26 posts tagged “project rainbow”

Here's a little treat for you all - a selection of my favourite photos from my Project Rainbow. I ended up going through a bulk of my photos from this year last week and for the first time went back through all the sets. There are some sweet things there, so here they are. Colour by colour. :)

This was in Paris in January. I had just started the whole project and the next thing I know I'm standing in front of a bookshop capturing something like this. It was a great start and one of my absolute favourites in the whole project.

This supermarket is in my neighbourhood and taught me a lesson about having a camera with you at all times at the ready. You never know what's around the corner. I wish I had caught the suitcase he was sitting on better, but it's still a great, colourful moment this.

The photos in my pink set are quite level headed. There are some pretty and some pretty average photos in it. This is probably the most successful one street photography-wise. The pink set was the first set I completed in a record time. It was very obvious which were my favourite colours to shoot actually by looking at the time I spent getting the set ready. ;)

The green set on the other hand was one of the hardest and uninspiring ones for me. This photo from Soho in London is a great shot for me. I love the mirroring in the Puma and the lady. It was such a strange place for her to stand and crouch like this, until I realised she was struggling to open the green shutters.

Orange was another hard colour for me in the project, but funnily it's hard to choose a favourite for there seem to be quite a few of them within the set. Funny how that worked out! This probably makes the grade just for the nice motion, transition of colours (green to orange) and the fact that I got to take it with the Canon 5D. :D

There are other favourites in my purple set, but this one really makes me happy. The whole wall on this floor in Tate Modern (I think it's the 3rd floor) is this rich aubergine colour. Having someone in orange stand next to it was project rainbow heaven for me. I think there are these lovely colour transition accidents all over the sets. Uncanny, eh? ;)

I took this blue photo well before I tackled the blue set in the end of the summer. This couple so kindly stood in all their blueness by this gorgeous wall panelling in the British Museum earlier in the year. How could I resist? I think I ended up filling the blue set quite by default during the year, so in the end there were only few photos for me to take in the months allocated to it.

So, there you have them. My Project Rainbow colour highlights.
Did you have any I missed out? :)

Blatantly I have been in denial about the near end of the Project Rainbow. It has occupied and inspired me this year to take colour themed photographs in and out of London and today is the day I can say that I have completed the seven sets of 20 photos. It feels slightly hollow and strange to be sitting here and realise it really is the end of the rainbow. Now where is my pot of gold? :D Before I show you today's photos let me share you some photos from Brighton where I was last weekend with my sister.

Brighton is called "London by the sea" and it certainly lives up to this name. I hadn't been for a long time and my sister came with me for the first time so we did the really touristy Brighton things and hung mostly at the beach and the Pier. I first came to Brighton when I was 14 and the Pier was the coolest thing ever. ;)

Especially the fun fair - arcade part of it still captures my inner teenager. I'm glad I'm not the only one that takes these things seriously. I can so relate to how this man is feeling playing this game. It's one of my favourite British things actually, but we didn't have a go. Just for the sanity of both me and my sister. :D FTW!

One of the funniest things we saw that day were these boys playing by the beach, just a stone's throw away from the Pier and the amusements. They obviously thought it would be more fun to see which one of them can run around that barricade without getting wet. Although I think getting soaked by the sea was part of the fun in the end. ;)

And as for today. I took a nice long walk from Piccadilly to South Bank. Today is a public holiday, or Bank Holiday if you want to be all British, and the weather was OK-ish for some street photography. I really need to start getting into an autumn routine with my photography as well and start taking more night time shots. Something I always say in autumn and then chicken out. :P

I love the contradiction in this so much. The first photo I took today
and I couldn't have been happier with the start I had. ;)

I have no idea what was going on with these two or on the ground. Just makes a great moment for me to add to my blue collection. I actually find taking photos at Leicester Square really hard - too many people and not enough background interest going on. A total opposite to this shot actually.

And here it is, the last blue photo and the last photo of the Project Rainbow. I loved how these two men juxtapose with each other. And you can't beat a blue t-shirt leaning on the blue wall. I'm quite content how the series turned out. Some colours were mentally really hard for me, but I'm glad I'm all done now. Actually, I'm thinking of adding some "unofficial" themes to the Project so let's see how that works out. I really want something to carry me to the end of the year and then ideally start a new project for 2009.

This is about wanting to tell some more stories with my photos. Something a friend said last night struck me about my usual approach to the street. I'm now trying to make more effort in not excluding individuals from their surroundings (yeah, let's see how long that lasts :D) and make and effort to give a bit more flavour of London with the photos... like in the above photo.

Tourism is hard work you know! ;)

My favourite photo from today. Not bad for 50mm in my opinion, although I can't wait to start rocking some proper full frame wide angle on the streets of London as I've booked tickets to New York for November and the Christmas present plan is a Canon 5D. Can't wait, for either actually. It'll be my first time in the US and New York especially. :)

I popped in the Royal Festival Hall to use the facilities and they had this ballroom dancing performace (?competition) going on. The audience was really... thrilled. I would be if I was drinking at lunch time, too. ;)

It's the last day of the Psycho Buildings exhibition at Hayward Gallery. The queue was loooong.
Just liked the frame in a frame setting here. I think that could be another theme/project for next year.
Very old skool street photography theme-wise actually. ;)

And that my darlings is it for not only the Project Rainbow but for the photos from today.
Time for me to veg out and have a little nap myself in front of the TV me thinks. ;)

Oh man! I finally completed the purple colour set for Project Rainbow! It's taken me two months, and I'm not too proud of the fact. But I went out yesterday afternoon to St Paul's and Tate Modern with my camera with cut throat attitude that I will get my last five photos before I go off on my holiday, and I have to say purple karma was very good. I on the other hand for the first time in a long time was a bit timid about taking photos in certain situations. Don't know what that was about...

St Paul's is great. I love going for a coffee around this area just for the architecture and people watching.

Managed to get a double shot of someone lost and wearing purple. Snaps like these always give a little more satisfaction. I think my best combo this far has been three themes in one photo. :)

Mobile phones. The modern noise pollution...

I got couple great photos from this spot, but this was my favourite one.Very cool London indeed. ;)

This is one of my favourite spots to take photos in London, too. In all the years I've found a few backdrops where interesting photos always emerge. Really lovely layers and interesting mix of people walked into this one yesterday.

Time for the personal favourites... I really loved how these two men mirrored each other without even knowing.
What was that thing I said about modern noise pollution earlier? :D

Summer on the South Bank. The best place to be, in so many ways. :)
This is of course the opposite of this original.

A super lighting effect by the Sun! I love this bubble so much it's not right. :D
I also love how the woman at the bottom is lit up when the guy at the top is scratching his head, almost thinking "how'd she do that?" :D

And now that purple is complete I can start my holidays with a clear conscience. I'm off to Finland and Estonia for a bit with my cameras. I really have fallen in love with that Fuji 800Z colour film I've been shooting most of my 35mm Holga photos this summer. There is no comparison for it in colour saturation! So, I have some in my bags to take with me, and I hope to complete the blue set either during or just after my holidays. After all it's only five photos to go to complete the whole project. Scary! :)

It's not been much of a summer here in London this year. One of the reasons I'm really looking forward to my summer holiday away in the end of the month actually. But the changeable weather has given a cloud lover like myself some stunning photo opportunities (like above). And despite the cool-ish weather there were plenty people around today to help me pull my socks up with the colour purple...

Like these girls hanging about waiting for... something.
I love the odd one out. Only dead fish go with the flow, right? :D

Some people come with their own subtitles...

And some people are too cool for school. The low tide makes life by the Thames a real beach.

It might have been the length of the queue to get on the London Eye that shocked her.
It's pretty long on July Saturdays. Trust me. :)

It's better to enjoy the sound installation Volume by the Royal Festival Hall.
The annual fountain is back too, no cliché photos by it today though. ;)

  Instead another cliché - photographers taking photos of other photographers.
Lovely. ;) This is by the graffiti street behind Waterloo station. Stunning art, go see it!

Let's finish with hugs all around today!
Summer + love = London. ;)

Greetings dear Vox! It's been a while, yes? Maybe because I have been busy/ill/away/letting Project Rainbow Purple go down the drain. Maybe I'm allowed to have a little summer holiday? :) Well, I did have a little break last weekend and went over to gorgeous, gorgeous Bergen in Norway. I took my Holga 35mm camera with me to shoot some proper photos, too, as you can see.

Proper photos of Norwegian Vikings. Well, modern Vikings I suppose. :)

And proper photos of proper Norwegian madams, too. ;)

As well as some proper art photos. Look at this gorgeous double exposure courtesy of lazy/forgetful winding up of film a la yours truly. I love happy photo accidents like this. :)

If you ever have a chance to visit Bergen please please make sure you visit the home of Edvard Grieg, Troldhaugen. His house is not actually the house in the photo on the left, but these two went together in a cute way. The place itself is amazing. Really. Some proof below:

Gosh, what a couple weeks it has been! I lost the control over my computer over some silly trojan business and didn't have a chance to fix it until yesterday by wiping out my whole hard drive and windows. This meant that I'm a bit delayed posting some photos from the past week+ among other things. Also, after announcing this month's colour to be blue, it turns out it's not! After shooting couple weeks of more blue things I realised I should be focusing on all things purple instead. Ah, I refuse to panic in the midst of another blonde moment. It is summer after all. ;)


Last Sunday was a perfect summer's day in fact. I spent it at Spitalfields with my friends Caroline and Jo, shopping, soaking up the sun and having great lunch and later some drinks. I wish every day would be like last Sunday actually. Spitalfields is one of my favourite parts of London and even though it's changed a lot in the past five years or so has remained quite charming. The Sunday market is also great.


Being in that part of London always throws some fashion victims/fashionistas your way, as above. ;) I love his shoes!


One of the "error" blue photos I took a week ago.
One of my fav blue photos actually...


Today I ventured out to Tate Modern. As it is Father's Day in UK, it was surprisingly quiet and I got to enjoy the place without the usual weekend hassle. There is also a great exhibition going on called Street&Studio - Urban History of Photography. Highly recommended (also by this man)!


Part of the exhibition is participation in a way of being able to create your own graffiti and street art outside of Tate Modern. This guy was going at it BIG style. ;)


... and these girls were being all cute about it. :)


The light inside the Turbine Hall is always inspiring. This Lost+Blue pair fell into my hands in one the nice light spots. Nice!


And this guy waited kindly texting by the aubergine coloured wall for me and project rainbow. :D
This is one of my favourite photos from today. It combines so many of my favourite things in one shot.


This was funny thing to come across in my contact sheet from today.
Grass is always greener on the other side, eh? :D

So for the rest of the month I'm going to be concentrating on reading all the instructions more carefully. And focusing on purple! By the way, as you can see I made the photos in this post XL-size, what do you think? Better?

What are last minutes for?! I've just uploaded my last two photos to my orange set for the Project Rainbow. This completes my fifth month doing the project which is quite incredible. Not a word about time flying in this entry though. ;) It's been a while since I've done anything photography-wise. This is for the simple reason that May has just been one busy month! Most of all work has effected my energy and inspiration levels by just being soul destroyingly stressful and busy. Also there has been a little period of bereavement after having to give the 5D back to Marianne. *sigh*

But - I've kicked my photography butt today and managed to sort out my long-neglected portfolio, order some prints of some of my personal favourite photos this year in prints (photobox.co.uk is just the best!) and even went out to finish a roll of Fuji 800Z film that's been sitting in my Holga 35mm for ages. So, finally I have something new to share with you, be it only four photos. I've quickly scanned these today from prints which really takes away from the sharpness and depth of colour from the originals. I really have to redo the scans from negs, but was so excited to have some new stuff so couldn't wait...

I was mostly by the South Bank today.
If you have a look at this in the larger version I hope you see what I saw. ;)


The Hayward Gallery is having this amazing Psycho Buildings exhibition on at the moment. It looks incredible just from the outside, let alone the stories I've heard. Apparently there is a lake at the top terrace where you can go have a little rowing boat out. How cool is that?


You know it's summer in London when the lawn comes out in front of the National Theatre. This year they've pushed their own boat out and made it into this incredible looking outdoor living room. It really is endless fun, especially photo-wise.


This is my favourite photo from today.
What couples do best. I just love catching moments like this.
The 35mm Holga also comes into force in this in a lovely way.
It's a shame the scan really does no justice to the original. :P

Next month is all about the colour blue for me. I'm going to have a bit of an easy ride, because I already have ten photos in the set, so I'm literally half way there. It's a bit obvious maybe from the speed I do certain colours which ones are my favourites... ;) The plan is to do some more film stuff in June, too, so it should be too long before I have something new to show you. Until then!

New month, new colour! It was nice to get over the green themed photos of April. For some reason I found green a bit of an uninspiring colour, but I think I have some nice photos in the series. May means ORANGE, and I had some photos already waiting to be added to that series, so I added those on Flickr, along with some blue and purple photos in their own series as well while I was at it. Although the most exciting thing about starting a new theme yesterday was the fact that I got to borrow my friend Marianne's 5D! Seriously, I want to marry that camera.

I popped my 28-75mm lens on it yesterday as I went over to Tate Britain to see the amazing Peter Doig exhibition. Look at this wide angle goodness. Mmmm, wide angle! Actually, I went a bit wide angle mad yesterday, just because I could. :D


It's so great to be able to fit in everything in the frame, if you want.


Traffic rules of London. I got some nice photos for my run series yesterday, too.
It's been a while since people have been dashing around in my presence.
Or maybe it's only a summer thing, dashing?


I was standing again in this spot on the South Bank mesmerized by the power of wide angle. :D It's a nice spot actually for a great London background as well as for people going by. The afternoon was shadowed by rain showers, as you can see. I thought this was a nice green to orange transitional photo.


The South Bank book market is a great place to shelter from the showers.
Luckily she was also wearing orange. :)


This was my favourite photo from the day. I really, really am in love with this camera. Marianne might have to kill me for me to be able to give it back to her. :D I love the man in yellow in the background btw, it really makes this photo for me. ;)

London is the greatest city to get lost in. I got off at Moorgate last night and just started walking around in the City of London. It was a lovely night and in couple of hours I'd ended up via Fenchurch Street and Aldgate to the Tower of London by accident. Scrambling together more green photos I saw some great things...

There are a lot of nice details around you anywhere you go, just keep your eyes open.


One of my favourite photos from yesterday.
His expression is so lovely and infectious.


It seemed to be some national mobile phone loving day yesterday...


At least some had time to have a smoke before playing with their mobile. ;)


I hadn't been to the Tower of London for years. It's funny how things just look and feel familiar before you realise that you have been there before. Just after this photo Graham Norton turned that corner behind that family with his two dogs. I was a little bit star struck, but he was very cool about it (and on his mobile!). :)


Yes, The Tower Bridge. Very touristy. Very London.
But something I liked, especially in B&W.