Portrait Session with Brennan

The first half of the year has gone by pretty fast. Everyone gets busy and as usual things become priority and other things fall by the waist side. I hadn't seen my friend Brennan for a long time so when he called me up and asked to help him with filming something I was intrigued. I can't reveal all the details right now but I'll be sure to post something when the ideas have all come together!

While he was here he wanted to get some pictures done for his channel art. The timing of this was perfect because I had just received my Godox Octobox and was eager to test it out.

The octobox is really easy to set up, it's just like setting up an umbrella with a Velcro scrim on the front. As it's a little bit big, 120cm in diameter, I decided to use two flashes in the softbox for added power, mainly to achieve an even soft light on Brennan.

For those of you who are interested, here is the lighting diagram and my camera settings.

Here are my favourite images from the session.

You can see more of my work at www.JamilTeja.blogspot.co.uk and www.JamilTeja.co.uk

The first in a new series

My Friday Favourites, take one!

I want to start a new series on my blog, sharing some of my favourite images that I've taken over the last few years and exploring how I captured the images. I will call this series, My Friday Favourites.

I chose to start with this image. Here is a little background information. I captured this way back in 2011. I had just broken up for the Christmas holidays from university that same day, I literally hopped off the train and drove down to the harbour.

I arrived at the harbour at around 4pm and took a walk around the area before finally setting up my camera at this view point. I had set up my shot with a different composition but when I accidentally zoomed out I saw this wonderful perspective and something about it caught my eye. 

My camera set up for this image was my Canon 7D with my Sigma 10-20mm f3.5 lens. I used a tripod to support my camera to avoid camera shake. On the front of my camera I placed an ND filter.

I really wanted to experiment with long exposures, I wanted to be able to capture smooth milky water and beautiful movement in the clouds. However, the only way I could do this was to wait until the Sun had set otherwise my shutter speed would be too fast.

As the Sun started to set on the horizon I dialed in my settings, f14 at 30 seconds ISO 100 and waited. I waited and waited and waited for my moment. The sun descended beneath the clouds and I clicked the shutter button. 30 seconds later I reviewed, capturing a few more frames, some brighter some darker.

When I reached home, I uploaded my pictures, sifted through them to find this beautiful image.

I love the composition, the dark strong figure of the tree centered in the frame, with other trees in the background. I also love the colours, I have been asked if I tampered with the colour but I can confirm those are the colours straight out of the camera.  

This is one of the pictures I'm most proud of and this spot has become a favourite of mine to shoot at.

I can't believe it's been Two Years!!

I've just realised that last week was the 8th of May!
That means two whole years ago (and one week) I started sharing in this blog.
As I wrote my first blog post, I was a little hesitant about starting another blog, as I'd used other blog formats to share my work and ideas but I'd found them hard to stick with.

Here we are celebrating my blog's two year anniversary, it's an amazing feeling to know that I've finally found a space where I can share my ideas and keep adding to them and developing on them as time goes by.

I started writing in this blog to share my work and my ideas in one place, to show finished pieces of work but also to share pieces of work that I was working on. I also started writing in this blog to help find my audience; to share my work with my audience and to have a conversation with my audience.

I want to thank you all for coming along on this journey. Together we've almost reached 10,000 views! As I write this I still can't believe that's right, I'm checking my stats to see if I've rounded up that number but no, it's really there, as I'm writing this we are just a few views away from 10,000!

Writing in this blog has helped to develop my voice, which is something I've always struggled with, sharing my ideas in a cohesive manner was never a strength but over the years I have improved and in the years a head I aim to improve further.

As this blog post comes to a close, I'm filled with an amazing feeling, this journey that I embarked on two years ago is still going strong, this blog is looking better than ever and I think the best way to end this blog post is to share my hopes and dreams for the next two years.

1.  I hope to keep writing in this blog 

2. I hope to keep training and developing my voice 

3. Finally, I hope to have more of a conversation with my audience. 

I want you to share the blog posts that you relate to or find interesting and I want you to comment on these blog posts to continue our conversation.

 Who knows where we will be in two years time, maybe by then I'll be writing about how we're about to reach 20,000 views!

Until next time.

Back from Mombasa!

Over the last couple of weeks I travelled out to Mombasa with my family to visit my Aunties and Grandmother. We had a wonderful time relaxing by the beach, soaking up the sunshine and seeing some of the beautiful sights Mombasa has to offer!

A Short Run - A Jamil Teja Short

Good Evening

 

I'm writing this blog on Monday evening. I've had a busy day trying to fulfill some of my new years resolutions. As I wrote in my previous blog which you can find Here, when we started the year I wanted to push my creativity in addition to getting more active.

And that's exactly what I am doing.

 

Earlier today I signed up for the Sports Relief 6 mile run in Bournemouth, I'm trying to raise £50 for the cause, which will go towards helping people all over the world.

If you would like to sponsor me for the run you can find my donating page here.
Any donations will be greatly appreciated!

In preparation for the 6 mile run which will be taking place in March, I've decided to start going for morning runs, running down to the beach and back which is approximately just over 3 miles for the return journey. As it is still winter and really cold outside I'm limited to how far I can run but I'm sure once Spring comes along I'm sure I will up to running 6 miles.

As part of my journey towards the 6 mile run I've decided to create some short videos about my morning runs. 

 

Here is my newest video,

Enjoy!

Sunset in Poole Harbour

For the last few weeks now, I've been inspired to push myself into making more videos. Everyday this week we've had beautiful sunsets in Poole Harbour and everyday I've been too busy to go down and capture some picture.

Today I said to myself I was going to do it!

I did some research and saw that Sunset was estimated at 16:17, thanks BBC Weather! At 15:30 I hopped on my bike and cycled down to the harbour to find a good spot; I had an idea in my mind of what I wanted to capture. I've been fascinated with time lapses videos lately, probably because I've been watching too many of Casey Neistat's vlogs, seriously I'm addicted!

I decided to visit one of my favourite spots in the harbour where I know there is a good place for interesting compositions; as I was riding down I noticed the clouds were starting to group on the horizon but due to the strong winds they were moving quite fast in the sky, I thought this would make a great time lapse video so I quickly set up my tripod and camera and started recording.

I was there for about half an hour capturing a few pictures and some video, I wish I had more than 1 camera and tripod set up because there were so many beautiful colours in the sky I wish I could have captured them by my main camera was busy recording the time lapse.

As time went by the temperature started to decrease mixed with the strong winds it was horrible but I struggled on because I had come down with the intention of getting some pictures and video and if I was going to suffer for my art it had to be worth it!

Here is the finished time lapse video from Sunset!

Happy New Year + My New Years Resolutions!

2Firstly I want to wish you and your family and friends a wonderful New Year, I hope this year brings you Good Health, Happiness, Peace, Prosperity, Strength, Courage and Inspiration!

We are here, in the year... 

2016

It's the start of a New Year, it's the time for new beginnings and bidding old things goodbye!

I wanted to write up my first blogpost of the new year, to share my resolutions and goals for the year a head. As part of my new years resolution of creating and sharing more, I thought it was fitting that this should be included in my first blogpost of the year.

My Resolutions for the new year

My first resolution of the new year is to create more content, that means more pictures, more video and more blogposts for you to read!

My second and third resolutions are to get more organised and improve my time management. Organisation hasn't been one of my strong points but with time and practice I have improved but there is still plenty of room for improvement! My time management has improved over the years too but I would like to use my time more productively.

My fourth resolution is linked to my first three, and this is to use the computer less, yes I use a computer for my work but hopefully by using my time more productively I can minimise my time on the computer.

My Goals for the year ahead

1) To pass my driving test

2) Travel More

3) Generally be healthier by eating healthier and being more active.

4) I wanted to save the most important for last and that is spending time with the people I love. 

Life has taught me many important things but one of the most important is that memories are made awesome by the company you share you them with!

I want to end this blog post by sharing a little sneak peek of a mini-project that

I will be working on over the next few weeks!

and finally, tell me about your new years resolutions, and what are your goals for the year a head?
Leave a comment down below!

Stay tuned for more blog posts coming very soon, 

you can also catch up with me on Facebook and Youtube 

Happy New Year!!

I would like to wish everyone a wonderful New Year!!
I hope this year brings you good health, prosperity, strength, courage and inspiration!