New love?

Today I recieved my Nikon D7000 , an upgrade from my Canon 600d , and already I love it. It felt so natural in the hand and as my bridge camera back from 2012 was a Nikon, when I was first getting into photography , well it just seems that it's meant to be. I'm destined to be a Nikon user. At least in the digital world. I took a few test shots outside using the Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G DX and it was so nice to use. 

 Click on the images to view them larger

-Ella-

Failure Flowers

 

Agfa £1 film (poundland)

Olympus OM-10

Orland Roll 3

Orlando Roll 2 has still not been found and sadly I'm starting think I never will find it -sad face- so I loaded my OM-10 with an expired Kodak Roll and started shooting. The film box said the film iso/asa is to be set at 800 which I have never shot at before with film , and considering the film expired in 2006 , half way through the film I decided to change it to iso/asa 200.

 I'm glad I made that decision.

The kodak roll was a 24 exposure roll however my dad opened the back of my camera when I had already used 10 shots. gutted. So my exposure counter went right back down to 0 which was a little annoying to keep remembering that I had already shot with it and knowing that those 10 shots would be unusable.

I got my film processed today (yay!) and I'm really pleased with the shots that did turn out!! 

It's my third time using the Olympus OM-10 and I love it , I totally reccomend it to anyone wanting a film camera especially if you are just starting up film photography. I've had no problems other than having to change the batteries (yes some film cameras do take batteries) and the sad loss of Roll #2.

Here's some shots from Roll 3.

The three of these photographs I used natural lighting and I adore the warm tones that it's created!

-Ella-

Trending ...slowly...but surely

First I'll start by saying , I publish my photographs everywhere as you guys have surely noticed. I have accounts on over 5 various websites where I publish my work in which I always upload consistently. Why? because I am super determined I can't emphasise just how determined I am. There are so many 'photographers' out there and more and more keep cropping up which means there is always a lot of 'competition'. I do not want to spend my life being a wedding photographer. I just don't. I have higher goals than that, I want my work exhibited in galleries. It doesn't bother me that it might take a lifetime to achieve that goal , I'm all up for putting the work in because I adore what I do. 

Okay so I get the fact I'll never be the next David Bailey but there's no reason why I can't push myself as much as I can and always always always shoot.

Where can you find my work online?

Instagram

500px

Flickr

Pinterest

Tumblr

Lomography.com

The past few weeks my work has started to get more 'likes' 'reblogs' 'favourites' 're-pins' and '+1's' which is so exciting to see! I mentioned not long ago that one of my expired film shots reached 11,580 views and over 150 favourites which is the most I've ever reached!

Today I've been spending time uploading to Lomography and within the hour one of my photo's was second on the trending section of the site!

I want to thank everyone over the past 2/3 years who have said such kind and encouraging words about my work and to those who take the time to read my blog posts , like & share everything because it means so much.

-Ella-

Changing & Improving

My photography is constantly changing, I'm always working on new techniques and shooting in different ways, focusing on different genres and it's great, I love it. I love that one day I'll be working on portraits and the next I'll be working on still life or nature shots. The best way to figure out what you are good at is by trying different things so don't be afraid to reach out of your comfort zone!.

Also , I have recently created an account on 500px as I have started using Flickr less, so check it out here;

500px.com/ellamcquoid

-Ella-

New York State Of Mind

I've been so busy recently with projects in college and trying to meet deadlines that I've been neglecting my blog so I apologise !

Recently I've been experimenting more with double exposure images and I've also re discovered my love for black and white images. So you'll probably notice more and more black & white photograph's as I write & shoot more.

''When you photograph people in colour, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in Black and white, you photograph their souls''- Ted Grant

One of my favourite photo related quotes.

Photograph of Danny layered with another one of my images, from New York City.

-Ella-

Pressed Light

ƒ/4.5

1/60

ISO:125

Here's another one of my images for a current project of mine called 'Light & Time'. There was a perfect glimpse of light shining through my window so I decided to make the most of it by placing different objects , that to me represent time (& possibly light) , directly underneath. I decided to put down a pressed flower of mine which has aged because to me it symbolises time and how time ages & changes things in different ways. 

I leaned the rose against the book spine to elevate it slightly to create the shadows underneath the flower to create more depth.

-Ella-

Light & Time

Light & Time , what a perfectly titled project now that it's Autumn!.

 My favourite thing about this time of the year is the light (especially when it's highlighting all of the beautiful coloured leaves that quickly surround us). It's my favourite time of year to photograph so here are some of my image's from this exciting new project.

ƒ/5.0

1/60

ISO:100

ƒ/5.0

1/60

ISO:100

                              

ƒ/4.5

1/60

ISO:125

You might be thinking that these photograph's are all a bit 'mismatched' and you'd be right in thinking so. My first shoot for this project I decided to photograph various things that relate to both or either Light & Time and that may be the only link between the different photographs but that's the only link they really need. 

Photograph 1:

An image of my hand with a stroke of light. In this image my hand represents the element of time. With time my hand will age.

Photograph 2: 

Time being Autumn in this case, the leaf has fallen because its that 'time' of the year. Taken on the window shelf directly facing the light.

Photograph 3:

An image of an instant photograph capturing a moment of light 'in an instant'.

-Ella-

This weeks favourites

As mentioned in my previous post it was 2012 that I started becoming more and more familiar with the idea of photography and pursuing it as a passionate interest, I've explored lots of different genres in photography since. Ranging from Landscapes to Still life , the more I have experimented with the more gradually I have found where I am most comfortable (however I do like a good challenge). Recently I have discovered my love for Product photography and Still life photography.

Here are some images from the past week.

ƒ/4.5

1/50

ISO:2000

ƒ/5.0

1/80

ISO:1250

This last image is a photo of a Nikon film camera (without the lens attached), I took the image with my Canon DSLR looking directly towards the mirror which is inside the Nikon body. What I like most amount this photo is that it looks quite unusual, not to everyone's taste.

-Ella-

My favourite

Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty certain today if the first day of Autumn 2014!

How exciting. Autumn is by far my favourite time of year, I love the fact it's getting closer to Christmas (eeek) and what a beautiful time of year that is but I'm going to be quite cliché and say I love it so much because of the Autumn colours. I adore capturing the leaves falling and the gradual change of yellow, red and orange tones that seem to quickly surround us as the weeks pass by. 

I suppose this is my first official autumn photo of the year then, I really like the simplicity of it and the contrast in textures, the crisp red leaf against the hard stoned path, the central composition and the creases in the paving slabs used to create a leading line effect.

ƒ/8.0

1/200

ISO:100

-Ella-

An inspiration of mine

I was told last week that whilst my instax (polaroid) work was up on exhibition earlier this year in college that it had inspired someone to go out and buy the same camera I used! It made me super happy hearing that my work had inspired someone to do that! It reminded me of when the exhibition was on and I stood a little away from my work (but close enough to hear what people were saying about it) and the feeling you get from compliments is such a boost!. A relative of mine once showed someone one of my photographs to somebody and they were inspired to compose a piece of music about it too. 

Note to all those reading: if you ever like a piece of artwork which someone you know has created whether it be a photograph , a painting , a drawing anything! even a doodle! then TELL THEM because they won't forget it and you might make that persons day. Heck , even if you just like what they're wearing, tell them.

Anyway.

My blog post today is dedicated towards Linda McCartney, who was an amazing photographer and one of my favourites. It was in 2012 that I really started to recognise that I wanted to be a photographer and from that I started to research other photographers, my mum (being a Beatles fanatic) introduced me to Linda McCartney's work, she brought out her book 'Linda McCartney's Sixties' from the shelf and I took my time admiring all of the flawless work on every page.

Linda first began her photography career by being the only unofficial photographer on the SS sea panther Yacht on the Hudson River who was allowed to photograph The Rolling Stones during a record promo party. Previous to that she studied only the photography of horses and after became the house photographer at the Fillmore East Concert Hall. So she quite quickly became more and more familiar with photographing musicians. 

Some of my personal favourite photographs taken by McCartney are of Paul McCartney and their daughter Stella. 

.

More of my favourites: 

What I admire most about her work is that the subjects always look so relaxed, almost like they don't even notice the camera. They always look at ease and nothing looks overly posed and for me that's what it takes to be a fantastic photographer, someone who can capture a moment in such a way that it isn't overly thought about, it just happens in that one moment.

None of these photographs are mine.