Bookshelf. 29th February.

I am currently studying a part-time English course,  I was in the classroom today and I had my camera on me.. so while everyone was out on their break I had a little snap around the classroom. It's quite interesting, one wall is covered in Shakespeare posters, one wall is filled with large windows, another with an interactive whiteboard... and the final wall contains numerous cupboards and this book shelf. I find classrooms like this one quite interesting as they contain years of education, just this bookshelf contained an array of books from new publications to books around ten years old.

Street Harpist. 28th February 2012.

I was walking through Peterborough today and I saw this man on his harp, I do not think I have ever seen a busker playing a harp, he was quite interesting and I thought his character was something which deserved to be captured. 

Emmaus shoot 2. 27th February.

I visited the Emmaus Community in Cambridge for the second time today, it was a great visit as I was more familiar with the surroundings and the people there. I got to chat to a few of the guys who live there, I learnt a little bit about their stories and how they came to live at Emmaus. I'm going back next week to spend some time with the community in the Evening, they have a band practice and I am really looking forward to photographing that. 

This documentary is great and I am really enjoying working on it and starting it, I hope you are all looking forward to seeing it expand!

The Night Tree. 26th February.

I saw this tree tonight, this tree and other similar trees are lined down the drive of my church. I thought it's silver branches stood out from the dark sky, hence the photograph of it. I am off to Emmaus Cambridge tomorrow to shoot more for the documentary, this is quite exciting, so expect new work on it soon!

The Wood. 25th February.

I was out with my photographer friend Joanne Cream (http://joannecreamphotography.blogspot.com/) as we have a fashion shoot coming up and we were doing some location scouting for it. We came across this wooded area and it looked great! I will definitely be using it in the shoot.

In other news here are the photos from the street studio shoot I had yesterday:

I'm going to be shooting more for this project, so keep your eyes open and keep checking my facebook or flickr to see the updates.

The Street Studio. 24th February.

I was in peterborough today with a group of other photographers. We decided to set up a studio on the streets, we used the sun as our light source, a couple of photographic flags, a reflector and a camera (of course!). We spent about an hour on the streets asking people if we could take their portraits, it's quite surprising to see how many people are wary of you when you have initial eye contact with them. Quite a few people were up for having their portraits taken, it was quite and interesting excercise, definitely one which I shall try again!

Teddies. 23rd February.

The Flag and the Tree. 22nd February.

Whilst I was out walking today I saw this scene and thought it would make an interesting photograph, annoyingly I didn't have my camera with me so I had to snap the scene on my mobile phone. I shall have to remember to take my camera with me next time I'm walking that way!

Standing in the tracks. 21st February.

I had another fashion shoot today, today it was on the Nene Valley Railway at the Ferry Meadows station in peterborough. It was quite an early shoot, starting at 8am, I was hoping to capture some "eerie" morning light, but the clouds had gone and it was very bright. It was quite a hard shoot because of the conditions, but I worked around this and had a good time. 

More photos can be viewed here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151161053850046.793268.407058550045&type=1

A Fleeting Glance. 20th February.

I had a fashion shoot today, it was quite fun and I got to be quite creative within it. I wouldn't say that fashion photography is my passion, I will always call myself primarily a documentary photographer, but sometimes it is nice to step out of one genre and explore others. All in all, photographic genres are all linked together in some way; there are many technical similarities between fashion photography and documentary photography/environmental portraiture. It's interesting to experiment with different genres as they can effect the way you approach the genre you photograph.

Industrial Sunset. 19th February.

Whilst driving home this evening the sunset caught my eye, absolutely beautiful! I'm not the kind of photographer who likes to take typical "chocolate-box" sunset/sunrise landscape images, but this view really caught my eye and I thought it was really striking. 

In other news, I have two fashion shoots in the next two days... quite exciting!

Rain. 18th February.

Today's weather has not been the most agreeable! The wind and rain have been quite persistent, meaning that I have not been able to go out and shoot for my project on the industrial side of Britain, instead I have been doing general computer-based work, such as editing and working on my website. 

I have two fashion shoots coming up at the start of next week, these should be good and I'm looking forward to them and working on the photos I will be taking at them. I'm also starting to research for a documentary project which I shall be exhibiting in a few months time, I will give you more information as the project develops, hoping to start shooting for it quite soon though!

Silk Candle. 17th February.

The Brownie. 16th February.

Balloon Tree. 15th February.

I was due to have a fashion/portrait shoot today, but it was cancelled. I had a load of helium-filled balloons to use as props for the shoot, so I decided to have a shoot with them anyway. The photograph was taken at a local nature reserve, I thought that the colourful balloons would make an interesting subject as it stands out from the green/brown surroundings. It was a fun little shoot, the rest of the photographs will be found on my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/RuthJonesPhotography

I am also currently uploading the photos from the shoot I had at Emmaus Cambridge yesterday onto my facebook page, so if you're interested check them out.

Surreal Valentine. 14th February.

I thought I would use Valentines Day to experiment with a little bit of surreal photography.

Hope you have all had and are having a nice Valentines Day.

Emmaus Photo Documentary Update (and daily photo - fen turbines). 13th February.

I visited the Emmaus community and shop in Cambridge for the first time today, I talked to a few of the people there and had a look round the centre, I also started shooting. For those of you who do not know, Emmaus is an organisation which takes homeless people in and gives them accommodation and work if they comply by the rules of the community. The residents at Emmaus run a shop which sells refurbished furniture and donated goods. For more information about Emmaus visit: http://www.emmauscambridge.org/

On my way driving back from Cambridge, I saw this scene and just had to photograph it as I thought it would fit well into my Electric Landscapes project. So I pulled onto the verge and just captured the scene, it was wonderful!

The Natural Ice Rink. 12th February.

Most winters, for a few days, natural ice rinks appear throughout the fens. Today I decided to photograph one of these Ice Rinks in the fenland town of Whittlesey. People turn up, speed skate, play ice hockey, skate for fun, drag sledges on the ice... the whole community of the town meets together on the ice of this flooded field. 

Overexposed Rose. 11th February.

Jac. 10th February.

This is Jac, he's a fellow photographer, I decided to take his portrait today as we were both working in a studio. Check out his blog, he's a great photographer: http://jacrudduck.blogspot.com/2012/02/dead-town.html

Don McCullin Shaped by War exhibition and London underground portraits. 9th February.

I went to London today with a group of photographers, we went to see the Don McCullin and Ori Gersht exhibitions. I took a few tube-based portraits of my colleagues as an idea for a future piece of work, I find the symmetry of underground station walkways interesting. 

The Don McCullin exhibition was amazing, it's currently at the Imperial War Museum and I highly recommend it. I found myself  connect to the subjects in the photographs when I looking at the exhibition, McCullin's work perfectly captures the emotions and moments which a war environment contains. The prints in the exhibition were all hand printed, the dodging and burning of each photograph carefully done to produce the perfect print. The exhibition finished with his latest work, some of which are his landscapes, I personally see his landscape work as the peace he is finding after being so involved in war environments, his landscapes still contain hints of conflict and drama, displayed through how he captures and prints them. I find McCullin's work inspiring and insightful, he is a photographer who has left a great legacy for photographers like my to look up to. 

Mark, the bike salesman. 8th February.

I was working on my forgotten shops portrait series today, it was hard to find shops in my city which had been around for as long as I can remember, but I found this little cycle and motor shop which I can remember being around from when I was a child. I walk past it all the time, but today I actually realised it was there for the first time in years. The man in this shop, Mark, was a great character and I found him to be the perfect subject for a portrait.

The Guitar. 7th February.

Willow the street dog. 6th January.

This dog, Willow, is owned by a Big Issue seller who is now a well known face of Peterborough. Whilst walking through the streets of the city I noticed that his dog was wearing a hat to keep her from getting cold. I had a little chat with the man and photographed his dog, it was definitely a great part of today.

I also had a portfolio printing session today, I shoot mostly digitally at the moment, a lot of my time with my photographs is spent looking at them on the screen. But today as I was printing them out my love for photographic prints was reignited, prints hold your attention longer and the fact that they are physical objects mean that you can look into them and study the aspects of the photographs in greater depth. I love prints and do not think that digital copies of them would ever take over the beauty of a print.

Snow Horse. 5th February.

Hotel Kettle. 4th January.

I was staying in a hotel last night as I was at a conference in Bradford. I find hotel rooms really interesting places, if the walls could speak they would no doubt have many stories to tell. It is strange to think that thousands of people will have slept in the room that you are sleeping in. 

More than a fridge magnet. 3rd February.

I was looking at the work of Eunice Adorno yesterday, she produced a photo-documentary called: The Flower Girls. It follows a number of Mennonite women and shows their lives through these photographs, it's a great piece of work. One of the photographs in the series was quite thought provoking, it was  a fridge with a magnet on, I found this very interesting as it shows that a simple magnet on a fridge can tell someone a lot about the people who inhabit the house. Fridge magnets are little bits of people's personality and connect with the identity of people. 

Foamy Coffee. 2nd February.

Every morning I wake up, shower, get dressed and then go downstairs and have a cup of coffee. Coffee is such a key part of today's world, people drink it at all times of the day, there are hundreds of different coffees, and there are multiple coffee shops on our high street, and it is a common site to see commuters with a coffee cup in their hands.

Ring in a Ribbon Rose. 1st February.