Determination

For a while now I have felt like I’ve hit a brick wall; not really knowing what direction of photography I want to go into and I how I will get there. I have no doubt about whether or not I want to become a professional photographer – this is what I want to do.

I know I need to start shooting more to get myself past this wall, so I thought I would have a go at doing a self portrait. In terms of compositing, lighting, imagination etc etc it may not be great, but I wanted a portrait that showed my determination to make a career out of what I love, and I think I managed that.

 

My Grandma and her house

For a while I have been working on a long term project about my Grandma, which was set by my mentor; Giles Penfound http://www.gilespenfound.co.uk/.

I love my Grandma to bits; she is one of the most influential people in my life. She has to be without a doubt the most positive person I have ever met – no matter what life has thrown at her she has always adopted a “glass-half-full” attitude. I’m very privileged to have such a wonderful person in my life.

For me, each photo tells a story and has a strong emotional attachment.

I’ve started putting the images together into a book. Here are some of the pages:

Day 9 of BRIT 2012 Challenge

I’m volunteering my time throughout 2012 to photograph Phil Packer as he completes his BRIT 2012 Challenge. On the first day of February, I went to the Isle of Wight to photograph Day 9 of the Challenge. We walked a mile around St George’s School, 4 miles to the Isle of Wight College in Newport and a further 5miles around the grounds of the College. There was so much going on: hundreds of staff and pupils, people from the RNLI, a police escort, the BRIT car, and the fire service with a fire engine were all accompanying Phil. Obviously I couldn’t photograph everything, so the challenge was to capture the essence of the day. I’m quite shy and I often find it difficult being around lots of people but ironically photographing people is what I’m good at and what I love. When I’m out with my camera it gives me confidence; I’m not just Helen, I’m Helen the photographer. I find that people see me differently, people come up to me and start talking to me, just because I have a camera and I love that.

The stunning Carisbrooke countryside

Walking through the beautiful sites of the Isle of Wight as young people, staff and emergency services join the BRIT 2012 Challenge

Young people, carers, staff, police, firefighters and the RNLI at Carisbrooke Castle, IoW

A fire engine from the Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue follwed alongside

Walking into Newport town centre followed by BRIT car

The Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue and the Isle of Wight District of Hampshire Constabulary

Pupils from St George's School took the opportunity to raise funds for the NSPCC Childline Appeal during the BRIT 2012 Challenge

Phil Packer Portrait

Phil Packer Portrait © 2012 Helen Stuttard

My portrait of Phil Packer

I’m delighted to say that I have been given the opportunity to photograph Phil Packer throughout 2012 as he walks across Great Britain & Northern Ireland. It’s going to be an amazing experience and I’m very excited.

In 2010 Phil Packer founded the British Inspiration Trust (BRIT), which aims to “deliver inspiration to Young People facing Adversity (who are physically or mentally disabled, deprived, have medical conditions, are injured or wounded)”. BRIT is intended to be “a charity for charities”, and have inspirational figures serving as BRIT Mentors, giving 24 hours each year to young people. In the long term the aim is to create a Centre of Inspirational Excellence to support charities.

To raise awareness of BRIT he is walking 2012 miles throughout 2012 & is asking every School, College & University to help by completing 2012 miles as teams. To build BRIT, he needs 2012 Businesses to take one of 2012 Pledges & fund the Centre. To support other charities, the public (individual or team) can register for free & complete 2012 miles for their chosen charity.

To find out more go to: http://www.britishinspirationtrust.org.uk/

How to loose 2 grand in 2 seconds

Ever wondered what happens to a bike when you jump off a 10 foot drop and hit a tree at 20 miles an hour? …You get some good photos!

If you curious to see how it happened here is the video

The eye of the rider

A portrait of my brother who is a downhill rider.

My pet pheasant Frankie

Meet Frankie, my pet pheasant. His favorite foods are chocolate, peas and spiders, he loves snuggling up on your lap to watch the latest episode of Russell Howard’s Good News, chasing anyone around the house wearing anything red and answering the door to strangers.

He was more than happy to have his portrait taken; he sat there for five minutes, only moving every so often to adopt a different pose.

Everyone needs a best friend

 

I’m back. I haven’t dropped off the face of the earth. But if I did, I took my camera with me.

On a serious note though, I do apologise for not updating my blog sooner. I guess I just needed a push in the right direction, a little motivation and some help from my Christmas present (studio lights!).

My best friend came round for the day and since it took her half an hour in the shower before making her way to mine, it seemed like the perfect opportunity and start to the New Year by having a photo with her. This however, proved a difficult task, we messed around a bit which involved a tea cup and a biscuit, finally i managed to compose myself and get down to business and am please to say that i’m happy with the results.

Autumn Downhill Shoot

Today I went to some local woods to photograph my brother in the beautiful autumn colours.

Something about her caught my eye.

Yesterday on the tube in London I saw a young girl who I instantly wanted to photograph, I’m not sure why, but something about her caught my eye. I couldn’t take a picture of her on the tube, however a little later on, I spotted her on a bus and managed to get a picture.

Mushrooms, woods and sunshine.

Recently i took a little trip down to the woods on a particularly autumny afternoon to look for mushrooms. I decided to use these images as an excuse to play around on Photoshop. These are the results.

Potters Manor

In the summer, a friend and i went to a derelict manor. Out of all the buildings i have visited, this was definitely the most interesting; it was absolutely full of different objects ranging from books and paintings, to clothes and furniture. Each object helping to piece together the mystery and build up the story behind the previous owners.

So happy!

I was so happy today to find that my picture i submitted for The Burning House blog was today’s post :)

http://theburninghouse.com/

The Burning House

• My pet pheasant Frankie
• My favourite notebook
• Quote from my Grandma
• Poem from my sister
• Car keys
• Wallet
• Purse from Grandma
• Phone
• iPod
• Photo of me and Grandma
• My bunnies
• My first project book I made on portraits of strangers
• Pot chickens from Grandma
• My Grandads epaulettes and hat badge
• Passport
• My dad’s first shoe
• 24-105 lens
• Camera and 50mm
• Locket with photo of my grandad in
• Teddy

As part of Foster Huntington’s photographic project ‘The Burning House’, people are asked the burning question; if your house was burning what would you take with you?

It’s a conflict between what’s practical, valuable and sentimental.

Above is what i submitted. But what would you take with you?

http://theburninghouse.com/

Candid Camera

Sorting through my photos today, i came across some candid pictures i took in London a couple of months ago.

St. Gerard’s Orthopaedic Hospital

On Tuesday I took a trip up to Birmingham to visit a derelict hospital.

There is limited information on the history of this building, I believe that it opened in 1913 and was used for treatment of TB and more specifically the doctors practiced in the field of Orthopaedics. In fact it still had some of its original features including barn like doors that could be fully opened to let air in or to wheel the beds into the open. I also believe the building was constructed of wood to allow the whole thing to be burned to the ground in the event of an epidemic. The hospital closed in 1998 due to lack of funding.

The Face of a Stranger

Earlier in the year I was set a task by my mentor Giles Penfound to take portraits of strangers… Little did i know that it would be one of the most scary and rewarding things i have ever done.

Check out my portraits here: http://helenstuttard.wordpress.com/the-face-of-a-stranger/

Trip to the seaside

 

. . . . . . . .

A trip to Bournemouth:

Splashing in the waves,

Melting under the sun,

Eating fish and chips,

A whole lot of fun.

Nick Schlee – Art Exhibition

I made a trip to Upper Basildon to see Nick Schlee’s art exhibition as part of the Open Studios. The approach to the studio was like something from a fairytale; a vibrant tunnel of foliage outlined a path towards the hidden house. With one step from the doorway you are transported into what appeared to be an ‘Aladdin’s cave’ of paintings and art equipment. It was just how a studio should be; from the paint splattered floor to the various frames and other objects precariously hanging off the walls. But to me the most important part of the studio was the artist himself, an extremely friendly and talented man who said something that stood out to me “I like to treat my most expensive paintings like they are worth nothing”.

If you want to know more about Nick and his paintings visit: http://www.nickschlee.co.uk/

Purple, violet, lila, Morado

On a previous expedition to West Woods many weeks ago, I noticed the woods were blanketed with bluebell shoots. With this in mind, I waited for the right conditions to return and do a spring downhill shoot. With the sun shining and the bluebells at their finest, I decided today was the day to make my move. It was definatly worth the wait!

Yellow, jaune, gelb, amarillo

Can I borrow you for five seconds?

The thought of walking up to complete strangers and asking them whether I could take a photo of them absolutely terrified me.

On Friday morning we sat down for the usual weekly chat with our mentor, Giles Penfound. He set us a task which basically meant standing around in one place for an hour asking people whether we could take their mug shots. So on Wednesday, Sean and I set off for Camden Town, London.

We were uber nervous and neither one of us were willing to start the task. We wandered around for a while until Sean came up with ‘The dare game’ to get us started. A little warm up. Sean, was a little eager to play the game and ended up daring himself. I on the other hand waited, and got handed one of the most unapproachable people I’d seen all day. He in fact turned out to be one of the most friendly people that day and gave me one of my favourite pictures.

After one of our many Starbucks breaks we were ready to tackle the most challenging part of our task; gaffer taping the white sheet to a wall…

People started noticing our weirdness and must have been wondering what the hell we were doing, we were actually wondering the same thing.

Getting stuck-in didn’t prove quite as difficult as it had done earlier that day. We met some very interesting characters, who turned out to be quite genuine people and I loved every minute of it. All in all it was a friggin amazing day and we got some really great shots.

Sean’s blog: http://srlphotography.wordpress.com/

New Life

I was delighted to find my first chick of the year had hatched when I got home yesterday : )

The things I do for photos

There is always a certain thrill when exploring a place that you shouldn’t, but it’s all in the aid of good photos. Recently me and some friends have become interested in photographing derelict buildings, mainly for the photos but also for the adventure; it’s those kind of heart-stopping hold your breath moments that make you want to do it over and over again.

The other day we found a derelict house and couldn’t resist having a look. From outside, the house looked beautiful. Outside the house we found some objects; an old cigarette tin full of flies for fly fishing, a small Peter Rabbit figurine made of led, the first page of a book, some pieces from a war game and a pile of buttons, all of which were buried under dirt. It’s great how you can piece together the story of the people that once lived there.

Getting into the site without being seen was the first challenge. Once in we were amazed by the state of the building and we were instantly wary of the danger of what we were doing. There is also the fear of not knowing what could be round the corner, so we found that staying close was the best option as venturing out alone was way too scary.

The friend who went with me: http://srlphotography.wordpress.com/

Contrast

This weekend I went on lots of walks, I always like to take my camera with me when I go. These are my two favourite images from the weekend.

1. Today there was such a dramatic sky, I had to take a picture.

2. I found an abandoned car; I want to go back there when the bluebells come out, I think it will make an interesting picture.

Aston Hill, Black Run

I’ve finally decide to try and sell some downhill photos, so last weekend I went to Aston Hill and photographed the Black run, 2nd race

I’m selling my photos on RootsAndRain: http://goo.gl/2rPda

Sky

The other day I had a quick wonder around a local town with my camera, this is my favourite image from that day.

Today’s Shenanigans

Ten Minute Project

Today when I went to my Grandmas I did a 10 minute diptych project on her house. Here is my result:

Spring has sprung

Today I decided to make the most of the lovely weather. With only my camera for company I went and sat on top of a hill and watched the sunset.