Upon getting home I thought I best do some work so began work on a demo I was putting together for a class I teach. The students have to create a character and objects form Alice in Wonderland using Adobe Illustrator. When I set this task I had at least four students say, “What is Alice in Wonderland?” I was ashamed they had never heard of the story but told them this wasn’t just a lesson in Illustrator but also a lesson in culture.

My demo started off with me just creating Alice, now I don’t claim to be the greatest Illustrator artist ever I’m still learning this program as I go, but I quite liked how it looked. So today I decided to work on the rest of the scene. It got a bit complicated with lots of layers but I didn’t want it to be overly complicated with gradients and effects. This was meant to be, to show that the students could create interesting images using just the shapes, pathfinder and pen tools.

Upon complication the Alice image was then to be turned into a repeat pattern. Having never been able to do this properly before I set out to work out how to do it. I found a great tutorial below.

Red Bubble Repeat Pattern Tutorial

So here are my results, the repeat pattern can be found below the illustration. Now I know theres lots of areas to improve but as a work in progress I quite like it.

© Gareth Partington

So at 6am I arose to the screaming swark that is my phones alarm. Blearily eyed I reached out turned it off and climbed back into bed. Then some how at 6.10am in a dream like state I told myself to GET UP!

I have been to cannock chase many a time but I have never really explored Brocton. So this was my destination. Me and my dog dylan jumped into the car and set off.

It was still dark and I was thinking if I could just get to the chase before the sun rises I might get some nice light. We pull up into the car park and glance down at the clock 6.50ish and the sun will be rising soon. I look up to see the hopefully dramatic and nice sky looking an overcast pitiful blank empty canvass. I’m still hopeful so set off on a walk.

I come across the ancient wood and find some amazing trees. Scrambling around on the loose ground I try to find a good composition, an interesting line, shape or tone. Somehow I just can’t seem to do the trees any justice. I take a few photos and with the rain starting to drizzle upon me and decide that these trees won’t be captured into my box of electronical gadgetry.

These are the only two photos I quite liked, although I failed in my attempt to come away with some thing great, I’ve found a new location to try and do justice too. I will return with better light.

© Gareth Partington

© Gareth Partington

I set up my camera quickly and took a few exposures, moving my flash gun and then sticking the images together in Photoshop. It’s not great compositionally and I think I could do a million times better but as a quick experiment it worked.

You can see the images used underneath for the final picture.

I wanted a cold feel to the colours so it’s taken a bit of tweaking in camera RAW and then in Photoshop to get it to look ok.

© Gareth Partington

© Gareth Partington

© Gareth Partington

© Gareth Partington

It was one of those sunny days where as you walk things look amazing and you think that’ll make a good photo but when you take it, you then realise nope it doesn’t. I did have one moment where the skies darkened and the world became a bit bleaker and so I found this tree and took a few photos. Perhaps it’s a little under exposed but it’s a moodyish picture so I can justify it.

I had a nice walk none the less and the only photo I took which I liked is the the following image. I think perhaps it’s one to go back to and rephotograph.

© Gareth Partington

The deadline was looming and I had produced no new work to enter. I was frantically trying to come up with ideas and a few of them I really like, but to no avail did I actually go and produce them.

Again speaking to Hannah she suggested that I enter some of the portraits I took back in 2010. It had been a while since I looked at these and going back and studying them I realized I actually quite liked them but thought it was best if I tried to make some new ones.

I had completely forgotten the process in Photoshop of how I created the stark detailed effect. I went back deconstructed an old one, but there were many steps missing, so I had to improvise quite a bit.

I managed to rally four people to agree to have them done thanks to the singer/song writer Sarah Ruddick now called Sarah Vermeire since getting married.

On the day I arranged to photograph Sarah and her husband/friends I also pestered four people at work to have one done including Hannah. After taking the initial photos with my home made ring flash it was time to edit in Photoshop.

It took a long time to get the images to match those that were created in 2010 and looking back at my editing now I still need to go back in and correct a couple but they’re not too bad. I’m not giving my secret away so don’t ask.

I went through the twenty eight different people I photographed in total now and as a body of work they look great. With the help of Hannah we selected two images to submit to the gallery.

One was an image of a painter/artist “Jeff Hatt” and the second was of the singer/song writer “Sarah Vermeire”

When I went to submit at the Herbert there was quite a cue and I felt very nervous but as my work was taken away and placed at the back of the room it really stood out.

A few days later I received a letter to say that the image of Sarah was selected for the exhibition but unfortunately the one of Jeff wasn’t. The image of Jeff is at the bottom of this post and you can see some of the images taken in 2010 by clicking on this link.

The detailed portraits 2010

I’m keeping the image of Sarah off the internet until the exhibition is over. If you would like to see the print you can pop into the Herbert Art Gallery in Coventry from 11th August until the 30th September and judge for yourself if you think it’s any good.

That was a long post for me!

Looking at the final result it’s funny how the subconscious pours things out. It could be an image about asking questions of myself as thats precisely what I am doing at the moment.

Working in my room with very little space, this proved very difficult and my end result isn’t really like the photo I was trying to recreate, but I guess this is how inspiration works. You look at something go wow, try it and turn it into your own thing.

The photos make me look like such a poser but hey I am!

The older I get the more I come to accept who I am.

These photos are ok but I couldn’t really find a good composition whilst I was out there. I might return or see I if I can find some where with a bit more interest going on.

I’ve posted them in terms of when I took them and you can see my thought progression and how the pictures slowly improve.

This was the first photo as as you can see the sun was blazing through but I couldn’t find that special something.

Tried to photograph the path leading into the woods with a long exposure but the wind didn’t really cause much of an effect.

A little more interesting getting lower to the ground but it still doesn’t make me go wow.

I really liked the tree stump here and with the long exposure you can see the trees in the background have become blurry along with the bluebells in the foreground. This was due to the wind blowing them around. It’s a nice idea but still isn’t filling me that proud sensation you get when making a good photo.

Now I know this is cheese tastic but I like it. I do think I’m much better at seeing in black and white then colour, I seem to know what works  in terms of it’s tone and texture. Weird this because at university I specialised in colour

As I was leaving and walking back to the car I fired off a few frames of the bluebells passing by. I had no idea if any of this would come out but I liked this one.

In combination with my dead butterflies from a few years ago I set out to create a still life. I can’t quite decide if I like this or not but after 3-4 hours of editing and trying different things out I’m calling a day where it is. I keep tweaking colours and exposure but I’ve settled on where it is.

The set up was shot just with natural light from my bedroom window and a piece of card as a reflector.

The vase was created by my multi talented sister, Kathryn Partington.

I’m not sure why I decided I had to make this, but I guess the idea has been in my head for a while, only I didn’t know it.

The premiss for the story took shape and several key moments where written. The story developed as one set up didn’t work and it took quite a while to work how to make it funny and sad. The story had to have a moral at the end I knew exactly what this was so this was always the shaping factor.

The characters had to be simple, sad and not overly neat as I wanted it to have that very personal rough feel to it. They went through quite a few stages as the original drawings where too detailed.

The scenes where drawn and then it was a case of painting. I really wanted to try and get across a sort of water colour type look to the painting and this was something I looked into. I created my brushes in Photoshop and spent hours getting them all to have the same feel.

I finally finished creating all the pages at 3am in the morning and collapsed into my bed. Weird as looking at them they look so simple.

On Saturday I awoke and decided the the pages must be printed and made into a book. I used a special warm tone paper, printing all the images at A6 in size. They were cut out and sown together. I created a hardback cover for the book but couldn’t quite work out how to attach it so this became protective case tied with a piece of leather.

I stabbed my finger with the needle many times trying to get it through the thick paper, I sliced open my thumb with the scalpel, (this is still bleeding at the mo as I keep catching and reopening the wound) my hands are stained with ink from creating the blotched background with indian ink and scanning it it.

It is a lecture by Mark Romansoki who talks about his process for creating painting. From start to finish I was captivated and just wish that some of my students would have the interest to watch this. He gives so much good advice and lays it out straight what it’s like to be an illustrator.

The video is in three sections and I have posted them below.

Once again I have dug out my 10 stop ND filter (I will find a useful use for this!) and tried to do long exposures of myself. The time taken to expose each of these images varied from one minute to three minutes at F2.8.

I was trying to create a worn down, moody looking self portrait. I didn’t really plan this or dress any different to what I’m wearing now, thinking about it I probably should have done but this is purely an experiment that has led to some other ideas brewing in my head.

After taking the photos I knew I was going to play in Photoshop with them and wanted to create a sort of Daguerrotype thing. Some are better than others but as a starting point I’m quite happy. Let’s see where it goes if I continue with it.

The weather was sunny as I left the house then clouded over as soon as I was driving, a little voice inside my head was going “Bloody Typical”. The clouds looked very ominous but I continued on anyhow and thought if it rains it rains, I’ll just get wet.

Upon arriving near Mam Tor I ditched the car and got out and as soon as I did the heavens opened up. I still decided to carry all my camera kit as you never know some little spark of inspiration may hit. The following pictures are some of the ones I quite liked.

I enjoy creating moody black and white images and the rain, hail, snow, blistering sun!, rain hail and wind all helped a little. I wasn’t really clear on an idea but there seems to be a theme of path ways running in the images.

I was a little silly and didn’t really tell anyone where I was going. It was just me and my dog Dylan. I decided not to follow the route of all the masses up over Mam Tor but head the opposite way along Rushup Edge. I got a little lost up in the boggy marshes as the rain hammered down and decided enough soggy feet was enough and took a route directly down the hills, which was very, very steep. One misplaced foot and I would have been a tumbling down the hills into a painful mess at the bottom. Great fun though and my dog seemed to love the challenge, even if he did look at me every now and then with a look of “are you serious?”

Once again they are not the most amazing pictures in the world but considering I don’t seem to take many photos anymore I can still create some things that are kind of interesting.

This was the first photo I took at the sign post of directions, my car can be seen somewhere off in the distance I think.

I really like lonely trees in the landscape, this isn’t an amazing picture as I saw this and thought perhaps this might be an idea to explore. But I didn’t really see anymore isolated trees out on my walk after this. Taken with my 10 stop ND filter but the result is anything amazing. Keep trying Gaz!

I wasn’t sure if this would work as there wasn’t a lot to keep an audiences interest but it was the incoming clouds that I liked. Again I used the 10 stop ND filter and got some kinda interesting results with the clouds. The wind wasn’t as strong as I hoped it would be though.

As I got down out of the boggy marshes the sun opened up. I found this old house/building by Jacobs Ladder and it would have looked much better with an overcast sky but as the sun was out took a picture any how.

I was trying so hard not to photograph water with the 10 stop ND filter but it had to be done. Super cheese tastic image.

And so ends my little trip to the Peak District. We returned to the car very muddy, very wet and but happy.

We are all infected and impure with sin.

When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags.

Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind

It won’t win me any awards or really push the boundaries of digital art and photography but it just sort of evolved as I worked on it. Sure it could be a million times better but at 1am I’m calling it a day.

© Gareth Partington

So this mini project of mine was inspired by a class I am currently teaching to a level one group which was all about self portraiture. I must admit I’m sure the class are less enthusiastic then I am about my assignments, but hey I thought I’d have a go at it.

I’ve done lots of self portraits over the years and wanted to teach myself some new lighting set ups, so it became a technical exercise  in lighting as much as it did a project about who I am. Each photo had a different light set up, all done in the tiny confines of my bedroom with little speed lights (for those geeky photographers).

The idea was written in my note pad at about a 12.00am one day and it sat there for a few weeks. I kept saying lets make it then got distracted and found my playstation more alluring. But finally I kicked myself up the bum and got making them.

The first photo to be created was the cyclist one. I wanted to shoot a picture of me in my club kit (Lichfield City Cycling Club) showing off the strange lycra fetish I have at weekends.

This was made using two speed lights with grids either side of my face, then another speed light was added with a shoot through umbrella facing me. I wanted to create a gritty sort of look I had seen in some magazines. I think I kind of pulled it off but the light is a little uneven. Sorry any pros reading.

© Gareth Partington

The second photo in the series to be made was the geek one. I am a massive geek at times and I’m quite proud of it. I was going to wear my Star Wars dressing gown but opted for a more modest cool Haynes Manual AT-AT T-shirt instead. To complete the look the mop was side swiped over bringing back horrors of childhood side partings.

In order to photograph this one it was a pretty easy light set up. One homemade ring flash positioned in front of myself but I soon found out ring flash in glasses is not a good look. So a slight turn to the side sorted that out although you can still see it in the corner.

© Gareth Partington

The third photo to be made was the “I’m a Photographer” one. I really couldn’t work out how to make this look interesting. I tried lots of ideas out and in the end just resorted to the over used, over created, put a camera over my face. I wanted to have photos drifting down around me but throwing them up, putting the camera to face and firing off the digital camera really wasn’t happening. I did try adding falling photos in post production but it looked fake so took them out. For anyone who is eagle eyed though you will notice my name is on the lens.

This was lit by two speed lights, 45 degrees to each other one with a shoot through umbrella the other was a silver reflector.

© Gareth Partington

The forth photo to be made was “I’m a Me” I tried lots of moody looking, pouting, straight glares, poser shots but in the end picked one where I was bored and pulled a face. I don’t know if this really sums up me as a whole but I quite liked the light on my big hair.

This was shot with a speed light directly behind me, a snooted speed light top right and I think I filled in with a shoot through umbrella just so the jacket had some detail.

© Gareth Partington

This was how the photos were going to end but I thought I needed to remake the photographer one so sat down trying to work out how to do this. I came up with an idea of having photos stuck on my face. But when it came to making it I really didn’t think it showed me as a photographer, I decided to break up my face a bit. The enlarged eye and mouth made it a little difficult to work out who I was and as a series of images this fitted perfectly before the final one.

Lit by a single umbrella to camera right up high.

© Gareth Partington

So there we have it my set of images about me. I’m a little bored of starring at my face now but as a series it shows off a few of the things I do, some of my personality  perhaps and I learn’t quite a lot along the way. I think my favorite is the “Who am I?” or “I’m a Cyclist”.

If you just read all that, well done to you, if you skipped to the end like I would after quickly looking through the photos, you just missed out on some riveting gossip about my inner soul and self discovery and how profoundly disturbed I am, but you can probably get that from just looking at the images too, so don’t bother going back to read all this.

But thank you for looking at the images, I’m slowly getting back into my photography.

Right whats the next lot of photos? I really want to get out in the landscape again, or make some horrible manipulation.

Editing down the images from about 300 to 50 was quite hard and I wanted to make sure the identities of other people remained anonymous.

They are not the most amazing pictures in the world, but I didn’t want to edit them or set up shots. They had to be quick snap shots throughout the day with not too much thought.

Working in my tiny room was a little difficult and trying to do a self portrait with so little space got a bit annoying at times. Now I don’t think these are amazing pictures, I don’t think my light was great but it did work. I also learnt loads of new stuff in Photoshop I didn’t know from the book.

This is my set up as you can see a bit chaotic. Hopefully clicking the picture will open it bigger.

Now I don’t think I suit soft light at all, my face is far too weathered to stand in front of pretty light but as an experiment it doesn’t look too bad. I recon I could fobb someone off saying it was shot in a studio.

I did have one other random idea whilst I was doing this could I make a face photographic joiner, seems as I was teaching my students about joiners the other week. It was done very quickly, it’s not seamless and it could be a million times better but as a start again it kinda works. So think of these few pictures on this post just as a test and work in progress.