Mike Finley
I had my first camera as a child in the 1960s – a cheap plastic thing that would have made a Holga look sophisticated! I next got interested in photography when I picked up a copy of 'Hana' by Ishimoto from a 'remainders' pile in a bookshop sometime round about 1995. That lead to an early interest in monochrome floral photography, and my first SLR (film of course!).
In 1999 I moved from the urban South East of the UK to a village in Cheshire, and the more rural environment fed a growing interest in landscape photography, again primarily monochrome. In 2000 I spent a week at Lakeland Photographic Holidays, and saw some of John Gravett's lith prints from infrared negatives while I was there. I liked the effects of the infrared film and the processing, and started using the Konica infrared film, and experimenting with the lith processing. I never really got the lith processing under sufficient control … more a few happy accidents and lots of wasted paper! (I'd built a darkroom in a small spare room in the house when we moved in.) Two or three years later the film was no longer available, and the move to digital had started, forcing a (temporary) end to my experiments with infrared photography.
In 2009 I had an older digital SLR converted to infrared and am once again able to take photographs using infrared light though its a very different medium to film infrared - as well as giving the option of using the false colour images without first changing them into monochrome.
I also shoot my main digital images in colour and convert in the computer, rather than accepting the camera's built in monochrome conversions. This gives me much more flexibility in developing the final image - I wrote an article on digital monochrome photography following a request from the local camera club for a talk on the subject. With the ability to choose between colour and monochrome images on a shot by shot basis, rather than dependent on the film in the camera, I now produce more colour images than before, though I am still mainly interested in monochrome photography.
Galleries
landscape | infrared | floral | fragments |
|---|---|---|---|
old and new |
St Bees shoreline |
Nigella #1 |
torn |
My monochrome photography has been selected for exhibitions in the UK and France. I was selected for the inaugural Swansea City Exhibition of International Photography in Wales, and the Hype Gallery in Arles, France. My work has also been published in a number of photographic books and magazines in recent years, primarily in those concentrating on monochrome photography. Images have appeared in 'Black and White Photography', 'Mono', and 'Digital Photography' magazines, and also in three editions of 'Best of Friends', an annual yearbook of photography, no longer being published. In October 2010, one of my infrared prints, Puff, the magic dragon was selected for the Royal Photographic Society's infrared 100 exhibition, curated by Andy Finney.
In 2011, I restarted entering FIAP and BPE sponsored exhibitions after a long lapse, and have had a number of acceptances, the first being Silloth Steps and Old and New both being accepted for the Bristol International Salon of Photography. I also had acceptances from the Glasgow Salon and had two prints retained by the Lancashire and Cheshire Photographic Union (L&CPU) for the folios they circulate around the clubs in the region, and for their Annual Summer Exhibition.
Latest News
— on 2012-03-01Why I’m blocking Pinterest from my websites
There’s been a lot of comment on the internet about pinterest and its rapid growth recently, both positive and negative. I have to admit that I hadn’t paid much attention to it in the past but given the interest I … Continue reading →
... continue reading 'Why I’m blocking Pinterest from my websites'
— on 2012-02-13We entered the Photographic Alliance of Great Britan‘s annual print competition for member clubs for the first time this year, in the small clubs class (well, we are a small village camera club after all!). We are delighted to have … Continue reading →
... continue reading 'Holmes Chapel Camera Club’s first entry into a national competition'
— on 2012-01-02Well, it seems appropriate having just posted on my last competition entry of 2011 to follow-up with my first competition entry of 2012, even if it’s a very different sort of competition! I am entering this print into this month’s … Continue reading →
... continue reading 'first competition entry of the year'
— on 2011-11-09I was asked this summer if I would give a talk on monochrome photography to my local camera club and agreed to do so. I gave the talk last Thursday … this is a slightly extended version of the content. … Continue reading →
... continue reading 'monochrome photography'
— on 2011-10-31I entered this image into another competition – this time a round of the United Photographic Postfolios group I belong to. It’s a monochrome photograph of some old steps up the dunes from the beach at Silloth, which have clearly … Continue reading →
... continue reading 'Silloth Steps awarded Gold Label'
— on 2011-05-29I belong to the Holmes Chapel Camera Club, and as usual the club submitted an entry to the Lancashire and Cheshire Photographic Union (LCPU) Annual competition. This year we had our best result yet (by quite a long way!) – … Continue reading →
... continue reading 'LCPU 2011 Annual Print and Projected Image Competitions'
Keep up to date
Find my photography elsewhere
mike finley on flickr: there is a wider selection of my images on flickr, mostly colour and infrared.
mike finley in the Rogue Gene Gallery: another selection of my work.
and also
words from mike finley is my blog about photography and a few other bits and pieces.
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