Doodles are fun

I've been doodling with my DSi again and I should try to make more from this character.

The Dark North

I've always seen my photography as a hobby and less of a skill of showing accross emotion or an idea and I kicked myself not to get a horror shot in time for Hallowe'en but I did take a photo a while ago which only now have I seen the works I can do with it. This is a shot I took to the Angel of the North:

This kind of portrayal came about from what the artist, Antony Gormley had said about the piece:

"People are always asking, why an angel? The only response I can give is that no-one has ever seen one and we need to keep imagining them."

I see angels as the type of creatures which will come up and eat you up for dinner. My thoughts on an evil angel are probably not unique but I can say that I agree with Gormley and say that people should continue to imagine the angel and the images that they can make.

What is art?

As a photographer I'm involved in the artistic community as much as a painter would and I am most definitely not afraid to call myself an artist. But I've grown to hate the word art. I believe it's a word that is far to general in the definition. Art is always defined as a creative way to show imagination and perhaps to convey a message.

This is art!

This is art...?

Recently, art is being defined by people as using paint and a cavas to picture something with only a few recognising photography, literature, music and even digital painting. As a photographer I'm angry and a bit worried about this change in definition. I'm no longer considered an artist anymore and I think this causes for irrational behaviour:

Ban the word 'art'!

In all seriousness though, what comes to mind when I say 'art'?

Thoughts on copyright

As far as copyright law goes, I believe we need them. People can't go about using, copying and remixing works willy nilly, particularly for professional's works. However I'm no professional; I'm hardly known in the vast space of the internet. So instead of copyrighting photos, I allow people to share them on their own blogs for illustrating a point for example, and I like the idea that somewhere, someone wants yo use my photos so who am I to stop them. This reason alone is why I love the Creative Commons licenses and and would think that any photographer who isn't get money off their work or it's a great hobby of theirs, is a fool for not becoming part of this.

Now, obviously, these aren't for everyone. If you wold like to make a couple of quid of your photos, perhaps this isn't the best way forward however if all you're doing is taking pictures as hobby and particularly if you want a bit of recognition, it's the best way to see copyright in my honest opinion.

Self Portraits..

These are a couple of practise shots I did a couple of days ago in learning the joys of aperture and shutter speed. I was introduced to this kind of photography by a fellow photographer and creative writer, White Sabbath and I do like the idea of it; it has quite an artstic feel to it. Of course, these aren't the first self-portraits I've done but I do like these quite a lot.