Two weeks ago I went to Paris for a few days and while I was out there, I focused on the street life! Took photos of nearly everything I saw, in the end had a collection of about 800 photos which took ages to edit but I got there in the end. Here are a few images that i’ve chosen as favourites, displaying a few elements of the streets in Paris.
Posted by Vicky
I can’t believe that it is almost two weeks since we put up our exhibition of documentary photographs at West Swindon library. There is still time to catch it before it comes down. In the meantime, here are some photographs from the successful opening evening. Congratulations to Gema for organising our first public show!
Barbara
Fact of the day… He once got deported
Nigel Shafran came in to talk to the first and second years doing the foundation degree in professional photography.
I’ll admit, none of us were expecting a lot from him after having first looked at his experimental work before the talk. But by the end of the day, most of our opinions were swayed in his favour.
Shafran initially talked us through how he started out as a photographer, which didn’t include college or university courses but did do an art course pre age 16. He never finished anything he started in art which led to one of his tutors suggesting he take up photography. He quickly became very passionate about this medium, creating work to please himself – not thinking about a career initially. He made a point that he doesn’t tend to use lighting in his work, only available light so that his work won’t look too commercial.
To get into photography as a career, Shafran started knocking on doors and making phone calls un till he scored a job as an assistant of a still life photographer working on 10×8 cameras. He didn’t have a glamourous job – only running film into the labs and carrying equipment, and occasionally having a quick game of space invaders in the arcade whilst running through Soho. Being an assistant gave him an insight into technique, cameras and lighting. “…its not so important if you have your own vision, but it is useful to know all that stuff like the alphabet. You choose what you want to use so that you can communicate in your own way…” He suggested that once you know all this ‘stuff’, you can throw it all away and discard it.
Shafran has assisted many well known photographers such as Robert Maplethorpe, Mario Testino and Annie Leibovitz (who sacked him after 1 day!) He has also had the chance to do fashion stories for i-D and the Face in the past. When Shafran shoots fashion stories he took to the streets and wouldn’t go for the typical ‘beautiful’ models. Sometimes he got published. Sometimes he didn’t.
You need to show your portfolio and get it out there, and either hope for commissions or that your own work gets published; Or approach those who you hope to be published by.
Shafran doesn’t get excited about glamour but is interested in the mundane and boring which is clear in his personal photography. Inspiration can’t be forced but when it’s arrived you need to act on it when it happens – be it food on a till conveyor belt, charity shops, your wife on the phone – all of which he has photographed. He is both subtle and observational in what he photographs. Shafran said of his own work that he can admit some of it is rubbish, but at the end of the day, most of it what he does, he does for himself.
Here is some of his work or see more on his site, Nigel Shafran
Focus on Imaging
Focus on Imaging has claim to being the biggest annual photography and imaging show in Europe, and also having everything any photographer/ image processor, be it professional or keen hobbyist could want under one roof. With a wide variety of distributors exhibiting notably amongst them Nikon, Canon, Epson and hundreds more providing an insight to their future contributions to the world of photography, such as Nikon’s D4 and Fuji’s Insta-film Cameras not to mention the many advancements in presentation/ portfolio devices and technological advancements.
My personal experience of the show my first impression was it was a clutter of stalls with no consistent sectioning between cameras, portfolios or others nevertheless once in there its scattered layout forces a diversity of interests ensuring you take away more. Overall the experience and view into the professional products was defiantly eye opening to the sheer variety available to any level of enthusiast
By Lee Heaven
A friend sent me a link to Aesthetica Magazine’s Competition which has a student category.
Even if you’re not thinking of entering the competition, it is worth reading the online magazine for its articles and blog casts especially the interview with Rankin.
I was particularly struck by Rankin’s comment that his work is like a diary but that he’s not in the photographs. He says,
“You look at the work and you think this happened this day and this happened that day. It becomes your life and you’re not in the photographs and that’s a very strange experience to have your life in a book or on the walls but you’re not actually present. You’re only present in terms of your creativity so … in a weird way it’s like looking in a mirror …”
If you’re interested in the process of photography, it’s really worth a listen.
Also, check out a photo by Cindy Sherman
http://www.aestheticamagazine.com/index.htm#_self
Have fun!
Come to the first year FDA Photography exhibition! It’s open for two weeks so there’s no excuse to miss it. We’d love the support!
We have an open evening on the 21st for friends and family and people in the business – to look at our work and enjoy a few drinks
By Gema Bird
sn3photography 