Everdene beach.

Craig spends as much time as he can at the beach hut in Everdene he rents with a few of his mates. As a policeman, it is a restful change from his daily life, and he’s surfing mad. One weekend he’s down there on his own when he notices a girl on the beach. He’s young, free and single and she catches his eye. But on this particular summer weekend, both Jenna and Craig’s lives are about to change . . .

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I have begun using oil paint (again)

I suppose with age comes the ability to become patient. The time oil paint takes to dry is no longer a bothersome thing, the richness of the colour is worth the lack of speed, and the wait but…

Tubes of oil paint by 35mm_photographs

I can’t believe how much oil paints cost – I’m going to have to charge for my paintings by the square inch (or centimeter) from now on.

The photograph above was taken with a Pentax K1000 35mm film camera in the studio of West Buckland School in the 150 building – September 2012. Tubes of oil paint, a photo by 35mm_photographs on Flickr.

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I love film cameras – how unreal are these colours? #ndevon

Speckled Wood Butterfly

The Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) is a butterfly found in and on the borders of woodland throughout much of the Palearctic ecozone. In North Europe, Central Europe, Asia Minor, Syria, Russia and Central Asia.

Taken with my Pentax K1000 35mm camera (September 2012) on a walk in North Devon. Speckled Wood Butterfly by 35mm_photographs on Flickr.

Towards Morte Point by 35mm_photographs

I love film cameras – how unreal are these colours?

Taken with my trusty Pentax K1000 35mm camera – September 2012. Towards Morte Point, a photo by 35mm_photographs on Flickr.

Looking towards woolacombe

The Pentax K1000 is an almost all metal, mechanically (springs, gears, levers) controlled, manual-focus SLR with manual exposure control. It was completely operable without batteries. It only needed batteries (one A76 or S76, or LR44 or SR44) for the light metering information system. This consisted of a center-the-needle exposure control system using a galvanometer needle pointer moving between vertically arranged +/– over/underexposure markers at the right side of the viewfinder to indicate the readings of the built-in full-scene averaging, cadmium sulfide (CdS) light meter versus the actual camera settings. The meter did not have a true on/off switch and the lens cap needed to be kept on the lens to prevent draining the battery when the K1000 was not in use.

Pentax K1000. (2012, May 31). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:26, June 8, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pentax_K1000&oldid=495230110

The decking is rotting and the barbecue is rusty – the garden furniture is… …and the view is: The horseshoe of sand that is Woolacombe Bay, constantly changes. The summer and the sun bring the tourists, the winter brings drama to … Continue reading ?

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Pentax Espio 120mi

Grasses

The photographs above and below were taken on Morte Point using a Pentax Espio 120mi and Ilford HP5 Plus a 35mm black and white film. More on HP5  here?

The Pentax Espio 120mi ‘point and shoot’ camera is a mid-range, 35mm film, auto-focus compact Design initiatives make this small but flexible (notably the physical size and overall quality of finish). It houses a good quality zoom lens (38-120mm), with plenty of features that enable a variety of picture taking options. The focus and exposure system on this easy to use camera is an improvement on earlier Pentax compacts, giving sharp results with a decent contrast of image. One of the most useful applications available on this model is ‘backlight compensation’, which enables you to take a photograph using natural light in the background and flash in the foreground, giving an even tone across the image. Panorama mode is included in this little package which gives a different (from the norm) aspect ratio.

Grasses

Both images were taken using the ‘backlight compensation’ mode.

These images below are of the same subjects, taken at the same time, using a Pentax K1000. The quality of these images is far superior.

Grass on a dry stone wall Morte Point

The panorama mode on the Pentax Espio 120mi only uses half of the 35mm film (height) creating a letterbox shape in the middle of the negative. The K1000 uses the whole of the film.

Grass on a wall Morte Point