Looking for inspiration in all the wrong places

So with 2014 already in full swing I have been pondering where my photography adventures have taken me over the past year.

But looking back can only get you so far, what about moving forward?

Well my skills have been improving but there is still more to do and learn. Fortunately the studio nights at bright lights are continuing, my confidence is steadily improving and I'm even finding myself starting to give not just direction but detailed direction to some of the models who are very pretty and on my first night there were able to inspire such a sense of somewhere between awe/ and a sense of confusion that they were actually talking to me that I might as well have been talking caveman ..." ugg, me caveman press button now to take picture of pretty girly"

(Side note if any of you have a second please go and visit one of the models blogs that I have worked with, Jo Jo  but be warned, it;s not part of facebook so some images on her website and blog are to be considered "adult" so consider yourself warned!" )

So all this studio practise gave me some inspiration. I decided that I wanted to spend some more time in the studio for "me" on my own project as it were rather then a TFP night or a family shoot. I came up with a idea to work again with one of my friends, firstly to take some classy fashion style shots in a ballgown and secondly to take pictures of her dancing as she's a awesome dancer and helped me to produce one of the best images in my portfolio, "dancer in the dark".

Which seemed simple and she agreed but unfortunatly life as it tends to do sometimes interfered and this project is now on the indefinite back burner.

So simple right. I just need to find some more inspiration, come up with a rock solid idea and away we go.

However the only thing that has gone away right now is inspiration.

I have zero, zilch, nada, not a thing.

And it's driving me crazy.

Even looking in magazines and photography books right not isn't help. As it's driving me mad as nothing is firing my imagination and making me sad as I look at some of these shots and wonder if I'll ever be able to do that.

That I remind myself that this time last year I would never have anticipated what I have done in the studio to date so I need to stop worrying about that.

But that brings us back to the main point. Inspiration or the lack of.

Now some people would argue that by looking so hard for inspiration that I might be actually failing to see it. And that may be true.

But like most cliches it doesn't always help ;-)

The only thing that springs to mind is I want to do something that allows personality to shine through.

Hopefully something else will spring to mind soon. And I'm sure some people will argue that with the amount of space in my head, a idea will be in there somewhere.

Later folks

Steam Engines? no.. Steam Pipes? no...Steam what now???

Now at work, or my Day Job as I like to call it, it seems to be sinking in that my photography is not all about the stereotype of taking pictures of scantily dressed girls in studios that may or may not be secret and may or may not be underground ( still don't get that rumour) 

So one of the guys was asking what I have done recently and when I tried to explain about my recent steampunk shoot he got a rather confused look on his face. Or at least he had a confused look on his face until I mentioned it took place at a Victorian pumping station at which point is inner 9 year old boy took over/ he channelled the spirit of beavis and butthead and started to giggle as he only heard the words "pumping station".

Anyway it made me realise that my portfolio is now rather strong in steampunk images (again another wonderful example of how photography and take you to places you never thought of before)  and what is 2nd nature to me now might be confusing to others. Because lets face it when you say anything starting with steam most people immediately start to think of railways.

Which doe conjure a interesting image of stereotypical punks riding a steam train. ( ohh idea for a cartoon) 

But Just what is steam punk? The best and to be perfectly honest simplest definition I have heard ( and lets face it like a certain well known diy item we just want things that do exactly what they say on the tin)  is " Victorian Futurism" .

But lets be honest it I never keep things simple if I can waffle. ( it's my inner historian) 

To put it in a slightly more in depth or complicated way, Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction that typically features steam-powered machinery,especially in a settings that have been inspired by industrialised Western civilisation during the 19th century. Commonly Steampunk is often set in alternative histories of the 19th century's British Victorian era or American "Wild West. Or in a post-apocalyptic future during which steam power has regained mainstream use, or even in fantasy worlds that similarly employs steam power. And before you ask when they say "wild west" they do mean like in that Will smith film that everyone tends to forget about... other then the theme song.

Right where was I , steampunk features perhaps most recognisably features old technologies or futuristic inventions as people in the 19th century might have envisioned them. So you want to fly, you'll need a pair of wings. Want a ray gun? You'll need a lot of wiring and some large tesla coils. Need to see something in the distance, you'll need a lot of lenses arrayed in front of each other, etc, etc, you get the idea.

the depiction of Steampunk is also rooted in the era's perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, and art. So if it is Victorian era, you can would see lots of corsets and long dresses etc. If it's wild west, then western frontier inspired clothing and if it's steampunk set in a fantasy world, well the only limits would be the creators imagination.

Other examples of steampunk contain alternative history-style presentations of technology such as airships, analog computers, or such digital mechanical computers as Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine.

Of course sometimes when I try to explain steampunk people look at me slightly weird and obviously imagine me getting dressed up ( although lets never say never though people :-) ) So I suppose the next best question is why do I like the photographing steampunk?

Well firstly the costumes are amazing, you can guarantee that all are very unique and allow the persons individuality and personality to shine through. Secondly the level of skill and imagination that goes into this costumes is outstanding as most costumes are hand crafted and can feature some surprising components which leaves me in awe.

And lastly but by no means least one of the main things I enjoy is the sheer welcoming and happy nature of the people who attend the conventions and events as they attend to have fun and have to put up with photographers they don't know sticking cameras in their faces. They are also so patient and kind and great fun to talk too.

Of course a handful of photographers can fail to realise this and forget there is a person behind the costume in the rush to get a photography and it's that attitude that will set a lot of photographers teeth grinding as it gives the rest of us a bad name.

But that's their loss as their are missing the chance of getting to know some of the most interesting and fascinating people you are ever likely to meet.

Because there aren't many places where you can get hugged by woman wearing body armour after all :-)

Lets go to the castle

Having attended the Whitby Goth weekend earlier this year I was aware that there would be a steampunk festival held in Lincoln during September. So what is Steampunk i hear you cry? Well the best description I have heard so far is "victorian futurism" And if you want to know anymore go to wikipedia here :-)

Despite having gone with a large group to whitby I found myself unable to round up anyone else to attend with me, which left me with two choices. Go by myself or not go. But as faint heart never got any good porfolio worthy shots , it was all go.

Now arriving in Lincoln I was faced with my first problem as you can see on the left. To get up to the cathedral quarter where I knew most of the events to be happening I needed to tackle Steep Hill. As you can see from the picture that really is the name of the street. Steep Hill.

And never have a street been more aptly named. Now Whitby although it had the steps going to the churc, at least had steps. This thing have nothing, asides from very smooth pavement and seemingly never ending slope. By the time I got up to the top, the back of my legs were screaming as badly as they felt at the end of the day in Whitby and I hadn't even taken the camera out of the bag , yet alone taken any pictures! I decided I didn't care if anything was happening at the bottom of the hill as I wasn't going to come down again until it was time to go home!

I decided that my best place to spend the time would be inside Lincoln castle, as well that's where everybody seemed to be going, so after getting a entry ticket and politely but firmly turning down the helpful shop assistant who tried to sell me a additional guided tour around the castle walls. ( I was here for people not buildings) I was inside.

To be a photographer you need to have confidence and people skills. To be a photographer and then do street photography takes a whole lot of confidence on top of that as essentially you are walking up to people you have never met before and sticking a camera in their face.

Whitby was my first real taste of street photography, but there I was with others. At Lincoln I was on my own, which was a little bit of a scary prospect at first and it took a little time to find my grove and press the shutter button for the 1st time.

However I quickly found my memory card filling up quickly helped by the incredibly cheerful, kind and patience attendees to the festival. In fact not one person I approached to ask for a portrait turned me down which considering the sheer number of photographers buzzing around, it would have been more then understandable for people to start to get very fed up.

Now at whitby the street are very narrow and with so many people in costumes and photographers around it tend to get very busy and cramped very quickly. One of the photographers from our group got cracked on the head by somebody else lens and to add insult to injury he seemed more concerned about his gear then her!

However at Lincoln things were very spread out and although there were a few occasions of "swarming" you felt like you had chance to breathe and think.

Also Unlike Whitby most photographers were very well behaved and I think that in turn helped contribute to the wonderful atmosphere. Plus it wasn't like there was a shortage of photographic opportunities and the amount of costumes on display were breathtaking in their originality and style.

Another surprise was the unexpected opportunity to start chatting and getting to know some of the other photographers there, a unexpected and very nice change from the photographic scrums that seemed to be the norm at the goth weekend.

There were two moments however that stood out from the rest. The first was the wacky races as you can see in this photograph. Emphasis on wacky, I don't think I've laughed so hard at a bike race before.








Now the 2nd moment I caught totally by accident, by being in the right place, at the right time and realising in time what was happening right in front of me. Yes as you may have guessed I managed to catch someone proposing to his girlfriend and yes as you may have guessed from the look on her face she said yes!

As you can imagine both of them were delighted I had managed to capture it, and even more happy that I took the time to give them a card so they could contact me afterwards to get the photos.

Which has lead me to a realisation that I really need to use my cards more :-)
Despite the day moving on people were still more then happy to pose, which meant my memory card continued to fill up with shots that more then compensated for the drive, horrendous car parking charges and that darn hill.

I even couldn't resist visiting one of the stalls and buying myself a mechanical pocket watch which is really rather cool and now graces my desk.

With one final shot of steampunk Batman, yes I have typed that correctly :-) Steampunk Batman, who I had seen earlier in the day and then spent a long time looking for, it had even prompted me to say the line I never expected to say " Has anyone seen batman?" It was time to head home.

Well almost as I couldn't resist a little stop by the cathedral to make use of my wide angle lens, but due to some repairs I had to plan my shots very carefully as one of the towers was covered in scaffolding.

So was the day worth it? Yes undoubtedly, it was a fantastic day and the attendee's were just great. It's provided several more shots for the portfolio and some valuable experience in street photography.

It also proved that old adage that the best way to improve your photography is to go out and do some!

Lets hope the next weekend in Whitby is equally as good.

Roll on November :-)