Returning to Africa - Planning for a Photographic Adventure.

Hey guys, how are you all going?

Cheetah

Well not long to go now before we jump onto that plane and travel 5000 miles to west to Africa. This is a trip that's been nearly 6 months in the making, so I am very excited to be going back, not only to see the family and friends who are still there, but we are going to be doing things that will make this a once in a lifetime trip around Southern Africa. We will be exploring; South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana.

On previous holidays away, I have done a video blog of the trip recording my experience's, scenes, & thoughts as I go. These have usually been recorded and edited on my iPhone with some photos that I've copied across from another camera. I want to try and 'up' the production value of how I document this trip, as such I will compiling media captured on the iPhone, GoPro, Sony A7 & the DJI Phantom.

I've been thinking and planning the 'documentation' side of the trip more than just about any trip. The more I've travelled to more I've tried to limit just how much stuff I take with me on a trip. This trip initially set out along the same lengths, but as the months went on I've been adding things to the 'gear I want to take to Africa ... list'

Happy New Year

Happy New Years everyone, 2015 has come and gone in the blink of the eye and 2016 has begun.

I've got a quick video after I'm done talking, showcasing some photos and videos I took throughout 2015, I've got to apologise for the few months that will have no photos in... It was a slow year for photos.

Bali_Wing

I'm sure, like many of you, the thought of New Year's resolutions tends to be at the forefront of our minds. I've got the pretty generic ones that most of us have, get fit, eat healthy and others like that but I've also got some 'photography' related ones that I'm going to talk more about.

You guys may or may not have noticed that I've been playing with videos more lately, I'd like to put out a weekly vlog/what every kind of video. Got a few ideas on some what kinds of videos I could put out. I want to get out and shoot a lot more photo and video this year, last year was pretty tame compared to the year before so I must make the conscious effort to get out and shoot more.

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Leading on from that I'd like shoot a roll of film a week be it 35mm or 120 film on some of my different cameras and film stocks in a 'weekly analogue shoot'. I'm still undecided if I'll leave the film to be developed at the end of the year or develop them as they are shot, who knows ill see how I go.

And again leading on from the weekly film shooting, I want to learn to develop film as well, maybe even make one of the weekly videos my first attempt at developing a roll of film. I'd like to develop my phantom drive video, trying to up the quality of what I am shooting on the phantom

Trigg_Sunset

I guess I should talk about my trip off to Southern Africa in the next 6 days, I will be doing a daily vlog video's of what we are up to from day to day. Only problem is that there probably won't be internet access to upload said daily vlogs, so chances are the videos will be compiled into either 1 long video or several video's. It's really Internet dependant. Before we leave I'll be throwing a video together of some of the gear I'll be taking with me on the trip so keep an eye out for that.

Happy Back to the Future Day

Well today’s the day, the day that the ‘Future’ becomes and the 'Present', and soon to be the 'Past'.

Time Circuits

Back to the Future has been a part of my life, literally, since I was born. After I was born, and still in the hospital, my dad went to watch the first movie in the cinemas. Since then I have grown up watching the movies, I remember the moment my dad came home with the 3rd movie on video tape for us to watch.

After the movies, it was my life’s dream to go to Universal Studios in Florida to ride on the BTTF ride. Unfortunately, when I finally got the chance to visit the ride had been replaced with the Simpsons experience and all that was left to remind us of what once was, was a chicken restaurant. Also while in Florida we did the Back Lot tour and went past the original vehicles that had been left to sit in the elements, so needless to say they were not looking very good. Luckily the car has been saved, and restored back to its original glory, hopefully I can go and see it sometime. Also while in LA we went to the Gamble House by Greene & Greene, which was used as Doc Browns Mansion in the movies.

I thought my hopes of getting to experience the BTTF ride, until I learnt that it was still in operation in UniversalStudios in Osaka, Japan. So when I went to Japan last year I made sure to include a stopover in Osaka to finally get to experience the ride I’d dreamed of for so long. It was a little dated by today’s standards, but I still loved every moment of it!

So to end off this quick blog post, in the immortal words of Doctor Emmett Brown:

“Your future hasn't been written yet. No one's has. Your future is whatever you make it. So make it a good one.”
DocBrown

Black & White Architecture

Greetings everyone.

Well I really haven't been good at keeping these posts going, it's been pretty crazy since my last post. Also I haven't really been out taking that many photos lately, hopefully that'll change soon. If not I do have a ton of images that are in my back catalogue that I haven't even looked at yet. I'll do a proper, 'Self Update' soon so I'll leave all those juicy details for later. Rather lets look at some photos I have taken recently.

Architecture has been a subject that I've loved with for a very long time, it's a major reason why I work in the field as well. When I started my photography I was shooting architecture in more abstract ways, tending to focus on some of the architectural details rather than the building/structure as a whole. It was a great way to get into photography in general as I learnt a lot about composition and lighting, also buildings don't change ... well normally they really shouldn't. Photographing buildings is very different, compared to say model or fashion photography. Directing people is something I am still learning to feel comfortable doing, so being free to photograph a building at my leisure is what inspired me to try different types of shooting and helped me boost my confidence in my photographic ability

I haven't really don't much architectural photography for a long time, and it was an opportunity through work that got the architectural photographic inspired juices flowing again. Since then I've started to shoot more and have also invested in a nice 17-40mm wide angle lens. I've had a blast getting to play with the super wide focal range. It really isn't a range that I've ever shot at before. With these images, I have always loved Black and White photography as well so mixing the high contrast of B&W with the architectural lines creates an interesting look.

Anyway I hope you’ve enjoyed these, let me know in the comments below what you think. Otherwise I will be back with some more posts soon.

Mike.

Japan - Public Transport 日本の公共交通機関

Greetings everyone, well here is the first in a series of Japanese post's that I have lined up. You may have noticed an audio file just above this blog text, by playing the audio you can get a greater ‘sensory experience’ with this blog post; this concept is something that I’ve been playing around with for some time. Hopefully it will do what I am hoping it will, let me know in the comments below what you think.

Public transport in Japan is terrifyingly daunting to wrap your head around if you are a first time traveller looking at the multi-coloured spaghetti maps that make up Tokyo’s train system, but it is also such an amazing thing to try work out and experience. The efficiency of the system is fantastic; you never have worry about having to wait long for a train to where ever you are going.

If you enjoy people watching, like I do, then you will have a great time just standing on the platforms watching everyone go about their lives in the hustle and bustle of life in Tokyo.

Welcome

Hello everyone, I trust that you are that you are all well. Well after nearly 4 years Mikeraats.com is finally online ... mostly. I am still working my way through how I would like the site to showcase my work.

LeicaM6_001

The plan for this blog is to try and have a new post at least once a week, I will do my best to try and keep to this. I have plenty of photos that still need to be looked at, culled, edited and then posted. That's even before I can come up with some witty sentence that may or may not be read.

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I've got some, I think, interesting idea's on the layouts on some of the image based blog posts. So for the time being please bear with me while I get the site and blog up and running. Ill post updates here when new things are added to the site.

Mike.