Mike Barrett Photography

Photography Beyond The Moment

Chasing Light

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It’s always fun heading out to get long exposure photographs in urban settings. On this occasion I was running a workshop with MODE VITAL. It was a chilly January night, but conditions were ideal for capturing this type of shot and there was a lot of traffic about.

It’s always interesting teaching people new skills. It’s rewarding beyond compare. I love to see those little eureka moments as the realisation occurs that the scope of possibility is broadening, much like the smile that accompanies that realisation. DSLR cameras can do so much if you are aware of the settings that are available to you and indeed how to use them in conjunction with each other. If you get to know your kit and how it works the possibilities in terms of shots are literally limitless. When you know how to use your kit the rest is just perception and imagination.

I only took five shots on this particular night. This one was shot number three.  I had set the camera up purely as a demonstration mechanism and to determine what sort of settings would be optimal in this particular environment and for this composition. This type of shot is great for learning about the manual settings of a DSLR as it is such an extreme type of photography if you are relate it to the normal point and shoot shot that most people would take on their phones for instance. You have to set up for a long exposure in order to capture all those beautiful light trails and in turn you need to know how to control and set your ISO to determine the quality of the shot. Then there is the lens aperture, setting this up correctly is critical in order to capture all that beautiful detail. So you are very much hands on with the whole exposure triangle. There were some other things that we looked at like hyperfocal distance when focusing, timings and what to look out for regarding the capturing of good, strong imagery and moving light. Composition and leading lines etc. All good fun for those who love to learn more about these photographic processes.

© Mike Barrett Photography 2019 – All Rights Reserved

Lens EF17-40mm F/4L USM @ 40mm, F16, ISO 100, 20.0 Seconds Exposure, Tripod Mounted.

B Sides

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Any parent will tell you that child development and child growth happens at a rate of knots. I take a lot of photographs as you can imagine! In fact, between my wife and I we pretty much take multiple gigabytes of imagery every year. It’s an occupational hazard as well as a family passion. We love photographs.

Our daughter gets photographed quite a lot and she is well used to being in front of a camera, but much of the imagery that we get of her is pretty much candid, every day lifestyle type shots. Photo’s of her and us doing our own thing. So it was nice to get her in the studio where I could capture a range of images and emotions that many 6 year olds display at any given moment. Playful, sad, crazy, thoughtful, vacant, happy, forlorn, etc. She was a delight to work with and we had a lot of fun. I really should and will do this more often with her as she is growing up.

I was looking for something clean, a little low key and my focus was really very much on her in the spotlight so to speak.

Here are some of the shots from the studio session.

© Mike Barrett Photography 2019 – All Rights Reserved

 

Wast Water – The Lake District

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The Lake District is just one of the most phenomenally beautiful places in England. Come rain of shine, there is always something happening within the landscape that makes photographers like me twitch with anticipation. Recently I took my family over the Hardknott Pass looking for one of my favourite places in the Lakes, Wast Water. As well as being hard on the nerves, the clutch and brakes on your car wont be too happy with you after navigating the Hardknott Pass, even if you are taking it really easy. It is one of the steepest roads in England and at times has a gradient of 1 in 3 ( a 33% incline).

If the conditions are right though, and your nerves can take it, the landscape is absolutely breathtaking and well worth the trip. Wast Water is not a big a journey once you are over the pass. Perhaps another 20 minutes drive. It does have to be said that when you turn that final bend in the road when heading there and the lake opens up in front of you it is one of the most breath taking experiences. The screes that tumble from the mountains into the lake are a sight to behold alone. It somehow manages to convey the sheer magnificence of nature. A frozen rock fall of epic magnitude hung on the side of the mountain lending itself to the idea that time may actually be frozen. As an onlooker, as you are moving around it, this makes the scene quite eerie.

While we were there I set up the camera on the tripod and watched some formidable cloud formations drift in and out of the scene. Ideally, I would have liked to have been there at sunrise in perfect conditions, but I was on holiday with my family and we were just exploring and as I have said, there is always something happening within the landscape that makes photographers like me twitch with anticipation.

So, I played around with some different compositions and ended up with some photos that I absolutely love to bits. They show how beautiful this place is in the middle of the day when the sun is shining and there is some wonderful cloud formation skipping over the tops of the mountains.

© Mike Barrett Photography 2018 – All Rights Reserved

 

Sheffield Street Moments

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I went back to Sheffield recently with fellow TOG and good friend of mine, Graham Binns. It was a hot, hot day and we wanted to spend a our time doing something photographically creative. Due to the burning hot weather we thought that street photography was going to fit the bill. It was a little too bright for landscape photography and we had limited time also. So what better than to get out into the city streets and photograph joe public.

It was a cracking day but man was it hot. Like, exhaustingly hot. I think I must have perspired about 4 litres of sweat. That said, it was a fairly productive session. I have shot in sheffield on a couple of occasions now and have really enjoyed the vibe of the city. Many people approached us and spoke to us. My favourite image is the old guy sitting on the steps reading his book. I really like the leading lines in tis image. I really love the moment and the fact that the pigeon is just strutting around in front of him. You can feel the mood of time gently passing. Lost in a good book.

Here are a few from the pile…

© Mike Barrett Photography 2018 – All Rights Reserved

The Complexities of Pizza and being 5 Years Old

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It’s difficult to manage those emotions and choices when you are 5 years old.

Take pizza for instance. What topping to have? What drink to go with it? To wear the free hat or not wear the free hat? To order a side of garlic bread or not! Etc.
Still, the best thing about being 5 and going out for pizza is that it can turn out to be a lot of fun too.

Click on images for slideshow.

© Mike Barrett Photography 2018 – All Rights Reserved

 

Photographing Manifest Skateboards

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I recently went to spend a little time with an old and very good friend of mine Matt who resides over in Sheffield in South Yorkshire. Not too long ago he set up his own company making bespoke, hand made skateboards under the name Manifest Skateboards. About a year ago I did a small amount of work for him concerning some graphics for his decks. As a gesture in kind, Matt agreed to make a deck for my brother who is well into his skateboarding. For one reason or another I’d not seen Matt for a while, but I got to see the deck that he had made for my brother at Christmas time when visiting the family. I was blown away at what a beautiful thing it was. A well made, well finished, beautiful wooden skate deck with the Manifest logo emblazoned across it in black paint. Now I hung up my skate shoes many years ago, but the craftsmanship that had gone into this deck made me want to fish them out and start skating again right there and then. Made with the freshest, tastiest Canadian maple ply, (which is a Manifest tag line) this deck was an absolute thing of beauty. My brother was chuffed to bits with it too.

I got in touch with Matt to thank him for making this beautiful deck and to let him know how how stoked my brother was to have received it through the post. As old friends do, we got chatting about all sorts and putting the world to rights etc, but also during the conversation I said that I would like to come and make a video of Matt and his skateboard making endeavours and perhaps take some promotional photos for his company. He thought this was a great idea. So that is exactly what we did. It was great to catch up with my old friend too.

Below are some of the images I took for Manifest Skateboards. You can also see the video I made here: Crash, Bang, Wallop!

© Mike Barrett Photography 2018 – All Rights Reserved

 

Chasing Light in the Snow

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It was a cold, cold night. Freezing actually. Snow and sleet showers were sporadic and yet my friend, fellow tog Graham Binns and I decided it was a good time to go out and take some photos.

We wanted to get some images based on traffic movement at night. Light tracers derived from long exposures against a cold, black night sky.
This turned out to be somewhat difficult as there was hardly any traffic on the roads. It had been a really bad day for people trying to get home from work many of which had abandoned cars in a bid to make it home and get some warmth back into their bones. It hadn’t been a particularly bad snow fall, in fact in many areas most of it had thawed. What had made things decidedly difficult during the day was that the temperature had dropped well below zero on a couple of occasions, freezing water on the roads turning it to black ice. It had then snowed on top of that ice and which had made driving conditions ridiculously tricky. Some cars had turned over, buses had got stuck etc.

We dug our heals in somewhat and stuck it out, even though we were getting colder and colder by the minute. Despite the conditions we were having a great deal of fun moving about from place to place in a bid to get a couple of decent shots. It was getting late and the handful of photographs that we had taken were nice enough, but I certainly felt that I needed something more. In a last ditch effort to get something worthy of the evenings efforts we happened upon a bus shelter while driving into a local town. We texted the number on the shelter to find out if there was another bus coming our way. It was quite late and we had wondered if all the buses had stopped running, especially due to the weather conditions. As it turned out there was one last bus heading our way and the text service had given us it’s time of arrival. So we drove into town to set up the tripods in order to capture the passing light when the bus eventually did turn up. Sure enough it came into view in the distance as promised and I managed to get my best shot of the evening as it moved past us. The leading lines in the resulting image are just insane. All of them leading to one vanishing point. Such a great shot to get at the end of the evening, which is this first shot in this handful of images taken on the night.

© Mike Barrett Photography 2018 – All Rights Reserved

On The Phone But Not In The Box – Sheffield Street Photography

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My wife was recently lecturing at Sheffield Hallam University, so I went down with her for the day to do some street photography. I have visited Sheffield quite a lot over the years when visiting one of my good friends, but I have seldom got out into the city centre. So I took this opportunity to do just that. It was a good day for it. Not too bright, not too dull. A semi cloudy day with good diffused light.

Everybody seemed to be on their phones. It very much seemed to be a day of just that, or perhaps that’s just where my focus went on this occasion. One of my little tricks on the day was shooting through a couple of old red phone boxes to give a little framing to the images that I was taking. I really like how these shots have turned out. Here are a handful of shots from the day.

© Mike Barrett Photography 2018 – All Rights Reserved

 

From Low Newton-by-the-Sea to Dunstanburgh Castle

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I have just got back from a week long break in Northumberland with my family. We tend to go up there a lot. It’s a stunningly beautiful place where we go to unwind and breathe in the fresh sea air and generally chill out and recharge the batteries. What is so wonderful about the place is that it offers an unreal amount of incredible scenery, which for a photographer like myself, is just too hard to turn down.
I had a brilliant time up there armed with my camera and tripod and I managed to get some stunning shots to bring home with me from the holiday. Here a three of my favourite images from our time up there.

© Mike Barrett Photography 2018 – All Rights Reserved

The Hewenden Viaduct Reconnaissance Mission

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Out on a recce mission with my mate and fellow TOG, Graham Binns.

This beautiful viaduct looked like it would be an amazing place to go and capture some interesting landscape photography. Having done a little research online about where exactly it was and how one might go about photographing this amazing structure, it quickly became apparent that it was impossible to make any solid plans without first having visited the site. So that’s what we did.

We travelled there one afternoon just to have a good look around and get a feel for the place. I have a little app on my phone called ‘The Photographer’s Ephemeris’. It’s a great little tool that shows you exactly where the sun will rise and set, using GPS to verify your exact positioning. While we were on location we used the app to determine exactly where would be a great position to set up, ready to get some interestingly lit shots of this vast structure as the sun was going down. Obviously a little common sense and intuition goes a long way too, but when time is of the essence and the site is as large as this structure proved to be, this little app can prove to be priceless for knowing exactly where to be and when to be there.
This trip was all about getting to know a place and becoming familiar with the surroundings so that we may return again and again at different points throughout the year to photograph and rephotograph this stunning structure.

(Wikipedia Info)

‘Hewenden Viaduct, situated near Cullingworth, West Yorkshire, England, stands at 123 feet (37 m) tall and spans 576 yards (527 m) with 17 arches each of 16.5 yards (15 m). The foundations of the viaduct had to be sunk more than 60 feet (18 m) into the earth because of the unstable ground below.
The viaduct originally formed part of the Keighley and Thornton Branch of the Great Northern Railway and, together with the mile-long Lees Moor Tunnel, opened to passenger trains in 1883.
It served as a railway viaduct along the Queensbury Lines and it now forms part of the Great Northern Railway Trail for cyclists and walkers. It is a Grade II listed building.’

It just so happened that we had our kit with us and were able to get a few decent shots within the short time frame in which we were there.

© Mike Barrett Photography 2017 – All Rights Reserved

Ice on Fire

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I took this images with my iPhone. I was walking my little girl to school early one morning recently when there was a heave ground frost. These leaves were just stuck together in a frosty clump begging to be photographed. I didn’t have any of my camera kit on me, but I did have my iPhone which captured the scene beautifully. Autumn offers so much beautiful scenery. Such beautiful colours.

© Mike Barrett Photography 2017 – All Rights Reserved

Studley Royal Deer Park

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On Sunday morning I was up bright and early. At 4.30am to be precise. I was headed to Studley Royal Deer Park, which is a medieval deer park near Ripon in Yorkshire. I was accompanied by my good friend and fellow tog, Graham Binns. We were both hopeful to get some images of the deer at sunrise.

The deer park is part of the National Trust’s Fountains Abbey where the ruins of the Cistercian Abbey are set beside the grounds of Studley Royal. We travelled there because the weather report had said that it was going to be the ideal conditions for some fantastic sunrise photography.

It was still pitch black when we arrived. We got the kit together and headed out to find the deer and to wait for the sunrise. When the sun rise did appear, it offered a little bit of colour for a very small amount of time before clouding over and becoming as dull as dishwater. Not great for the type of photographs we were after. Not to be disheartened, we pressed on and made the most of our time there and captured what images we could on a somewhat dull and overcast morning.

The wildlife was stunning however. I have never in my life seen such a vast amount of pheasants, shrews, rabbits, all manor of different birds and literally thousands of magnificent deer.

We shall certainly be heading back again at some point to get the shots we had planned for.

Here are a handful of the images that I managed to acquire on the day.

© Mike Barrett Photography 2017 – All Rights Reserved

 

Ice and Fire – Studio Shoot with Sarah Thornton

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Here are some images from the latest studio shoot at the Silkwood Studios with the lovely Sarah Thornton. Again, a little twist on the edits. I like to mix things up a little. Fire and Ice because of the way the edits came together. Hot and cold colours. I love shooting photographs, but sometimes I really enjoy the editing side of things. This was certainly one of those occasions.

This studio shoot was in association with Bradford Photographic Society.

© Mike Barrett Photography 2017 – All Rights Reserved

 

Film Noir Shoot with Zoe Margo

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On Monday night I had the pleasure of working with model Zoe Margo on a Film Noir shoot at Silkwood Studios. This is the third time I have been over to the studio and it was great to hook up with some fellow togs (who are fast becoming familiar faces) for this stylised photo shoot.

The studio is such a great space to work in. A really relaxed, friendly and productive atmosphere with a great set of lighting options, backdrops and props. Just as any creative space should be.

I have nothing but good things to say about the time that I have spent there and how friendly and approachable the proprietors Karen and Victor are. Really nice people.

Concerning the shoot, my modus operandi is to always look for a different slant on established themes which is very much reflected in the edit regarding the shots that I have presented here. Film Noir yes, but with a twist.

© Mike Barrett Photography 2017 – All Rights Reserved

Melissa Alice – Silkwood Studio Shoot

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Another great studio shoot at Silkwood Studios last night with the lovely model Melissa Alice, who was professional and very patient throughout the evening.

Managed to get a nice range of photos exploring different lighting set ups. It turned out to be quite a colourful shoot, especially when the umbrellas came out.

A super night with some really nice people/fellow photographers.

© Mike Barrett Photography 2017 – All Rights Reserved

The Divine Miss Aitch – Studio Shoot with Bradford Photographic Society

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I recently linked up with the Bradford Photographic Society for a studio shoot at the Silkwood Studios in Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire. The Bradford Photographic Society was formed by a small group of photography enthusiasts way back in November 1860. It has been active in the city ever since. It boasts to be one of the oldest photographic societies in the world.

The model for the evening was The Divine Miss Aitch who is a part time, freelance model based in Harrogate, UK. She was exceptionally good, friendly and a delight to work with.

Here are a handful of shots that I took on the evening.

© Mike Barrett Photography 2017 – All Rights Reserved

 

Northumberland Coast – Summer 2017

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I recently spent some time up in Northumberland with my family on a summer vacation. Such a stunning part of the world. We try and get up there at least once a year if we can. While I was there I managed to get out and photograph the coast as the sun was rising. Luckily there was plenty of drama on this stunning morning. The light was just magnificent. Most of these shots are taken on Embleton Beach looking South/East over towards Dunstanburgh Castle. The Lighthouse shots were taken at Longstone Lighthouse in The Farne Islands. This is where Grace Darling once lived with her father who was the lighthouse keeper and where she made her heroic rescue of survivors from the shipwrecked Forfarshire in 1838.

© Mike Barrett Photography 2017 – All Rights Reserved

 

All Stars Performing Arts – Annie – Bradford Playhouse

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I recently had the great pleasure of playing President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the Bradford Playhouse last week on the 6th 7th and 8th of July. I joined the cast from the All Stars Performing Arts group who are an extremely talented bunch of young performers. The show was a massive hit and had 4 standing ovations. I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun performing. Usually I would have had my camera kit on me to document proceedings, but as I was part of the show and there were time constraints and various logistical issues, I was only able to take a few shots in and around the place with my iPhone 6s and the very handy Canon G16 compact.

The Bradford Playhouse is a gem of a theatre nestled in the centre of Bradford. It’s a stunning and quirky building that has a wonderful feel to it. Almost everybody that was involved with the show said similar things about the place. I tried to capture the essence of that quirkiness in the photo’s that I was able to snap in the time we spent there during the rehearsals and the duration of the show. 

© Mike Barrett Photography 2017 – All Rights Reserved

Jake Barrett – Trent Surfing

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This is a photograph of my brother Jake surfing the white waters at the National Water Sports Centre at Holme Pierrepont Country Park, Nottingham. It is a world class white water venue where both of my brothers Jake and Ethan are usually found training in canoe and kayak slalom respectively. They are a very talented pair and hopefuls for the future. They both perform to some of the highest standards in Great Britain. This is Jake having a bit of fun on the water on his surf board. I love this shot. How happy does he look?

© Mike Barrett Photography 2017 – All Rights Reserved

Bits of London – DSLR

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Here are some more shots from our trip to London. These were taken with my DSLR. Click on the images below to view the full pictures.

© Mike Barrett Photography 2017 – All Rights Reserved

Bits of London

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I’ve just spent a week in London with my family. We did the whole tourist thing. I have been to London many times but never done the site seeing and major attractions. I took a fair few photos on my DSLR which I have yet to download and have a look at, but here are a few shots that I took with my iPhone. Edits were done on the phone using Snapseed, Pixlr and VSCO. They are little snippets of the great week I have just spent exploring the Big Smoke with my wife and little girl. We had a fantastic time. My daughter absolutely loved every aspect of our holiday. So excited to discover the delights that London has to offer. I think her biggest joy was staying in the hotel. Easily pleased 4 year olds!

© Mike Barrett Photography 2017 – All Rights Reserved

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