Wise Words From Our Forgotten Generation

For my final project I wanted to highlight the beauty of growing older in

years. There is beauty all around us, some forms of beauty are more obvious

than others, and a beauty that shines from within and reflects wisdom and

knowledge. A few lines and wrinkles on our faces and worn out bodies reflect

life and often life experiences.

I have been photographing the older generation for the past few months, I

enjoy their company. We, too frequently, fail to recognise the importance

of our older generation whilst we indulge ourselves with our own daily lives.

There is much to learn from the older generation if only we would take the

time to discover more about their lives and experiences. After all, in this the

year of the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War, we need to

remember the older generation sacrificed so much for us to have our liberty

over the last century.

You should never take things for granted. If I manage to get one message

across through my work this is the message I want you all to remember. 

Please

remember our older generation, we can all learn so much from them they

have more life experience then many of us and they can teach us a lot.

My aim with this book is to show other people that we all have a lot to learn

from our older relatives and just spending a few hours with someone every

week can really make there day and help to cheer them up, whilst enriching

our own lives.

I have many people to thank in creating this book. Firstly I would like to

thank my Mum, Sharon McEwing and my Dad, David McEwing you two

have been my rocks these past few years and you have both supported me

in everything I have wanted to achieve. Thank You Uncle Chris for putting

up with me for the last 3 years like Mum and Dad you have been fabulous in

supporting me and it is much appreciated. I would also like to Thank all the

wonderful people I have met. Charlie Pooley, Vera Helson, Ann Devine, Sally

O’Leary, Sylvia Tall, Shirley Robbens, Florence Rivers, Colin Rivers, Margaret

Shaw, Sheila Grimson, Jessie Bailey, Joan Campbell, Melina Doreen Camble,

Ada Saunders, Ray Shaw, Esme White, Joy Terry, Pauline Watkins, Peter

Heywood, Christine Williams, Sue Crooks,Gordon Lee, Blanche Axe, Winnie

Norris, Sylvia Melton,P. McEwen, Gwen Fisher, Doreen Gess, William Weeks,

Rafi Brasher, Linda Brasher, Dorothy Foxall, Betty Bennett, Juan Jesus Alvarez

Arue and my grandad William John Veal.

With Thanks to Age UK, Age UK Plymouth have supported me and

helped me to find over 65’s of all different ages and I thoroughly enjoyed

photographing at the Plymstock and Mount Gould Centre’s.

Long time no blogging...

I cannot believe that I have not blogged since last April! This is not good. But I have been extremely busy and I guess life has just taken over. Time for an Update:

April, May and June: In these few months my whole life revolved around my final major project. I worked extremely hard on that project and was really pleased with the results. The project was named 'The People of Plymouth' and consisted of a series of portraits. I documented people that lived on my route from my home to my workplace which at the time was the Townhouse pub which then closed down to be turned into student accommodation. These portraits were accompanied by an 'object' that represented the individual or something that meant a lot to them. There were also landscape shots that showed my journey from my home to my workplace. I enjoyed this project and met many interesting people along the way. The images are below: 

July, August, September: These months were limited photographic months. I used them instead to work for the summer. I worked in my normal WHSmiths job and then took on another job working at Ede and Ravenscroft as a call center worker. I had a brilliant time in both these positions and was able to get myself some money to start the final year of my degree with.

October: October was a challenging one, I found it difficult to get back on top of my college work whilst having many other personal commitments. However it was an interesting month were I got to try out some new things including learning how to do a few things in Photoshop. This was a good experience and has led on to more recent work.

November and December: So these two months have been two very crucial ones. Firstly I was able to try out making some beauty imagery. This was a great experience and for the first time I was able to use a beauty dish and I am amazed it gives such a beautiful light and I am really happy with the imagery.

So now that you have all been updated i look forward to telling you all about my new upcoming project very soon...watch this space :) 

Visiting Lecturer - Vanessa Miles

Vanessa Miles came in to talk to us about Picture library Agencies. This is something that a I had never thought about before and I found it interesting listening to her story and the journey she undertook creating her own picture library and working for Greenpeace. I didn't realise there where so many job opportunities involved with picture libraries they include:

• Photographer
• Picture researcher
• Picture editor
• Web designer
• Data base developer
• Cataloguers

There are many different Picture Libarys including Magnum and Getty images and they are definitely worth a look at.

Visiting Lecturer - Dominic Burd

Dominic Burd completed his National Diploma followed by his BA honors degree at Plymouth College of Art. During his degree he worked on understanding and perfecting early photographic processes. After his degree he wrote many articles on these early processes for various magazines.

Since 1996 he has worked for 31 Studio who specialise in Platnum Printing. I decided to look on their website for information about there printing process and this is what I found:

"31 Studio has the capability to create prints from multiple sources, such as the historic glass negatives of Jacques Henri Lartigue, through all the many generations of film negatives, positives and prints, on to present day Digital Files.

We have our own Imacon / Hasselblad scanner enabling us to produce maximum quality scans in-house, for the creation of the necessary digital inter-negatives, that we now use.

Platinum printing is a contact printing process and our ability to create any size of negatives that we may need, has enabled us to make Platinum and Platinum/Palladium prints as large as 120 x 85 cm." http://31-studio.com

Dom told us that platinum prints can be created under tungsten light as UV light is the only light that effects the emulsion I found this quite interesting because normally darkroom prints can only be done underneath the red lights.

I found the lecture given to us by Dom very interesting and I particularly enjoyed looking at all the prints he brought in to show us. They where exquisite, beautiful and perfect! There is no word to describe the quality of the prints I saw they where simply amazing!

Public Liability Insurance and Equipment Insurance...

Public liability insurance would cover a business if a customer or member of the public was to suffer a loss or injury as a result of its business activities. If that person made a claim for compensation, the insurance would cover the compensation payment plus any legal expenses.

Policies are usually tailored to the individual business however as a guide, the insurance covers a business's legal liability to pay damages to members of the public for death and injury or damage to property or possessions, which has resulted from the business's activities. I found this information on http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk. 

After finding out what Public Liability is I decided to look at company's that can ensure your equipment whilst at the same time giving you public liability insurance. This is when I came across this website: http://www.photoguard.co.uk/. They can cover me for £95.00 a year to insure £2000 worth of equipment and give me public liability insurance. I believe this to be a really good price and although I do not want to purchase public liability insurance or equipment insurance just yet I do intend to purchase it in the near future.

Engagement Photoshoot...

So I have my first paid wedding photo shoot booked in for next May. I am really excited about this opportunity and cannot wait for the big day to come around. I have recently met up with the couple to shoot an engagement shoot. The day went really well however I am not overly happy with the results as I wish I could have booked equipment out from the stores rather then having to make do with my D90 camera I want sharper more crisp images. I also could have done with an external flash for more even lighting. I did plan on having an assistant that day to hold the reflector but as my assistant cancelled at the last minute I had to make do with just me. I look forward to showing the couple there results and I will post their feedback soon.

Wedding....

I recently shot some 'before' photographs at a wedding. However I am not yet able to put all of my images on as they have not yet been seen by the newly weds. Here are some of the images from the wedding:

It was a lovely wedding and I look forward to showing the Bride and Groom their photographs in the near future. The wedding was at Boringdon Hall in Plympton and is a beautiful location for a wedding.