One way that motivational images or statements help to stop me from doing or thinking whatever I’m doing/thinking is by giving me a chance to rethink my actions. Sometimes, it’s enough to simply keep pushing forward, but other times it’s necessary to change direction and try something new. No matter what, though, these images and statements from Gymaholic provide the inspiration I need to keep going.
Aspirin Bus Advertising
An image advert for Aspirin positioned on the back of a bus shows a man with a worried expression. The advert uses the brake lights to simulate an increase in tension as the brake lights light up. Using the brake lights makes you feel the pressure on the man’s face, and it’s a great way to market Aspirin.
Norwegian Church, Cardiff Bay
Hasselblad 501c | 80mm Zeiss Lens | Ilford Delta ISO 100 | Exposure f22 @ 60 Seconds | © James Gray
Taken in 1997/8 a few years after the Norwegian church had been moved in order to save it from almost certain destruction. Shut in the 1970s, the church was in a poor state of repair, but efforts by Roald Dahl, who was born in Cardiff and baptised in this church, helped to ultimately save it. It was put in a prominent position overlooking the planned Cardiff Bay development that was taking place around the same time.
Several cities across the UK were getting the same redevelopment treatment, including London Docklands. Cardiff was no different. The Cardiff Bay Area had suffered industrial decline for a number of years and the area was almost completely derelict. The boost that followed was very welcomed indeed. It has since transformed Cardiff and put us on the map, again.
The Norwegian church was built to serve the large number of sailors that came through the port of Cardiff in the port’s heyday. Scandinavian sailors were one of the largest groups that came through. At one point, Cardiff was the largest port in the world.
That’s the history of the church, but for me, it was a good looking building, since it had just been painted, there were three new trees in the front and I managed to catch some starlights from the lamposts at the side. I put my camera onto a tripod so I could take a long exposure, and from memory this would have been about 30 seconds to 1 minute. To brighten up the front area, I ran around firing a flash several times. This was originally taken on Ilford Delta 100 film, and I remember with great pleasure developing this image in a darkroom and printing enlargements.
The area around it has changed slightly and it has been extended. I like to think that I captured it at its best.
Sony A7R | FE 28mm f2 Lens | ISO 100 | Exposure f2.0 @ 1/640 | © James Gray
Norwegian Church in the Background
Sony A7R | FE 28mm f2 Lens | ISO 100 | Exposure f11 @ 1/125 | © James Gray
Norwegian Church 20 Years On | How the Trees Have Grown…
Sony A7R | FE 28mm f2 Lens | ISO 100 | Exposure f16 @ 1/125 | © James Gray
Norwegian Flag Flying Proudly | Cardiff Bay
Street Photography in Palma
Fuji X-E1 | XF35mm f1.4 | Exposure f2.8 @ 1/150 second | © James Gray
In the quiet backstreets of Palma on the island of Majorca in the Mediterranean, lie plenty of opportunities for street photographers. While on holiday a few years back, I came across a pensioner out walking her dog in the heat of the midday sun. Fortunately though, there are plenty of shadowed streets that offer some protection, including this one. This street was just off the old cathedral square and probably dates back to medieval times, and is full of streets that go this way and that. Most of the windows were shuttered in the Spanish style, and some had window boxes filled with plants and colourful flowers.
Since picking up a camera in my teens, the subject I photographed most was landscape, but I think street photography was probably a distant second. There’s something about photographing in the city. For a start, the city is always changing, buildings get built or knocked down and made way for something new.
Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa and Lee Friedlander are photographers I studied when I did a City and Guild course many years ago. You always come across their photographs in magazines and books because they are original, timeless and their styles have been copied endlessly. But, they still help inspire me to pick up the camera and have a go.
Link to Magnum Contact Sheets at The Guardian.