BLURB BOOKS

The Making of My Blurb Book

For a large part of this semesters work I used a web site called Blurb Books, which is an online website where you can upload your images in 240ppi jpg format ( so printable quality), and create a book, either using one of their templates for the whole book, individual pages, or create your own page layout. Once you are completely satisfied with your creation, you save it and then publish the book. You choose softback or hardback and the size, with or without a dust jacket,and you also choose whether or not to let the book go public, which means that blurb will offer it for sale and you then receive a cut of the proceeds. You can also choose to keep it private so that you are the only person who can purchase it. You can order anything from 1 copy to hundreds and the price reduces according to the order quantity. The book is shipped to you within 2 weeks.
The copyright to the content remains with the author, and the copyright to the layout and systems for its creation remains with blurb.
Other such sites include Bobs books, which I didn't use because the book sizes needed to be larger than I wanted fro this project.
You can go to the Blurb website by following the link below.
http://www.Blurb.co/Uk

PLACES - CONCLUSION

For this Assignment, we had 4 unit topics to cover. To summarise the work I have chosen to present as final pieces, I have to discuss my work as a split of Familiar Place, Wilderness/Countryside & Alien or Foreign Environment, and The City or Urban Sprawl, since I created a book for the first 3 sections as one, and looked at the last separate.
A Familiar Place that is significant or important to you.
The Wilderness or Countryside.
The "Alien" or "Foreign" environment.
For the first 3 units, I wanted to convey the beauty of Northern Cyprus where I spend a lot of time since I have a place there. I set out to produce a coffee table book illustrating some of the fantastic views from various points. Many of the images were taken fro either a low or a high vantage point which I think adds to the sense of scale. I have incorporated all three topics into this book, choosing aerial perspective images of the earth for the alien environment, and a series of tree pattern images for the wilderness or countryside depicting random tree patterns. I edited many of the images into black and white since I wanted to convey a sense of the emptiness of the place, and also because of the vantage point there was a lot of aerial perspective so this made the images sharper. I used a deep depth of field throughout to capture every detail, such as F22 or higher, adjusting the shutter speed accordingly to compensate the correct exposure, and used a Nikon D80 DSLR with a 18 - 55 mm short telephoto, and a 70 - 300mm for greater distances. I attached a polarising filter which has made a greater impact to the hues of the skies on the colour images.
The City or the Urban Sprawl.
For this unit I used a series of images of Liverpool both outside of, and inside of some of the iconic buildings which make up the material skyline and fabric of the city. I wanted to convey the sense of diversity from the classical buildings of the Liver Building to the inside of the Catholic Cathedral. I used both low vantage view points to convey a sense of the scale of some of the buildings, to intimate shots of light filtering through into buildings through stained glass windows. Lighting was difficult in some of the buildings, but a careful post production editing with Photoshop has helped with most of the images. The two images which i have printed as final images are the Liver Building which I think would work as a postcard or in a travel brochure, and the Catholic Cathedral from the steps, since this is also an icon of modern architecture. Depth of field was key to ensure all the details were retained. Throughout I used a Nikon D80 DSLR, with an 18 - 55 mm, or a 70 - 300mm lens since they were convenient through a range of different situations.

PLACES - The City or The Urban Sprawl

Above is the Atlantic Tower Hotel building, which is another iconic symbol of the Liverpool skyline. The tower is shaped to represent a liner. This was taken on ISO 100, 1/100th second and f14 using he Nikon D80 DSLR. The focal length was 30mm.

The image below is the Ferry Terminal at the Port. This building is in stark contrast to all the classical architecture which surrounds it. It is ultra modern in its design. Taken on 18mm focal length, 1/100th of a second and f14.

PLACES - The City or the Urban Sprawl

I really like these views of some of the iconic buildings around the City. The India port buildings are colossal in size, and recognised the world over as being the city port of Liverpool. The image of the Liver Bird Building is one which I have chosen as a final image since I like the composition, the white of the building against the blue sky, and the red city buses which creates a great composition overall. This was taken on ISO 400, 31mm focal length, 1/200th second and f20. The first image shows the views down from India buildings to St Georges Hall, The second shows the view from the steps of the Catholic cathedral down Hope Street to the Anglican Cathedral, the last image show the post office tower from the steps of the Anglican. These type of images could be used in travel promotions and public or community brochures or websites.

PLACES - The City or The Urban Sprawl

This series of images were taken inside the Anglican Cathedral and serve to highlight the complete differences between the two buildings. These were taken on 1/3 second at F/16 to gain a good depth of field. The Focal length of the lens was 18mm giving a wide angle of view.

PLACES - The City or Urban Sprawl

I was enchanted by the light within the Catholic Cathedral. It struck me that this was as much a feature on the inside as it is on the outside for the city. The second thing I realised was the total difference between the light from the Catholic Cathedral to that of the Anglican Cathedral, being of traditional stained glass themes. In order to gain enough exposure in dark places I needed to reduce the aperture since I needed to maintain a reasonable shutter speed to avoid camera shake, since a tripod was not permissible.

PLACES - The City or Urban Sprawl

China Town

This is the China town gate, which was donated to the city in the millennium year, and was shipped from China in 6 full containers by sea. There is a huge Chinese community in Liverpool. The other image is a massive Chinese bronze dog said to protect the community.
Both images were taken using the Nikon D80 SLR, 19mm focal length, 1/125th second shutter speed, and f18 to get a good depth of field. Post production, I have altered the Brightness/Contrast and added a fill light to bring out the detail and enhance the colours using Photo shop CS4.

PLACES - The City or Urban Sprawl

Here are some of Liverpool's' most defining landmark churches and cathedrals. All the images were taken using a Nikon D80, ISO 400 because the weather was changeable, and using an 18 - 55mm short telephoto lens in order that I didn't need to keep changing lenses for different circumstances. The far left photo of the Catholic Cathedral was taken at 55mm focal length, 1/125th second and f.16, and the small chapel on the same settings.

PLACES - The City or the Urban Sprawl Introduction

Introduction - The City or The Urban Sprawl

The city is defined by its building as much as by its people. Liverpool is where I have chosen to produce my images for this unit. Liverpool is steeped in maritime history, but also in its Cathedrals, being blessed with two, the Catholic and the Anglican at either end of Hope Street. Also famous for the Liver birds perched on top of the Port buildings. So I have concentrated on various images of the city both within and without, and sometimes on the light from within.

These images are of the Philharmonic Pub which is famous the world over, not least of all for its toilets!

Faye Godwins Images - Places

Faye Godwin's amazing use of shadows and highlights, light and dark, contrast and dramatic black and white creates moody atmospheric works of art.

Places - A Look at Fay Godwin's work

Here I love the use of shadow and the subject matter where she has taken maximum advantage of the moment. Black and white complements the picture perfectly.

Places - Looking at Fay Godwins work

Faye Godwin's book, Landmarks is full of images which are inspirational because they are moody and sensitive, conveying a sense of the unreal as well as the real through her choices such as the use of black and white, shadow and highlight, contrast and general control of her depiction of places. following are some of my favourite photographs.