A Wonderful, Breezy & Sunny Day Out in London.

It was the perfect time for me to travel up to London on the 26th September as the weather was lovely, the scenery was beautiful and on a clear day like this, it was wonderful.

Whilst I was up in London, I used the opportunity wisely to photograph certain areas of London; Borough Market was beautiful, but so was the landscape. To tell you the truth, it’s not the first time I’ve been up to London on my own as I went up to London just a few short weeks before when I was planning my route to get to Camden, which I must say is also beautiful, but the fact that it was nice and sunny gave me the perfect opportunity to seize the moment by photographing certain areas of the landscape, whilst also photographing the Shard.

Honestly, London is absolutely beautiful on a sunny day, and the 26th September was the perfect example of how sunny days should be; warm, breezy, bright and beautiful and that’s why I had a wonderful, breezy and sunny day out in London.

I experimented with the low-light features on my Nikon D3300 DSLR to see how the landscapes and portraits would appear in certain situations if it was light or dark, as this helped me to visualise the landscape differently as if it was daylight one minute and sunset the next.

Below is the full collection of photographs I produced whilst I was up in London.

It was absolutely wonderful, but busy when I went up to London towards the end of September and I was glad to have seized the opportunity to visit London at the peak of Summer.

If you ever get a chance to visit London and Borough Market in the Spring and Summer months, I suggest you do because London and Borough Market are beautiful places, and you’d be crazy to not seize the opportunity to visit London and Borough Market.

If you enjoyed my photography collection of my visit to London and Borough Market, please tell me in the comments. I would love to hear your responses.

Alex Smithson

Headshot #7 / Facial Expressionism / Final Major Project / Mhamad Rauf

Continuing on from Headshot #6, in which I photographed Terrence Mathew & Leonardo Mouza, Headshot #7 focuses on my next photographed subject, which is Mhamad Rauf.

For this photographic set, just like I did with Terrence Mathew & Leonardo Mouza, I photographed Mhamad outside and got him to do the facial expressions I asked him to make, but also photographed him in different positions, including some modelling headshots.

The graffiti on the walls of the walkway really help as they put an emphasis on the facial expressions I have got Mhamad to make, as the colour of the walkway, including the graffiti, can help to compensate for the facial expressions I have asked Mhamad to make.

At this stage, these photographs have informed the research I have done on Fazal Sheikh, Irving Penn, Thomas Ruff & August Sander.

Below are the headshot photographs of Mhamad Rauf, including the WordFoto Edits and Black & White Versions of the Original Photographs.

Canon EOS 700D

Normal (1)

Normal (2)

Thinking (3)

Unhappy (4)

Surprised (5)

Concentrated (6)

Angry or Furious (7)

Excited (8)

Interested (9)

Confused (10)

Depressed (11)

Be Realistic (12)

Disgusted (13)

WordFoto Edits

Normal (1)

Normal (2)

Thinking (3)

Unhappy (4)

Surprised (5)

Concentrated (6)

Angry or Furious (7)

Excited (8)

Interested (9)

Confused (10)

Depressed (11)

Be Realistic (12)

Disgusted (13)

Black & White Versions of Original Photographs

Normal (1)

Normal (2)

Thinking (3)

Unhappy (4)

Surprised (5)

Concentrated (6)

Angry or Furious (7)

Excited (8)

Interested (9)

Confused (10)

Depressed (11)

Be Realistic (12)

Disgusted (13)

Overall, I am so pleased with the end result that has come out of these photographs I have produced and by experimenting again with the walls of graffiti found in the walkway outside Croydon College, this has actually allowed me to let my creativity run wild, ultimately giving me the chance to produce these photographs with more vibrancy so that they connect to my Facial Expressionism Final Major Project.

These photographs I have produced will help me to build on, develop and inform my photography skills further and will most certainly inform the creative work, research and headshot photographs I have already produced.

The Headshot #7 photographs I have taken of my close friend, Mhamad Rauf, including the edited versions of these photographs that I produced in WordFoto and GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) can be found in my E-Folio.

I would most certainly love to get your response on these photographs and please let me know if I can make future improvements for next time. Your response is greatly appreciated.

Alex Smithson

Unique.

It is who we are. Being unique and taking control of how we choose to present ourselves to others matters. Being ourselves towards others matter because being yourself is what makes you unique.

The world can see you entirely from a different perspective, which is okay. There is no shame in thinking that, but in the hindsight of things, we shouldn’t need to change the way we want people to see us when they expect us to be seen that way.

We should all be unique to ourselves and never change how we look to suit others. We should all be the way we were supposed to be, and that is, to be ourselves and to never change anything about ourselves, not even for a split second.

Paint a portrait as if it was a picture you were painting of your life. That picture is you. Believing in yourself, being yourself and being unique to yourself is what produces that picture you will have painted. Being yourself is what really matters but being yourself is what makes you unique.

If you feel that this has inspired you in many ways more than one, then please feel free to submit feedback below. Your feedback is much appreciated.

Alex Smithson