Graffiti in Hackney Wick

—–    (Photo above : Very impressive image though,  isn’t this huge print-out of

——- digitally processed image ? —– I’m not against the process,

——- because the final product is only the matter.)

May be because the most of building has been empty and so much wall space

was available, not only  nobody seemed to concerned about and policing,

the graffiti in this aria is really rampant.  Still, something peculiar about the

Graffiti in this area was that the most of them has been done as one-off work.  

Rarely see the repeated pattern by the semi-professional graffiti artist who

is doing the same tagging everywhere.  But here done by the guest member ! 

This one seems to be one of the largest, and obviously taken so much effort to make.  

In that extent I appreciate the enthusiasm and the effort (and the amount of paint)

the author has put in — but not necessary feel it’s appeal.

(What this one want to say ? —– Cosmic particle ? —– why it’s here  ??? )

Naturally, some are good others are rubbish still, it was certainly a try

and the expression of the person.

Some are common design of tagging.

But some are showing quite artistic 3D approach. —– I don’t know whether this 

mirror was originally broken or somebody did it after, anyhow, showing broken 

mirror as a “shocking image” would only appeal to the westerner.  

We Japanese doesn’t see it in any bad omen.  Broken mirror is not special to us.

Still, the position of each sticks with mirror matched the Rules of Ikebana.  I like it.

I praise the attempt to express in 3D —– at least it made me smile.  Ha ha ha.

Some are quite commercial !   Still, I like a cool figure in the right Photo !

And some are showing — incomprehensible noise. 

Try to paint something without knowing what to do.  (still just DO something)

Young people often mistaken that the attention some of the marginal subject

draw  (such as violence, sex, death etc = emotionally alarming subjects) AS

” artistic appeal”. — it called  Scandalism or  Cheap Sensationalism.

Same to that  ” Bad DJ thinks, the loud music is the impressive music”.  😀

It seems that the Graffiti is a passing phase of growing up.  = before establishing

one’s own “Reward system”  in the brain  ie;  before knowing what to do and what

would be fruitful (successful) —– Just try to DO SOMETHING (easy). 

It is the reflection of their irritation and the urge, try to show “Look, I can DO”  !

And it was the reason why here only few of them are showing the artistic sparkle.

(Anyone can have an irritation but only the one who born to be an artist can draw.)

Art is not an idea but the intuitive resonance which hit other’s subconscious.

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White building — Hackney Wick

To go to Olympic park, we arranged to meet at “White building” in Hackney Wick.

It sound rather arbitrary instruction though, when I got there I realized that,

it was a very well known place to the locals and the people coming to the aria.

= In fact, a person I asked the direction replied “We are going there” so, I followed.

But, in reality, there is nothing in Hackney Wick — no shops around the station.

= we may call  “Ghost Town”  though, may be a bit more moderate expression

of  “Derelict  place” would be appropriate. 

In the East-end of London,  this area used to be a part of River Lee’s flood-plane.  

And the time when the industry relied on the shipping to move their material or

products, those area must be the bustling busy place.  (70, 90 years ago ? )

Alongside the river and the canal, the building used be a wharf, warehouse, factory

— are all empty, and now, may be accommodating  a lots of squatting  inhabitants.   

Likewise on the water,  lots of house-boat accommodating the people who is

keep drifting on. (not to became a moored residents to avoid the tax.)

So that, for the people who loves to live in freedom and the people share the same

spirit,  the artists,  loves to come to this place called Crate (or Space Studio) in the

White building.  = one of the converted wharf = caffe or bar what so ever called.

And I heard, this place would be clouded by hundreds of people in the evening !

The conversion project started a year before the 2012 London Olympic,  partnered  

with the London Legacy Development Cooperation.   And the Space Studio project  

was sponsored by Bloomberg.   This is a success story in  the Area Re-generation.

To go to Olympic park, the reason why we’ve chose Hackney Wick instead 

of usual Stratford to start, was to visit this White building.

All the staffs were very friendly and kind.  Though, they looks much more like

an artist than a waiter.  ( And, they got in house brewery = for own Crate Beer.)

I can see a lots of their hand work every where.  

Very resourceful improvisation and the craftsmanship. 

The customer will be well catered with their  Pizza  and house brewed beer.

(I had apple juice though.) 

The building having many studios and artist in residents and in deed,

this is one of the largest studio complex in London .

May be I should come again to see those studio and meet the artists.

 The drawback to become artist in residence here was that the place and their

beer was too nice — so that, just spent and live the time in feast.  Not much Art.   

And that was the main reason why the residents Artists move out of the place.    

I think, to lead those artists, the road-sign alone is not enough to

direct their life —– or YES ??? —– Then how ???  

Info’ of their activities =  < http://www.r-urban-wick.net/ > 

< http://www.publicworksgroup.net >  (but not much about Whitebuilding)

The Whitebuilding,   Queen’s Yard,  Hackney Wick,  London   E9  5EN

 

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Olympic Park (London) — Shooting Party (2)

Instead of weekly meeting in the Greenwich, we decided to go to

the Olympic Park for a photo session.

 As usual with my good luck, the weather turned out to be very fine and not too

hot, considering the day before and the day after were both dull cloudy.  

Still, the way to Olympic park from Hackney Wick Station was a long walk.

Then the hint of Olympic things appeared on the horizon ! —  A ha !  

You see, it’s a middle of nowhere, still this is a part of London !

 Coming closer, it looks not too bad.

(You believe or not, this is my first ever visit to the Olympic park.

— in fact, I didn’t even watch any event as I don’t have TV.   

Except the Opening of which I saw it in a pub.    🙂  )

On the approach, how on earth, why excise machine was here —– ! ?  😀

And the sticking logs — ?   It seems the organizer had a headache to fill the space.  

And end up like a jumble-sale, put any idea, any installation available.   😀 

So, I have no idea, why this slide got anything to do with Olympic.

The visitor, who is the most enjoying this park must be those young Muslim

girls playing with their Skate-board —– going between the jetting water while  

avoiding getting wet = was a skill ! 

I’m not a fan of Anish Capor who designed this tower — my thought only

went to pity the constructor that they must had a nightmare to keep

each rod in position.   (I guess, all of them got different length.)

Round dish near the top is the viewing plat-home —– though,

going up there will cost  whopping  £15 !   So I said “It’s a rip-off”  😀

Still,  I learned that this was called  “Orbit” — So, it’s round and round !

Therefore, I had my exercise which cost nothing.

While walking back, suddenly this Citadel appeared.  

Blimey  it’s a scene from a Surrealist’s cinema.

Though, it was pretty easy to climb as it was intended so.

= a lots of holds and stances, no chimney or overhang.

Reflection on the mirror panel under a bridge.  

(It seems, she was doing a kind of religious practice.

—– while others were chanting. )

One thing was certain, not much content though, at least  the area is burst !  

= Good for a walk and may be good to take picture of the sky.  😀

PS : Lens used was = Pentax 15 mm F3.5 /  

Canon EF zoom 24~70 F2.8  on Canon 5D Mk-III

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Scissors’ Sorcery

Yet more puzzle on the previous post was that joke

” Scissors working on to cut a hole by itself”    🙂  

Nobody would believe it though, it looks, the scissors are flying in the air.

Has Scissors image been added onto a photo of the Tape using  PS ?

And has shadow been created to make looks, the scissors in the air ?

—– Yes, some of the people are pretty good at PS and may be manage

to do this kind of sticking job in 10 min.

 

 But I’m also a sculptor —–

 I rather like to spend the same

 10 min to twist a wire instead of

 sitting on front of a PC.  

Actuary, the scissors has been glued to the wire and held on to the position.   

Same idea to suspend a  “Levitating Guru”  in the air,  and quite common trick

among the photographers. =  So, this is yet another reason why you should

see the photo with a pinch of salt. —– Photo lies.  😀

Still, to make a photo to trick, is nothing but a pleasure of the photographer.  

= It’s really a fun.

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Meadow Flower taken by Homemade Lens

This flower meadow was suddenly created in the past 2 weeks.  

It was a green patch between the buildings of the council housing estate.

Two weeks ago, somebody made a bald patch on the grass, — then after few

rains, it became a flower meadow. = Packaged Instant Meadow !

From this meadow, my regular diet of fuzzy photo was made — but this time,

I used a Home made lens which is a Retro-focus type,  2 element lens.

Sound a bit ostentatious though, in short, as the main convex lens had a little 

short focal length,  I put another concave lens to extend its back-focus, hence

it became a Retro-focus type. —– (Main convex lens came from a toy and the

Front concave lens was my broken short-eye-sighted glass.)

 This photo was a comparison.  = taken by the same

Wide-angle Double-density Pinhole lens, I’ve been using.

Note : Regardless the distance, Pinhole never posses a core of sharp image.

And rather blueish color cast, because not much glass lens there to block 

the UV.  —– (It’s a Pinhole ! )

 For this Double-element lens,  I improvised an “inter-changeable F-aperture” to

reduce a halation by stopping down.    (Sound heavy “F-aperture” though, it was

just a hole on a black tape to stick on the back of the lens.   🙂  ) 

——– (Photo above : The clear samples of Iris (F-aperture) Effect =

——– Left = Fully open / 10 mm.  Center Photo = 6 mm.  Right Photo = 3 mm.

Despite the utter humble origin, amazingly this lens has certain image quality.

And those pink flower having rain drops on it —– just able to see !

So, the image was Soft and Fuzzy, because of too much Coma- aberration

still, they are retaining certain sharp image in the center.   😀

This is a part enlargement of the photo above —– Not too bad.  I like it.

(Can you see the water droplets on the petals ! )

And able to give enough fun !

I have no idea, what those flowers called.

Still, I like this glowing color ! — not the Sun, but like a kindling fire in the ash.

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PS :  May be much of your annoyance,  this is it !   = THE home made Lens.

Photo Right shows “F-aperture” ! = Hole in a Black sticky tape.  😀

= To clack a nut of creativity, it doesn’t need to be ostentatiously heavy 

Lens, even though the Camera happen to be expensive.

= Typical case was, just smear the Lens with sliver to soften the image.

Heavy pretense blocks the flow of the idea. = Anything can be done.

Matter is Just Do and discover a FUN.

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Tilting Macro Bellows — Field Test

Following the test like previous post of homemade bellows, I took it to the park.

Setup was either Micro Nikkor 55 mm or Tamron 90 mm Macro on the bellows

which was mounted on Canon 5D  Mk-III.   And the most of the shots were taken

while the lens was tilted up to 30 degree. (Nikkor 55 mm = up to 20 degree,

Tamron 90 mm = up to 30 degree —– before the corner cut-off starts.)  

And as no F-aperture control, all the photos were taken with

fully open F-aperture.  (And hand held.)

Photo above, Right photo, you may see something strange = why the back petal

was out of focus. —– Because the lens was tilted.

Those photos were the too conspicuous demonstration of the tilting effect.  😀

But those were a bit more subtle.

And above left photo was made with Pan-focus effect and

the right was with Shallow-focus effect.

Shallow focus with rather exaggerated out of focus Bokhe. 

With the Bellows extension, the lense can give even larger close-up.

There were a lots of Bees and Bumble Bees though, they were too busy.

This small black fly seemed to taking a rest.

This Hovering Fly — right 2 photos, she was in the air hovering.

(I needed at least F5.6, not fully open 2.5)

Looks quite  inconspicuous,  still this photo was benefited by the tilting effect.

—– Tilting the lens works well though, to have full benefit of it need to have it

from infinity, not just on the close-up = But to do it,

I need to make yet another Tilting SLR using DSLR body.   🙂

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Tilting Macro Bellows Test

These are the photos of the test shot of the Tilting Macro Bellows

which I’ve shown in this blog two posts ago.

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In photography,  Focused Plain is parallel to the Image Plain. = It’s mean if you 

want a photo of the wall painting, you have to aim a camera parallel to the wall.

(Ideally, the camera should be held at a half height of the wall and in the center,

provided the lens can cover wide enough for the whole wall.)   But when you want 

a photo of the carpet, you may not able to hold the camera right under the ceiling.

= Then you have to take a photo from one end of the room.  As the carpet stretching

end to end, to have the whole area in focus is not easy. = You have to use small

F-aperture and very slow shutter speed.—– Otherwise, use a camera which can tilt a

lens or use a lens called Tilt-shift Lens which may carry a price of £1500 or more.

——- Photo above Left is a modified camera “Conica-Tilt 2” and here with

——- Nikon PC-Nikkor 35 mm F2.8  

——- and the Right, this massive lens is Canon TS-E 24 mm F3.5   

When the lens was tilted 10 degree,  it can focus the object 20 degree out of parallel, in

other words, even if the camera was held parallel to the wall (90 degree to the  floor),

if the lens  was tilted 45 degree down, it gives a sharp focus of the floor, end to end.

( But very few lens can work while tilted 45 degree =due to limit of the image circle.)

Photo above, are the demonstration of  Tilting lens effects.  

Photo Left, the lens was dropped hence, Pan-focus effect was created.

But in the photo right, the same degree tilted lens was aimed to the same subject

“Upside down” (Lens was tilted upward) hence giving very shallow depth of focus.

The relation of the Subject – Lens – Camera was like this.  

Left for Pan-focus and the Right for Shallow-Focus effect. 

When the lens was tilted, focused plain is no longer parallel to the camera,

= like on this photo, as the lens was tilted left  20 degree, the focused plain

runs almost corner to corner.   So that, this kind of technique gives more 

choice of the focus control = which subject to be captured sharp.

(The photos here, Micro Nikkor 55 mm F3.5 was used on Canon 5D Mk-3

with F-aperture was set to fully open F3.5)

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Tilting Macro Bellows

This is a photo of a hand made close-up accessory = Tilting Bellows, I made when

I was first year in my Uni’  and it was featured in a Japanese photo-magazine.  

On that time, I didn’t have proper Macro lens — I had Nikon F Photomic,  

24 mm F2.8  and 50 mm F2  that’s all.    And for the special close-up photo 

of the plant, I was using modified Mamiya Press (6×9 format).  

I made this mini bellows for use with 50 mm f2 lens and this combination

gave  1/5  to life size close-up.  —– Without doubt,  this must be the most 

rudimental, and cheap bellows ever designed !  

(You may see the extreme minimal way of the thinking in this design !) 

 = Lens rear cap was mounted on a L-shaped small aluminium panel and

 it was connected to a body cap with a kind of bellows made out of a plastic

sheet (it was a dark curtain).   Lens panel and the camera body were both

 mounted on a straight  camera bracket by means of  1/4″ screws  which 

allow the lens to be held up to 50 mm away from the body, and the front

panel (hence the lens) could be held in angle to the body, therefore 

tilting effect could be easily used as a focus control as well !

I’m certain I got the original somewhere though,  to use it with Canon EOS 5D,

the height of the lens is not the same and to use it with Nikon D810 would be

too awkward ( because of their setting of Non-CPU lens. )  —>  I decided to

make the same for  5D, but use with Nikon lens —– Nikon lens has manual

F-aperture ring and the flange-back is 1.5 mm longer than Canon. )  

Photos above shows the making process.  (I used the lens rear-cap again. )

Then, to make a bellows, this time I found a black leather in a flea-market.

—– Still, bag-bellows has to be designed and stitched in rather awkward way

though, it can be done anyway = only needs stitch, — by stitch.  😀

So, this is the finished product. (Though, I’m going to change the

body mount ring to black aluminium one.)  

Still, what all those works for,  was remained to be seen with the resulting photo.

This is the sample of the tilting effects. (55 mm Micro Nikkor,  20 degree tilt)

(Top photo shows Pan-focus effect.   Bottom photo is its reverse effect.)

If the junk material was available, the cost to make like this would be

as little as £5 if not nil.  🙂

———-

PS:   Good additional reading = [Shallow Focus — Pan-focus]

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Green Karenisque Photo

If the camera was shaken while the shutter was open = image get blurred.

Still, if the shutter duration was very short (fast shutter speed) and made

the length of blurr short and negligible,  we can accept it is sharp enough.

(So, when you shoot moving subject, use higher shutter speed = image was

not still though, our eyes may not able to see such detail and think it sharp.)

But when the image showed a lots of blurr, we see it different.  Intellectually it

wouldn’t make any sense as the subject though, we see it a kind of sign,

unknown symbol or illegible message. 

—– We just open our mind while abandoning to think what it IS. 

When you see a blurred photo like this, you might thought that the camera was

vigorously shaken or twisted.  Though, in reality, it was made by a small wobble

of the wrist when shutter button was pressed, that all.  If you put two rulers or

something straight from right hand side center of rotation to one streak of  light,

you may measure the radial angle of the movement. = It’s only about 3 degree !

(Still, it is a combination of the movement, the shutter speed and the lens

focal length. = if the shutter speed was longer and the lens (Zoom position) was 

longer, the brurr would be much more.)  

When I was in my Uni’  I had  free access to our Photo dark-room and able to do

all sorts of Photographic experiments.  And on top of this, I had access to the

engineering workshop of the Technology Dept’ not mention their skip was filled 

with discarded materials and the broken machines = I could make all sorts of

things, while using even big engineering machine.  

So, when I wanted to try blurring effect, I made a Camera Rotating Bracket  

which can rotates the camera at the center of the image and corners —–

then I realized that to make rotating blurr does not need to rotates the camera 

but just radially wobble the direction of the lens.  (It’s the same, to draw a circle,

you don’t need to rotates a pencil with caliper but just move a pencil circular.)

But shake the camera straight is a bit different from rotates.

How fast is depend on the shutter speed and the pattern of subject.

Just try and see the effect.   (And try again and again. )  

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Karenisque Flower Photo

Here again, those are the photos created, while the camera was shaken. 

Anyhow, as it was not for scientific, critical needs, photo or the visual image

doesn’t need to be sharp and clear. Hence, the Impressionist’s paintings

has been appreciated on the wall.

Photo above top was made by a bit of off focus,  

and the bottom photo was made by a shake.   🙂

You may not know that the photography can be a good exercise too !  😀

So on.  It’s a good twist Sir !

If you can’t attach Pinhole on your camera, still want to take other than

an ordinary sharp, well focused photo, why not try shake your camera.

They are THE Photographs too !  (Why not.    😀 )

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