Tata Chemical Factory - Winnington, Cheshire

Today I ventured out to capture the Tata Chemical Factory in Winnington, Cheshire (The old ICI site) after having been for a review of the area yesterday. The sun was out and the sky a brilliant blue interspersed with the perfect cloud formations for what I wanted.

Now firstly I agree with you when you say Chemical Factory! Fine Art! but that is something that I want to show in this blog is that some of the subjects you might discount straight away can be the best subjects to photograph as it gives you so many new ideas as it just hasn't been done before. Always push the boundaries of your photography and go that extra step, because your next great photograph might just be in the place you would never think of looking.

Here are the images from today and I hope you enjoy them.

 

Ashton Court at Sunset

As we move into the grips of Autumn I wanted to share with you one of my favorite images from Ashton Court in Bristol.

This image was taken late one evening as I walked around the park lands, approaching it as I made my way back to the car I saw the tree silhouetted against the evening sky and knew then that I had to capture it. The image was taken in colour and then I processed it to a black and white image before applying a warming filter to bring back the colour.

I have made this image available on a first edition limited run of 50 prints, each signed by myself and numbered and priced at £25 including postage and packaging.

The image is produced on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Giclee.
To order one of these limited edition prints sized at 12in by 8in (including border)
please use the PayPal button below. Please note once the edition of 50 prints has been sold
you will not be able to order any more.

 

Paris in Black and White

In 2007 I traveled to Paris (France) to watch the England vs South Africa opening game of the Rugby World Cup. To say the atmosphere was amazing would be an understatement. This was a city alive with passion for a sport it held close to its heart and wanted to share that with everyone. I mean when was the last time you saw a giant rugby ball suspended for a national monument?

Waiting for the game I decided to travel around Paris on a river taxi and took the opportunity to photography the Parisian street life both from the boat and on the land as well, however I wanted to keep the Seine a focal point for the photography so made sure that all the images I took were as close to the river that gives Paris its life as I could.

Originally taken in Colour, I converted the image set to Black and White using a technique I have developed for my work and here are some of the results.

Later this year I hope to put on an exhibition of the full works in the North West.

Posters beside the Seine

The Eiffel tower

Bridges across the Seine

Working lunch beside the Seine

 
 

Welcome

Hello and Welcome.

Firstly a little bit about me as its always nice to get to know the artist behind the work I think. In 1997 I left Cheshire and joined the Royal Air Force as a professional photographer after deciding I no longer wanted to work with computers (I know the irony of it still gets me each day!). 

Over the 12 years I was a member of the RAF I was lucky enough to travel the world either on detachments or postings and it opened my eyes to how beautiful each corner of our world really is and how it should be recorded. At the time my main roles were Press and PR photography and I never really appreciated how photography could be an art form, I suppose countless 'grip and grins' didn't really fill me with creativity!

In 2003 I was posted to Headquarters Strike Command and started work on the Command Video Team as part of the Command Graphics Unit. All of a sudden I was involved in multimedia in the forms of graphic design, photography, video production and animations to say it awakened a passion inside of me would be an understatement.

The age of digital was also firmly upon the photography trade and with it Photoshop that brought the endless hours of darkroom work into the lightrooms of the office. No longer did I need to spend hours waiting on films to process and test prints, I could download and be editing the images within minutes. This further spurred on my creativity and I joined the British Professional Photographers Associate and started to enter my work into their awards where I started to refine my skills and see photography as it really is, one of the great art forms of the 20th and 21st century.

Posted in 2006 to Cornwall I enjoyed countless hours of exploring the wealth of countryside and small towns it had to offer, the sunsets that blew my mind and the old ways that have long been forgotten in the cities. It was and still is one of the most magical times of my life and one day I hope to go back to live.

These days I live back Cheshire, after spending sometime in Bristol and hope to share with you all my work that I have done and new work that I plan to do. I will also be sharing some hints and tips I picked up along the way.

So if you want to keep up to date subscribe and I will see you soon with my next post.

Take care

Stew