Palace Hub Gallery PV

If you would like to know what we have been up to all this time - now's your chance!
RSVP please.

PLaIT Alumni

Calling all former students!

Alumni2 will start in May. The sequence has changed slightly so that instead of every four weeks we shall now meet on the second Wednesday of the month which is slightly more irregular but which fits in better with the way other organisations schedule their meetings and will help to avoid clashes.

The cost has to rise, sadly, as our new venue is much, much more expensive than the old one. Rigwood House is very nice but not cheap! 

The fee for the next year will be £120. For this, you get:

• Ten meetings, eight of which will be based at Rigwood and two will be whole-day location shoots.
• Access to peer-to-peer sharing through the online community
• Unlimited mentoring and support from Mark and Nel.

To sweeten the pill, we have added the two whole-day guided shoots which are normally marketed at £55 per head, so we think this still represents good value for money and we hope you will agree!

IYP 3 course starts 20th Feb

We are currently taking bookings for the next run of our ever-popular course 'Improve Your Photography'. Further details and online booking can be found on our sister site here:http://www.plait.co/p/plait-courses.html or email us on info (at) hicksonphotography.co.uk for further details.

New developments

We've been cooking up a few things lately which some of this group have heard about and some have not, so this is a bit of an update.

Hickson Photography
You'll all be familiar with us under our PLaIT branding which majors on academic photography and tuition. There is a link to the PLaIT website at the top of this blog so you can see what we're up to by looking at that. We also have a PLaIT Facebook page. If you haven't done so already, it would be great (assuming you're on Facebook) if you would 'like' it. If you're a user of Twitter, you can follow us there, too: @PLAITLearning.

For a while we've been looking for a space in which to carry out our cyanotype work, process and print (including large format), set up a small studio area and have a public-facing office. The news is that we shall be moving into the new Palace Hub building on Redcar seafront next month. The building is still being completed (and we've insisted that they give us a bigger sink!) so we're not holding our breath for a precise moving-in date but, nonetheless, are hoping that it'll be 18th February. We're really excited about this. In addition to teaching and pursuing our own fine art photography practice we'll be returning to doing some studio/social work as well - and we're looking forward to forging working relationships with other photographers in the Redcar area.

We have decided to build a different but related brand for this new venture, which we see as a part of PLaIT. We've opted for a basic, 'what it says on the tin' approach and so ... *fanfare* ... welcome to 'Hickson Photography'.

We have a shiny new website: www.hicksonphotography.co.uk This is still under development so consider it a sneaky preview if you choose to take a look! Naturally there's a Facebook page, too (please 'like' us), and a Twitter identity: @hicksonphotos.

PlaIT will, of course, be offering some courses in Redcar in the future but that will be in addition to, rather than as a replacement for, the work we do in Saltburn and East Cleveland.

Oh yes ... and we'll be having a party/open evening/office warming. And you'll all be invited!

Photo Exhibition PV Invite

Recently, Mark and Nel have been working on a photography project with young adults with autism.

Do come along to the exhibition if you can!

Open Garden Invitation

We know that many of you have been following the progress of our garden building with interest. This coming Sunday, 9th September from 1-4pm, we shall be sitting in our new garden sipping Pimms, weather permitting. If anyone would like to drop in to view our handiwork and enjoy a little liquid refreshment, you will be very welcome. This is NOT a big social event, just an opportunity to view work in progress. Kindly note there will be no access to the house and therefore no toilet facilities!

Please contact us for the address.

Mark and Nel.

Last chance to shoot Steetley

Chimney demolition

Steetley site clearance

Looks like we got there just in time...


http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/local/steetley-work-is-progressing-well-1-4558933

Reminder

Just a reminder to those of you who are coming to the Alumni Group (working title: PLaITing On) that the first meeting is this Wednesday at Saltburn Community Arts Centre, 7.30pm. All welcome.


This new group in no way affects the viability of the Profile Five.

Hi all ,I have been playing again with my fruit and a little light painting what do you think.

Alumni Group - change of date!

Please note that the first meeting of the Alumni Group will be on Wednesday 9th May at 7.30pm at Saltburn Community Arts Association - not, as formerly planned, on 2nd May.

We apologise for any inconvenience this unavoidable alteration may cause you.

Pitchers wot I took

Nel and I went to Glasgow Botanic Gardens one morning last week to visit the glass house and get out of the rain. I loved the pitcher plants, a little unsettling but beautiful in their own way...

Improve Your Photography Crossword

We've been working out how to get an online crossword up and running for our Improve Your Photography course folks - thought you might like to road test it for us.


Click below...


IYP - The Crossword


...we'd be grateful for any comments :-)

New Course Programme

Click here for our Photography Course Programme from summer 2012


You are warmly invited to join the alumni group!

Steetley Trip

Hi Folks, here are another couple of shots from Steetley, the level of art work in the graffiti there is just amazing, it also goes to show just how much there is there to photograph

The second of the two shots is a really tight crop, originally I took the whole of the tank that the picture was painted on, but felt the tighter crop better matched the shot with the girls face, which was already a close up

Hi everyone. I really enjoyed our visit to Hartlepool.Thanks to everyone for making it so enjoyable. Thanks to Andrew for the loan of the two lenses. 

What an amazing place. These are my offerings. The sky was interesting , vivid blue at times with great cloud formations. I put the bottom shot in because the pier shadow appears to follow it into the sea.

What a fantastic place!!

It was great to catch up on Sunday, it has been toooo long!! Just a few of my shots from the day.... I had a great time, and will definitely be returning to Steetley!!

Hi All just had an idea for a little project for all to have a go,choose three items from a list and try to combine all items into one photograph .

Example....a bird in flight,bridge and an Icecream or maybe nuts and bolts,glass and wood,see what you think and give some ideas.I will keep thinking maybe colours ,textures or even letters or words anyway have a think.

Steetley Trip

The Duck fell off his tricycle I think :-)

This was fully zoomed in with my 10-22mm, not a great zoom but I still like it

F9 at 22mm, ISO200, 1/500 sec

Turrets

Simon the Explorer or sniper ???

This is a Shoot out
hide and seek



Thanks to Andrew for sorting computer and here are a few pics from weekend and if i do say quite pleased with images from a most enjoyable day ,Thanks all.

Chimping

Steve in action...

Steetly

This is one of the ones I took inside the tank and as you can see over exposed in top left despite some manipulation. If I exposed for that though the black in bottom right lost definition (what little there is!)

Steetley

I found it hard to "see" a picture at this location but thought it was fascinating. I think I might go back and have another go now I know what to expect. I thoroughly enjoyed experimenting with Nell's lens, thank you for letting me borrow it

Steetley Trip

Felt this shot just gave some sense of scale to the size of some of those holding towers, "big fella" looking a little smaller .. :-))

f5.6 at 10mm, iso 800, 1/40 sec, letting a lot of light in, the upper section had totally blown out and I had to do a little work in camera raw to tone it down a bit, but it was a lot darker in the lower half, so I had the camera set to expose for the bottom half of the shot, thoughts welcome on how to improve or balance the overall exposure

Steetley at night

Just found this.. http://www.urbexforums.co.uk/showthread.php/15012-Steetley-Moonlight-Explore-Hartlepool-September-2011

Steetley Trip

Whilst in the Dunes with Sheila, oops, sounds wrong.... lol got a couple of super shots of the dune grass, could almost be some tropical island but I felt the jetty brought it back to reality

Some boring stuff now for any camera buffs, f4.5 at 10mm, iso 200, 1/2500 sec, that meant a fairly good DOF and fast enough to stop the grass moving in the breeze

Steetley - first couple of shots

Here are a couple hot off the press, more to follow when I get time...

Steetley Trip

Well here it is, my "pipe in the grass"

Col took the dog for a walk when I got home, so the opportunity to take a quick look at my photo's, :-))

A great trip out guy's, thanks for the great company, really enjoyed it, more photo's to follow and can't wait to see all of yours

Nel and I have a new lens, too (from the Focus on Imaging show last week)...

Our next shoot

Sunday 10th seems to have crept up very quickly - shall we go for the 18th at 2pm?


Please RSVP in Comments below.


Here's the location:




View Steetley Magnesite Hartlepool in a larger map


If you've not been there before, the best approach is along Old Cemetery Road. The road goes past the old cemetery (natch) which is another great photo opportunity in itself. Keep driving, but how far you take your car down is a matter of personal choice and ground clearance! We drove ours right down onto the site, but you might prefer not to do that.


The ground is uneven and generally unpredictable - stout shoes recommended!


Further info here

Here we have a couple of shots taken at Saltburn with a very special lens ,what do you think.

Free Sundays

Hi All

I can make those two Sunday's as well, the 11th or the 18th of March

 Hello everyone. These photos are for info only not for their photographic value. I just thought you may like to see what the outcome was. They were born last Friday soon after I arrived. Eleven puppies!

It was lovely to see you all last week. I am looking forward to going on our photo shoot. I am free on Sundays 11th and 18th of March. 

Self

A little messing in photoshop with an old fishing boat down at the gare.