Premier

The Glasgow based film makers, Camcorder Guerillas, premier their new film, 'Dungavel, Monster of the Glen' at the Glasgow Film Theatre.

Comments most welcome.

Camcorder Guerillas

Photoecosse.net

I'm surprised at the ratings on this. Do click on large to view. And please do comment, 3,3 does not help me unless you say what is wrong with the picture.

 

Gareth.

This is a tough one, Mr. Harper. As we yanks are fond of saying, "I don't get it." I should be so interested to know why you like it. What is going on in this picture that I am not seeing.

Thank-you for being honest Mr Farrell. Maybe this is one of those occasions where my attachment to the photograph clouds my judgement. I'm also aware that many who rate and critique on this forum don't fully understand the concept of the news/photojournalistic photo.

I'm kinda fond of the way it looks, plus I'm very much attached to the content being a member of the guerilla film collective. I also wasn't sure if this would work at all when I took the shot. So perhaps in reflection I've maybe not thought enougth about whether it works in terms of a news shot.

 

Anyway thanks for commenting Mr Farrell.

Mr. Harper, I should like to amend my first critique of this photograph as I find it does not express my true reaction. On rereading that critique I realize I made the classic mistake of responding to your statement to those who gave you low ratings, rather than to the image itself. Let me try to redress this error. First, the exposure is quite good. You intelligently waited for a moment when the screen was white to shed maximum light on the audience, making its presence felt in the image. Second, the well-planned composition combined with the exposure create an image which establishes for the record that a certain film was seen by an audience, a valuable document. While this image lacks the drama of some of your other shots, such as Clowning Around, it is nonetheless up to your usual professional standards. As to the ratings, I hope you will not, as a Scotsman, take offense if I cite Tennyson, that English aristocrat of the imperial age, when he writes, "What hope of answer or redress? /Behind the veil, behind the veil."

Ach you are too kind Mr Farrell.

Perhaps it's more of a documentary shot, rather than a news shot.

The film is only 25 minutes long. I shot from 3 different positions, and yes had to wait for periods of light from the screen. Exposure was a guess and I bracketed +/- 2 stops with colour neg film in the hope of getting something workable.

That's Gary Lewis on the screen by the way. Played Billy Elliot's in err 'Billy Elliot', has also appeared in 'Gangs of New York' and many other films. I was lucky to get some definition on the screen.

If you are interested in the film itself, let me know, I'll make sure you get a copy, and guess what? It's free! It's a free film, and this was a free event.

Thank-you once more for your kind comments, and indeed the thought provoking quote from Tennyson.

 

Exposure quality and composition are really not up to any standard that I'm familiar with. Resolution of the image as posted is very poor. Perhaps you are the one who's not fully getting it instead of the other way around?

Thanks for commenting John,

 

I don't know if you've ever tried taking pictures in a cinema. It's really hit and miss, and this exposure wise is as good as I'd expect to get. The cinema is lit only by the screen. So that makes it difficult, expose for the audience and the screen blows out, expose for the screen and you get no audience. I did have to do quite a bit of work in photoshop to get this, nothing major but it had to be treated as two seperate photographs for one thing. Of course the other option is to take it further and stick two photos together! I might just try that.

I went for a classic thirds composition. Do click on large to view, and bear in mind it's 800 asa colour neg film.

But thank-you for commenting, and I appreciate people being honest.

So; what you actually need to do is take at least 2 images with those exposure settings without moving the camera, bracket settings (Some cameras have this feature built in). The image as posted now does not contain much information its file base anymore, but some fixing is possible.

Hello John, thank-you for taking an interest in my photograph.

I've got the images bracketed, as it's impossible to take a meaningful light reading in a cinema, and of course the camera has to be tri-pod mounted. I think the exposure of the one I used here was about 15 seconds at about f3.5 on 800asa film.

I probably need to get somewhere inbetween your version and what I already have, to maintain the idea of darkness in the cinema.

As I do photojourno style work I'm wary of manipulation such as sandwiching two images together, but it's probably not really breaking the rules in this case, so I'll give it a go. Sadly I've got a pile of other stuff to work on this week, but this is one I'll come back to and re-work at some point.

Also when I next get the oppertinity to take cinema shots I'll take a small torch along. I had to guess the focal setting as I wasn't even able to see the lens distance markings! As I used a 24mm lens I got away with it.

Again thank-you for your comments and taking an interest in my photo.