Filtering by Tag: artistic

Lewes Light Festival - February 2020

This is the first blog I have done since lockdown started. It has been hard to stay focused and enthusiastic about updating my website. I’m sure, like you, I have spent too much time on my phone, scrolling, more scrolling, reading the news and at times feeling quite lost. I, like many other wedding suppliers have lost a lot of work, it has either been cancelled or postponed. I’m hoping that things can go back to normal asap, but I know it’s a marathon rather than sprint. Too keep myself busy and still engaged with photography I have been taking pictures of the wildlife I can see from my window or on my walks (stay alert for that blog coming soon). I have also been documenting the lockdown diaries of Kermit the Frog and Gordon the Gopher. Please go over to the Mills and King Photography Facebook page for those daily updates.

I have finally, in-between making banana bread and watching Tik Toks decided to post my photographs from The Lewes Light Festival. It was held at the end of February, which now feels like years ago. We were lucky to choose to go on the Sunday of the weekend long events, as it was the only day that was dry and Storm Jorge had blown away. There were many beautiful installations that were scattered all over the town, so you also had a lovely tour of the town at the same time. There were installations at South Malling Church - a blue man who looked like Dr Manhattan by Lee Painter, Southover Grange had a giant moon, glowing purple rings by Eleni Shiarlis Lighting and another brilliant interactive light installation that ran around the stream. At Depot Gallit and Grimaldi run an interactive workshop based on the silent movie, A Trip to the Moon. The Pells Pond had some beautiful laser lights and the Pells swimming pool had a giant visual screen in the water, by Jeanne Blissrob. It looked like the monolith from A 2001 Space Odyssey. An adorable addition was a couple of polar bears at the Linklater Pavilion in the railway land, these were made by Nikki Gunson. These are only a few that were on display over the weekend.

I hope Lewes Light Festival can come back again in a post Covid 19 world, where we can be within two meters of each other and enjoy sharing in wonderful events and experiences and being back in our communities.

More than meets the eye.

Anyone can be a photographer these days, or can they?

Everyone has a camera on their phones and some people are lucky enough to have a DSLR camera, you can get a great Nikon from just over £300. We all take photographs of our family and friends, so why would you want to pay me to take photographs of your family or your wedding when lots of people think they can do it just as well. 

There is a lot more to photography than just point and shoot. A good photographer can notice the little things and can capture that certain something that you would miss. We know that just a step to the left, right or to go up on our tiptoes can give a much more  superior image. We see colours in different ways and have a better eye for what works well aesthetically. 

Photography is instinctive to me. I'm a creative and artistic person, so I've never struggled to capture a good image. 

There is so much more to photography now than when I first started. Years ago you had to think about every image, as you only has 24 or 36 shots on your film. It had to be thought out and really considered. You couldn't really do much to it in the processing, you could make it a bit lighter or crop it. Unlike now with Photoshop where you can change a image from a cloudy morning to a dusky sunset. You can alter the colour of a dress someone is wearing and if you don't like the foreground you can change it!

I find myself a bit of a purist in regards to my photographs. I will do what I did 25 years ago I'll lighten, darken or crop but otherwise I like the image to stand alone without having to play with it too much. I have to admit that I do love being able to take lots and lots of photographs. In my opinion you can't have too many flower or sheep pictures. 

Here are some photographs I took in a beautiful wildflower field...or is it? As you can see the last photographs shows where it really is and what is going on behind the lens. I can make things look differently than they may appear. That is why you pay for a photographer.