Category Archives: Photography

Morte Point – #photography

Photographs of Morte Point, North Devon

Photography = Art?

I am an old dinosaur – I am very confused. What is painting? Leave a comment at the bottom of the page and set me on the right course.

— Peter Bright (@thiswindow)

Contemporary artists have extended the boundaries of painting considerably to include; collage, different materials such as sand, cement, straw or wood for their texture. Juxtaposing images and materials, either as a collage, printing or painting is not simply a decorative act… Continue reading ?

Art – sunset

There have been some great evening skies recently – Autumn is here.

The photographs below have been taken with a Pentax K1000 35mm film camera.

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

I’m still not sure what Art is – but I’m sure photography isn’t.

The problems of fragmentation and confusion that exist within more traditional art practices, such as painting and sculpture (in the broadest possible milieu) are mirrored in new art practices.

$Ilfracombe harbour$

Within these technological and new media categories, diverse concepts and imagery has been lumped together to form a hodgepodge of non-related methodologies and artworks.

What is this direction? Rediscovering the printing process after nearly 40 years has been an interesting process – disappointingly modern inks are not as rich in colour (earthy colours are very plastic like) and modern water based inks don’t become part of the surface … Continue reading ?

Photograph looking out over the Woolacombe Bay Hotel

Here is a view across out to Baggy Point, looking over the Woolacombe Bay Hotel.

The photograph above was taken with a Pentax Spotmatic 35mm camera using ‘old stock’ (March 2000) Agfacolor HDC 200. I am really impressed with the vintage postcard look of this image – very 1950s. The slideshow below contains some images taken from the same roll of film, they have a distinctive red/brown tint.

It is fashionable to use vintage feel photographs in posts, on Facebook and on the web.

The rise of Instagram, a free photo sharing program that was launched in October 2010 is the best example of this ‘look back’ at analogue photography from the 20th century. This service allows users to take a photo and apply a digital retro filter to it and then share it on most social networking services. The distinctive retro feature of this app is that it converts photos, which in contemporary formats are rectangle, to a square shape, like Kodak Instamatic and Polaroid images of the 70?s. The most common aspect ratios used in still camera photography, are 4:3, 3:2 (more recently in consumer cameras 16:9 is being used). Other used aspect ratios include 5:3, 5:4, and 1:1 which produces the square format. Most mobile devices have a 4:3 aspect ratio.

Still life images – Pentax Spotmatic

Here are some more photographs taken with another vintage Pentax camera that I purchased of ebay on the 15th July 2012. The Pentax Spotmatic takes M42 screw-thread lenses and was introduced by Asahi in 1964, it was the first SLR camera to sell well with a through-the-lens (TTL) exposure metering system. The light meter is activated by pushing a small switch (which is on the left side of the lens housing) upwards.

This was a really good find being considerably clean and worked straight away when I put a new battery in it. All the shutter speeds work correctly, the self timer works and the viewfinder is clear. The photographs above were taken using an out of date (March 2000) Agfacolor HDC 200 35mm film.

My trusty Pentax P30

I have only recently acquired this camera but I have had a great time using it.

: The Pentax P30, 35mm film camera uses manual focus lenses with the K-mount bayonet fitting.

: The Pentax P30, 35mm film camera weighs about 510 grams and is therefore easy to carry and handle.

: Pentax P30 has shutter speeds from 1/1000 of a second to 1 second. The automatic mode on this film camera chooses the best shutter speed and aperture setting.

: The Pentax P30, 35mm film camera has a semi-automatic mode, which chooses most of the settings but allows for more creativity.

This is the camera I took to Lanzarote – I even managed to drop it onto a tiled floor without damaging it – I wouldn’t try that with my Pentax K-01 digital camera! The image below was taken with the P30 (no 3702885).

Peter Bright – Printmaker, Artist, Musician

(aka This Window)….Just another blog….my art and my disease