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- Halifax, Republic of Yorkshire
Hi all! I've been here for about ten years and in that time I have thoroughly enjoyed presented my shaving gear choices in SOTD pictures. Furthermore, I have enjoyed creating that picture through composition and developing it with digital enhancements. It occurred to me that I have quite distinct trends, finding a particular place where I enjoy taking those pictures because of the light or the situation and/or the tools used to digitally enhance the pictures.
Looking back through my albums, I've picked one from each year which I though best summarised my style of that year ... and so, presenting my first decade with The Shaving Room:
2013
I joined in 2013, actually in quite a bad way having got into some kinda routine with cartridge shaving that had become quite counter-productive and left me with horrible ingrowers and much discomfort. Actually, if I had stopped at a good soap & brush and with a knowledge that a lighter touch would suffice I think I would have happily carried on with cartridge shaving ... but I was intrigued by this whole traditional shaving thing.
Picture here is one of my very first SOTD pictures. After much consideration, I'd decided that the Merkur 23C was the razor I was going to purchase ... and did! Little did I know that one razor would become many hundreds over the next decade! Ingrams was my first proper cream purchase, I bought a cheap badger brush from eBay and you can see I'd landed on SuperMax as one of my very first blade purchases to use after the complimentary Merkur blade that came with the razor. No aftershave as yet, so just Witch Hazel. If memory serves, I think Old Spice was my first dedicated aftershave purchase after coming to traditional shaving. Likely, Jovan Musk or Brut after that as they're readily available in Boots and Supermarkets.
This is where is started ... location was the bathroom and very little faffing with the picture. Bless! What an innocent time.
2014
By this point I had purchased scores of razors, found single edge, tried straight-edge and was running through a period that enjoying the whole gamut of what traditional shaving could off. Except for brushes. I'd binned that cheapo badger and bought a synthetic Kent, and thought that would be it. Actually, I used this Kent exclusively for a good year or more before buying my first piggy.
Pictured here is a Calani(?) travel razor.
My most proflific style for this year was this setup on my desk, which had a leather desk pad and I placed a second pad behind. With the light heavily lowered and even spotlit, the seam was not visible and appeared as an infinity curve. Gosh! NSS soap ... yeah, she's back!
2015
Camera equipment continued with my trusty Canon 350D and by this point I had some nice lenses, which I enjoyed using narrow aperture to try to focus attention in my pictures. Location is the bedroom window sill, which is a stone slab.
2016
... started heavily processing. This antiquing was used a lot this year.
2017
... a much cleaner look for this year, often with a book as the interest point beneath the equipment. Here, I've got some muscle car book open at the Mustang Boss with a red-themed shave. In close, but less on the aperture than previous years. Lighter, too.
2018
Infinity curve (sheet of A3) and a much lighter tone altogether. Very little processing other than temperature correction.
2019
Yep! That book (Snowflakes & Schnapps) ... some kinda Rabbit Stew, I think. I used this format a lot during this year. I also enjoyed lavender a lot this year, the vintage Potter & Moore soap being a really lovely example and the very nice Ach Brito Cologne which is heavily alcoholic and really suits my (oily) skin.
By this point I'm now using my iPhone as my primary camera.
2020
Quite a clean theme this year. Again, location is the bedroom window sill. Still with the iPhone and the only processing really just to bring all the light down.
2021
Much digitial processing. I think this is really where I started using a couple of tools to create quite abstract pictures, while retaining the essence of the equipment.
2022
More processing ... now with borders and artificial focus.
Looking back through my albums, I've picked one from each year which I though best summarised my style of that year ... and so, presenting my first decade with The Shaving Room:
2013
I joined in 2013, actually in quite a bad way having got into some kinda routine with cartridge shaving that had become quite counter-productive and left me with horrible ingrowers and much discomfort. Actually, if I had stopped at a good soap & brush and with a knowledge that a lighter touch would suffice I think I would have happily carried on with cartridge shaving ... but I was intrigued by this whole traditional shaving thing.
Picture here is one of my very first SOTD pictures. After much consideration, I'd decided that the Merkur 23C was the razor I was going to purchase ... and did! Little did I know that one razor would become many hundreds over the next decade! Ingrams was my first proper cream purchase, I bought a cheap badger brush from eBay and you can see I'd landed on SuperMax as one of my very first blade purchases to use after the complimentary Merkur blade that came with the razor. No aftershave as yet, so just Witch Hazel. If memory serves, I think Old Spice was my first dedicated aftershave purchase after coming to traditional shaving. Likely, Jovan Musk or Brut after that as they're readily available in Boots and Supermarkets.
This is where is started ... location was the bathroom and very little faffing with the picture. Bless! What an innocent time.
2014
By this point I had purchased scores of razors, found single edge, tried straight-edge and was running through a period that enjoying the whole gamut of what traditional shaving could off. Except for brushes. I'd binned that cheapo badger and bought a synthetic Kent, and thought that would be it. Actually, I used this Kent exclusively for a good year or more before buying my first piggy.
Pictured here is a Calani(?) travel razor.
My most proflific style for this year was this setup on my desk, which had a leather desk pad and I placed a second pad behind. With the light heavily lowered and even spotlit, the seam was not visible and appeared as an infinity curve. Gosh! NSS soap ... yeah, she's back!
2015
Camera equipment continued with my trusty Canon 350D and by this point I had some nice lenses, which I enjoyed using narrow aperture to try to focus attention in my pictures. Location is the bedroom window sill, which is a stone slab.
2016
... started heavily processing. This antiquing was used a lot this year.
2017
... a much cleaner look for this year, often with a book as the interest point beneath the equipment. Here, I've got some muscle car book open at the Mustang Boss with a red-themed shave. In close, but less on the aperture than previous years. Lighter, too.
2018
Infinity curve (sheet of A3) and a much lighter tone altogether. Very little processing other than temperature correction.
2019
Yep! That book (Snowflakes & Schnapps) ... some kinda Rabbit Stew, I think. I used this format a lot during this year. I also enjoyed lavender a lot this year, the vintage Potter & Moore soap being a really lovely example and the very nice Ach Brito Cologne which is heavily alcoholic and really suits my (oily) skin.
By this point I'm now using my iPhone as my primary camera.
2020
Quite a clean theme this year. Again, location is the bedroom window sill. Still with the iPhone and the only processing really just to bring all the light down.
2021
Much digitial processing. I think this is really where I started using a couple of tools to create quite abstract pictures, while retaining the essence of the equipment.
2022
More processing ... now with borders and artificial focus.
