Night Landscape

Sublunary - Alien Invasion of Planet Earth

in ,

Fine Art Photography meets Visual Stories

Sublunary - Part 2

As a professional photographer, Father to the most beautiful little toddler in the world and Husband to an equally beautiful Mother; I find it difficult to get out and make personal work.

In 2017, I graduated from University with a High 2:1 in a BA Hons in Photography & Video degree at De Montfort University, where the idea for this project was born.  I began with a long period of time in the library, scouring art books and photographic archives, learning about who, what where, when, why and how specific bodies of work was made.

Surprisingly, I came across some painters and other Fine Art Photographers that worked in similar fields to my research.  One in particular that sticks out in my mind was Photographer Erasmus Schroeter and Painter Max Ernst.

Erasmus Schroeter (2005).

Max Ernst, (N.D.)

I was also heavily inspired by my lecturer (Kosovan) Lala Meredith-Vula who is a contemporary fine art photographer with international recognition.  Lala's ideas about my work and how to get the best out of me was first class and Lala's self confessed crazy mind was a perfect match for the project I had stuck in my head.  She knew just how to get me excited about my own work.

Lala Meredith-Vula

Lala Meredith-Vula

Lala Meredith-Vula (N.D.)

Lala Meredith-Vula (N.D.)

So the body of work for Sublunary began.  I created a series of landscape photographs that followed the narrative of an imaginary alien invasion of the planet Earth.  A tall order you might think?  I just needed the right level of inspiration and a camera.  At the end of creating the work for my degree, I put it all together in a short movie with a spooky sound track that I created myself.  You can watch that below.

I'm now about to embark on a much longer journey that will see me creating a whole new body of work for Sublunary Part 2.  I'll be using my experiences from the first part of the project and will be digging deeper in to my imagination.

Here's a sneaky peek at my first experiment for part 2...

Paul Hands (2018), The Mute.

This is called 'The Mute' and features a landscape photograph that has been manipulated in camera by myself.  I added the red light using the brake lights on my car and chose this location for the crazy tree that could be morphed in to any kind of other worldly creature.  The reverse side of the road sign represents having nothing to say, to be muted and to be stunned by the experience of an alien invasion.  You will see that I've also added a strange shaped metal frame on the right.  This represents an alien being and is the shape of a large humanoid or key hole.  It is hollow and appears invisible with the exception of the outer edges.

The scene is lit like a stage as if the play is being carried out and has undertones of humour, not to be taken seriously.  It's a project that I can literally play and have fun with.  I have a list of locations, that I've been building, so you can watch to see how this develops.

De Montfort University bought the first 5 prints of this project and hold them in their permanent art collection on campus.  You can also read more about this project here.

If you'd like to follow my work then you can subscribe to my emails (below) or follow my social media channels.

Home to Home

in ,

Night Landscape Photographer England

Home To Home

This series of pictures are part of the experimental stage of what could potentially become a new project.

"I leave home and return, that's the single most repetitive thing I do".

The other night I left home to go and make a series of night landscapes around my local area between Hinckley and Coalville.  My search was for the unusual quirkiness surrounding our towns and villages.  Some man made and some natural with street signs, giant posters in the middle of nowhere and concrete bollards in-between such beauty in the landscape.

February News

New Clients:

I'm pleased to welcome new clients Hinckley BID, BJL Group, Morris Homes, ARO PR and Marketing and JJ Churchill on board.  

Also this month I'll be working on new assignments for two existing clients; Mode Transport Planning and the SFB Group.

More work will also be going in to the application to Grants for the Arts through the Arts Council for a major Environmental Portrait project I'm hoping to work on this year.

If you'd like to keep up with my news or get my blogs and pictures delivered to you via email, subscribe here.  Facebook are messing around with the algorithms for pages and a lot of Creatives are not able to share their art.  So this is one way for artists to stay in touch with the community.

The Ghost of Old John, Bradgate Park

in ,

Bradgate Park's ghost of Old John has been caught on camera!

I went out to Bradgate Park in Leicestershire last night to make some photographs of the Persiedes meteor shower, but as usual I became distracted with making my own different set of  photographs.

There must have been around 30 other photographers on the hill and all pointing their cameras towards Old John and the night sky.  If I had set my camera up in line with them, all of our photographs would have all looked the same.  I checked the backs of some of their cameras and some shots had caught meteors but no land, just sky, stars and a meteor.  I felt that the interest there was lost within seconds of saying 'Oh yes, a meteor'!

I couldn't stand in front of them to get a different composition, so I spent some time observing them making their pictures and then stepped back to design my own, carefully ensuring that not one of those photographers could make or replicate mine.  I decided to not collect any photographs of the meteors because I'd already done it before and I needed different pictures to everyone else on the hill.

It's probably the very thing that has stopped me from visiting this place at night to make photographs in the past, I really don't want to make the same pictures as everyone else.  

Hopefully, I've achieved that, what do you think?

If you'd like to look at more of my work, try starting with my personal work.

You can subscribe to my newsletter to receive my blog directly via email.

If you'd like to chat with me about my work, please feel free to contact me.

Futuristic Art in Landscape Photography

in ,

I'm in the process of creating a 9 month long body of work for my Bachelor of Arts degree at De Montfort University and in preparation for an exhibition at Freerange, an Old Truman Brewery in London.

I've spent quite a bit of time with the paintings of the German Max Ernst (1891-1976).  This body of work is heavily influenced by some of his works, like this example below.

Max Ernst

As well as the german photographer Erasmus Schroeter (below), known for illuminating nazi war bunkers and putting such tragedy up on the stage for an audience.

I've taken a blend of what these artists have created and been playful with my camera and mind.

The intention behind my work is to almost create a new category of photography; Futuristic escapism within landscape photography and by using nothing but what is available in the environment and with zero impact upon the landscape.  

I'm creating a series of fine art sculptural photographs that herald the subjects at night against dramatic skies and using light to make the scene almost like a theatrical stage for the presentation of the subjects.

My plan for this work is to create a wooden light box from mostly reclaimed materials and to display the work backlit.

Here's a sneak peek at some of the imagery that I've been producing, please feel free to add comments on my work, good or bad.  After all, I'm in the process of making this long body of work and could use your thoughts?

You can comment here and also on my Facebook page.  Please don't pass by without leaving a comment, they really are appreciated.

Paul Hands

Dark Power

in

Well the title suggests something a little more sinister than the work portrays.  This is about a small series of images created at night time directly pointing at the the Power Station towers at Ratcliffe On Soar near to Nottingham and situated next to the M1 motorway.

I felt that these towers needed the drama of the night and an overcast sky to work as the backdrop so that the smoke billowing out from the chimneys, blended in with the clouds.

I stopped by this location on the way home after a making a still image documentary with SSAFA (The Armed Forces Charity) last night.

It is an epic site that hits you with complete awe, when you stand next to it.  Have a look through some of the images; click to enlarge.

If you'd like to enquire about commissioning my photographic or moving image services, please click here to be redirected to my contact page.

Don't forget to follow me on social media where quite often, I upload work that doesn't appear on my website.

Advertisement:

Click on image below to visit the website for Hushabye Baby Newborn Photography.

November Film and Photography

in

I've got a very busy month coming in November.  

I'm finalising the editing of the film for R-Tech Performance.  We've got a few days of filming left where I'll be interviewing Ben from R-Tech about their amazing company and how they've helped to create a culture around re-mapping cars to go faster.  The film so far, follows some of their customers while they test drive their cars after being re-mapped.  We've also been to Santa Pod Race Circuit to witness R-Tech's customers testing their cars on the 1/4 mile track.  We also have a rolling road day coming up at R-Tech's unit in Hinckley, where we'll be documenting with moving image.

During November, I'll be working with SSAFA again.  They have a special event on where families of fallen and injured military personnel gather in remembrance and to find support from one another.  I'll be creating a documentary series of photographs around the event for use on the website, on social media and to be printed within their help leaflets.  The next event is happening in Nottingham

I've also been out making personal photographs for projects that I'm currently working on.

 

Click on images to enlarge.

This image is part of a year long project called Rockets.  I'm currently in search of human constructions that resemble rockets and juxtaposing them against the night sky.

The above set of four photographs are all considerations to become part of a series of pictures that tell a metaphorical story.  They're all colourful sculptural protrusions from the Earth.  This is still a work in progress and will culminate with an exhibition at Free Range in the Old Truman Brewery, London in 2017.

I've also been out and collected some cheesy landscape photographs of the recent Super-moon as it hovered and rose above Hinckley.

So November is and has been a very busy month for me.  On top of all of this, I'm decorating my house from top to bottom.  This is of course in line with the amazing news that I'm going to be a Father.  So I have to get my house ready for my beautiful Daughter to arrive in January.

I'm still currently working and taking on new and exciting projects.  I've got many enquiries coming in for commercial photography jobs and a couple of commercial films to do quotes for.  If you have any assignments where you'll need a professional photographer, filmmaker or videographer, then please click here to go to my contact page and drop me a line.

Modern, Deep, Distraction

in

This is a a triptych of images concentrating on how the light trails from aeroplanes zip through the night sky like meteors from outer space.  

My intention was to create an abstract series using these light trails to add drama to what would normally be perceived as a boring picture.  

Gazing deep in to the night sky, considering all things universal and with the interruption of human progress and the modern technology of today's transportation, as a distraction.  

These pictures serve as a metaphor for how modern humanity has become obsessed with science and technology. 

 

This link below will take you to the website of my long running social documentary of Hinckley & Bosworth District.

A Camera Doesn't Take Photographs.

in

Tomorrow, I start my new venture in tutoring hobbyist photographers, by providing a workshop that will help them to understand their cameras' much better but more importantly, how to make a good photograph.  

Firstly, a camera doesn't make a good photograph anymore than a typewriter wrote a good novel.  It's all about the person holding the camera and what is in their hearts.

There's a scientific formula for creating a strong photograph but those that already know how to make one, can spot these scientific creations a mile off.  Anyone can use the magic rule of thirds with leading lines through the photograph as it dodges repetitive features etc.  Landscape photography is probably the easiest genre of photography to start with.  The landscape rarely moves in front of you.

In my workshops, I'm going to teach people how to see properly.  What makes a good photograph and how to turn the simplest of things in to something so majestic looking (if that's your cup of tea).  Some photographs work well when they don't look majestic and look dilapidated.  It really does depend on what the World says to you.  How do you view our amazing planet and the creatures that inhabit it?

As this is my new venture, I'll be considering running additional workshops in the future. Tomorrow's will be ran from The Clock Tower Tea Room by the waters edge in Hartshill.  All of the photographs in this blog post was created in the location of the workshops.

Click on each photograph to enlarge.


Monster Munch and The Perseid Meteor

in

I spent most of the night in the dark travelling around Warwickshire searching for a good spot to make some night time landscapes of the Perseid Meteor Shower.  It wasn't all that successful in terms of getting the shot I wanted but I did get some really nice photographs.  I suppose that isn't all truthful, I did get the shot I wanted and it was one in a million but I knocked the aperture ring and sent the photo slightly out of focus.  I landed Chesterton Windmill at night with a perfect exposure at the exact time a meteor flew directly over the windmill and in a small gap in the clouds that is in the shape of a Monster Munch crisp.  Here it is...

Click on each photograph to enlarge.

It wasn't all a failure last night, I did manage to bag myself some beautiful landscapes that were so sharp and in complete focus.  They're very dramatic photographs and I'm quite proud of them.

I also created different compositions of Chesterton Windmill.

I created this photograph at Draycote Water near to Dunchurch in Warwickshire whilst hunting for some good spots for photographing the meteor shower.

I particularly like this frame because I included my good friend Charlie who's recently taken up photography and can be seen making an exposure with his own kit..  Charlie introduced me to this landmark, which I'm very thankful for.