Karan Chadda

Global digital marketing and communications leader

Photos

England v Italy, Twickenham, March 2013

Usually, a trip to Twickenham sees me imbibing pints, sipping scotch and heading off for a post-match curry. However, for various reasons, this wasn’t a usual visit to the home of English rugby, so I took the opportunity to test out Sony’s 50-210mm lens.

I should flag up a caveat right at the start, the editing on these pictures is a bit varied – consistency in editing is something I’m still working toward. They’re all taken from 68th row of the stadium’s middle tier, so pretty far back but with an excellent view.

English pack warm up
Paralympian abseils from the roof to deliver the match ball
Guardsman band marches in to play the anthems
Full house
England appear, the stadium erupts
Toby Flood keeps the scoreboard ticking over
Parling reaching out
Care feeds in at a scrum
Orquera tried to keep ITaly in the game
Even with possession, England were pretty laboured in their approach
Try as he might, Flood failed to make a clean break
Italy showed some decent attacking zeal
Full House
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Snow and ice in and around Bushy Park

I took the opportunity to hack around Bushy Park in the lovely snow. It was surprisingly empty. A few dog walkers, some kids having snowball fight and the occasional photographer.

I managed to take a few good snaps. I’m particularly happy with the icy plants. I spotted them around the corner from the park – a happy by product of some leaky guttering.

Untitled by kchadda1

I’ve been playing around with different ways of displaying photos, the wordpress galleries are neat but I’m finding it hard to keep track of my images – some on wordpress, others on flickr, facebook, twitter and instagram. They’re all on my computer too and synced on Apple’s photostream, but I think I need to rationalise. I’m backing flickr and instagram and then sharing from those off to other sites. I’m keen to find out what others think about this set up, so do drop me line with your thoughts.

Lomo – uncut

I’ve written a fair bit about light recently. It’s been fun learning more about what’s possible just by adjusting some settings or taking a snap from a different angle. Then I printed out some photos and it struck me that there was some fun to be had working with film. Since I’m not able to develop images from film myself, I would literally get what I take, no adjustments, no cropping, no quick fixes. Then I thought, if I’m going to lose some control over the end result, I might as well lose some more. So I decided to give Lomography a try.

Now, I’m aware that Lomography is a bit divisive – is it really photography or is it hipster-ism gone mad? Well, I think it’s really photography. Some of the marketing blurb is a bit far-fetched but ultimately you’ve got a camera, you know its limitations and its strengths, and you take the best snaps you can. I got a Diana F+, bought some 120 film, then started snapping away.

Below is my first attempt at capturing some of the Lomo fun. I could have cropped and re-sized the images. I could have adjusted the contrast. That’s not the point though. It’s not about capturing a perfect moment, or even about capturing a real moment, it’s about enjoying moments and having fun taking snaps.

Imperfectly wound
Double exposure
Light leakage
More light leakage
Double take

A note of caution

If you decide to try out Lomo, there are a few things that it’s useful to be aware of:

– If you get a camera that takes 120 film, it’s hard to source somewhere that will develop it, and it won’t be cheap. Two rolls cost me £36 from Snappy Snaps in Kingston. They’re a very friendly bunch in there, but it’s the price of a decent SD card for 20-odd snaps and a CD. Processing 35mm film is much easier and cheaper.

– Light will leak in, sometimes the spool won’t wind properly, you’ll forget to remove the lens cap (repeatedly) and you’ll feel a bit of a wally walking around with a plastic camera with an over-sized flash.

– Storing film in your fridge makes you feel unbelievably cool.

– Nothing will prepare you for the excitement of waiting to view snaps that you took a week ago. It can be unbearable.

Light doesn’t travel in straight lines

I popped over to a party by Brick Lane this evening. The warren of streets between Spitalfields and Brick Lane is wonderful. Cleaned up, brick built, tightly packed little buildings crammed into small, dimly lit lanes. It can uniquely be described as gentrified Dickensian.

The scene made a wonderful setting for an experiment with light. It wasn’t a very successful experiment. Partly because I had limited time and partly because I’m not the most gifted snapper. The only photo I am able to share is below. The building should be in sharper focus, but it is not far off. The light waves brilliantly. The photo is unedited.

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Glowing in the mist

When confronted by icy cold temperatures and thick fog, most people would turn their collars up and head home as soon as possible. I decided it was a good moment to stop and take a snap or two.

I’ve been really concentrating on light recently and the warm glow of the street lights cutting through the mist really inspired me.

Of this set, I think my favourite image is the one where the lights cuts diagonally across the image. I’ve dubbed it ‘Sliced by light’. It’s the featured image in the gallery below.

Sliced by light
From glow to shadow
The path and the light
Heading toward the light
Asymmetric glow

 

As an aside, if anyone has feedback on the gallery style I’ve used for this post, I’d love to hear it. Please do comment or drop me a note on twitter.