Decade Decay_ Old Film Filming Film Experiments

I have a draw full of old 35mm films that I have not processed yet, today I had a sudden flash decision to go and get three of them processed. One came back mostly ok, one has lost it's integrity and came back nearly all red, and the third had no film in it, well a couple of inches that had been torn off, so don't know what happened there. The other film isn't particularly interesting, but this one that is red has got some real gems! From about 2002, so the film is over ten years old, when I lived with my brother Stuart in a village called Usk in South Wales. 

Stuart was studying Animation & Film at Uni. Here you can see Stuart working on a project to film from a push-bike, we had some fun going around the local area filming in different places with this helmet mounted camera, and I do remember at least one incident when I was cycling with it on, it slipped and I crashed into a very old Welsh wall, result-incredible pain in my knee.

Having seen these photos I am now going to try and get as many of them processed as soon as I can, stay tuned!

 These 2 images below are of a Hanimax slide projector that I have taken to pieces,  to generally see how it works, and to experiment with the lens etc. loads of fun.

 Standard burnt out car shots, but this one with the colour fades looks great, they look much more apt with the dramatic red.

 Not sure which I like more, the full red version, or the colour creeping through, the vague rainbow-ness of the second one gives it a slightly psychedelic feel.

 I prefer this in the red, you can see below where theactual colours are coming through.

Abstract Instagram:

Yesterday afternoon I obtained a new phone, all smooth and shiny. I spent most of last night tinkering with all the toys and tools associated with it.

I had heard, and seen, all about Instagram from Twitter feeds and G+, and was keen to see what all the fuss was about. A simple but somehow highly effective tool, I was told.

The images I had seen on these feeds made me curious. The square format  and film grain look, like a 1600 ISO,  and they seemed to refresh the litany of online photographs.
It puts back feeling and emotion into these quick snaps.

I liked the idea of square frame, referring to ye olde Poloroid. I guess the square is also very useful for mobile frames and social media feeds, the square image and ajoining text look very snug on the screen, again reinventing the Poloroid with the white box for writing a caption for the picture.

The image styles available are warm with a poetic effect, conveying mood, and sensation, and reminds me of the feeling of experimenting in the  darkroom.
All in all great stuff.

To get used to this new tool  I decided to make a set of abstract images whilst
sitting at home.
The settings I mostly used were Nashville, 1977, Kelvin and occasionaly Hudson and Toaster.
I hope you enjoy them, and watch out for plenty of Instagram's from Landed Festival next weekend!

Spring Equinox 2012_ A Celebration

This work was all photographed on the Spring Equinox of March 2012

and finalised  the same week.  I have always had

an interest in the idea of photography on the Solstice's and Equinox's as

they  are day's concerned with  the measurements of light levels.

The "Blades of Spring" image feels like a cross section of a plant or branch, the green life-force pushing up the middle shooting up to form the new bud, 

pushing the thickness of the branch outwards

calcifying and forming the new stem, twig or branch, reaching for the light.

"Blades of Spring"

"I could be fast like spring"

I am a lover of nature and I'm constantly amazed as I

watch the season unfold around me, the colours changing, scenes reacting

to the light as photo-sensitive paper does to images being exposed on it,

fading, changing, turning in time. Spring has the unique feeling

of catching you off guard, just as you've sunk into deepest winter,

Bam! there it is rushing into the world with a gracious tenancity.

The force of nature, the re-birth, the power of light.

     I hope I have captured some of  nature's energy in these images.

for the full set please visit my website;

www.lukepayn.org.uk

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I have produced a lot of work on the Equinox this year, 

so keep an eye for more material which will be uploaded soon.