I've got this friend Luke, and he's got this project on the go, which is to get together a collection of poems by local writers. I'll go into that in another post, but the point of this post is that one day I was over his house discussing the project, and he turned to me and said, "Oh yeah, by the way, I'm on the radio tomorrow," so I thought oh cool, that's really great. It turned-out he was going to be on BBC Radio Wales, so that's pretty big news. Ever since Luke got me involved in the book project I've been helping him out with trying to build a brand. Its all stuff that I've been learning about through my escapades in photography, about how to get your name out-there and that sort of thing. It's basically been me been passing-on (a very limited) knowledge to help build a blog and a Facebook page, and all that sort of stuff. So in light of that, I said, you know, he should get some photographs while he was there, and we can stuck them up on the blog and that, and use them to promote the Facebook page etc. As I'm saying this now, I realise how stupid I was being at the time, but, to be honest I didn't realise it at the time. He looked at me with this look that said - 'You're supposed to be a photographer!', and there I was, saying he should ask someone to snap a few frames on their mobile or something! So he just said "Well why dont you do it, you know, do you want to come along?". I'd never done aythig quite like this before, and to be fair to Luke, he does give me lots of opportunities for interesting experiences, so I though yeah cool, let's go. Although I would have liked more notice - we were having this discussion at about 10pm and he was supposed to be on at 9am the next mornig. I'll be honest, at first I was a bit apprehensive, but I thought, yeah go on, it'll be good experience. And it certainly was that!
We got there, got in, all ok, no problems, great. But one of the first things I noticed about being in the BBC building was that I was surrounded by young, professional, attractive people - so clearly I was out of my depth in 3 different ways! We eventually got to the place we needed to be, and there were basically two rooms, one was the actual studio where the presenters were, and then there was another, seperate room with the mixing desk etc, where the producers sat. The producers said I would be allowed into the studio to shoot a little, but I would have to come out before Luke actually went on air. So that meant that obviously I wasn't going to have much time, and unfortunately I wasn't going to get any shots of the actual intereview, which did present me with a bit of a problem. So I went into the studio section, and it was really quite tense, as I was really conscious about not wanting to make any noise or anything. The presenters were really cool about it though, it was Jamie Owen and some other lady whoise name I can't remember. I said for them to just tell me whenever I needed to leave, but Jamie Owen said not to worry, I could just stay in the studio and it would be fine (even though I had just been told by the producers that I wouldn't be allowed to do that). So I thought great! More opportinnuty to shoot, cheers Jamie Owen! So while they were still off air, I was ahooting-off a few frames, but it was a little difficult, as Luke wasn't actually being interviewed at this point, he was just sitting at the desk, which led to some fairly mild and uninteresting images.
There were also a few issues, photographically speaking, with reagerds to relatively low lighting etc. Now, I quite enjoy street photography, I like documentary / reportage etc, but that all revolves around a degree of emotion, action or intereaction between people and / or people and things. But in this specific situation there wasn't actually anything happening. At this point in time, the presenters were shuffling through paprerwork while they were off the air, and my friend Luke was just sitting at a desk, waiting to be spoken to. I also had to ramp the ISO right up, I cant remember exactly, but it was on at least 800 or something, which is pretty high for my gear. I've got a Nikon D80, which is a little old, so high ISO is pretty grainy - it's not like having a Canon 5d mk II or a Nikon D3s, where it's like, 'Oh yeah, I can ram it right up to 3200 or something and shoot an entire wedding by candle light' - unfortunately I really cant quite get away with that sort of thing on my camera. Plus the lens I'm using (a Sigma 18-125mm f/3.8-5.6 DC OS HSM doesn't stay wide open at the longer focal lengths, so I was down to f5.6 too.) The biggest challenge though was the fact that I was only in there for about 2 minutes max, during a period of fairly mundane inaction, and then I had to leave when the real action started. Then some kind of countdown began, and the producers called me out of the studio, and into the production room. I managed a few shots through the glass in the partitioning wall, but it didnt really work.
The interview itself was somewhat on the interesting side, as at one point Luke talked about how he got expelled from school for cutting a kids ear off with a can of Coke. He quickly added that he hadn't actually done it, he was just scape-goated. I had the pleasure of being in the production room at this point and experiencing the audible silence that followed this statement, along with the dropped-jaws, aghast faces, and wide-open eyes. Nice one Luke, subtle mate, subtle...
Anyway, after the interview was over, I went back in to take a few straight-up promo pics, including such classics as, 'Yeah, shaking a man's hand,' and 'The standing-awkwardly-next-to-a-minor-celebrity-whilst-awkwardly-smiling' shot etc, etc. But yeah, I think overall it went well, certainly a good experience. By the end I had a few good images, that I was happy with, and certainly worked well for the blog and Facebook page, and that was the main reason I was there.
I'll be writing another post soon about another shoot I had with Luke, and that one was even more of a challenge, so I think that'll probably be my next post.
Cheers!
Friday, 10 June 2011
Sunday, 29 May 2011
Impromptu Collaboration Part 02
So, the next day, I ventured back to the location for the shoot. Once there, I met with Tom, and the model, Nancy Harry, who was really great fun to shoot with. I've wanted to work with her before, mostly due to the fact that she's fairly tattoo'd. She's one of those models who really just gets-on-with-it, and just does what you ask, without complaining of being cold, dirty tired, etc, she was really great, we all had a good laugh, and there was a genuinely relaxed but energetic vibe for the shoot, which put everyone at ease.
We basically had 2 different locations, one was a multi-story car park, and one was an underground loading bay for a shop above. Tom's proper job, when he's not running-around filthy holes taking photographs, is a graphic designer, and the multi-story car park was actually a small part of a larger project that he was working-on redesigning so we had the whole place to ourselves. The other location, the underground loading bay, was truly one of the grungiest places I've ever shot at. It was one of those places where you walk in and you think, "Actually, am I 100% percent sure I've had all my hepatitis injections? What about Tetanus?" It really was on the trampy side of derelict. You know the kind of place with that wonderfully rich and distinct aroma of cider-fueled piss?
It was only while really shooting together that I realised just how different our styles were. Although we both lean towards the alt / fetish side of things, and kinda steer-away from straight-up glamour, our actual shooting techniques were completely different. Tom was mostly available light, chiaroscuro etc, spending most of his time with long shutters on a tripod. I, on the other hand, work mostly on punching the subject with flash, and getting (frankly) invasively close to the model with a wide-angle lens. I found it really interesting to see us both working in such completely different styles, and of course, afterwards, seeing two completely different sets of resulting images. It really was an eye-opener. Obviously, I can enjoy the privileged position of having produced the vastly superior images, but Tom's weren't too bad either. He's not bad, you know, bless his cotton socks, he's coming along...
Here's a few of the images I shot:
Most of these were shot with a very similar set-up. I was using a single SB600 speedlight off-camera, with a warming gel and a honeycomb grid, with radio triggers. The idea was to warm-up the subject, with a fairly harsh and focused light (speedlight manually set to zoom), then slightly under-expose the background, with the White Balance set to create a cooler ambient light. In some situations I was also able to use any available light sources as a rim light. There was a certain amount of experimentation on this shoot, and I'm pretty happy with the results. I'm also pleased with the various individual elements that make-up the images, i.e. - a tattooed model, grungy locations, bright colours, wide angles and under-exposed backgrounds - all of which are things I find visually pleasing in my own photography and other peoples.
We have more plans to collaborate in the future, with the aim of producing something between us, and we're definitely looking at getting together again in the near future. Interestingly, the next one could be a really significant step-forward for the both of us. This time, the model was working TF and it was all a bit last minute. However, the plan is for the next shoot to have a much more collaborative foundation, involving hair and MUA, and maybe hiring-out a location for a day. So with a bit of luck, we'll both have something really special for our portfolios in the near future.
So, as the cool kids would say, watch this space etc etc.
We basically had 2 different locations, one was a multi-story car park, and one was an underground loading bay for a shop above. Tom's proper job, when he's not running-around filthy holes taking photographs, is a graphic designer, and the multi-story car park was actually a small part of a larger project that he was working-on redesigning so we had the whole place to ourselves. The other location, the underground loading bay, was truly one of the grungiest places I've ever shot at. It was one of those places where you walk in and you think, "Actually, am I 100% percent sure I've had all my hepatitis injections? What about Tetanus?" It really was on the trampy side of derelict. You know the kind of place with that wonderfully rich and distinct aroma of cider-fueled piss?
It was only while really shooting together that I realised just how different our styles were. Although we both lean towards the alt / fetish side of things, and kinda steer-away from straight-up glamour, our actual shooting techniques were completely different. Tom was mostly available light, chiaroscuro etc, spending most of his time with long shutters on a tripod. I, on the other hand, work mostly on punching the subject with flash, and getting (frankly) invasively close to the model with a wide-angle lens. I found it really interesting to see us both working in such completely different styles, and of course, afterwards, seeing two completely different sets of resulting images. It really was an eye-opener. Obviously, I can enjoy the privileged position of having produced the vastly superior images, but Tom's weren't too bad either. He's not bad, you know, bless his cotton socks, he's coming along...
Here's a few of the images I shot:
Most of these were shot with a very similar set-up. I was using a single SB600 speedlight off-camera, with a warming gel and a honeycomb grid, with radio triggers. The idea was to warm-up the subject, with a fairly harsh and focused light (speedlight manually set to zoom), then slightly under-expose the background, with the White Balance set to create a cooler ambient light. In some situations I was also able to use any available light sources as a rim light. There was a certain amount of experimentation on this shoot, and I'm pretty happy with the results. I'm also pleased with the various individual elements that make-up the images, i.e. - a tattooed model, grungy locations, bright colours, wide angles and under-exposed backgrounds - all of which are things I find visually pleasing in my own photography and other peoples.
We have more plans to collaborate in the future, with the aim of producing something between us, and we're definitely looking at getting together again in the near future. Interestingly, the next one could be a really significant step-forward for the both of us. This time, the model was working TF and it was all a bit last minute. However, the plan is for the next shoot to have a much more collaborative foundation, involving hair and MUA, and maybe hiring-out a location for a day. So with a bit of luck, we'll both have something really special for our portfolios in the near future.
So, as the cool kids would say, watch this space etc etc.
Saturday, 14 May 2011
Impromptu Collaboration Part 1
Yeah, so, I've talked before about the advantages of being on FaceBook, and here is another example of that. I really do believe that it offers us opportunities to engage with people we might not otherwise get the chance to meet, and recently, that's exactly what happened to me.
There's this local photographer called Tom, actually he's more of a digital artist, but he also does some photography. Basically, he commented on one of the pictures I put up on FaceBook, and so that made me want to look at his profile and have a look at his stuff. I liked what he was doing, so that led me to commenting back. Basically, over the period of a couple of months or so, we were just commenting and messaging back-and-forth, you know, offering support / critique, ideas, locations, that sort of thing. One of the biggest things that we had in common was that we were both at similar stages in our photography, and we both had similar goals for the near future. But maybe most importantly, we both had a the same kind of open attitude, meaning that he would gladly share any information or knowledge that he had with me, and vice-versa - there was absolutely no pretentiousness.
After a while, we just thought, you know, lets go for it, lets actually get our asses in gear, sort something out, get it together, and produce something. As it turns-out, he already had a shoot lined-up for the end of the week, which was 3 or 4 days away. We hadn't actually met 'in real life' at this point, so the day before the shoot, we met at the location, in Newport. We thought we'd just meet-up, have a bit of a chat, and see if we thought we could work together, plus discuss plans for the actual shoot. So I made my way over to Newport, of course, the closer I got, the less sunny it became, slowly sucking any joy and warmth out of the weather. Welcome to the wonderful, glorious city of Newport. Ah well...
Tom and I actually got on really well, which was a bit of a bonus. I mean, at first there was that thought in the back of my mind, "Hmmm...so you've decided to meet a complete stranger you met on the Internet, in a disused car park? Smart. Maybe just make-out a quick will before you leave home, as you probably won't make it back " you know? Fortunately, he didn't even try to murder / rape me, which was lovely. Bonus!
So we pretty-much just kinda chatted for a few hours, and it quickly became quite clear that he was a lot more technically proficient then I am (in just about every aspect conceivable!) but, despite that, we were both at very similar stages of our photography, and we both wanted to achieve similar things in the near future. We talked about the layout of the shoot, and any ideas we had, then went back home.
That's it for this post, but I will be following-up on this story in the near future about the actual shoot. The point of this post was to show what came out of a chance encounter on FaceBook, an encounter which will hopefully lead to some great photography, but in the very least, led to me meeting an interesting and artistic contemporary.
There's this local photographer called Tom, actually he's more of a digital artist, but he also does some photography. Basically, he commented on one of the pictures I put up on FaceBook, and so that made me want to look at his profile and have a look at his stuff. I liked what he was doing, so that led me to commenting back. Basically, over the period of a couple of months or so, we were just commenting and messaging back-and-forth, you know, offering support / critique, ideas, locations, that sort of thing. One of the biggest things that we had in common was that we were both at similar stages in our photography, and we both had similar goals for the near future. But maybe most importantly, we both had a the same kind of open attitude, meaning that he would gladly share any information or knowledge that he had with me, and vice-versa - there was absolutely no pretentiousness.
After a while, we just thought, you know, lets go for it, lets actually get our asses in gear, sort something out, get it together, and produce something. As it turns-out, he already had a shoot lined-up for the end of the week, which was 3 or 4 days away. We hadn't actually met 'in real life' at this point, so the day before the shoot, we met at the location, in Newport. We thought we'd just meet-up, have a bit of a chat, and see if we thought we could work together, plus discuss plans for the actual shoot. So I made my way over to Newport, of course, the closer I got, the less sunny it became, slowly sucking any joy and warmth out of the weather. Welcome to the wonderful, glorious city of Newport. Ah well...
Tom and I actually got on really well, which was a bit of a bonus. I mean, at first there was that thought in the back of my mind, "Hmmm...so you've decided to meet a complete stranger you met on the Internet, in a disused car park? Smart. Maybe just make-out a quick will before you leave home, as you probably won't make it back " you know? Fortunately, he didn't even try to murder / rape me, which was lovely. Bonus!
So we pretty-much just kinda chatted for a few hours, and it quickly became quite clear that he was a lot more technically proficient then I am (in just about every aspect conceivable!) but, despite that, we were both at very similar stages of our photography, and we both wanted to achieve similar things in the near future. We talked about the layout of the shoot, and any ideas we had, then went back home.
That's it for this post, but I will be following-up on this story in the near future about the actual shoot. The point of this post was to show what came out of a chance encounter on FaceBook, an encounter which will hopefully lead to some great photography, but in the very least, led to me meeting an interesting and artistic contemporary.
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
By The Way, You're Supposed to Enjoy It...
I'm not sure if this is going to sound stupidly obvious or obviously stupid, but it seems to me like a lot of photographers need reminding - You're Supposed To Enjoy It."
A lot of photographers get into photography almost by accident - someone gives them a camera, they take some pictures, they don't stop, they (eventually) turn pro - that kind of thing. I don't have a problem with that, I think thats great, I love the idea that some event or person nudges you in a certain direction, and then some innate un-tapped passion just takes over, and consumes you. That is a true joy. Wonderful!
However, I don't want to sound patronising, and I'm (very much) aware of the fact that I'm not exactly a seasoned pro, but vast swathes of the articles I read on photography are constantly focusing (yeah that's right, I'm punnerific, puntacular, and puntastic) on the negative aspects of photography. To be completely honest, some of it seems to be boardering on fear-mongering. And I just find that kinda strange...
I'm aware of the uncomfortable-yet-true, cold, hard facts. For example, yes, it is a completely saturated market, yes, its difficult to make a lot of money from it, yes professionals are under-fire from amateurs / Flikr. But lets not forget, some photographers really do make a veritable shit-load of money from photography! Whilst doing something they love. I understand that just because you enjoy it, that doesn't guarantee success or money, but I'm not entirely convinced that the people who make money from it could do so without enjoying it, or at least having some passion for it. Yes they have to work hard, but I honestly beleive that nothing drives you harder than passion and desire. Actually, that last sentance is sounds like an Alfa Romeo advert, but, you know what I mean.
Personally, I liked tattoos before I liked photography. I would go to tattoo conventions with my girlfriend, and whilst there I would snap away at all the stuff going-on. Before long, I saved for my first DSLR (Nikon D60), and started getting creative and experimenting. I then realised that what I was really shooting wasn't the tattoos, it was the people. So I followed that thread, and started shooting portraiture. Now, my preferred area of portraiture is latex, fetish, and...drum roll...tattoo! So its kinda come full-circle for me. Lovely.
Anyway, my point is, don't forget to enjoy it. Even if the commercial side of things bores you, set yourself projects for your free time, shoot the stuff you want to shoot, then build-up a portfolio that will get you the kind of jobs you really want to shoot. Get that fire on-the-go, get excited, be inspired!
Easy! Right? Well, obviously there will be complications and compromises, and I don't want to sound like I live in some dream-land where all your wishes come true and elephants can fly, and spanners can drive cars, and Jeremy Kyle contestans are culled, but there's nothing wrong with aiming high, and being a bit of an idealist. 2 or 3 of my tattoos are essentially indelible notes from a younger, more idealist self. The fact that they'll be there forever means that I'll forever be constantly reminded of the passion (there's that 'Alfa' word again!) I had when I was younger. I don't think thats a bad idea, and I think that approach can be used to drive (another 'Alfa' word) your photography forward.
Anyway, thats enough tenuous puns and metaphors for now, just remember what got you started, and why you enjoyed it so much, and go from there.
A lot of photographers get into photography almost by accident - someone gives them a camera, they take some pictures, they don't stop, they (eventually) turn pro - that kind of thing. I don't have a problem with that, I think thats great, I love the idea that some event or person nudges you in a certain direction, and then some innate un-tapped passion just takes over, and consumes you. That is a true joy. Wonderful!
However, I don't want to sound patronising, and I'm (very much) aware of the fact that I'm not exactly a seasoned pro, but vast swathes of the articles I read on photography are constantly focusing (yeah that's right, I'm punnerific, puntacular, and puntastic) on the negative aspects of photography. To be completely honest, some of it seems to be boardering on fear-mongering. And I just find that kinda strange...
I'm aware of the uncomfortable-yet-true, cold, hard facts. For example, yes, it is a completely saturated market, yes, its difficult to make a lot of money from it, yes professionals are under-fire from amateurs / Flikr. But lets not forget, some photographers really do make a veritable shit-load of money from photography! Whilst doing something they love. I understand that just because you enjoy it, that doesn't guarantee success or money, but I'm not entirely convinced that the people who make money from it could do so without enjoying it, or at least having some passion for it. Yes they have to work hard, but I honestly beleive that nothing drives you harder than passion and desire. Actually, that last sentance is sounds like an Alfa Romeo advert, but, you know what I mean.
Personally, I liked tattoos before I liked photography. I would go to tattoo conventions with my girlfriend, and whilst there I would snap away at all the stuff going-on. Before long, I saved for my first DSLR (Nikon D60), and started getting creative and experimenting. I then realised that what I was really shooting wasn't the tattoos, it was the people. So I followed that thread, and started shooting portraiture. Now, my preferred area of portraiture is latex, fetish, and...drum roll...tattoo! So its kinda come full-circle for me. Lovely.
Anyway, my point is, don't forget to enjoy it. Even if the commercial side of things bores you, set yourself projects for your free time, shoot the stuff you want to shoot, then build-up a portfolio that will get you the kind of jobs you really want to shoot. Get that fire on-the-go, get excited, be inspired!
Easy! Right? Well, obviously there will be complications and compromises, and I don't want to sound like I live in some dream-land where all your wishes come true and elephants can fly, and spanners can drive cars, and Jeremy Kyle contestans are culled, but there's nothing wrong with aiming high, and being a bit of an idealist. 2 or 3 of my tattoos are essentially indelible notes from a younger, more idealist self. The fact that they'll be there forever means that I'll forever be constantly reminded of the passion (there's that 'Alfa' word again!) I had when I was younger. I don't think thats a bad idea, and I think that approach can be used to drive (another 'Alfa' word) your photography forward.
Anyway, thats enough tenuous puns and metaphors for now, just remember what got you started, and why you enjoyed it so much, and go from there.
Monday, 18 April 2011
An Aurora Dawn
Taking my photography onto FaceBook has definately helped me reach more people. Its not without its drawbacks, but on the whole, I would highly recommend that any photographers / models get a seperate page, and present yourself professionally. FaceBook puts me in-touch with photographers, MUA's, models, clothing designers and all-sorts of other people too. One such person, was model Aurora Dawn. I've noticed her profile around on other sites before, and I've always been interested in working with her, but I never really got round to actually organising something. Well, not long ago, she contacted me over FaceBook, and we organised a shoot together.
We sent a couple of messages back-and-forth talking about ideas / themes but we couldn't really settle on one specific thing that we wanted to shoot. Obviously, she was aware of my style, and was looking to shoot the same sort of thing as me, namely latex / fetish / Alt. imagery. In the end, we just agreed that she'd bring various fetishy clothing and props, and we'd just spend a couple of hours shooting and experimenting.
This was the last of my shoots in the hotel I've been using, and I booked a different room to previous visits, which threw a few new options into the mix. At various times Aurora was on the bed, sofa, chair, toilet, bath, and at one point even in a wardobe. She didn't really want to go in the wardrobe, but I really just had to shut her in there for 5 minutes peace and quiet...
Anyway, we tried quite a few different outfits and lighting setups and I think we came away with a nice variety of images - ranging from the dark and intense S&M type, to the brighter Alt-Glamour 'FRONT' magazine kinda stuff. Overall, it went pretty well. She was great fun to work with, great personality, with tons of character. Unfortunately, I did make a few school-boy errors during the shoot, but I kind of didn't mind. The whole purpose of the shoot was to try some stuff out, see what works and what doesn't, and at the end of the day, I'm happy with the images.
We sent a couple of messages back-and-forth talking about ideas / themes but we couldn't really settle on one specific thing that we wanted to shoot. Obviously, she was aware of my style, and was looking to shoot the same sort of thing as me, namely latex / fetish / Alt. imagery. In the end, we just agreed that she'd bring various fetishy clothing and props, and we'd just spend a couple of hours shooting and experimenting.
This was the last of my shoots in the hotel I've been using, and I booked a different room to previous visits, which threw a few new options into the mix. At various times Aurora was on the bed, sofa, chair, toilet, bath, and at one point even in a wardobe. She didn't really want to go in the wardrobe, but I really just had to shut her in there for 5 minutes peace and quiet...
Anyway, we tried quite a few different outfits and lighting setups and I think we came away with a nice variety of images - ranging from the dark and intense S&M type, to the brighter Alt-Glamour 'FRONT' magazine kinda stuff. Overall, it went pretty well. She was great fun to work with, great personality, with tons of character. Unfortunately, I did make a few school-boy errors during the shoot, but I kind of didn't mind. The whole purpose of the shoot was to try some stuff out, see what works and what doesn't, and at the end of the day, I'm happy with the images.
Sunday, 27 March 2011
What exactly is your 'Photographic Style'?
What is my Photographic Style? I don't really know. That's the simple answer. And just to let you know, I don't really have a complex answer either. Arguably, I have no answer at all. So feel free to stop reading now, and skip the following ramblings...
For the fool-hardy amongst you who are still reading, this post is more about establishing, and then developing and cultivating your own style than defining it. Personally, I'm not that bothered about what its called, whether its this genre or that genre, I just want to improve my photography, and understand it more.
So, there are, as you might imagine, loads of varying definitions as to what constitutes a photographic style. But what is your photographic style?
Although I'm not exactly a seasoned-pro, when I was just starting out, I read as much as I could about photography, and consumed as much high-quality photography as I could (and, I might add, I still do, and recommend you do too). I read about the technical side, the theoretical side, even the philosophical side of things. I specifically read a lot advice for beginners, and one thing that kept cropping-up was 'Style'.
I kept reading advice on 'Establishing your own unique sytle', or as marketers would say, your 'USP' (Unique Selling Point), and how important it was to differentiate yourself from others. But how does one develop one's own style, and what the hell is it? I mean, really, how exactly do I go about creating, defining, and delivering my own style?
Well, while there was plenty to read about the importance of having a style, there was really very little advice on the practicalities of developing or even understanding it. Then, recently, I found a very practical, (and I think very useful) bit of advice on the Internet. I read it, re-read it, then thought about it for a while, and I've come-up with my own adaptation.
[OK, so you don't have to go through every single step of this, but here is an outline, or guide to the process.]
First, I'm going to assume that you have, somewhere, a collection of images that inspire you, or that you would like to re-create. Now, print-off (yes, actually print them off onto paper) around 10 of your favourite images - not too many, but enough that you can see a pattern or connecting theme(s) between them. These may even include images that you have shot yourself, it doesn't matter, as long as they are the kind of images that you like, and would like to be able to shoot more of.
Then, just study them for a few minutes. Take them in, and mentally note what you like about them.
Next, grab a pen (or if pens are too complicated, try a crayon) and physically annotate the images - circling and describing the various aspects of each image that you like. Is it muted tones, low angles, atypical composition, the use of harsh flash, selective focus, whatever.
The next step is optional, but I find it helps really organise my thoughts: write down all the things you like, then tally the number of images that include this element and that element. This way, you end-up with a clear, quantitative picture (pun?) of exactly what it is that you find most appealing throughout your favourite images.
OK, that's the easy part. You now have a clearer unerstanding of what you like in photographs. Now comes the hard part where you have to go out there, put this knowledge into practice, and actually shoot with the intention of specifically incorporating those elements that 'scored the highest points'. This may feel a little uncomfortable at first, but if you get good results from it, keep pushing yourself in the direction you find visually pleasing, and soon it'll become a natural part of your photography. If you don't seem to be getting good results, you may wish to re-consider what it is that you find so appealing in your set of inspirational images.
Finally, as your photographic style, and tastes, evolve over time, it may be worth repeating this exercise periodically, just to remind yourself of what you like, and how you want to shoot. I know it sounds obvious, but physically setting-it-out in front of yourself can really help clarify things.
I usually say that I like to shoot latex, fetish, tattoo, and Alt.portraiture, but for me, the things that scored highly on my list were bright colours, quirky composition, and hard light, on alternative subjects. I suppose its the combination of these things - subject matter + visual themes - that constitutes a style. Maybe. What do you think?
I don't claim to be perfect (well, not out loud...), but I like to think I've done a fairly good job at including these aesthetics into my photography, and people (occasionally) ask to work with me because they are 'looking for something different', and I think I can offer that.
Of course, I still have a long way to go, but I really enjoy the journey...
For the fool-hardy amongst you who are still reading, this post is more about establishing, and then developing and cultivating your own style than defining it. Personally, I'm not that bothered about what its called, whether its this genre or that genre, I just want to improve my photography, and understand it more.
So, there are, as you might imagine, loads of varying definitions as to what constitutes a photographic style. But what is your photographic style?
Although I'm not exactly a seasoned-pro, when I was just starting out, I read as much as I could about photography, and consumed as much high-quality photography as I could (and, I might add, I still do, and recommend you do too). I read about the technical side, the theoretical side, even the philosophical side of things. I specifically read a lot advice for beginners, and one thing that kept cropping-up was 'Style'.
I kept reading advice on 'Establishing your own unique sytle', or as marketers would say, your 'USP' (Unique Selling Point), and how important it was to differentiate yourself from others. But how does one develop one's own style, and what the hell is it? I mean, really, how exactly do I go about creating, defining, and delivering my own style?
Well, while there was plenty to read about the importance of having a style, there was really very little advice on the practicalities of developing or even understanding it. Then, recently, I found a very practical, (and I think very useful) bit of advice on the Internet. I read it, re-read it, then thought about it for a while, and I've come-up with my own adaptation.
[OK, so you don't have to go through every single step of this, but here is an outline, or guide to the process.]
First, I'm going to assume that you have, somewhere, a collection of images that inspire you, or that you would like to re-create. Now, print-off (yes, actually print them off onto paper) around 10 of your favourite images - not too many, but enough that you can see a pattern or connecting theme(s) between them. These may even include images that you have shot yourself, it doesn't matter, as long as they are the kind of images that you like, and would like to be able to shoot more of.
Then, just study them for a few minutes. Take them in, and mentally note what you like about them.
Next, grab a pen (or if pens are too complicated, try a crayon) and physically annotate the images - circling and describing the various aspects of each image that you like. Is it muted tones, low angles, atypical composition, the use of harsh flash, selective focus, whatever.
The next step is optional, but I find it helps really organise my thoughts: write down all the things you like, then tally the number of images that include this element and that element. This way, you end-up with a clear, quantitative picture (pun?) of exactly what it is that you find most appealing throughout your favourite images.
OK, that's the easy part. You now have a clearer unerstanding of what you like in photographs. Now comes the hard part where you have to go out there, put this knowledge into practice, and actually shoot with the intention of specifically incorporating those elements that 'scored the highest points'. This may feel a little uncomfortable at first, but if you get good results from it, keep pushing yourself in the direction you find visually pleasing, and soon it'll become a natural part of your photography. If you don't seem to be getting good results, you may wish to re-consider what it is that you find so appealing in your set of inspirational images.
Finally, as your photographic style, and tastes, evolve over time, it may be worth repeating this exercise periodically, just to remind yourself of what you like, and how you want to shoot. I know it sounds obvious, but physically setting-it-out in front of yourself can really help clarify things.
I usually say that I like to shoot latex, fetish, tattoo, and Alt.portraiture, but for me, the things that scored highly on my list were bright colours, quirky composition, and hard light, on alternative subjects. I suppose its the combination of these things - subject matter + visual themes - that constitutes a style. Maybe. What do you think?
I don't claim to be perfect (well, not out loud...), but I like to think I've done a fairly good job at including these aesthetics into my photography, and people (occasionally) ask to work with me because they are 'looking for something different', and I think I can offer that.
Of course, I still have a long way to go, but I really enjoy the journey...
Saturday, 5 March 2011
Hotel Shoot
So, if you read my last post, you'll kow that my first shoot of 2011 used the model's home as the location for the shoot. Perhaps the main advantage of this appraoch, is that the model felt very realxed, and that comfort really came through in the images, and made my job a lot easier. Although there were some challenges, namely shooting in someones home, whilst trying to make sure that it didn't look (too much) like you were shooting in someones home, you know?
I thought I'd like to experiment more along these lines, and so I decided to offer a limited number of TFCD shoots to allow me to experiment in shooting in a small area like a room or house. The location for these shoots would be an hotel in Cardiff. I arranged with the hotel to allow me to use a room for only a few hours, for a reduced fee. The hotel were great, really accomodating, and we organised a deal that we were both happy with.
The purpose of these shoots was to really expand upon what I had learnt from my previous shoot, and hopefully get a couple of good images out of it. My previous shoot had centred around a latex dress, leaning towards a fetish sytle, and so most of the images were kinda edgy, using hard light. For my first shoot in the hotel, I wanted to go to the other end of the scale and shoot something brighter and softer, leaning more towards glamour - not quite my usual cup of tea, but like I said, it was a chance to try-out something different.
I've got a few hotel shoots lined-up, but I've only actually shot one of them so far, and I'm really looking-forward to the rest of them. The first shoot was with Amanita Mascara, a great model, with plenty of ideas, and a load of different outfits / accessories. These were all shot with just a speelight and a shoot-through umbrella:
I thought I'd like to experiment more along these lines, and so I decided to offer a limited number of TFCD shoots to allow me to experiment in shooting in a small area like a room or house. The location for these shoots would be an hotel in Cardiff. I arranged with the hotel to allow me to use a room for only a few hours, for a reduced fee. The hotel were great, really accomodating, and we organised a deal that we were both happy with.
The purpose of these shoots was to really expand upon what I had learnt from my previous shoot, and hopefully get a couple of good images out of it. My previous shoot had centred around a latex dress, leaning towards a fetish sytle, and so most of the images were kinda edgy, using hard light. For my first shoot in the hotel, I wanted to go to the other end of the scale and shoot something brighter and softer, leaning more towards glamour - not quite my usual cup of tea, but like I said, it was a chance to try-out something different.
I've got a few hotel shoots lined-up, but I've only actually shot one of them so far, and I'm really looking-forward to the rest of them. The first shoot was with Amanita Mascara, a great model, with plenty of ideas, and a load of different outfits / accessories. These were all shot with just a speelight and a shoot-through umbrella:
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