Ria, Plymouth, 2010

I like to shoot that way.

More from my Rolleicord test shoot with Ria.

Ria, Plymouth, 2010

Ria, Plymouth, 2010

To be square. I dug out my Rolleicord, and gave it a whirl on a test shoot with Ria.

Interesting results, I like them.

The experience has made me want a better film camera, however. One more suited to this type of photography at least.

Ria, cropped. Plymouth, 2009

… and then crop. Lovely.

This makes me see the point in having a bazzilion megapixels… so I can zoom in, find lovely crops like this one and still be able to print them with plenty of detail.

Ria, Plymouth, 2009

New Year’s resolutions are so last year. Everyone knows that the sure-fire way to be unhappy is to set unrealistic goals for oneself.

Much better to enjoy what we’ve got and accept it.

Well, that’s the theory anyway…

Ria, Plymouth, 2009

Do they wear things like this hat in Finland? I don’t know, but for some reason I think these shots of Ria have a very Finnish quality about them.

I don’t even know what I mean by that, haha.

Feel free to explain my mind to me.

Ria, Plymouth, 2009

I would love to speak Spanish. I tried a couple of years ago to learn, but here I am, a couple of years later, unable to do so.

It is true that it’s not so easy to teach an old dog new tricks, but Spanish is a trick that I’d still like to learn.

Online translation sites are a fool’s way of learning, I think I’m going to have to return to pen, paper and text books (again) if I’m to make any progress.

Until then, however, I shall use sites like Frengly for the random spatterings that I sometimes like to add to my pictures. I don’t even care if they’re wrong — I actually quite like the idea of a Spanish speaker reading them and seeing some strange warped sentence.

Cover star is Ria Williams.

Ria, Plymouth, 2009

I’m shooting quite a lot recently, but mostly for a project that I can’t reveal the details of just yet.

It’s quite different for me, certainly in terms of content, but I’m getting some results that I’m really quite proud of.

Until I can reveal it, I’ll keep posting other images that I’m proud of… such as this one of Ria in her rather alarmed garment.

Ria, Plymouth, 2009

Is that the question?

I really love these headshots of Ria and in their natural state they are images that I’m very proud of.

A slip of the stylus later, however, and I was plunged into this neon world — a world that I can’t escape! What’s to become of me? Will I never appreciate the simple, natural portrait again?

Am I doomed to over-photoshop my images to within an inch of their lives?

No, I’m not. But I do love these experiments from time to time.

Ria, Plymouth, 2009

One of my favourite songs is ‘Hey Headmaster’. I was listening to it just now. It’s a b-side (or bonus track as would be called now, although it was actually the b-side of a vinyl single in its day) and appears on one of the ‘Further Listening’ releases by the Pet Shop Boys.

I’ve always been a fan of their music, but in particular their b-sides and extra tracks. For the most part, they’re clearly not just hastily recorded filler material, but I think seen as a chance to experiment with and develop ideas and songs that either don’t seem right for any album, or somehow not commercial enough to be the a-side.

Some of these songs are among their best and certainly most interesting. It somehow seems a shame that they don’t get the prime-time exposure, but then they kind of aren’t right for that anyway.

I feel completely the same way about my photography, and some of the images I have shot.

I have some images that I adore, that I find really beautiful, interesting and am very proud of, but I know that they don’t ‘fit’ into a broader set, or are as immediate in their impact as some others.

It feels a shame not to show these anywhere or to relegate them to a dusty corner of my hard-drive. Perhaps I’ll create my own ‘Further Viewing’ album.

… Perhaps one day I’ll have a dedicated following, making such a collection worthwhile. Hah!

Until then, here’s a future b-side, featuring Ria.