MIKE DUNCKLEY PHOTOGRAPHY

Photographer born in Blackburn,England. I now live in Delaware,USA. Most of my work can be found on Flickr. Follow the link below or on the "About & Links" page above.

[mdunckleyphotography]

The Shard_01_London,England on Flickr.

Taken just before we took the elevator to the top floor to see the jaw dropping view of London from the Shard. It really was quite amazing when you got to the very top and saw how high you really were....it was actually a bit too high for a certain member of my family. The floor to ceiling glass really let you see everything....from London bridge all the way to Wembley stadium. I'll post a few from the top later this week. Nikon D7000_Nikon 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR_ISO100_f/11.0_1/400s All Rights Reserved © Mike Dunckley_2013

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The Shard_02_London,England on Flickr.

Taken just before we took the elevator to the top floor to see the jaw dropping view of London from the Shard. It really was quite amazing when you got to the very top and saw how high you really were....it was actually a bit too high for a certain member of my family. The floor to ceiling glass really let you see everything....from London bridge all the way to Wembley stadium. I'll post a few from the top later this week. Nikon D7000_Nikon 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR_ISO100_f/11.0_1/320s All Rights Reserved © Mike Dunckley_2013

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Wellington Arch_London,England on Flickr.

I recently took a trip to England for my cousin’s wedding. It was great to get back to the country of my birth and see so much of my family, even some I haven’t seen since I was a wee little lad. It was a great occasion with lots of laughs and full of new experiences for me….such as wearing a kilt. Yep you read that right…a kilt. Heavy on the top but wonderfully breezy down bottom, it was definitely an interesting experience taking photos with it on. Kept thinking my bum was showing when I kneeled down for a better shot. After the wedding we drove down the motorway to London to do some sight seeing. Even though we had a few hiccups along the way and that I was sick for the 3 days in London… I still managed to have a good time. All in all a good trip. Now I just have to edit all of the photos I took…. This shot was taken on the first day in London. We did the long walk down the mall towards Buckingham Palace and on to the Wellington Arch. While my Mom and Sister took a break I wandered around the arch and snapped a few shots.

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Fields of Wilbarston,England on Flickr.

I recently took a trip to England for my cousin’s wedding. It was great to get back to the country of my birth and see so much of my family, even some I haven’t seen since I was a wee little lad. It was a great occasion with lots of laughs and full of new experiences for me….such as wearing a kilt. Yep you read that right…a kilt. Heavy on the top but wonderfully breezy down bottom, it was definitely an interesting experience taking photos with it on. Kept thinking my bum was showing when I kneeled down for a better shot. After the wedding we drove down the motorway to London to do some sight seeing. Even though we had a few hiccups along the way and that I was sick for the 3 days in London… I still managed to have a good time. All in all a good trip. Now I just have to edit all of the photos I took…. This panoramic was taken just outside the grounds of the church that my Cousin was married in. The church was beautiful and extremely old…13th century if my memory serves me right. I shot the panoramic handheld using the in-camera level to keep me somewhat on course as I panned across the landscape. Nikon D7000_Nikon 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR_ISO250_f/11.0_1/640s_8 shots in total All Rights Reserved © Mike Dunckley_2013

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Quadriga on Flickr.

I recently took a trip to England for my cousin’s wedding. It was great to get back to the country of my birth and see so much of my family, even some I haven’t seen since I was a wee little lad. It was a great occasion with lots of laughs and full of new experiences for me….such as wearing a kilt. Yep you read that right…a kilt. Heavy on the top but wonderfully breezy down bottom, it was definitely an interesting experience taking photos with it on. Kept thinking my bum was showing when I kneeled down for a better shot. After the wedding we drove down the motorway to London to do some sight seeing. Even though we had a few hiccups along the way and that I was sick for the 3 days in London… I still managed to have a good time. All in all a good trip. Now I just have to edit all of the photos I took…. These bronze horses are part of the Quadriga statue on top of the Wellington Arch near Hyde Park. Nikon D7000_Nikon 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR_ISO200_f/11.0_1/200s All Rights Reserved © Mike Dunckley_2013

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Sunny Afternoons on Flickr.

Just a simple shot I took this afternoon while walking in the backyard. Nikon D7000_Nikon 85mm f/1.4D_ISO100_f/2.2_1/1000s All Rights Reserved © Mike Dunckley_2013

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Spring Returns on Flickr.

Before dinner the other night I went out in my backyard to take some shots of the flowers that have recently started to grow. Nikon D7000_Nikon 50mm f/1.8D_ISO200_f/2.2_1/500s All Rights Reserved © Mike Dunckley_2013

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Fresh Air on Flickr.

Since the weather has been so nice recently we have been keeping the windows open to let in the fresh spring air. Which in turn has led to our cat jumping up onto the windowsills to look outside. With the light streaming in I couldn’t resist taking a few shots. Nikon D7000_Nikon 50mm f/1.8D_ISO200_f/4.0_1/250s All Rights Reserved © Mike Dunckley_2013

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The Sun Rises... on Flickr.

I’ve been playing a lot of Battlefield 3 on my PS3 lately…even sometimes pulling all nighters. On one of those occasions I was pleasantly surprised to feel the warmth of the rising sun on my face. I paused the game and took a moment to enjoy the warmth and capture the colors with a few shots. Nikon D7000_Nikon 85mm f/1.4D_ISO160_f/3.2_1/160s All Rights Reserved © Mike Dunckley_2013

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In The Window on Flickr.

Sometimes my cats likes to hop up onto the windowsill in my bedroom. She loves looking out and watching the birds in the tree just outside my window. Nikon D7000_Nikon 50mm f/1.8D_ISO250_f/2.8_1/640s All Rights Reserved © Mike Dunckley_2013

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Union vs Kansas City_PPL Park_2013 Home Opener on Flickr.

I haven’t posted or taken many pictures lately…guess you could call it a slump in inspiration. Every photographer experiences it every now and then…still very frustrating… Thankfully this past weekend was the start of the 2013 MLS season so it gave me a good excuse to grab my camera for the Union’s home opener at PPL Park. It’s so good to have a game to look forward to every weekend or so. I only took a few shots because it was really COLD and I had chosen to bring my 16-85mm to the match. It’s good for wide shots & panoramics…but not very good for capturing the action on the pitch. The match ended in a 3-1 defeat but the pain of the loss was lessened by the fact that the Union’s goalscorer was Sebastien Le Toux, who returned to the team after spells with Vancouver & New York. It was great to see him leading the team up front again. Always loved his passion and commitment to the team. Nikon D7000_Nikon 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR_ISO250_f/8.0_1/200s_7 shot Panoramic All Rights Reserved © Mike Dunckley_2013

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Music in the Tunnels on Flickr.

I got a flyer from my old school DCAD earlier this week telling me about their student show which got me thinking about some of my older film work. So I flipped through the old portfolios and found a few that I could scan and load up. This shot was taken in 2005 while on a trip to New York to see the outdoor art exhibit “The Gates”. It was a great experience walking around the park with people from all over the world. There were a lot of outdoor musicians braving the cold weather to take advantage of the larger crowds. This was probably my favorite shot of the day. Nikon N80_Unsure of what lens I used but I think it might have been my Nikon 28-80mm f/3.3-5.6G….if not it would have been my Nikon 85mm f/1.4D_Film used is unknown (Don’t feel like digging through my negatives)

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Fossilization on Flickr.

I got a flyer from my old school DCAD earlier this week telling me about their student show which got me thinking about some of my older film work. So I flipped through the old portfolios and found a few that I could scan and load up. This shot was part of an emulation project on Jerry Uelsmann. I had apparently foolishly chosen to try to emulate Uelsmann‘s techniques. I remember my teacher pulling me aside and asking me if I was sure about my decision. I think he had seen other students trying it and knew how tough it can be to create images like Jerry Uelsmann, part of me knew he was right to be worried but I wanted to challenge myself. Naturally my attempts were not nearly as refined, complex, or as masterful as his but I really liked this project. This image was created using two negatives. One shot of a mouse’s skeleton left over from one of my cat’s kills and another of tree bark. The idea was that the skeleton would look like a fossil found within the tree. In the darkroom I used two enlargers, one for each negative. To get the mouse in the tree bark I cut out the shape of the skeleton from a previous test print and used it to block the light during the exposure of the tree bark negative. Blocking the light created an unexposed area of the page for me to put the skeleton into. I moved the print to the other enlarger which held the skeleton negative and used the other part of the cut out to block out most of the page except for the area where I wanted the skeleton to appear. After scanning it last night I made adjustments to contrast and sharpened it up a bit. Nikon N80_Nikon 85mm f/1.4D All Rights Reserved © Mike Dunckley_2013

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Winter Sunsets on Flickr.

Nikon D7000_Nikon 50mm f/1.8D_ISO100_f/16.0_1/15s All Rights Reserved © Mike Dunckley_2013

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Brighter Side of Winter on Flickr.

I thought it would be interesting to follow up on my previous “Dark Days of Winter” shot by shooting a few intentional camera movement shots earlier in the day. Same idea and the same set of trees but with a different color palette. Nikon D7000_Nikon 35mm f/1.8G_ISO100_f/22.0_1/10s All Rights Reserved © Mike Dunckley_2013

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"...On The Surface"

I’ve spent the last two days messing around with in-camera multiple exposures using my hand & various textures as the main subject. This idea stems from a previous multi-exposure shot that featured my hand merging with the texture of fabric. I wanted to update and expand on the theme with a new series of shots. 

The idea is simple but achieving the look I wanted was a bit hit or miss. I tried different combinations of exposures trying to make the two different shots merge seamlessly. If one is too bright or too dark compared to the other it can almost disappear and look weak. 

Naturally each shot featured one shot of my hand and another of a surface with an interesting texture. The texture for the 1st shot was found on the door leading into my house from the garage. The texture for the 2nd shot is actually the concrete floor of my garage. I didn’t have to go far to find the textures. The leaf in the palm of my hand was actually a one off idea that I discarded at the time of shooting. But later while editing I found that I liked it the best of the bunch. I wish the corner of the leaf was better placed and confined to the hand but as I said it was a one off shot. The light for both shots was provided by the open garage doors.

In post I made my usual adjustments with the Levels & Curves tool in Nikon Capture NX2.

Shot # 1 : Nikon D7000_Nikon 35mm f/1.8G_ISO640_f/2.8_In-Camera 2 shot Multi-Exposure

Shot # 2 : Nikon D7000_Nikon 35mm f/1.8G_ISO400_f/3.5_In-Camera 2 shot Multi-Exposure

All Rights Reserved © Mike Dunckley_2013

Flickr --> http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdunckley/

[mdunckleyphotography]

"Dark Days of Winter"

I spent the last few days continuing my experiments with intentional camera movement. I love the textural look you can create just by simply moving the camera during the exposure. I tried to restrict the movement to just up and down for this series of shots to create large bands of color. 

Shot #1 : Nikon D7000_Nikon 35mm f/1.8G_ISO400_f/8.0_1secs

Shot #2 : Nikon D7000_Nikon 35mm f/1.8G_ISO100_f/8.0_2secs_Opteka Fisheye Adapter

All Rights Reserved © Mike Dunckley_2013

My Flickr Page --> http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdunckley/