My trusty Pentax P30

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

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).

... an empty bottle tells a story - Still Life

I have begun painting again

“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.

My current preoccupation at the moment with 35mm film photography as taught me to look at things again – capturing the odd moment or peculiar juxtaposition.

Ilfracombe Harbour

The photograph above of Ilfracombe harbour was taken with a Pentax Spotmatic 500, a classic 35mm camera in June 2012.

Lens flare and a slightly over cooked vintage feel, scratches, dust, and fibre strands – 35mm film is far more fun than digital.

Pentax Spotmatic – SP500

I have just bought and received via eBay a Pentax SP500 camera. I  put a new battery into it and the internal light meter worked straight away. Unlike the Pentax K1000 you need to switch the light meter on using … Continue reading ?

Public Art – is it the promotion of bad art?

Puerto Calero - Lanzarote
The term public art refers to works of art (in any media) that have been planned  with a specific site in mind – usually installed outside and visible to all.

The need to display art in a public place is usually driven by the ego of a local authority or prominent business or public figure within in a community. Placing grandiose statements within a town or city is seen as a way of increasing the importance of a place. There is a misconception that art elevates and rejuvenates an area – this is incorrect. There is more bad public art than there is good – out of proportion statues of footballers for an example.

The public art I like is the simple three-dimensional representation of company logos – signage is great public art.

The term public art is especially significant within the art world, amongst curators, commissioning bodies and practitioners of public art, to whom it signifies a particular working practice, often with implications of site specificity.

Image above – Puerto Calero – Lanzarote

I have no idea what the sculpture placed in the entrance to Puerto Calero marina is all about (I don’t really need to) I love the way it simply sits there and is being obscured by the trees.

This image was taken using a Pentax P30 SLR film camera. The film used was Fujicolor C200, a budget-priced film (expire date April 2014) processed by Jessops in Barnstaple. The negatives were scanned using an Ion Pics 2 SD.

The beauty of using 35mm film cameras and film is not  knowing what you have taken a picture of straight away – the final image is a process of design, skill and chance. The chance element is the big buzz … Continue reading ?

Self Portrait of the Artist

A self portrait is a representation of an artist, drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by the artist.

The photograph above was taken with a 35mm Pentax SLR in 1974 and manipulated in the darkroom in Stourbridge College of Art and Design. This reminds me of the simple pleasures I had messing about with making images – it is a shame I have become cynical.

Although self-portraits have been made by artists since the earliest times, it is not until the Early Renaissance in the mid 15th century that artists can be frequently identified depicting themselves as either the main subject, or as important characters in their work.

In many respects the image below follows in the tradition of those early painters – I am seen as a reflection, just visible and confined within the architectural composition, a modern conceit of self importance.

In the famous Arnolfini Portrait (1434) Jan van Eyck is probably one of two figures glimpsed in a mirror. This painting may have inspired Diego Velázquez to depict himself in full view as the painter creating Las Meninas (1656). The placing of a self depiction within a larger composition of the rich, the famous and the kingly is a way of elevating your role from craftsman to celebrity – nothing changes really.

Reflection
This image was taken in Lanzarote in August 2012 using a Pentax P30, 35mm film camera, which uses manual focus lenses with the K-mount bayonet fitting. The lens used to take this photograph was a Rikenon 1:2 50mm, which was originally off a Richo KR-10 (super). At about 510 grams, the camera is easy to carry and handle and 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, giving the novice photographer a better chance of taking a good photograph. It also has a semi-automatic mode as well, which chooses most of the settings but allows for more creativity. There is also a totally manual setting for the brave.

The film used was Fujicolor C200, a budget-priced film (expire date April 2014) processed by Jessops in Barnstaple. The negatives were scanned using an Ion Pics 2 SD.

Using old film stock in a Pentax P30

Expat web design services – Lanzarote
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Traveling with a Pentax P30 in Lanzarote

Still Life - an empty bottle tells a story by 35mm_photographs
Just got back from a week in Lanzarote with the whole family.

Tías in Lanzarote is a town and borough situated in the southwest of the island of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, Spain. It has several great bars and restaurants, supermarkets and shops that cater for the British ex-pat community that has grown up there and is southeast of the main highway which links it to Arrecife (the island capital) which is only ten to fifteen minutes away.

The image above was taken using a Pentax SLR film camera:

The Pentax P30 uses manual focus lenses with the K-mount bayonet fitting. At about 510 grams, the camera is lightweight, with 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 to give the novice photographer (me) the best possible chance of taking a good photo. It also has a semi-automatic mode as well, which chooses most of the settings but allows for more creativity. There is also a totally manual setting for the brave.

Using old film stock in a Pentax P30

The beauty of using 35mm film cameras and film is not knowing what you have taken a picture of straight away – the final image is a process of design, skill and chance. The chance element is the big buzz … Continue reading ?