About

Hello!

My name is Stephen G. Hipperson.  I live in Yorkshire. I’ve been a keen photographer for a number of years now and in September 2008 I completed a BA(Hons) Photography and Digital Imaging (First) at Leeds Metropolitan University under Ian Glover and his colleagues – with support from David Ward who helped me with my professional practice with input from Clive Minnitt and Phil Malpas. I had a great time doing the course and learnt a lot but perhaps more importantly I now have a greater breadth to my photography, which I can only thank these guys for.

I work in digital for the most part but often dabble with film – specifically black and white which I develop myself and then scan.  At some time in the future I’d like to set up a small darkroom facility.

Most of my photography tends to be non-person based – landscape, architecture, nature, still life, etc.  My main problem at the moment is trying to be a little more selective in what I photograph.

I welcome all feedback, though I prefer constructive critism rather than “that’s crap Stephen” .  So thanks for visiting my blog, I hope you found something you can enjoy .

BTW the Header Image is derived from a black and white 120 negative taken with a pinhole.

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I now run www.foldingup.wordpress for my dabblings with black and white film photography, which includes medium format as well as 35mm.

Also www.ecclesiarum.wordpress.com for my project with local parish churches, particularly those with medieval beginnings, which I find fascinating.

——–Stephen———
stephenhip@hotmail.co.uk

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216 thoughts on “About”

  6. Hi Stephen, my blog is 3 months old so I am still learning about things. It can take a year or so to develop your unique viewpoint I have heard – visually and verbally. Developing connections too. I am enjoying the conversations immensely and some of them are way off my topic! It will be interesting to see your posts. For me, the church interiors are quite unique. I love visiting old churches when I am overseas. My most memorable visit (when we were in the UK in both 2010 and 2011) was St ?Agatha’s next to Evesby Abbey, just outside of Richmond. Have you seen it in your travels? best wishes!

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    • No, sorry. We are blessed with many great churches and cathedrals in the UK, though perhaps not so fine as some of those on the continent. My own interest tends to concentrate on smaller churches, generallly rural and less manicured.
      As a blogger of less than a month the learning curve seems to be quite steep, I’m already thinking ‘I should have done that’ or ‘That was a mistake’.
      Cheers
      Stephen

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  8. Good point. I had the same conclusion, so I did split work into two: first a blog with photos taken 100 pc by mobile phones. Second, one where I am showing my camera based photos..Funny enough, the second is less popular than the first one. You probably need more work on finding a “niche”..can I suggest that you think on “human presence in national parks”?

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  12. You have a great eye. Just wandered a bit through your posts. I love them. I am an aspiring photographer, only one class–in high school eons ago. Have almost always had a camera in my hand. Have recently been interested in macro shots of flowers, but love landscapes and black and whites. I don’t think you need to have one subject, I liked the diversity on your site. Would love it you’d have a look at mine and tell me what you think, honestly. Constructive Criticism is always welcome. Don’t miss the link at the top that is the Romantic Traveler–that is my travel sight with photos from travel. Look forward to more of your work. Are you planning to sell?

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    • Thanks for your very flattering comments! I’m blushing with embarrassment. Asking for constructive criticism is not for the faint hearted ;)…and I’m no expert…. but if I think a comment might be helpful, I’ll make it – though like other forms of expression, photography is about how you want the image to be not how you think others want the image to be – but I’m sure you well appreciate that. thanks again

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  13. Poked about a bit and like your photography, and the captions :). Said you were from Norwich, – I visited many (many) years ago, specifically in search of the grave of my Uncle – RAF. Found him too I’m glad to say.

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  14. Hi there,

    Thanks for leaving likes for my pics on The Legion of Door Whores, they are appreciated. If you have time, please drop by my blogs http://reflectionsofchina.wordpress.com and http://moreimagesfromme.wordpress.com , I do hope you will and also hope you like what you see! You guys are living the dream that most people long for and never do, so, well done for that:) You have a great site here certainly one worthy of a follow. Regards Mark

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    • Hi Jazz. erm. I’ve very flattered that you have gone to so much trouble, it was very kind of you, but I’m not really into such things. I hope you don’t mind. I did drop a few words about such things under my About Awards page.
      By the way, I really like the way you see photographic opportunities, you clearly have an opend mind to possibilities. Regards Stephen

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  24. Thanks for the like on my post about Bergerac. I don’t pretend to be any sort of photographer and certainly not as gifted as yourself but digital cameras do let one take plenty in the hope that one will be okay. My site is really about writing and I do serials “on the hoof” so if you like a free read now and again pop back and see me sometime 🙂

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  25. Hello – Just looked through your work and wanted to come back and say that I was very impressed indeed, some beautiful images. I could do with you here at the moment I have been trying to photograph a hoopoo for about two weeks, the little beggar keeps popping into the garden strolling up the grass, I run for the camera and off he goes. sheesh.

    Reply ↓

    • Don’t tell me that! 😉 A hoopoe! We don’t get them here (well very rarely and then you can’t move for Twitchers). You’ll just have to sit in the garden with your camera at the ready and perhaps a glass of wine to hand – it will get used to you or you’ll sip enough so you won’t care! All the best. Stephen

      Reply ↓

  26. Hi Stephen.
    Thanks for stopping by and choosing to follow my blog. Like yours it contains a mix of various types images. I am impressed with the different (pin hole to medium format) cameras you seem to have at your disposal. It will also be interesting to see your style/preference come to the fore.

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  27. Thank you for stopping by and liking my post ,“Among the Clouds”. It’s much appreciated. Also, I’m glad I’m not the only one who posts a variety of pictures. I’ve noticed the level of specialization at other blogs and have wondered if that’s the best approach. Which approach is the best, specialized or eclectic, will sort itself out. I’ve enjoyed looking at your photowork.

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  28. Hi Stephen and thanks for stopping by my blog.
    Love your pinhole header image… Pinhole cameras are such fun and create such diverse images. Looking forward to sharing your photographic journey 🙂

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  30. Thanks for visiting my blog. I really like the image you have on this page (header) in black & white. I recently started my blog, I have never done it before, and I agree that finding consistency in a photography blog can be hard. We all need to experiment and see where it takes us and grow from there.

    Reply ↓

  35. Hi Stephen
    What a fantastic blog you have, and the photos are superb! You have a new fan!
    I know Wetherby well (my daughter lives at Kirk Deighton)…
    You are now on my blogroll!

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  36. Hi Stephen:), I can see you`re “on leave” right now, but I just wanted to say a proper thank you for stopping by my blog with your “Like” and “Follow”, it`s appreciated and inspiring! I look forward to continue following your blog, I have enjoyed what I`ve seen so far, great pics, I like the variety. Have a fabolous day:)

    Reply ↓

  38. I have problems with liking and commenting blogs in some cases, too. The solution which seems to be functioning for me is that I change the applied browser and use in such cases Internet Explorer instead of Chrome. I think the problem could be fixed for Chrome as well but I did not find out yet how.

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  40. yo stephen! your ‘updates’ are like you – pretty dang honest – perhaps you should think about stepping over to the darkside (regarding your frustrations with microsoft) c’mon, have a bite of the ‘apple’ and while enjoying the taste, you might wanna savor the feel-touch-love of the nikon as well!
    peace

    Reply ↓

    • I’m not sure if I’ve written this elsewhere, but the reason I’m with Canon is simply because when I was in a position to chose my system, Nikon made the statement that they wouldn’t be going near full frame again. Although I went for a cropped sensor camera, all the lenses I bought were full frame compatible so when I was ready I could make the move. To change my system makes no sense now. (I did have a Nikon film camera but I lent that to a nephew and haven’t seen it since, not that I’ve missed it, as I have a Canon camera which all my lenses fit too).
      Cheers

      Reply ↓

    • In truth, I’m not a heavy manipulator of images, however I’m not sure whether that’s I prefer not to or I don’t know how to! So I will be following your blog with interest – after all if a simple technique moves a so-so image to something I have in my minds eye……. 😉

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  46. HI Stephen,

    Thank you for stopping by my blog and leaving a “like” as well, which is how I got to your blog. I like the personal voice…the way you are not only blogging but leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for other new bloggers. If you want helpful feedback there’s a blog (of course) called Cities of the Mind that does a good job of reviewing them—you might contact him. I also love black and white photography, so I’ll be stopping back and seeing what you’ve got posted. THank you, Viola Moriarty.

    Reply ↓

    • Ah-ha – I’ve not been doing the blogging thing that long but this is the first commercially driven virus blog I’ve seen (similar to virus emails), It’s a good idea by tsm. Nevertheless, thanks for bringing to my attention. I don’t normally do my photography to somebody else’s tune, but I may have a few images kicking about, though finding specifics would take some doing and I may have to take a couple with time being tight this month. Thanks again, and good luck with your own entry! I look forward to seeing my Reader full of vibrant colours over the next few weeks..

      Reply ↓

  50. I am so glad to meet you, dear Stephen and also with your camera too. You are great photographer and I loved your eye of camera. So beautiful, artistic and inspirational. I love your country and especially landscape and architecture, and flowers… Thank you for visiting my blog, and Thank you for sharing with us. Greetings and Love, nia

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  53. Greetings from Cley next the Sea, the mekka of the birds and not so far from the fine city of Norwich. 🙂
    I really like your impressions of the birds, very well composed und immer mit einer schönen Stimmung.

    Hilsen Dina from the North

    Reply ↓

  56. “Well my photography has always been pretty eclectic and for the time being my blog is likely to reflect that side of my photography, so consistency is not something a visitor is likely to find here.”

    … Nothing wrong with that. Eclectic is what I thrive on. Thanks for visiting my site.

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  58. Hello Stephen! Can I have the honor of featuring your and your works in my digital magazine? It’s not a commercial endeavor, just an ongoing online project of mine. I plan to come out with Issue #7 by end of March. Here’s a link to the previous issues where I have showcased some photo bloggers: http://junsjazzimages.wordpress.com/digital-magazine/ It would be great to have you in the upcoming issue. Much thanks. I await your reply. Keep on clicking with your wonderful images. Best regards! ~JJ

    Reply ↓

      • Hi Stephen! If you have any reservations about this, its all fine, no problem at all my friend. But if you give the go signal, I’ll do the following:
        1. Pick out 6 to 7 of the best images in your blog
        2. Request a short write-up from you, but seeing that you already have a great introductory write-up here in your About page, I’ll just probably utilize that one (unless you prefer to write a new one)

        That’s it. I wouldn’t want to bother you with anything. All I need is your green light. Much thanks!~JJ

      • Welcome aboard Issue #7! Now all you have to do is sit back, relax and probably just keep on clicking! then wait for the issue to come out. 🙂 Thanks Stephen! And cheers too!

  61. Hi Stephen, I’ve already left a message but not sure if I left it in the correct place, so now I have finished reading all your comments from others (most interesting) I will carry on with mine. Your photo’s are magnificent and I am looking forward to more. I love countryside walk photo’s but not very good at photography myself. I must thank you for visiting my blog and taking time to read. “The Queen of Trees” . Your like is very much appreciated.

    Reply ↓

    • You’re very kind.
      Photography is my ‘thing’ – if it ain’t moving I’m likely to photograph it!
      One of the ‘problems’ with blogging is the sheer amount of stuff to read – I found your blog particularly informative, it touches a number of areas that I’m interested in.
      My blog is all over the place with regard to content but I have just started to pick out particular subjects in a couple of other blogs – one for work I do with film photography and another on local parish churches
      http://ecclesiarum.wordpress.com/

      Reply ↓

  63. thank you for dropping by my site! I love your photography! also I like how you set up your blog. Im new to wordpress and still getting used to all of the technicality of it, if you dont mind me asking, how do you get the separate pages to click on? I am wanting to make pages to separate my art and photography, and I am able to make them, but somehow am unable to put my posts of photography and/or art on them. they just remain blank…lol

    Reply ↓

    • I use the pages facility extensively on one of my other blogs and have had few problems. If you use the dashboard – new page – maybe save draft early on. I can see from your blog you have managed to create a new page and have been able to amend the text on your ‘About’ page. A combination of both will see you right.
      Not sure how much more I can add. there is a fair bit of help within the system and also the forums, which I’ve used on a couple of occasions with quick results.
      Good luck.

      Reply ↓

  64. Hi. Many thanks for the ‘like’ on my recent post. I too live close to the Wharfe, but a little further upstream. Your debate about whether blogs should be specialised was interesting to me as I went through this process last year, finally separating out this blog (for my film/classical cameras interests – but that’s as specialised as it gets. What remains in my original blog – grumpytyke – are some of my other ‘passions’ – food and cooking, Yorkshire, Romania – and the occasional ‘grump’ about anything.
    I use digital only for pix of my cameras on this blog, all the other photography is on film, self-developed if ‘conventional’ b&w, at present at the excellent Bradford processing shop when C-41.
    I use mostly digital on ‘grumpytyke’, now with a Lumix GF1 having sold a Canon 5D last year – far too big to lug around – to buy some more classics.

    Reply ↓

    • Hi, as you may have gleaned from my about page I’ve separated out my black and white work at http://foldingup.wordpress.com/ (originally for a project, but now for all my film work, not that I do much – somewhat irregular to say the least) and also a somewhat larger project I’ve started to tackle on churches at http://ecclesiarum.wordpress.com/ (not sure where I’m going with it but it seems more comfortable as an entity on its own).
      For me, blogging has become a significant source of comment on my work and a source of inspiration from the many fellow bloggers I encounter – I just wish I had more time to read much of the work that’s being produced by everyone. 🙂

      Reply ↓

  66. RE: May 29, 2012 – I hope you’ve come to do on this blog whatever moves your heart and makes you smile! That’s all it should be for…because it’s from that space that we truly Create, and only from there that we get what we’re truly after. Good luck!!

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  67. Thank you Stephen for visiting my blog and liking “the Chair” ! my opinion is that a blog with varied subjects is more interesting. I become bored to see the same things over and over and I no longer follow blogs with only pictures and no comments from the author. After all, this is a dialog !

    Reply ↓

    • Sometimes I will make a comment when I post one of my photographs, sometimes not, – but I am always happy to discuss the picture or whatever might result in the prompt a photograph might give to a viewer enough to grace my post with a comment. Many times a picture will remind a viewer of a childhood incident or some other personal anecdote – I’m particularly touched when somebody shares these – to think that one of my photographs has such power….

      Reply ↓

  68. You have great formalist qualities-the virtue i consider the most important in every art-and i´m truly glad about it. As a matter of fact only sense of FORM makes someone artist and you have plenty of it.

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  70. Hi Stephen, Firstly let me thank you for the like on my blog post ” Edinburgh’s
    Noble Man discovery ” and secondly to say how much I like your photography nice and crisp and clear (Must get myself a new camera). Do you like Cathedrals. ? York Minster would be a good photography project. Just a thought. Look forward to more of your posts.

    Reply ↓

  71. Hi Stephen – Sorry to trample all over your site – it’s not my fault. Google told me to. He sent me to look at your black faced sheep (Was it June or July 2012?) Similar to mine, sort of.
    I’m just a bit up from you, near Carlisle – if we stood on tiptoe we could probably wave to each other. Anyway I can’t stand here chatting – I’ve got a blog to try to get finished before midnight – still looking for something to say about sheep. Hey ho, back to Google then.
    David
    (http://ja2da.com)

    Reply ↓

  72. Firstly, thanks for liking my post ‘Two Tone Jazz’ on my own humble blog which is very much in its infancy and finding its way. LIke yourself I am an eclectic photographer and much of the time I have no idea what I will end up shooting, it depends on so many things…Like your site a lot and you are in a lovely part of the world – have friends in Harrogate. MM 🍀

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  75. Hi Stephen – I appreciate you liking my post about my visit to the mosque in Abu Dhabi. The photos are just snaps, but what a subject – I’d love to see your take on such a building. I’ve had a brief look around your blog and may I say that you photos are quite wonderful. I look forward to exploring more. Thank you for finding me.

    Reply ↓

    • You are very kind thank you!
      (What is a snap – you saw, you decided, you framed what you wanted and didn’t frame what you didn’t want, you pressed the shutter at the right moment and then you carried out some post exposure manipulation to optimise your presentation – I wouldn’t class that as a snap! – You are bringing your world to the rest of us – and that is all a photographer does – without your photographs I would have had no idea – and while I may never visit Abu Dhabi, I’ll have an impression of the mosque, and, who knows, maybe at some time in the future, half remembering your presentation may very well inspire me to do likewise at a local mosque!

      Reply ↓

      • The peace and tranquillity can be good for the soul. Wish I had your patience and ability to wait for the right moment, you and Ansel Adams have something in common, to sit and wait. Ian.

      • Ansel Adams has always been one of my favorite photographers, over the past few years I have been lucky enough to visit some of the places he took some of his well known pictures (Snake River and Yosemite N.P). When I was using film my picture taking was very selective with a lot of thought about composition and lighting, I find with digital my picture taking has increased. Not sure if this is good or bad but the one huge bonus is not spending half my life in darkrooms.

      • 🙂 I’ve just ‘agreed in principle’ with the missus for the location of a semi-permanant darkroom space, so I will be able to explore the darkroom side of things – something I’ve been looking to do for some time. I’d like to explore night photography (Michael Kenna) but my digital camera only lets me do 30 second exposures – I have a Rollei SL66 to use for that.
        Because of budget problems, I’m restricted to exploiting my local area (about a 20 mile radius), but as it’s a mixed rural/urban I can usually find something to go at. 😉

      • Good luck with the darkroom, seeing an image emerge in the chemicals is a fantastic experience and doing the masking and burning under the enlarger is much more interesting than Photoshop. If you get a chance to do toning of images (sepia, blue and red) some really interesting results can be obtained. Are photographic papers and film available in your area or do you have to go through the internet? Ian.

      • I did and exhibition of some of my work in Brighton last year, the organiser used to use film exclusively. He used to do the same as you and scan the negs and put them on his Flikr site. I think he bought most of his film stock from some european company. He was also looking to sort out a darkroom but I think he was looking to work in colour. I used to find the colour work I used to process was a chore but the Black and White I used to enjoy. After a few years in the darkroom your night vision will improve drastically. Ian.

  79. Hello Stephen, thanks for the likes and the follow of my blog You´ve got a very nice variety of photos, really enjoyable. Ah, England has soo many wonderful places with such great atmosphere! I look foreward to see more of your work.

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    • Hi,

      First a couple of adverts – don’t know if you were aware of another of my blogs at http://ecclesiarum.wordpress.com/ – also can I recommend, if you like church photography, http://vialucispress.wordpress.com/ they do some lovely photography of European churches/cathedrals.

      My number one tip for photographing inside churches is to use a tripod. I use a tripod on 99.5% of my shots – this allows me to to use a small aperture (high f number) because I don’t have to worry about the long exposure times – sometimes up to 30 seconds.

      My approach to church photography will be different to yours, I am mainly interested in the architecture and craftsmanship of those who went before us. (Having said that, I often try to capture something of the now’ – this might be like the teddy bears or a dusty corner filled with old vases.

      I am careful about composition – I try to avoid images where the camera cannot cope with the range in light levels – I use pillars to mask windows, for instance.

      For stained glass windows, I tend to use under exposure by 1 or 2 stops to keep the saturation and fine detail – this means the frames go dark but I’m okay with that.

      The churches I concentrate on tend to be local parish churches which have evidence of medieval times. Of course back then, most churches would have been RC they are mostly CofE now.

      stephenhip@hotmail.co.uk
      All the best!

      Reply ↓

  88. Thanks for the like. Your photos are beautiful. I’m new to the whole photography thing and have been intimidated at times to post things since there is so many great artist out there.

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  90. Pingback: A note of Thanks « Books, Music, Photography, & Movies

  93. My husband was a cinestillsman, Stephen – took publicity stills on movie crews. He also loved B&W, and processed his own. I have many images of him in my memory poring over a lightbox with a magnifying glass; it always took him ages to choose from what he’d shot. 🙂
    I LOVE the shot in your heading slider that’s of a winter mountainscape – must be from your own county …

    Reply ↓

    • Thank you! The header shot was taken on a ‘day-trip’ tour of the part of an area known as the Yorkshire Dales, that I gave to my niece before she departed on a long trip to Australia/New Zealand/etc. The Dales are not far from where I live – I saw the scene and stopped the car by the side of the road to take a couple of snaps.

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      • ‘Snaps’ ? – SNAPS ??? You do yourself a great injustice, Stephen: I’d guess that you haven’t taken ‘a snap’ for a very long time. 🙂

      • In this case, yes, snaps. 🙂
        I used my compact camera to grab a couple of shots ’cause it was too damn cold to stand in the biting wind, while I had a car load of people waiting to move on.
        No real thought went into this one, no real consideration of why, apart from the ‘I’ve gotta grab that!’
        🙂

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