Welcome to my Blog

Thank you for coming to look at my blog.

I started writing posts in January of 2019 and have now added over 30 more. I do hope you will enjoy reading about my journey to become more visually literate. I would  encourage you to add your comments or questions to the individual posts. I will try to reply in a timely manner.

The Google Blogger application prints out posts in reverse order so the first one you will see is the last one I have written. If this is the first time you have visited this blog it would be best if you could read the posts in the order they were written. If you look on the  the right hand side of this page you can see the dates of all the posts so you can select those from January 2019. All the post titles include the name Post 1 Post 2 Post 3 etc

I look forward to hearing your views in the comments section or by email to chrisc2055@gmail.com

Post 34- A Review of the past 12 months.

I started my Project designed to improve my visual literacy almost 12 months ago and have thoroughly enjoyed the discoveries I have made. I have tried to keep a note of the stages of my journey through the posts on this blog.

Early influences were Victoria Wilcox, Valerie Dahling, Chris Gilbert, Chris Upton and Chris M Dale. Exposure to these photographers opened my eyes to the many techniques open to the modern photographer and encouraged me to develop my own style of image creation.

I am in the process of selecting images for my third photobook of “Arresting Images” which I hope will enable you to see the evolution of my style and techniques during the year. I hope to get the chance to share these images with you.

I have benefited greatly from being a member of various photography groups like Togsquad, Ockbrook and Borrowash Image Club, Ockbrook Photo Club, the Friends Facebook Group and the Macro Photography Group. I have learned a lot by sharing ideas and experiences and moving out of my comfort zone to join in their monthly challenges..

During the year I have been inspired by Paul Sanders, Doug Chinnery, Julia Anna Gospodaru, Charlotte Bellamy, Heather Burns, Alex Fredricksen and Mary Frances.

I have also learned a lot by having Moy, my wife , as a mentor.  Many of the techniques and approaches I am struggling to learn seem to come naturally to her and I am regularly impressed and inspired by her work.

I now have a portfolio of techniques available to me and plan to spend next year trying to use my imagination and develop my creativity. I plan to produce images that create an emotional response in me hoping that they will also evoke a response in the viewers of my work. I must try to be less concerned about other people's opinions of my work and not be disheartened if their response is muted or negative.

I intend to close this blog at the end of 2019 and start a new one as I continue my journey towards increased Visual Literacy. I hope you will follow along.
Here is a link to Year 2 of my blog if you wish to follow along.
https://visualliteracyjourneyyear2.blogspot.com/

Chris Calverley

Post 33- Black and White

I have posted a number of black and white images on the he (en)Visionography Facebook Group and have had a few "likes". The site clearly has a core set of contributors who specialise in creating  stark images of isolated architectural subject.   The popular ones have been heavily and skilfully "photoshopped" to transform them into smooth blocks of grey shades with little or no visible texture.
I am impressed by these but not moved by them. A small number of  contributors are posting images of people and street scenes and these appeal to me much more. I do not plan to continue posting on this site
I am now convinced that black and white images are intrinsically more "arresting" because they portray their subjects in a way that is unreal and therefore likely to be more intriguing for the viewer. I have enjoyed revisiting old images and re-editing them in black and white and am very happy with the results.

The following three images are ones where I have allowed a single colour to remain. I like them because they look "different".

 I have not yet started to try and pre-visualise images in black and white which is a key precursor to the production of a "fine art" image. This is a completely different way of thinking and will take some time to master. I am lucky enough to have a Fuji camera that can produce black and white images on the preview screen so I hope to be able to learn this new skill fairly quickly.