Exhibiting Light 3 – The Absorption of Black Holes

Posted on 16/03/201316/03/2013 by Alastair

Light plays an important part in all art work and its display. Despite the display and this photograph revealing the shadows and surfaces of this piece of work by Duncan Ayscough, when seeing it last week at Craft in the Bay, Cardiff, it was difficult to describe just what the ceramic form was doing with the light in the gallery other than absorbing it – like a Black Hole.

The photo cannot do it justice – the matt black surface seemed to negate the existence of light and in other pieces (not those shown here), the form seemed to be a “normal” vessel but when taking a closer look, we realised that the black surface of the interior was deceiving us! If I had taken a closer look still, I fear I too would have been absorbed into that Black Hole.

Fascinating work and well worth a visit if you’re in the area – or even if you’re not! This work must be new as it does not appear on his website yet.

Duncan Ayscough

Exhibiting Light 2

Posted on 15/03/201315/03/2013 by Alastair

The first photo here is not an exhibit at the second gallery we visited last week – the Howard Garden Gallery at Cardiff Met University. The video below the photo was an installation art work which had to be viewed in a dark room. If you want to be able to see the video, I suspect you will also need to darken your room.

Personally, I liked the crack in the dark by the entrance more than the piece itself but I enjoyed the rest of this exhibition by Avtarjeet Dhanjal. More info on the show can be found here – hmmm, just discovered it finishes today so here is a quote from I’m on that web page.

“When growing up in the Panjab, India, I was not aware there was such a thing called ‘Art’; though my mother decorated our house with beautiful wall murals using clay. It was never called Art. One could find many other examples of beautiful objects of daily use; those enhanced the quality of life. To hold a beautiful object on your hand, or to stand facing a unique work of art, one feels a delight whether one has any formal education in aesthetics or not. This is considered the intrinsic worth of a work of art” – Avtarjeet Dhanjal.

Crack in the Dark

Avtarjeet Dhanjal

This trough was half filled with water but because the blue plastic itself was shiny and reflective, it was almost impossible to see the water. The installation shown in the video above also used “invisible” water.

Avtarjeet Dhanjal

Light is Everything

Posted on 12/03/201312/03/2013 by Alastair

Sunlight or cloud, rain or mist – the weather conditions influence, no, create the available light for photography.

A few weeks ago I was at Lliw Valley Reservoirs in the rain and took some photos on my iPhone 4s of what I described as “fence post gardens”. I posted them on the Moss Appreciation Society Facebook page with the comment that I would have to go back on a dry day to photograph them properly. The response from one group member was that moss likes, and is perhaps, at its best in the rain.

The sun was shining when I was up there last week and following my interview with BBC Radio Wales I proceeded to take some photos of the same “fence post gardens” with my Canon 550D. It was difficult to say the least! Sunlight can be very dramatic – usually in the early morning or evening, but it can also be a major problem depending on the subject matter.

I have picked out four photos that I think are not too bad from those I took on the day but it seems I am going to have to wait for a more overcast day or go there at sunrise to get some decent shots of this subject.

Getting to know the subject is also important whatever medium you are working with, and I think that it was not just the light conditions that gave me a problem. It was also time and the need to figure out the best angles. Next time I will go better informed.

Update (22/03/2013) According to a friend of my sister –

“The second photo has some lichens in as well as moss- the silvery flattish ones at the front which may be a Paramelia – and probably the red and silvey grey one – also a brown cupped one in the middle- these last 2 will be Cladonia species.”

Moss Garden

moss

Peristomes

Ghostly Tree

Reflections of Light

Posted on 10/03/201310/03/2013 by Alastair

Upper Lliw Reservoir was catching the light last week when I enjoyed a walk up there as part of an interview for BBC Radio Wales about StillWalks.

Awesome Light – Chrome Effect

Posted on 30/01/201330/01/2013 by Alastair

These two photos were taken with my old Fuji FinePix compact camera which had a chrome effect setting (different to the b & w setting). I was playing around with it one day in Galloway, South West Scotland a few years ago but the effect you see isn’t so much the cause of the camera setting as the weather and light itself.

Weather and Light

Posted on 28/01/201328/01/2013 by Alastair

My recent Production Day post about how quickly the weather can change these days reminded me of some photography I had done a few years ago in South West Scotland. I guess any outdoor photography has an element of weather to it but these photos are quite a personal reminder of a place I love and don’t see often enough. These, amongst other images play across my large iMac screen as a screensaver in the background when I have to work on my laptop. They were taken on my old Fuji compact but are effective nonetheless.

More to come through the week. Also, visit The Ambiguity of Fences for some more images from my own Lliw Lower Reservoir production day.

Light in the Sky 1

Light in the Sky 2

Evening Light and the Song Thrush

Posted on 09/01/201309/01/2013 by Alastair

I questioned the accuracy of my studio clock yesterday morning because it said it was 9.30 AM but it felt and looked more like 7.30 to judge by the lack of light.

Today, however, we have had light again 🙂 After so much darkness and rain it was a huge relief and good for the soul. I wasn’t the only one enjoying the evening light and this Song Thrush was out to prove it as well – recorded on the new RODE iPhone app (not on their new iPhone mic though, that will have to wait a little while).

Click below to hear the Song Thrush I recorded this evening.