Tag: Kent

Time-lapse with the Panasonic GX8

Steve Hickey

 

Recently I was asked to make a time-lapse video during the creation of Susan Stockwell’s art installation at Hall Place, Bexley.

The installation – Trade Winds – would be made from thousands of coins on which would ‘float’ small ships made with paper money from around the world. I was aware that the installation could take up most of the floor space in the room which was about 8 x 10 metres so the first thing to sort out was where to put the camera. A tripod wasn’t an option as the chances of it being moved by accident were high but luckily there was a small lighting rail on the ceiling which I could use to hang a lightweight camera. I mounted the GX8 with a small clamp – backed up with Gaffa tape and a safety chain just in case the clamp and tape didn’t hold.

I used a 7.5mm Samyang Lens to cover the whole floor with the intention of cropping into the frame for the best coverage of Susan’s work.

The camera has a very good built-in intervalometer which is very easy to set up to shoot a series of images. I shot RAW still frames and didn’t use the in camera conversion to movie (quite frankly the conversion in camera is not very good). I processed the RAW frames in Capture One so I could output as jpegs which were then imported into Premiere Pro. I could then crop the full frame images as necessary to the 16:9 format.

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The Panasonic GX8 hanging upside down from the lighting rail.
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The final installation

It all worked pretty well and was used as both a standalone time-lapse and also as part of a longer video about the installation.

The only real issue I had was with the battery life which lasted  about 180 minutes, maybe a little more. Shooting about 3 frames a minute gave me around 600 frames or so depending on which battery was used. The installation progressed over 5 days so I would be away for much of the time, going in when I could to change batteries.  Sometimes the battery died before I could get in to replace it so there are a couple of points where the time-lapse moves on slightly quicker than it should but overall I think it works.

Susan Stockwell’s work can be seen on Su’s website.

Switch off and tighten up!

Steve Hickey
Deal Beach Parlour
Deal Beach Parlour

The display on the back of the camera – switch it off.

Even for someone like me who spent years trusting my skill with film and shooting in thousands of different situations its a sobering thing to do – switching off the display. Because like many photographers these days I’ve become addicted to the instant confirmation of the shot.

Only recently did I think to do it, and only last week put it into practice. Can’t believe it took me so long to do it. Maybe lots of photographers out there do this, but if they do they’re hiding it well, because almost every photographer I see has their face stuck in the back of the camera and they’re not looking through the viewfinder!

So last Wednesday I was in London and on the way home spent a few minutes taking pics with the display off as an experiment. It became very hard to not press the ‘play’ button to see what I had shot. I found this restriction I had imposed on myself quite annoying so I stopped after 20 minutes or so. I put it down to being tired and thought tomorrow I’ll try again.

Next day I was working back in Deal again and got there ages before my job started and so went for a walk with my camera (and with the screen off again). I just pretty much shot anything for about an hour. This time I found it more enjoyable – maybe I was tired the day before or perhaps it was the relaxing effect of being in Deal.

Well I did feel that it freed me up somewhat, didn’t create any earth shattering photographs, but had a good time. I continued to shoot part of the job later that day in the same way. Although I have to admit that at a certain point the lighting got a bit tricky so I switched on again – still addicted! But I will shoot more this way and see if it changes how I shoot. Just realised that sounds weird – been shooting for 40 years and I’m looking to see how something might change how I shoot! I think what I really mean is – lets see if I start shooting like I used to before digital came along.

What I did find last week was that switching off the display did tighten up my camera skills and did make me look outwards rather than inwards into what I had just shot. It’s worth a try. Switch off and tighten up!

Forty years on – Restart

Steve Hickey
Deal Pier Arts at the Deal Parade
Deal Pier Arts at the Deal Parade

So Blogging 101 came up and gave me a reason to reassess my blog and why I do it.

I think it was forty years ago last week that I started my first job in photography, thereabouts anyway. I spent a lot of time in the darkroom in 1975 – with the odd cockroach floating about in the fix as company, but I was let out on jobs as well and started to learn.
Forty years on last week I was in Deal starting work on a project for Deal Pier Arts (photo above), some nice fresh sea air!

I still shoot, still work, still earn a living doing what I like best. I’ve worked for some major companies for good money and I’ve also worked for a small return or even nothing if the subject interests me.

Well a few things have come up recently that have made me kind of reflect on why I still take pictures, but the main catalyst was finding Vivian Cherry’s book, Vivian Cherry’s New York, in a charity shop and it made me look into her life. A really inspiring person who after a long break from photography – stopped in the 1950’s –  took it up again later at the age of 67 (five years older than I am now).

I have also come across a fair amount of misinformation about photography lately on the internet and so I thought that rather than do the ‘see what a great photographer I am’  kind of blog – which seems to be everywhere ( and which I’m just as guilty of doing). I would give out some (hopefully) useful tips, information and how to’s. I’ve done that a little bit already, but I thought that now I should do more.

I’ve shot 40 years with film and almost 15 years with digital so I’ve a pretty good idea of how to do it. I’ve made plenty of mistakes in that time – (still make the odd one!) but I’ve also got it right a lot of times. If I get it wrong in the future then I’m sure that someone will let me know

The Rochester Dickensian Festival

Steve Hickey

 

The full length version of the Rochester Christmas Festival video. Filmed on 6th December 2014. I live not too far away and have visited the festivals, both summer and winter since around 1994 when we first took our then 3 year old son to watch the Christmas Festival. I used to think it was a very local event until after speaking to some of the participants I found that many had travelled long distances to take part.

Thank you to all those who gave me their time on the day.

Filmed with a Canon XF100, ungraded and using a custom profile.

Dickens Festival – Trailer

Steve Hickey

 

Rochester, Kent, is the home of Charles Dickens. About a 30 minute drive from where I live, Rochester is a place I often visit and when our children were young we often took them to  the Dickens Christmas and Summer festivals. The locals ( and those not so local ) dress as characters from Dickens stories and parade through the streets. This year I decided to film the event and talk to some of those involved.

 

Filmed with a Canon XF100, ungraded and using a custom profile.