Cosmos in community garden, Wells

 Cosmos in a community garden project, Wells Somerset. 

These Cosmos (as I was informed by  gardeners) look spectacular in real life. Not dark and moody like my photograph but bright and light in a wave of flower heads. 
The day I photographed these I was walking past a flat we used to live in on St Thomas Street, Wells.  The cut through path that ran along the property had previously just been two baron strips of grass either side of the path owned by the council. Then one day a rose appeared on the opposite side, then a hydrangea and then on our side more roses. 
Our landlord called a 'landgrab' and shockingly dug up the rose, dumped it on the other side whilst ripping up a square of turf to replace his 'stolen' patch! We left the flat.  

Then whilst walking to work, I cut through the path to be overwhelmed by the sight of these stunning flower beds brimming with flowers, this cosmos, the now established roses, lavender and even a dwarf apple tree. The gardeners had created this little space of beauty in their own time and expense for the community. 

I am thankful there are people like this in the world who just get on make things lovely without fuss or waiting for permission. 

Neon Tulle Light Experimenting

I was working in the studio making these delicate tulle straps for a dress I'm working on and simply rolled it up to see what it would look like in  photograph as a sculptural shape. 
This was in the back corner of a well lit room, not bright light and the surface is a rough painted metallic silver. Not shiny. 

I photograph most things dark, reading light off the brightest part of the subject. These were taken with a 50mm Canon Lens, f/10  1/50 shutter iso 800  and darkend by -12/3
I then upped the blacks in lightroom but it was already glowing in the original. Its a pretty effective way to make neon light if I can do it again. 

Finding Colour - Alpine Green

I was listening to the Candid Frame as I do every day and on Episode 464 Sam Abel or 463 Sarah Terry they mentioned picking a colour and then looking for that colour in your street photography to build a pallet or theme. It may have been something learnt from Jay Maisel but anyway I thought I would give it a go on my walk back to the car. 

I definitely learn from very simple explanations of how to do something. The right sentence can unlock my brain and help me understand how to do something immediately. For years I struggled with pattern cutting until a sewing machine salesman walked into our uni studio and said, 'its just a 3D puzzle where each piece has to fit together' from that moment on I could visualize the garment and how to cut the pattern.

Building a colour theme in my photography is as simple as just looking for that particular colour everywhere you go and photographing it. It completely opened my eyes on the walk home. I spotted bright reds, dark reds, teal blues, dark greens, etc. Its made me a little less afraid of colour.

I need to take some workshops and tutoring in photography as there are some real basics I need to learn. 

Mannequin

 

The view from where I was sat trimming the hem of a tulle dress. Combining my photography with the garments and making money is what I need to explore for the rest of the year. I'm starting two daybooks. One here and one on my main website www.alexandra-king.com

I think I may be more honest here. 

Photographed on Canon 5d Mk3 50mm lens edited in lightroom with inferred filter.