Dont you love local councils

[Arthurhh]

Here in town we have an iconic item or two and of course lots of people want to photograph them, but of course the local council hasnt realized this and the results can be seen below. Can you guess what annoys me here?




These are quick sighter shots I took today, preparing for a night shot of this iconic item. It has a nice revolving colour light focused on it.

I have a plan I wonder if it will get me arrested when I do take the shots, at the least it will get me told off probably.

[chrisgin]

Here in town we have an iconic item or two and of course lots of people want to photograph them, but of course the local council hasnt realized this and the results can be seen below. Can you guess what annoys me here?

Is it the shops? The street lights? The parking signs? The cars? The bin? The trees? Everything apart from the sculpture basically.

[rjd]

Take a truck. Put sculpture onto truck.

Drive to scenic location.

Stand sculpture up.

Shoot at night, light paint it, get some star trails.

Winnar.

[Arthurhh]

Is it the shops? The street lights? The parking signs? The cars? The bin? The trees? Everything apart from the sculpture basically.

Actually I can all the items you mention except the bloody parking signs, they are absolutely in the right place to ruin the photo I want, but as I said I have a plan

[Arthurhh]

Take a truck. Put sculpture onto truck.

Drive to scenic location.

Stand sculpture up.

Shoot at night, light paint it, get some star trails.

Winnar.

Now that is a Plan, but bound to get me arrested and in this Town the cops don't have much patience and you DO NOT want to be arrested.

[Derwood]

That statue is how my kids see me I think!

I can certainly see that a night shoot with some light painting could be fun!

[Arthurhh]

That statue is how my kids see me I think!

I can certainly see that a night shoot with some light painting could be fun!

Light Painting, now that is brilliant, I hadnt thought of that for the series, and I have been wanting to try out the technique

[Paul.]

get a maglight and some coloured gels/filters for the light painting

[Arthurhh]

get a maglight and some coloured gels/filters for the light painting

Sounds logical, now I have to work out what will happen to the image as the colours from the lighting change on about a 4 second cycle.

Now off to google to find out how to do the light painting

[duncan]

just get a pipecutter & be done with it. Useful for parking meters also.

[Arthurhh]

just get a pipecutter & be done with it. Useful for parking meters also.

Actually it is in a pipe socket, with a locking shim holding it in place. I intend knocking the shim loose and just pulling it out temporarily. Local coppers said they didn't care so long as I put it back again. (Mind you the sign is a waste of space, so faded you cant read it)

To deal with my background light issues I intend shooting through a black mask cut to shape to hide the background lights, my problem will be to get rid of the hard edges of the mask.

Mask
C (
A------> -------------------- Object
M (

[Jos]

Clear cut the thing and play in Photoshop.

[rjd]

Have you talked to the council about it?

[Arthurhh]

Have you talked to the council about it?

Yep. I actually count the Mayor among my associates in this town, but to do anything in the red tape zone takes ages.

[Arthurhh]

Clear cut the thing and play in Photoshop.

nope i want this to be in camera

[Jos]

I was taking the mickey. Light painting would be the go for sure.


Am I allowed to say the thing is truly awful, set amongst trees maybe, but there in a sea of signs and shopfronts...

[Paul.]

Yep. I actually count the Mayor among my associates in this town, but to do anything in the red tape zone takes ages.

is he your brother/cousin?

[Arthurhh]

I was taking the mickey. Light painting would be the go for sure.


Am I allowed to say the thing is truly awful, set amongst trees maybe, but there in a sea of signs and shopfronts...

Yes it is badly placed, I am aware of the challenge I am facing, but the objective I have set is to take 5 evocative photos of this local icon.

It is an attempt to prove the technical bent I describe so loudly in my sig on this forum.

[mrfinster]

is he your brother/cousin?

Presumably a rhetorical question? I'm guessing you haven't studied nz genetics?!

Good luck Arthur.

Personally, I would just jump in a car and go find something easier to take a nice photo of, but I hope your efforts are rewarded and look forward to seeing what you can do. It's certainty a challenge.

[Arthurhh]

I was taking the mickey. Light painting would be the go for sure.


Am I allowed to say the thing is truly awful, set amongst trees maybe, but there in a sea of signs and shopfronts...

Yep you are sure allowed to say that, I am not sure I would disagree either, but it is kinda neat despite the background clutter.
Light painting will be hard to do with the flood lights, but not impossible.

[Arthurhh]

is he your brother/cousin?

If the mayor is related to me in anyway I will go outside with the Gun, and shoot myself, he is okay but I wouldnt want him in my family, hell I don't even want me in my family

[Arthurhh]

Presumably a rhetorical question? I'm guessing you haven't studied nz genetics?!

Good luck Arthur.

Personally, I would just jump in a car and go find something easier to take a nice photo of, but I hope your efforts are rewarded and look forward to seeing what you can do. It's certainty a challenge.

If it was easy to do this I wouldn't bother. I have set myself up for this as a development of my photography skills challenge. The location it is in is bad, the subject material is mediocre to say the least, and achieving the task will only provide the reward of self satisfaction.

The challenge is Five Photos, reflecting the communities value and perception of this object using a combination of photographic techniques.
Why do it and why this subject. Well I have a bit of time on my hands, there are several photographic areas I want to explore and well because it is there and is an acknowledged local Icon.

This will not be a quick project, I expect to take several months to complete it since I will have to do a lot of learning and practice before I get each shot in the style I want.

nz genetics !? Nope never considered the subject, but my cousin married his second cousin, the wedding notice in the paper caused a lot of tut tuting when it appeared in the Otago Daily times since it was S Hiscock marries C Hiscock. BTW none of there kids have buck teeth, all of them have university degrees and 1 a PHD. Mind you I always considered my cousin an odd fellow after all he plays the bag pipes

[RPM]

I can see the Jebidiah episode of the simpson in my head for some reason when you talk about relocating the sculpture... lol How about roping in some of the community to add to that aspect and to block out the signs with them. Low angle looking up with the guys in their work gear, forestry crew, drivers etc... Never got round to photographing any of those things but stopped often enough at night there for breaks and used to notice how great they looked at night.

[rjd]

A mediocre subject in a bad location.

Sometimes its best to move on.

[Lia]

A mediocre subject in a bad location.

Sometimes its best to move on.

Ditto