thoughts on photography

I photographed these black and white double exposures in Paris years ago – back in the day when I still used film and there was no photoshop, no lightroom, no presets and everything was done in camera. I  pulled them from the archive because I wanted to do some more double exposures recently and discovered that with digital cameras I can no longer do this!!! It got me thinking about the ‘decisive moment’ and our ability, as photographers, to capture that frame in the split second that it passes across our vision.
I took the colour ‘pool splash’ photo in Cape Town for an editorial where the budget only allowed 2 rolls of film per shot. Shooting medium format it meant I only had 24 frames to nail it. In order to get the water splash back lit against the sky I was shooting directly into the sun. Using the model’s body to partially block the sun, but still allow enough flare to create the shot, I also had to perfectly time it with the assistant throwing a bucket of water off camera.
It’s hard to describe the anticipation of waiting for that ‘decisive moment’ and the exhilaration of just knowing you’ve got it. Instinctively I ‘knew’ the minute I pressed the shutter button, and before I wound the film cartridge on, that I already had the image I wanted. I didn’t need to look at the back of the camera to check – because you couldn’t.
Call me a purist but I’m proud of the fact that I took these shots ‘in camera’. I guess it’s an obsolete skill to have but in the modern photographic world we seem to have forgotten the very basics of photography. The internet is full of second rate photographs taken in terrible light and with no clue as to a half decent composition. The people who take these pictures then blog/brag about how to make them look decent using an array of quick click post production tools.
Actually I admire the honesty of these ‘before and after’ artists. It’s a bit like celebrities who have plastic surgery and don’t try to hide it. I’ve never used more than minimal retouching in my own work – preferring, even now, to get as much as I can ‘in camera’  because I can and because, personally, I think it’s lazy not to.
It’s a skill that’s served me well in motion capture and the move to cinematography and I’m grateful for it.

 

 

Shooting Sports Action with Digital Photographer

I’ve always liked style and moving images and have a natural instinct for ‘the decisive moment’ so shooting sports photography was a natural progression for me in my commercial career.
I started in photojournalism, moved into fashion and got well paid to shoot sports advertising.
I’ve shot celebrity athletes like Lance Armstrong, Ellen MacArthur, Barry McGuigan and both the Spanish and British Olympic Teams so it was great to be asked by Digital Photographer to contribute to their article on shooting sport – just in time for London 2012,
Click on the image to find out more

Dreams, Reality and Everything In Between

It’s a dilemma I often come across in my creative life.
When you meet someone who shows raw talent is it right for you to help them try to fulfill their ‘dreams’.
Because the reality is that talent isn’t anywhere near enough to ‘succeed’ and that can be a bitter pill to swallow.
Also how do you even begin to define success???
Is it just being good at what you do??? Trying to be as true and original as you can be whilst pushing the boundaries of your creativity or does it rely on making good money out of your craft???
Maybe it’s easy for me to say but I don’t think ‘success’ lies in the monetary value of your work but in the sense of personal satisfaction you get from producing it.
I don’t want to raise false hope. It’s a tough, ruthless industry and there’s no yellow brick road to fame and fortune.
A lot of the time it’s waves of rejection and disappointment before you ever get a ride of any kind and even then you never know how long the ride will last before it dumps you back out at sea – just trying to stay afloat.
I’m endlessly optimistic, passionate and upbeat – both for my own ambitions and also for those aspiring talents I come across, but I sometimes I question the journey we take in pursuit of our dreams.
Not so much for myself as the path I might set others on when the reality is that their dreams are better left undisturbed.

Help For Heroes

Just got back from a fantastic 2 day photographic workshop I was invited to give at Tedworth House in Wiltshire.
Tedworth House is a Personnel Recovery & Assessment Centre for wounded, sick and injured Servicemen and Women run by the world renowned charity organisation – Help for Heroes.
Help for Heroes is exactly that and aims to provide as many facilities as possible to support the recovery process in helping those who have served their country adjust to their injuries and deal with the emotional, physical and mental realities of a new life.
As someone who believes that anyone with an interest in photography can become a photographer it is always a privilege to be able to pass on the knowledge, experience and passion that I have in the hope that it might inspire others.
What was inspiring for me were the characters that I met throughout my stay.
From the injured ex-Paratrooper who loved wide open landscapes and wrote the most astonishing poetry to the quiet guy who said very little and then stunned me and the rest of the group with the raw, natural talent that was literally just bursting out of him to express itself in original photographic images.

Troy, Richard, Mike, Sam, Roli and Alex – I salute you all and thanks for sharing your weekend with me.

Thanks also to Hardy Haase at Flaghead Photographic for generous loan of Quantum Flash and Hedler Lighting Equipment