Visua

Welcoming in the Spring

Spencer — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 21:42:24 +0000

I love the tones Velvia film captures, I’ve got another roll to use up before I jump on to the Portra but here’s some of my latest set of E6 slides.

Bike

Hyde Park

The Gherkin

Vines

Hyde Park

Spring Flowers

Jephson Gardens

Thames Path

Wootten Wawen

A Winter’s Stroll Around London (E6)

Spencer — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 20:45:29 +0000

I’m still finding my way with positive slides and metering on the Hasselblad, but the more I shoot the more I learn how to expose properly in different conditions. So rather than let these test slides stay in the cupboard gathering dust I thought I’d put them up here for all to see.

One thing I can definitely recommend is to get your slides developed professionally, then scan them yourself on a dedicated film scanner. I’ve been using the Epson Perfection, which caters to 120 slides and delivers perfect quality scans to a megapixel count that’s beyond belief!

Wimbledon Common | Anjlee

Wimbledon Common

Hyde Park

Kitchen

Wimbledon Pub

Wimbledon Common | Anjlee

A Winter’s Stroll Around London (C41)

Spencer — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 23:06:59 +0000

I’m so happy with this camera. To be honest I won’t care too much if none of the films ever expose properly, it’s just the joy of holding and using this camera that’s so enjoyable. That unmistakable sound of a Hasselblad shutter, followed by the winding of the film… bliss!

Luckily the film did process properly, another joy of shooting film, not knowing whether you’ve taken a portfolio worthy shot or a blown-out mess. The fact that the prints have blemishes such as dust and processing marks just makes me love this whole way of shooting even more!

Thames Path

London Bridge

Wimbledon Common

London’s South Bank at Night

Spencer — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 22:17:03 +0000

I’m really lucky to have such a fantastic commute, each morning I scoot down the River Thames past all the famous landmarks and into the sunrise towards Bank. I expect to be taking a lot of really creative photos down this stretch over the coming months on the Hasselblad, but here’s a glimpse of our new hometown in the evening for the time being.

London Eye

St Paul's Cathedral

The City

National Theatre

Subtle Film Technique

Spencer — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 21:31:42 +0000

Before we start, I know there are a million filters and actions available that do all manners of ‘film’ effects to your photos. The problem is that a lot of these actions are extreme and end up being used to make a bad photo appear more stylistic. If you want a filter to help mimic Lomo or bleach bypass then this action isn’t for you. This technique is all about subtlety.

If you’ve already got a nicely exposed photograph and want to add that very subtle effect that so many of us love with film then this is the action for you.

Subtle Film Effect | Hover to view original

Simply download the Photoshop action to your computer and double it click it when it’s downloaded. The action creates all the layers then packages them up into a folder, you can then alter the opacity and blending mode of the effect to achieve the result you’re after… POW!

Happy editing guys.

Hasselblad 503cx

Spencer — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:40:39 +0000

I’ve waited so long to able to say I own a Hasselblad, the medium format camera that surpasses all other cameras ever made. The Hassy is still regarded even in the age of digital as the best you can get.

Luck was really on my side in finding this. It’s in absolutely mint condition with heaps of extras including light meters and backs, all for a fraction of the usual price. Although I have spent months looking for the right one!

Hasselblad 503cx

As soon as I get the shots developed that I’ve taken around London today you’ll know where to find them!

Frosty Sunrise

Spencer — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 21:32:11 +0000

My new year’s resolution was a simple one this year, be creative not productive. From now on it’s purely creative design and photography! Web development is sucking the life out of me, so to make a new start with a new job and new life in London with my lovely fiance I’ve jumped back into film photography.

I’ve been eager to get back into film photography for a while, playing with the idea of buying a Hasselblad, but for the time being I’ve dusted off my classic Nikon SLR and packed it full of film. This little macro lens has a fantastic magnification ratio at 1:1, and for what it lacks in tone and quality it certainly makes up for in sharpness.

Macro Sunrise

I plan to be adding a lot more sets like this in the future so check back once in a while if you like them!

The Swan Theatre | Stratford upon Avon

Spencer — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 13:29:21 +0000

Stratford upon Avon means so much to me. It’s where I started my post-graduate career, where I found pride in my own country and where I found the love of my life. It’s also the home of a certain Shakespearean theatre, which underwent a major renovation over the past few years.

Stratford upon Avon | The Swan Theatre | 2010

Stratford upon Avon | The Swan Theatre | 2011

I took these pictures almost a year apart, the first during the peak of the construction period where the town was taken over by cranes. The second was taken just last week and shows the theatre in all it’s glory in the centre of town.

Visua v4 [mobile first]

Spencer — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 12:53:37 +0000

Staying on top of the fast evolving world of web design is a tricky business, luckily it’s also quite enjoyable! I’m proud to finally unveil my mobile-first & responsive theme to the world.

Visua v4

So what is all this ‘mobile-first’ I’ve been talking about? If you’re interested in web design and development it’s as unavoidable as responsive design at the moment, but if you’re an outsider let me break it down for you.

Since the web took off we’ve been building websites in the same manner, in that they had to be designed within a certain amount of pixels, tailored for old desktop monitors and laptops. But since the release of the iPhone and iPad, mobile usage has exploded to a point where it now rivals traditional computers, for example people don’t wait to get home to check their social media updates when they have an app or web-app on their mobile. This led to a wave of websites that optimised their layouts for these devices using modern web techniques.

The problem was that a lot of the design & content wasn’t well thought through, resulting in bad user experiences, for example elements such as sidebars were simply being hidden if they didn’t fit the new transformed layout. It also meant that large images we’re unnecessarily being downloaded then hidden, this is where the mobile-first philosophy shines through.

If you design and build a site for mobile first, you are only putting in what’s necessary. Then as a device’s resolution increases it downloads the larger images and adapts the layout for better viewing. The average user on their desktop is blissfully unaware of the magic behind the scenes, but mobile/tablet users get a faster, more tailored experience. This also allows us to create an almost web-app like environment where only the essentials are being shown, styled nicely, stripped of unnecessary elements.

I’ve released this theme in it’s current state as a work in progress, I’ll slowly be polishing it as time goes on. Internet Explorer users are not going to have a good time on this site due to the browsers lack of support for Media Queries or anything useful, and my lack of care for it. (Now updated and working perfectly in IE8).

I’m hoping in the near future to polish the back-end for this WordPress theme and release it into the wild either for free or for sale with any profits going to worthy causes. Let me know what you think guys, all feedback is welcomed and embraced!

For a much more in-depth look at mobile-first and responsive web design please read these posts by the guys who created these radical new ways of thinking, Ethan Marcotte and Luke Wroblewski.

Mount Everest

Spencer — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 13:41:53 +0000

How I’ve been waiting to show the world these photos…

From the humid hustle and bustle of Kathmandu we set off to Lukla and the Sagarmatha (Mount Everest) National Park to begin our trek. The photos below show the trail up through places like Pheriche, the Tengboche monastery and of course the big one, Everest.

Stupa

Mount Everest

Yak

Tengboche Monastery

Namche Bazaar

Mount Everest

Mount Everest Base Camp

Pheriche

Namche Bazaar Kitten

Buddhist Carvings

Namche Bazaar

Mount Everest Base Camp

Yak

Pheriche

Khumbu Valley

Yak

Way to Everest Base Camp

Mount Everest Base Camp

When we reached our highest point on Everest I surprised Anjlee and proposed… she said yes!

My Fiancé

We’d like to say a massive thank you to Snowball Expeditions and our Sherpa guides too. If you want the adventure of a lifetime I can’t recommend these guys enough!

Kathmandu

Spencer — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 12:53:22 +0000

I’ve been sat here for five minutes, struggling to think of what to write about this adventure. There’s so much to tell, I don’t know where to start. A lot of the expedition can’t be described, and no photo can capture it’s beauty and scale, it really has to be seen to be believed. Hopefully the photos here give a hint of what Nepal has to offer.

The photos below are from Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, our home before and after our ascent through the Himalayas and up Mount Everest.

Bhaktapur Local

Monkey Temple

Prayer Wheels

Boudhanath

Bhaktapur Child

Monkey Temple

Boudhanath Prayer Flags

Markets

Bhaktapur

Durbar Square

Monkey Temple

Durbar Square

Bhaktapur Rooftops

Kathmandu

Bhaktapur Children

See my next post for the photos of Mount Everest.

Racoon International

Spencer — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 21:34:39 +0000

I’m so excited about showing you all this site, it’s one of my favourite designs to date! The team at Summersault has been working hard on this site over the last couple of months as a sister site to the e-commerce site we launched at the same time.

Racoon International Homepage

I feel really lucky to have worked on a project like this. The client was brilliant and allowed us creative freedom to try styles and a new creative direction that would usually be seen as too radical. I even got to take a heap of photography!

View the live site »

Racoon International [e-commerce]

Spencer — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 21:49:26 +0000

It’s been a busy couple of months at Summersault, but we’ve finally finished and launched a few of the sites we’ve been working on. The first is this e-commerce store for Racoon International, the leading hair extensions company.

Racoon International Online Store

It was built to sit alongside the new Racoon International site we built as a way for customers and salons across the globe to purchase their products and book training courses.

View the live site »

Road Trippin’

Spencer — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 18:37:53 +0000

It’s been one hell of a summer so far, juggling a thousand projects while trying to hit the surf at weekends. So I thought I’d unload a batch of photos before our Nepal expedition next month… then I’ll have some decent photos to show you!

The Cotswolds

Polzeath Surf

Wooten Wawen

London | Tower Bridge

The next post will hopefully be images from the top of the world!

Making Time for Side Projects

Spencer — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 20:15:38 +0000

It’s been a very busy few months, trying to do as much freelance work as possible outside of normal work hours. I really burnt out about a month ago, which led me to think about what was really important in my life. I truly love design work and really enjoy creating stuff in my spare time as well as in the studio, so this idea for an iPad app came along…

Visua iPad App

I recently finalised and launched the bulk of work which was taking up my evenings so I can now focus most my time on creating a project I’ve been eager to create for almost a year. The image above is a snippet from an interactive piece for the iPad I’m slowly putting together based around photography. It’s extremely media rich and uses video in unison with animations, transitions and touch gestures to showcase and help users engage with various projects.

It’s put together in HTML5, mimicking the features of a native app with Javascript, which is proving very time consuming!

It’ll be easier to explain when it’s a bit more complete but it should hopefully be a unique experience for iOS devices that uses some unusual elements to make content that bit more engaging.