What the internet was made for
Pictures of cats. Cats in hats. Cats looking grumpy/ evil/ annoyed. Preferably in hats. It’s what the internet was made for right? Just a quick rambling, and slightly seasonal blog update this week to say Merry Christmas. There is a slight photographic slant of interest too with this post though. These snaps of our brilliant moggies were some of the first photos I ever captured on my very first digital camera, which quite terrifyingly was back in the Christmas of 2003.
The camera in question was a Nikon Coolpix 3500, which was a 3 megapixel powerhouse (for the time) and had a bizarre inner swivel lens.
Here she is:
I’ve still got this camera, and have been Nikon all the way ever since.
Merry Christmas.
Dan
by Dan Dunkley
A different sort of rendering
Anyone that’s into photography or video editing these days will be familiar with the term ‘rendering’, as will builders and architects. However, it has a very different meaning for a certain line of work. My latest commercial industrial project started this week for a client specialising in industrial rendering plants for processing animal by-products into animal protein (My assignments just keep getting more and more glamorous don’t they.)
Chances are if you have a pampered pooch, or mollycoddled moggies, and you feed them quality pet food – these guys play a big part in rover/ tiddles’ diet…
If you build it, he will come
The shot above is part of a long-term filming and photography assignment I’m working on for a residential construction build in Manchester. I’ve been doing a lot of video work for the project (see my BUILD preview), but yesterday was the first time we got to try out some posed stills on site.
Photographing and filming on a busy working building site, after 3 weeks of constant rain, is hard and dirty work. As someone who is quite anal about looking after their equipment and keeping it shiny, it’s also a bit stressful. You’re looking at the sort of sad git who didn’t use his new bike as a wee lad for a week or so in case it got dirty. I just liked to look at it, for a while.
Anyway, plenty more like this to come. Just hope the mud dries up a bit in the meantime…
by Dan Dunkley
Manchester: a pause for thought
Yesterday morning I happened to be in central Manchester on commercial/ architectural assignment around Salford Central station and the incoming New Bailey development site adjacent to Spinningfields. The still above is an unplanned capture from the funeral of PC Fiona Bone, which took place the same day. The 2 ceremonial mounted police officers coming into right of frame are just ahead of the car procession.
I had my camera set up, ND filtered and slow shutter speed readied to capture dynamic movement and motion blur of busy commuters exiting the rail station, and was snapping away oblivious to my surroundings. Hence the slightly ethereal blur and movement on the horses etc you can see above.
One the strangest images I’ve taken for a while, but there’s something about it that I really like. It was also quite humbling to be present at such a moment, and I just wanted to share the image.
by Dan Dunkley
BUILD
Here’s a quick preview taster from a series of film and photography work I’m producing for a long-term residential construction project over 18 months in South Manchester.
Time lapse photography
As someone who shoots commercial stills photography, and more recently video, timelapse photography is something of a mix of the two. However, it’s also very much its own beast, and has a whole new set of rules to play by.
The plug
If you are an architectural or construction firm, considering a creative timelapse/ video production to document your new build or project, get in touch at mail@dandphotography.co.uk
More after the jump…
Project London: the visit
A few months ago I was commissioned for a week long assignment to take photos of central London, to feature as wall art in the newly built UCH Macmillan Cancer Centre in London.
A few weeks ago I paid a visit, to see my photos up there on the walls in the flesh. It’s always a buzz, and slightly odd seeing your work in print these days, as we’re so used to looking at pictures on a digital medium. Seeing your own work on metre wide, large-format acrylic panels is something else though. It looks gooood, if I do say so myself.
Rather than do a static blog update with a few still images, I thought I’d make/cobble together this short film of my visit. Partly just for the hell of it, but mostly as a personal test and exercise in editing what little footage you have, whatever the quality (and I didn’t have much to work with), into something half-decent and interesting. The original stills are mixed in with the video and made to ‘look’ like they are hanging on the wall for the first half. All video was shot on a basic handheld sony compact (NEX5) and then put together in Adobe Lightroom, Premiere Pro and After Effects.
The prints themselves were produced by seeingthebigpicture.co.uk who specialise in acrylic prints for commercial projects. I’ve worked with them before (wall art of North West scenes I have across many floors of the Christie in Manchester), and once again they produced fantastic results with my photographs.
See more ‘Project London’ blog posts:
by Dan Dunkley
Cinema rig
So here we are. In this quick snap you can see the final (somewhat important) piece of my new cinema rig for filming and video projects is now complete. In case you can’t quite make out the camera in the shot above….
Tadaaaa! Nikon, I’ve been waiting on you a while, but thanks for finally making the camera I wanted/ needed (you were only a couple of years late to the show). The shiny new D800 is now my primary HDSLR camera, relegating the D7000 to b-roll for video work.
Quite a few other new bits of gear in the offing, including a new longer and improved motorised dolly, with a slow motor specifically for time-lapse photography. Will try to post a review about this once I’ve worked out how to assemble the bugger. Fun and games ahead.
by Dan Dunkley
(Not all) Hairy Bikers
Recently shot a launch event for Harley-Davidson Leeds, the new specialist for all things Harley-Davidson in the part of the world we call West Yorkshire. Here are a few interesting facts about Harley Davidson bike riders: 1) Their average age is 49 2) They are not *all* hairy.
A few more shots from the day…
Bikey
One of the day's several 'ride ins'. Even more bikey
I believe the term might be 'biker girls'. Or something....
by Dan Dunkley
Britain
As it’s nearly Jubilee weekend I thought I’d post a quick shot from my recent ‘Project London’ series (which reminds me I need to write part 3 soon – part 2 here, part 1 here).
I love this shot of the Mall, partly for the Union Jacks and the whole ‘isn’t Britain bloody great’ thing, but mainly as I managed to capture some people larking about pulling shapes too. The chap half squatting went on to full ‘planking’ in the middle of the road which was quite amusing. Didn’t snap that though unfortunately.
On a side note, this is my third blog post in as many days. Most odd for me. I think I need to have a lie down now.
by Dan Dunkley
DanD photography+ Video: motion logo v2
Bit more development on my work in progress motion graphics logo. Now with some organic movement added, light sources, particle effects, yada yada…
by Dan Dunkley
