EASY

Easy. from Charlie Jay on Vimeo.

A small stop motion animation we made for a uni project. Please click VIMEO link the the corner to see it big + HD and for full description. Enjoy!

DUST.

As far as photographing large format goes..

Its ridiculously expensive
Its pretty damn awkward
Its heavy
Its very time consuming

and

most of all

Its impossible to get a dust free image while trying to juggle all the other things going on.

Here is a wonderful shot i managed to get right a few weeks back in Bristol. Turns out its got some sort of ridiculous piece of hair on the neg.

Sucks, but these are the things that you learn from. Next time i know DUST is even more of a priority than before.

Check the detail of this beast in the second image.

EDGAR MARTINS

Incredible.

Got to get his books asap.

RADIOHEAD

After an extremely busy period, I now have absolutely nothing to really think about. I'm back home in Cornwall, the air is cold and i am pretty much car-less. Anyone from my area will realize this isn't such a good thing at all.

Anyway, over the last couple of weeks i have been getting extremely into RADIOHEAD. I have never liked the band but after seeing them at Reading this year i totally changed my perspective. Now, these last two or so weeks they have become the sole artist i can actually listen to. I watched their set from Reading about 4 times in 4 days. 2 of those in one day. It was incredible. Even though i didn't think too much of them at the time, i look back now and find it hard not to feel emotions running through my body when i see footage of the set.

These few weeks at home are going to be exciting. Hopefully a lot of photography and relaxing. Something i haven't done properly in a long time.

Also, hopefully quite a lot of blogging too.

Image from the BBC website

Bridges.

I have a small fascination with bridges and road junctions. M32 Bristol. Shot on Kodak Portra 160NC 5x4 Sheet Film.

More Boundries.

Severn Beach, Near Bristol. Shot on Portra 160NC 5x4 Sheet Film

M5 Avonmouth

Recently went on a little road trip up to Bristol to get some more shots for my uni project. Pretty successful. Here is a little taster taken underneath the M5 at Avonmouth. Shot on Kodak Portra 160NC 5x4 Sheet Film.

Park and Ride.

New images from non-places/boundaries of urbanization series. Scans from C-Type Prints. Please click to view bigger.

Boundries of Urbanizaton

Mini project within the header of 'Non-Place'. Something i feel will expand into something bigger over time. Shot on 5x4 Portra 160NC. Click for bigger version.

Life in Miniature

While playing waiting for the right light for a shot last night i realized i had never messed around with manipulating the focal plane on large format cameras... This suddenly struck that i could do the whole 'it looks tiny' thing PROPERLY! No digital manipulation just pure, hard, large format colour film. Beautiful. I whacked in the 6x8cm roll film holder and got this little beaut of the train station in Plymouth. Even though loads of people do it, its nice to do it BIG. Pretty cool ey?

COLOUR LARGE FORMAT PORTRA!!

Yesterday was a turning point. I shot my first two colour large format images. But hear me out, this wasn't just the cheapest colour sheet film i could find, it was Kodak Portra 160NC. The most epic colour film alive (even though it does cost £3.50 a sheet + processing). Here they are anyway pretty untouched. Please click to view larger.

KOOT

After scanning a film from my sis and i's joint camera that i shot over the summer i discovered a pretty cool shot of my freckely aussie mate Koots at our local lil cove. Hmm i love black and white

The Travelling Two

A little video a couple of my friends Oscar, Shaun and Shelly made. Hilarious. Well worth a watch.

Richard Mosse

Recently browsing blogs and such i cam across a photographer called Richard Mosse. His work is incredible. His recent project was based around Sadam's palaces in Iraq and how they have been taken over by US troops. His website is www.richardmosse.com and well worth a look. This is one of my favourite shots, so simple but many small hidden meanings.

Getting Continental

Yesterday i went out to take some test shots for my new project based around the continental ferry port in Plymouth. I am also hoping to shoot the docks in Bristol as the project progresses. Before spending about £5.50 every time i press the shutter on 5x4 colour film, i thought i would take some test shots first on medium format. I dont like 645 and slightly dislike using Bronica's but at least its a start to this project. It also gives me a little insight into what to expect when i do it on 5x4. Here are a couple of ones that look OK.

STRAYS.

I recently did a little bit of work for The Greenaway Pro event put on by Matt Smith and friends in aid of our Legend up there Tom Greenaway who sadly passed away while I was with him in London in November 2007. Here are some shots from a new collaboration of frothing musicians who go by the name of STRAYS. Some ex-haven members and the surf photog guru, Mickey Smith - who's blog can be found HERE. Enjoy

Its Blog Time.

Hi everyone, to those of you that read/take any interest in this blog you will notice that I haven't done this for a while. Well, now I'm back in Plymouth and ready to start my second year. This time it's for serious. Everything we do now counts towards our final degree and even though I may not sound for real/bothered I am actually going to try really hard this year. Not that I didn't last year but this is it. Welcome back blog and personal photographic practice. OK, let's go.

Its flying time again...

Yesterday at midday i found myself boarding a plane from London Heathrow to go abroad, this time to Indonesia. I love going away and traveling but i hate waiting in airports and that is exactly what i am doing now. Im sitting in Starbucks in Kuala Lumpur making the most of the power supply and the free internet. Time wasting basically! Here is another 'classic' plane wing shot from my journey here...

End of Year Exhibition Model

Just finished my exhibition model for my end of year module. This was only a short module so there wasnt supposed to be a huge demanding outcome. My project was based on Brunel Laboratories, a building on campus that has been left behind in this digital age. I shot the whole 4 week project on large format and ended up shooting 28 5x4 negs. A lot of work i say. Anyway, here are some terrible mobile phone images of the model.

Processing...

Ooh the bore of processing 5x4 negs.. Each one is processed individually which takes aaages but thankfully, i have this trusty little automated agitator which is brilliant. Work in sketchbook, facebook and the excitement of fresh 5x4 negs! love it!

New Project - Brunel Labs

I have just started a new project for my final first year module. I am basing it around the Brunel Labs - one of the universities 'non-acedemic' buildings that houses workshops and labs used by the school of engineering and technology. Its a very interesting building and is often overlooked. What i find interesting is whats behind its closed doors to an outsider. I was granted permission and started my photographic dissection of the building today. Im doing the project entirely on large format 5x4" film as i rather liked it before.. Await more images, this is only the beginning! Image shot on Ilford Delta 100 Film

LOVE RIOT

Sorry i haven't posted anything on here for a while, after the last posts i had a deadline for my module at uni and had to finish off creating my book (await images of the book when i get back to uni) and then headed home for Easter. I have been taking a few film shots but lack of darkroom and processing facilities leaves me stranded. I am back shooting again for the surf school but last night shot some photos for a local night - LOVE RIOT. They came out pretty good and this is one of my mate Dirk - an instructor from the surf school.

More 5x4 / CCTV

Here are some more of my shots from my current project on CCTV. I shot these early this morning with perfect light and no one around. The main focus of the project is on CCTV so... spot the cameras! All shot on Ilford Delta 100 Sheet Film from a Sinar F 5x4 camera with a 90mm f8 lens.

5 X 4

Today i took my first image with a 5x4 large format view camera. It was an experience all in all but after i developed the neg i realized how much it paid off standing around waiting for the right moment. Anyway, here it is my first 5x4 image shot on Ilford Delta 100 - f/22 at 1/15th

More CCTV/London

Just come back from 24 hours in London... of which a few of i managed to take some photos and continue my surveillance project... Here is one of the images i got for the project. Hasselblad 500cm + Ilford Delta 100

CCTV

At uni we have just started a module on Bookworks. The project is totally self initiated and the Book is the only thing we have to produce as a final outcome, the rest is up to us! I am naturally loving this as I really don't like being guided so I thought a lot about what interests me in photography and what I can do a project on that will interest other people. I have settled on CCTV and surveillance as my main theme and i will look at issues in our contemporary world that involve the vast use of surveillance cameras and the idea that we have no privacy due to this. This is one of the first images I made for this theme on a recent trip to Bristol. More to come in the next few weeks... Fuji 690 III Medium Format Camera + Fujifilm Neopan 400 Film.

HARDY WINS!!

Ryan Hardy, the perfectionist bodyboarder from Australia has just won the first Grand Slam event of the 2009 IBA world tour at Pipeline, Hawaii. This is massive for Hardy as he has had a bit of a rocky path since he missed the 2006 world title by a tiny, tiny amount. He has been through some major illness and has recently been dropped by long term sponsor and backup, Billabong. This was a major shock to the bodyboard world and hopefully this win for Ryan has made them realize he has a lot of potential left in him. 2nd place went to French 19-year old Pierre Louis-Costes, 3rd to Guilherme Tamega and 4th to Dave Winchester. It was an epic final and well done to everyone i say! Here is a shot of PLC from last years comp, shame i couldn't be there again this year.

Fuji 960 + Delta 100 + Bumble = Very Nice

I recently went home and thought i should try out a new camera. I landed on the Fuji 960 III which is a medium format rangefinder camera. Its not too heavy and pretty quiet. The main bonus of this camera is its 9x6cm negs.. Its like large-format 35mm and ill tell you what, they are incredible! I combined this beast with some beautiful Delta 100 film, perfect sunny light and my dog Bumble. Here are a couple of shots i got from it. Click image to see bigger.

Studio Session

Just had a little fun studio session doing some self-portraiture in my wetsuit! It was pretty funny wearing a wetsuit in a studio and in the images i am trying to portray the irony of the situation. Here is one of the few i did... Shot on Ilford Pan F+ 50

Kodak Ektar 100 Film

I recently did a shoot with German/Spanish Bodyboarder Pablo Pierto for the Uni of Plymouth and his sponsor. I thought i might try out some of the new kodak colour negative film i recieved the other day - Ektar 100. It is described on the box as 'Worlds Finest Grain'. This is a scan from the shoot and it seemed to come out pretty well, cant wait to use it in the dark room.

London!

Just got back from a couple of days in London, it was pretty cool to go back after spending a lot of time there last winter. The main reason i went was to see the Robert Capa exhibition and maybe check out some others. I also took a few shots, they came out pretty cool. Here is a standard tube shot! To see more check out.... www.flickr.com/photos/charliejayphoto

NEW WEBSITE!!!

This is it guys, a new site that has taken a chunk of time out recently but is now (nearly) done and works ok! I will be adding more and changing it a bit as time goes on. The surf school link will also become a section of imagery with an explanation of what i do with them. I will also get some links to here, my Flickr and the surf school in due course... Enjoy!! p.s. any errors, please let me know, thanks!

Dog Portraiture

I have never really thought about it before but maybe i could go into dog portraiture? I have recently started on a 'figurative' project at uni and thought this would make a good start! Something different. My dog - Bumble, loving life

NYE 2008/09

On New Years Eve, i thought to myself in a slightly drunken state that i would go out with my camera and external flash and try and get a few decent images on film... I managed to get this one of my friend Liam, i think it turned out quite well. More to come in the future when i have nothing else to write about! Shot on Ilford Delta 400 Film

Hasselblad XPAN

I dont want to go on about how much i love photographic films and techniques but one thing i have to mention is how much of an amazing camera the Hasselblad XPAN is. It has the height of a normal 35mm image but you get 20/21 shots to a roll of 36-exposure film and the results are odd to say the least. Its panoramic format is very interesting especially if you use it vertically, super long images! When i have the chance i like to take out the only one we have at uni. This is a shot from the first time i tested it out a couple of months back. (click for larger image)

The joys of slide film...

Oh how i love the way slide film portrays fluorescent lights as green. This interesting image of my good friend Max was taken inside Fat Mama's Diner in Plymouth where it is not green at all. How beautiful...

Film, Film, Film, Film, Film

Film... yesss film... i love film but over this long, cold christmas break i have wanted to put some nice christmassy images up on here. Too bad for me though, as i have done them all on film, slide and black and white. This means waiting til i get back to uni on monday to actually see these images. This is great as it means the anticipation is very exciting but, when i actually come to putting my images from the holiday on here, the festive season will be well over! ohhh well im sure ill do it anyway... please await festive images as soon as.