Landscape Photography

Yellow Is The Colour Of Sunshine

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"Of the colour between green and orange in the spectrum, a primary subtractive colour complementary to blue; coloured like ripe lemons or egg yolks."

Often Yellow is a beautiful colour in the Sun and is synonymous with nature, the brightest of all the spectrum and the colour that usually automatically attracts the eye toward.

This is a short body of personal work that is experimental in practice.  Something which I do to keep my eyes trained on the world.  I find work like this is more a test for myself to prove to myself that I see things differently to others and my desire to share my vision of a slowed down world, brings your attention to this project.

This is my personal work that I sometimes like to just go out for a walk to see what I can find.  A test to see what my eyes and mind are looking at, something that puts me in the zone.

I had no brief, just walked and worked with what ever the environment presented to me.

If you'd like to chat to me, click here.

 

Art Work For Sale

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Photography Art For Sale

I'm having a go at selling some of my art work.  If you're an art collector, buyer or perhaps just want to have some great wall art for your home or work, please feel free to have a look at the microsite I use with the Print Space Hub to host the sales of my art work.

Here are some examples of my work that can be printed.

There are plenty of other choices to look through and with a good mixture of colour prints as well as black and white.

If you'd like to have a closer look at my artwork for sale, then please click this button to visit my microsite.

The Ghost of Old John, Bradgate Park

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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.

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

Sublunary 15

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This is it!  I've been working on this body of work since July 2016.

Sublunary 15 is a series of futuristic, metaphorical landscape photographs that follow the narrative of an imaginary alien invasion of the planet Earth.

I've created all of these pictures in single exposures and no photoshop manipulation using a Nikon D610 and a tripod.  In some of the pictures, I've added my own light from a speed light covered in a red gel as well as the occasional car brake lights.

Please enjoy the photographs, they've taken me a long time to produce.

Some of these pictures will be exhibited at De Montfort University and Freerange, Old Truman Brewery (London) during June.  Keep an eye out for information relating to a private view invitation, or subscribe using the box below.

If you would like to see the slideshow that I've created as part of this project, it comes with my own narration against my own sound track in the background.

To follow my work and keep up to date with news of exhibitions etc, please subscribe using this box below.

An Alien Invasion

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A series of metaphorical, futuristic landscape photographs based on an imaginary alien invasion of the planet Earth.

I've spent the last 9 months creating this body of work and now I'm publicly publishing the results.  The work is not finished and will be continued throughout my career but this current collection is now ready for the first exhibition.

The challenge for this project has been finding locations and objects that fit within my criteria and also hold that metaphorical 'Je Ne Said Quoi'!

I now have a selection of images that can tell my imaginary story and are fit for purpose with regards to being hung in an exhibition spanning across two venues; Free Range at The Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane in London and De Montfort University in Leicester, both in June 2017.

This short stills film is pat of my submission and displays a series of the photographs made for this project, together with my own vocal narration and a series of sound effects.

You can see the stills from this film exhibited at the above mentioned exhibitions in June, which I will be notifying you about closer to the time.

Please watch and leave a comment on your thoughts because I've put so much effort in to making this, it would be great to hear your thoughts.

I will be part of a larger collective show that will see the students from De Montfort University's Photography and Video Ba Hons degree come together to exhibit and show off their talents, as a culmination of three years of studying the worlds best photographers and videographers and being lectured by some of the key figures in the industry today, like Laura McGregor, Nick Locket, Neil Dyson, Su Ansell, Dr Mike Simmons, Lala Meredith, Dave Soden, Martin Shakeshaft and visiting professor Paul Hill.

Exhibition Dates:

De Montfort University, Vijay Patel Building, Leicester, LE1 9BH 

17/6/17 - 22/6/17

Private View - 16/6/17 

 

Free Range, The Old Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane, London, E1 6QL  

22/6/17 - 26/6/17

Private View - 22/6/17 6-10pm

If you'd like to be invited to the private view where hopefully there will be an opportunity to meet all of the artists, have a drink and some grub, then please drop me a line using this link.

Futuristic Art in Landscape Photography

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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

DMU Student's photo chosen as one of the best pics of the year

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This is a nice accolade to start 2017 with.  If you're not aware, I'm studying a photography & video Bachelor of Arts Honours Degree at De Montfort University while running my photography and video business, which is now in to its successful fifth year.

I entered a national student photography competition last year and missed out on £12K worth of prizes by a Gnat's nut.  However, my work was highlighted as highly commendable.

You can read more about my success with this nationwide competition here... 

This was my entry chosen by the judges as significantly good in their opinion.

 

I also have some even more amazing news to share with you.  My wife Lisa and I had a little too much Paella and Red Wine at one of Lisa's exhibitions last year.  This ended with the most incredible experience of my life.

Emma Leigh Hands was born 31/12/2106 @ 17:29 weighing 4lb 15oz.

My world has just turned upside down and my outlook on life is so very different to that of a couple of weeks ago.  It will be interesting to see if this moment in my life has an impact on my photography style and outlook.

So, 2017 promises to bring around a completely different lifestyle for myself.  I'm sure I'll be working even harder this year.  I'm hoping to get some more work creating films like the last two with R-Tech Performance and Gorman's Fight Club.  I'm happy to make commercial styled films that have a backline story and add a commercial context to be different to the typical advertising style.  I like to create documentary styled films that have high impact and hook the viewers straight away.

I'll also be looking for new clients regarding my still photography side of the business.  I'm hoping to be working with many more (PR) Public Relations Agencies, Commercial and Corporate clients as well as potentially get involved with more charities like SSAFA (The Armed Forces Charity).

What is important to note is that I will be graduating from my degree course and will then be applying myself to my business completely on a full time basis.  This can only mean that my clients are truly going to get the best of me from here onwards.

Happy New Year

If you'd like to get in touch with me, please click on this link.

Dark Power

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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.

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November Film and Photography

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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

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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.