Category Archives: Photographers
Simple and wonderful
Toby McFarland Pond’s photography is just mmmmm
That’s the only way I can describe it simply.
Here’s another photographer I’ve come across lately that I love to look at. Eliot Lee Hazel. These are the kind of pictures I fall head over heels for, and would happily plaster them all over my walls so I could stare at them all them time.
Steve McCurry on wordpress..
And if he is on here as a photographer, why shouldn’t we all be?
Steve McCurry, a professional photographer and author of several photography books, shares his reasons for why he blogs on WordPress.com. His iconic photo, Afghan Girl, graced the cover of National Geographic and was named one of the 100 Best Pictures of the magazine. McCurry has been recognized with some of the most prestigious awards in the industry, including the Robert Capa Gold Medal, National Press Photographers Award, and an unprecedented four first prize awards from the World Press Photo contest, to name a few.
You are a world-famous photographer. Why do you blog?
Steve: Who would even dream 20 years ago that we would even have the internet? Clearly the internet is changing the landscape of publishing, news, and entertainment. There are countless channels on television, infinite content on the internet, and stimuli literally everywhere we turn. . . . There is so much competition. My blog is just my way of introducing my work through this new media.
What advice would you give budding photographers on building their web presence?
Steve: If you want to be a photographer, you have to photograph. If you look at the photographers whose work we admire, they’ve found a particular place or a subject, dug deep into it, and carved out something that’s become special. And that takes a lot of time and a lot of work — that’s not for everyone. Regardless of how successful you are, it’s important for you to spend your time photographing things that matter to you. You need to understand the things that have meaning to you, and not what others think is important for you. Having a blog is one of the easiest ways for your to get your work out to a wide audience.
Full interview found here Iconic Photographer Steve McCurry Talks Blogging and WordPress
A gleeful pillow fight in a hotel room…
..and access to Michael Jacksons bedroom.
Harry Benson has without a doubt had an absolutely amazing career, and will continue to do so as long as he has a camera in his hand. I’m amazed at how little people have actually heard of him but have seen his iconic images. He has photographed every U.S president from Eisenhower to Barack Obama; was just feet away from Bobby Kennedy the night he was assassinated; in the room with Richard Nixon when he resigned; on the Meredith march with Martin Luther King, jr.; was there when the Berlin Wall went up and went it came down… Who wouldn’t want his career?!
His charm, vanity and vivacious personality
A few words to describe Royal Photographer, Cecil Beaton
With many of his photographs taken of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II displayed at the Victoria and Albert Museum, this is an exhibition you wouldn’t really want to miss. It is open until this Sunday the 22 of April, so not long left if you want to go!
“The photographs of the British royal family by Sir Cecil Beaton (1904-1980) were central to shaping the monarchy’s public image in the mid-20th century. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was still a young princess when she first sat for Beaton in 1942. Over the next three decades he would be invited to photograph the Queen on many significant occasions, including her Coronation Day in 1953.
The most memorable of Beaton’s images combine the splendour of historic royal portrait painting with an intimacy that only photography and film can convey. His detailed diary accounts reveal the complexities of each sitting, from the intense planning and excitement beforehand to the pressures of achieving the perfect shot.
Beaton bequeathed his archive of royal portraits to his devoted secretary Eileen Hose. In 1987 she, in turn, bequeathed the archive to the V&A. Photographs, diaries, personal letters and press cuttings combine to tell the fascinating story of a magnificent collaboration between crown and camera.”
To read more about the exhibition, please visit the V&A museums site.
Posted by Gema of GemaKatherine Photography
Can you say Controversial
Chalk and sticks of cheese were the prop stand ins…
I came across this series by Frieke Janssens, and just was immediately wowed by the entire project. How often do you see children smoking?! Everything about this series has been done phenomenally well in my opinion; the context, the outfits, the models, the poses and facial expressions, the presentation of the photos as a circle, the quality…
Here is what Janssens says of the project:
“A YouTube video of a two-year-old Indonesian nicotine toddler inspired me to create this series, “Smoking Kids”. The video highlighted the cultural differences between the east and west, and questioned notions of smoking being a mainly adult activity. Adult smokers are the societal norm, so I wanted to isolate the viewer’s focus upon the issue of smoking itself. I felt that children smoking would have a surreal impact upon the viewer and compel them to truly see the acts of smoking rather than making assumptions about the person doing the act. To assure you of the safety of the children, there were no real cigarettes on set. Instead, chalk and sticks of cheese were the prop stand ins, while candles and incense provided the wisps of smoke.” – Frieke Janssens
To see more please go here
Posted by Gema
Nigel Shafran
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
Guest speaker Paul Hartnett
PAUL HARTNETT PHOTOGRAPHER
‘RAW STYLE, REAL STYLE’
Guest speaker AT NEW COLLEGE, Swindon
Paul Hartnett is a photographer of Street culture and the club culture scene, his work can be viewed at http://www.paulhartnett.com
He describes himself as a ‘Cool Hunter’ a ‘Social History researcher photographer’. Paul Hartnett started his photographic career in 1976 taking pictures of the punk scene, although his fascination with the camera started at a very early age.
His style is a’ Disco Mix of Visuals’. Looking for the unusual within people, if you see something that at first you find shocking, you should not move away from it, you should move closer and take a closer look.
Paul Hartnett visiting Foundation Degree students at New College
Pauls motto is ‘Less is more’ strip down you image then strip it down again until you reach the bare minimal. Choose only one accessory be it a single earring, a tie laces on shoes. Too much information is distracting.
He also gave useful tips on how to take a street photograph.
Most street photographers take straight on shots. Paul suggested taking a full length, then the middle section then the head and also focuses on the back where at times a lot of information about a person is hidden. The back is often forgotten. And to take your shots at different angles, from up high or very close in, if you want to focus on footwear.
Paul does not believe in ‘tarting up image’ with Photoshop, it should be seen as it was taken, which is something I strongly agree with. He said a cheap £1.00 camera bought in a car boot sale and using out of date film is just as worthwhile as any expensive camera.
Thinking out of the box and using your creative side sets you apart from others, again something I would strongly agree with.
During his talk he gave a fascinating insight into his childhood, information about London Fashion week and how ruthless fellow photographers can be regarding model release forms.
And how to ‘blag’ and ‘wing it’ as much as you can to get to where you want to be. But always do it with respect and politeness, act in a professional manner.
He also gave helpful ideas on how to sell your work. Don’t publish on the internet unless you want to sell. And suggested selling on Ebay but consider the title as this will draw the attention to your work first.
He also suggested sending the work to magazine and newspaper picture editors in the post rather than by email.
Picture Editors get a lot of work through email and tend to ignore them but by sending an envelope they are taken by surprise.
Apparently Wednesday is the best day to have your work looked at; 1 in 10 may get to hear back from them.
There are 14 000 photography graduates leaving Universities each year, and want to make it as a professional photographer, this makes it incredibly hard to get noticed, so try and come up with new and unusual ways which may get you noticed.
You have to be resourceful both within your work and how to get work.
Find your own voice and keep listening to it. Also something I would strongly agree with.
I found the talk with Paul incredibly worthwhile, he gave a lot of useful insights and gave some worthwhile tips for our future careers
I found him to be funny and full of character. I enjoyed listening to tales of his personal life, and a joy to listen to someone with a ‘human factor’ rather than just a professional businessman.
I found the talk touching at times and could relate to some of the things, I guess we all could
Thank you to Paul for his lecture and for taking the time to look at our work and to give advice and suggestions.
By Niki Cannon 28.02. 2012
“The three things I am taking from the day with Paul Hartnett are the importance of choosing the right sitters (people that viewers want to look at and who carry the idea forward in a more intense way), paring an idea right down to its essentials and building an audience for one’s prints.”
Barbara Dixon
“Insight into a practical and competitive market as well as the brutal truths affiliated with it, knowing your audience and how to approach them and to have a niche demographic and a personal motif ready.
I think the main thing I took away is that bending the rules is sometimes the best way forward, in a world of ever changing consumer needs.”
Lee Heaven
“I found the talk very interesting, it was really great to get an insight into such a character’s life and his ways of seeing his subjects. The three things I have taken away from his talk are not to photograph the “expected”, push yourself to achieve the best of your ability and that selling your prints is the way to go!”
Dom Hunter
“Strip it down, strip it down and strip it down again” was a quote that Paul kept repeating through out the talk. I feel this is an interesting sentence, and will bare it in mind when producing further work. I learnt that the simple photographs challenge the viewer a lot more than busy ones”.
Suzie Mercer
“For God sake, F*CK IT UP” Is perhaps the one thing I took most from Paul. He repeated it so many times that I feel thats what I want to try out in my own work. Forget about typical conventions and the normal things done in photography, thats been done before. Why not screw around with angles, lighting and compositions – mess it all up and create something new and exciting.
Gemma Bird
I found the talk really interesting and inspiring as Paul had his own style, his own interests and I don’t think it bothered him about what others thought of it, as long as he thought it was working. He wasn’t all into the different professional camera kit and stuff but was all into the experienting with not so great equipment which I thought was very interesting. I really liked his work and how he presented it
Vicky Scipio
Was a good talk, and learnt a lot from it.
Jordy Day
The definition of a perfect moment
And that is literally the best way I can think of describing Nick Turpin’s work…
All you need to do is look at his street photography and you wont be able to not agree with me. I must say, I was blown away by the perfect composition of his images and the humorous nature of how they appear. It is almost hard to say that these are candid street photos, they just look too well done to have not been set up.
Too keep from waffling on, I’ll let his work do the talking.
Those photographers out there who focus on the streets should take a little read of Turpin’s mini article on Undefining Street Photography. I found it interesting, hopefully you all will too!
Street Scene, New York City, 2011.
Street Scene, London.
Street Scene, London.
Posted by Gema @ gemakatherine.wordpress.com
Norman Parkinson
People are talking about…
An Eye For Fashion
Norman Parkinson Photographs
British Designers 1954-1964
21 January – 15 April 2012
Bristol M Shed.
Norman Parkinson is most definitely a photographer to be celebrated. The photographs at this exhibition are taken from the Angela Williams Archive ‘Designers of British Fashion’ portfolio. Angela Williams who is giving a talk at the M Shed on March 17th, was also the assistant of Parkinson in the 1960’s. So that will be something not to be missed!
What struck me most (and perhaps everyone else) about all the photographs is just how seemingly effortlessly glamorous they are. Of course when you see these photos were highly featured in Vogue magazine, you just knew there would be an extreme touch of glamour in the portraits to begin with! They all have a striking natural beauty within impressively but subtly staged settings.
Here are a few of Parkinson’s photographs:
Posted by Gema @ gemakatherine.wordpress.com
A void filled
Some photographers just don’t get enough credit…
Which is where Tim Mantoani steps in. He believes there was a void in peoples minds, everyone knows and has seen iconic images and will recognise them as something important when they see them. But the photographer behind those images, who knows who they are? Mantoani then decided to start a project and create a book which was released last year; Titled ‘Behind Photographs; Archiving Photographic Legends’, this unique project honours the photographers behind iconic images – all photos taken in the same style, the photographers holding their well known image in front of the camera. All these photographs were taken on the mammoth format of 20×24 Polaroid.
“…a recognition of the talent of these men that were able to capture those as fleeting as historic moments.”
View more of Mantoani’s work here
Posted by Gema
sn3photography 