Featured 'tog Tuesday - Clare Robinson

Today's featured 'tog is Clare Robinson a photographer and sometimes model.

BLAB: Please tell us a bit about yourself

CR: I started taking photos on a small red plastic camera that I bought for £5 at a Blue Peter Bring and Buy sale held at our house many years ago! Over the last 6 years I've been taking photos with whatever camera I've been able to get my hands on- from my Canon Powershot point-and-shoot to my 400D that my other half bought me for a rather special birthday/christmas present!

I have a lot of friends who are photographers, which interested me to try amateur modelling to help them with portfolio work. Eventually I found the modelling wasn't really my bag- being a bit of a tomboy, I wasn't used to allocating time for curling my hair, painting my nails and all those kind of things! I was however, pretty interested in trying it from the other side of the camera. Thanks to many of my photographer buddies, I got to have a little experiment playing with their cameras and equipment, and found that although my technical knowledge was almost non-existant, I wasn't terrible at shooting models. Since then, I have shot a number of local models -in studios, on location and in my makeshift studio in the dining room- and am thoroughly enjoying the new challenges that it brings me! I think my experience on both sides of the camera is extremely useful when putting models at ease- but it also ensures I have realistic expectations from my model shoots. I intersperse shooting models with some self portrait work with varying degrees of success!

I'm the first to admit that if it wasn't for digital cameras, I would not be a “photographer”- though many may argue that unless you understand the processes and can shoot on film that you're not really a photographer! I still struggle with technicalities, but I enjoy creating beautiful and interesting images of people, places, things and experiences- and I am learning so much as I go along.

BLAB: In keeping with our usual style, here's a few questions we put to Clare.

What colour would your Ferrari be?
CR: I'm afraid I just wouldn't have one! I'm a bit of a hippy environmentalist type, and I can't imagine anything more ridiculous than the idea of spending £200,000 on a car! Having said that it, if I had to have one, it would be in an embarassing or ridiculous colour like lime green (do they DO green ferraris?) or orange to match my folding bike!

What's your best bit of advice for a new photographer?
CR: I think it would be just to keep taking photos, to experiment and be self critical in a constructive way. Most of my photography is self taught- with advice from friends stuck in there along the way. Inspired by a friend, I challenged myself to do a 365 photographs project- which I started with my point and shoot Canon Powershot A530. It ran over about 15 months (not the 365 days straight that I envisaged) and really made me work to find something of interest or beauty in my everyday life. It also taught me how to select my better pictures and take critique- and I would highly recommend it as a way to really start taking photos.


If you had been paid ten thousand pounds for being our 'Tuesday tog', what photo equipment would you spend it on?
CR: I'd probably just catch myself up the the level of every other photographer on the planet! I shoot with a 400D, using either the kit lens or a Tamron 28-105mm that was given to me by a friend. I like to keep things basic and to be resourceful when shooting- a lot of my self portrait work has been done balancing the camera on a tower of books, and lit using desk lamps! I have recently bought myself a few extra bits and bobs, but on the whole I don't have a lot of spare cash to spend on camera gear. I'd love a really decent macro lens- my interest often lies in the detail of an image- especially finding an obscure or perfect pattern in an unexpected place. I'd also make sure I had a great portrait lens, some flash units and a proper set of studio lights with all the accessories!


Which of your images means the most to you and why?
CR: This is a really hard question that I've been pushing myself to try to answer! Although not necessarily my “best” image, day 19 of my photography project means a lot to me! It was taken on the first foreign holiday I took with my (now) fiancee, and we went to such beautiful places across Brittany and had such a lovely time! I think it was one of the first “good” photos I took, which I thought about and planned, and used technical knowledge mixed in with a “creative vision” to come up with a satisfying outcome!

The pictures I have chosen to represent the range of my work are:

This image was taken during the snow in February 2009- and for some reason it's one that I always come back to. My “style” if I have one involves slight desaturation of colours- and this represents that and the sombre effect that it creates.


The next image is of one of the models I shot in 2008:

This was the first time that I used a model to create an idea or vision that I had about how the overall image should look and feel. The model (Lisa) was brilliant- able to take direction and bring her own style and movement to the shot. I put the three images together as a tryptich to better express the emotion and story behind the picture.

I haven't really travelled anywhere particularly exciting, but I always want to prove that you don't HAVE to travel to exotic locations to take interesting images. This was taken at Whipsnade Zoo- I couldn't believe how well lit the animals were, and how clean the glass was through to the vivariums. This is two baby Spiny Pocket Mice feeding from their mother- an absolutely captivating experience!

I always feel that it's a good idea to mix photography with whatever other hobbies you have. I have squillions of other hobbies, but sailing is a particularly pituresque one (sometimes!). This is the Ripple (or Patience), a beautiful restored Broads Yacht who I have had the pleasure of sailing a number of times- and on a sunny day with a strong breeze- there's nothing better!

BLAB: Thanks to Clare for being the 'tog for today on the blog. You can find more of Clare's photography in her regularly updated flickr stream, it's well worth a look.

As always if you want to be here one Tuesday then let us know via the comments.

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Featured 'tog Tuesday - Chris Gill

I started taking “serious” photographs in the 80’s using my first Canon the AE1 which was a great camera, I loved the black design because at that time most cameras were silver. I traded that in for an A1 which was the 1Ds MkIII of it’s time.

While I was taking photographs (that’s what images were called in those days!!) for fun I developed a creative style using a selection of Cokin filters, my absolute favourite filter was a simple one that you “blanked” out the centre and took say a picture of say a church, cocked on the shutter without advancing the film then took a picture of the wedding couple using a filter that “blanked” out the outside of the picture. I can remember the great anticipation waiting for the pictures to come back from the lab to see if they had turned out, sadly something that does not happen these days in digital!!

I am now totally digital using a Canon (what else?) 1D MkIII and a selection of “L” series lenses, I am a Mac user because they just simply handle the big image files that the 1D MkIII creates, I process all my images in Aperture and export them out using presets depending on what media they are to be used for, I find all the normal adjustments can be done really quickly in Aperture and I seldom use Photoshop.

Having been a PGA golf professional all my life it was a natural progression to get involved in taking golf imagery, I use all of my experience as a golf pro and am using all my contacts to get into all areas of golf tournaments, I am now looking at my “second” career of professional photography.

I am currently re-building my website www.chris-gill.co.uk making it into a rights managed Golf Image Library with images taken on the PGA mens and ladies golf tours plus I am building up with more creative shots which will be used by magazines and media and the like. I am currently undergoing treatment for Lymphoma and due in hospital in April for a Stem cell transplant which will “sideline” me for up to 12 months so my new career will resume in 2010.

BLAB: What colour would your Ferrari be?
I like quite of few people own a silver car and have done for my last three cars! As Tiger Woods is my current day hero he always wears one colour of shirt on the final day of each tournament and that colour will be the colour of my Ferrari……. Yes it’s red!!

BLAB: What have you learnt as a photographer that you wished you knew
when you started taking pictures?

To use my eyes more!! Possibly as much as two thirds of an image will be background and maybe foreground and I now pay a huge amount of attention to what’s happening outside of the main focus of the image, it pays to move and get that background correct.

BLAB: Which photographer's work do you most admire and why?
In terms of golf photographers there are a number of togs out there who constantly are looking “outside of the box” Dave Cannon has consistently produced creative images many have stood the test of time over the years and have been used over and over again in many golf magazines.

I really do like the creative style of Matt Dunham of AP, lots of the togs on tour are just after a record of the players playing in the tournament and therefore do produce in my opinion some very poor images with basic errors like trees coming out of players heads, Matt Dunham is always looking for something that bit different you will often see him hanging on to a river bank trying to get creative as Tiger Woods walks by!!

My favourite photographer outside of golf is Vincent Laforet who is by far the most creative photographer I have ever seen checkout his website www.vincentlaforet.com and some of his aerial shots, simply breathtaking.

BLAB: What would your dream photo opportunity be?
This is a very simple question to answer, to cover The US Masters at Augusta for Golf Digest Magazine. Augusta is for me the main major golf event above our own British Open. Augusta is primed to be ready for the first week in April and all the flowers, trees and grasses are in total mint condition, the water is dyed blue for the week. It has so much tradition and history I would simply love to get that chance one day!!

And now for some images:

Image 1: Tiger Woods at Carnoustie, this image is part of a series and has done very well for me being used by several golf magazines across the world, my first images to get such exposure. Taken using my Canon 1D MkIII coupled up to a Canon 400mm f/2.8
I was able to get a full swing seqence due to using the 400mm lens and that the wind was in the right direction not to put off the great man!

Image 2: Part of a commission for Lexus magazine to which Annika Sorrenstam is contracted, the shoot was at Royal Liverpool Golf Club and I spent the whole day shooting a raft of images of her playing with Lexus dealers from all over the world. I was able to use my Canon 70-200 f/2.8 most of the day as I could get as close as I needed. This image was one of my creative attempts with her tossing a ball in the air and was then used as the main image in the magazine.

Image 3: Not a golfing image in fact looking at it now not a “great” image but it was my very first published and paid for image. Canon Europe used this in The Canon One magazine in 2005/6 and a number of European publications. It was taken on a Canon Experience Day at Knowsley Safari Park using my then 20D coupled with a borrowed Canon 100-400 lens which after the day I just had to buy one!!

BLAB: Chris, thanks for taking the time to come into the featured 'tog lounge today and tell us about your photography and show us some images. We hope, as I'm sure all the readers do, that your treatment goes well and look forward to seeing you back up on your feet and out shooting as soon as possible. 

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Featured 'tog Tuesday - Michael Humpherson

I feel a bit like a pretender, writing on a blog inhabited by professionals, written by professionals and exhibiting professional work. Me? I am an amateur with a dream – a dream to one day achieve a standard where I feel comfortable to say I could be a professional photographer. It is a long journey, one that started 5 years ago in earnest.

3 years of it was chasing technical perfection in the hope that it would produce the confidence to attain professional mindset – it didn’t. My results were pin-sharp, my exposures spot on, but something was missing for me and from my results – the artistic.

I found the artistic in 2007 at Le Mans, France, around 3 am in the morning whilst watching those violent Le Mans racers churning away the hours. 3 am is witching hour at Le Mans - the sun has well gone, and morning sun is far enough away to not merit a mention. The crowds have dissipated either having slinked back to their tents or collapsed on the banking for a drunken snooze. But I was still up, tracking and panning and shooting, but not very successfully. I sat down on the dew soaked grass and thought long and hard about what I was doing wrong. The technique was there, but the emotiveness wasn’t. But then in the darkest hour, both photographically and physically, I had an epiphany…I understood motorsport (huge passion of mine for years), I understood what the cars were doing and I understood what an evocative subject they were. So why wasn’t I searching for the photo that told the excitement, the passion as I saw it…why wasn’t I conveying that understanding through my images? So the next time I put the camera to my face I did just that, searched for the story, the understanding, and I found it…right there at 3 am, deep in the French countryside.

The journey continues – I want to anchor that passion into the other types of photography I enjoy, people, landscapes, architecture, and wildlife. The journey continues on 1st June in earnest, where I take a 6 month sabbatical from my day job and go off travelling around the world with my wife, photographing, experiencing and taking our time…something every photographer should do in my humble opinion.


BLAB: What colour would your Ferrari be?
Back when I was a teenager one of my friend’s dad bought a brand new gleaming Ferrari 328…painted bright canary yellow…with a few years to go before I got behind the wheel legally, this was possibly the most amazing thing to happen in my car related world. Imagine it, I had sat in Volvos, Rovers and Fords, the generic metal of the family saloon in the 80s and now here in the flesh was a car that had adorned my wall for years. I was a gangly teenager standing around this yellow Italian beauty, hyperventilating with excitement. My first ride in a true thoroughbred…a yellow Ferrari thoroughbred was launching me into boy racer heaven…the roar of the V8 sending shivers down my spine, the leather passenger seats enveloped me as the yellow beast accelerated from zero to sixty in under 4 seconds…this yellow Ferrari was a childhood dream come true.

So what colour would I have my Ferrari? Yellow?

Are you kidding me….get real, you can only ever have a red Ferrari…yellow, for goodness sake, what was he thinking!!!

BLAB: What would your dream photo opportunity be?
In my dreams I have a golden pass hanging around my neck one that reads FIA Official Formula One Photographer…one that allows me to travel with world following the Grand Prix circus…one that grants me trackside access and allows me to immerse myself in the pinnacle of motorsport…that would be the dream assignment.

Come on, you aren’t exactly surprised are you???? I mean, motorsport, travelling and photography all rolled into one job!! “To dream the impossible dream” (line from the Honda F1 advert if anyone remembers).


BLAB: Which photographer's work do you most admire and why?
I tend to see all photographers as admirable, professionals and amateurs alike. But if I was to choose a few that have been a huge influence, it would have to be Darren Heath and Ansel Adams.

Darren Heath, in my opinion, is one of the best formula one photographers of all time. His ability to capture movement of an already fast subject matter and create such form and texture is second to none. When I started to pay attention to my photography and practice, I wanted to mimic the style of Darren. So I slowed my shutter speed right down, constantly shooting below the accepted rule of shutter speed equal to focal length. At the circuit, it is not unusually to see me firing away with a shutter speed of 1/60th, and below. Yep, I get a lot of misses, a lot of blurries and a lot of just pain bad. But when it works, I can see evidence of Darren’s influence. I don’t suppose Darren misses as many as I do, but I can aspire and admire, can’t I??? If you get a chance, check out Darren’s site (www.darrenheath.com) to see the sublime ability to pan at extremely slow speeds and capture a scene which evokes such emotion...

The second photographer is a bit of a cliché. Ask in the street for the name of an iconic photographer and you will invariably hear Ansel Adams’ name mentioned. But to think of Ansel as a master of black and white landscapes is missing the point for me. What attracted me to his work was not just his understanding of light and complex shapes, but his immersion into the art. He spent most of his adult life living in Yosemite- every day he took shots recognising that it takes time to find the perfect moment. That is a commitment that many of us could learn form, certainly me. I seem to want to capture the perfect shot in 10 minutes, the touristy thing if you like. In my heart of hearts, I know it takes so much longer. So I aspire to be as patient as Ansel and maybe just maybe I will find those moments in the frame that come close to perfection. This inspiration and approach is one I aim to mimic over the next 6 months when I go travelling around the world.

BLAB: Which of your images means the most to you and why?
 This is it, the shot that marks the epiphany, the one that I took at a god forsaken hour of the night in Le Mans. Not technically that hard to capture, slow shutter speed and lots of panning action. The brake disc glows red, the headlight bursts out of the front of the car, illuminating the track for the weary driver, the rear quarter hinting at a pursuing competitor …he is 12 hours into the race…the night nearly done…he still has another 12 hours before the race finishes…he is ticking off the laps…braking at the same point every lap…holding the chasing competitor at bay. That is exactly what gives Le Mans such significance - machine and man working in perfect harmony

The second shot is one that continues my artistic approach – a lot of people may argue that I missed the back of the car, but for me, this again reinforces the new approach I was taking – I wasn’t afraid to create the image I wanted, to capture the moment as closely as I could in frame. The gee forces that an F1 car experiences even at this slow chicane are huge – around 3g in this corner alone – so to show the car intruding from the edge of the frame, I feel, captures the violence and angular nature of the sport.

Leaning out from the front seats of the main grandstand at Le Mans, I can just about see the cars – I push myself further asking my friend to hold onto my legs – The rail is cutting into my side, but I want this shot – the car skids to a halt in it’s pit box, but the crew are nowhere to be seen – this poor driver has been racing for nearly 17 hours and all he wants is fuel and tyres – he tilts his head to the right – I just love that you can visualise the appeal for help in his eyes even though you can’t see them – classic!! Oh and the blue tones are working for me as well.

It is not all about cars, sometimes I can turn my eye to a plane shot or 2…I can do Landscapes and people, but I am not ready to consider that work of a suitable level to represent my ability and aspirations. So one evening at Heathrow, the sun having set, the sky exploded into the most magical colours I have ever seen in the UK – cue the camera moment, cue the police giving a few more seconds to capture the shot, cue the delight when I saw the results – Boeing’s massive metal on finals for Heathrow…perfect.

BLAB: Michael, thanks for taking the time to be our featured photographer this week. I'm sure the BLAB readers will agree with me, that if this is the quality of the work you regularly produce, especially the racing shots, then you're further down that photographic path than you realise. We wish you well for your 6 months of travelling (not without a little envy I might add!) and hope that you find some of those 'perfect moments' to capture. Once you're back we'd love to see what you got up to and how it all panned out. 

To see more of Michael's images, take a look at his website: www.pumaknight.co.uk

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Featured 'tog Tuesday - Keith Hern

Our featured 'tog this Tuesday is Kingston-upon-Thames based shooter Keith Hern. 

Keith is a travel and commercial photographer aiming to do more travel and less commercial...!

KH:: Whilst my focus has been in two areas: travel, because I love it; and commercial, because it pays the bills the current economic situation is resulting in some changes. As well as continuing to promote my photography pro-actively, market existing stock shots I also have some specific projects underway at present – firstly, working on re-building and expanding www.londonphotos.com into a new image library with some 3-4,000 shots of London ( being done in conjunction with another photographer and friend Sam Lloyd). Secondly, I am looking to market my photodiary of throat cancer treatment (teeth extraction, MRI scans, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and operations); thirdly, as a result of my daughter being spotted by talents scouts I am working on developing modelling photography.

BLAB: What colour would your Ferrari be?
KH: Black

BLAB: Which of your images means the most to you and why?
KH: One of my daughter having her portrait drawn in Montmartre – why? I like the composition of the shot (did take quite a lot of shots to get it right, including becoming less than popular with some of the other artists with my photographic wanderings!); still think I’m lucky to have her, as when she was small she very nearly died from meningitis … need I say more…. said shot attached. More generally the ones that mean most are inevitably those that I have got right in the camera, and do not need any manipulation on the computer!

BLAB: What would your dream photo opportunity be?
KH: A travel assignment for Conde Nast – I love travelling, read the magazine every month, have been to over 60 countries and am planning a year out ( this will be in about four years, as I need to reach five years clear from throat cancer which I had in late 2007) to go overland from the top of Canada to the foot of Chile….

BLAB: Which photographer's work do you most admire and why?
KH: Peter Lik – it was a visit to his Port Douglas gallery that gave me the inspiration to career change when I was made redundant (twice!)…I still think his work is absolutely awesome! At Christmas we were in Miami, and had a chance to see some more as he now has a gallery over there as well – it only confirmed my opinion of his work!

Zanzibar – on the beach where we were staying I’d noticed each day many of the women from the local village would wade out and start collecting seaweed for selling (ending up apparently in some pharmaceutical or beauty product). I decided it would be great to wade out and try to get a picture of a few of them – they were wise to this so I did have to part with a few shillings to get the shot, and use some fill-in flash to at least see some of their faces. I ended up selling this shot to a publishers for use in a guide book to Zanzibar.

S.Africa – on safari in Hluhluwe Game park the truck had stopped so we could watch the zebras, photogenic in themselves, but I was looking out for anything that would create a more interesting shot. When these two zebras started interacting I fired off a number of shots, but when I saw this knew it was the best – possibly rather close to home as it reminded me of one of those occasions when You’re late home, haven’t rung ahead, only to be greeted by a healthy ‘and where the hell have you been?’.

New York – at the top of the Empire State building at the wrong time of day, with no clouds in the sky, and crowds of people I was struggling to get any decent shots, so tried again with the fish eye lens. After a couple of attempts a tourists’ arm appeared clutching a camera – initially I was annoyed but changed my mind when I saw the result. It just provided some human element which made the shot as far as I was concerned.

Fall 3e – On a landscape workshop to Dartmoor last December, it was nearing the end of day one and as the light worsened we headed off for a last few ‘movement’ shots at a local waterfall. Was just about to head back to the car when I saw this moss-covered tree trunk, and thought this would work well with the slightly ‘blue’ water (good old auto white balance!) – as well as the colours I like the abstract nature of the result.

Eye view – I was doing some stock work for www.londonphotos.com , and took a gamble that the evening light would be fantastic from the London Eye, and was fortunate there was no queue. I wanted to create a shot that included the evening light, the river, the lit House of Commons, and one of the pods on the Eye. – two elements that were pure chance were the person in the pod, and I wasn’t previously aware of the blue light on the Eye itself which to me gives the bottom left of this shot more impact.

Dining room – I had been commissioned to shoot the interior of a multi-million pound private house in Mayfair by the property developer. This was one of the best shots from the shoot, and was used as the front cover shot for the Central South West edition of London Property News.

BLAB: Thanks for your time Keith. Good luck with turning commercial photography to travel photography. We'll keep our fingers crossed for that Conde Nast commission for you... 

If you'd like to be our featured photographer, drop us a line in the comments and we'll get back to you.

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Featured 'tog Tuesday - Chris Neill

This week is the turn of Chris Neill, who recently turned professional to be our Featured 'tog on Tuesday. We asked Chris about his background and how he became a professional before rolling out some of blabpictures finest questions.

CN: I grew up in a small village in Kent where people either worked on the farms or down the local coal mine. That was not a life I imagined for myself, so at 16 years of age I joined the Army. I first started photography as a hobby during a tour of Northern Ireland in the late 70s. Despite the obvious travel restrictions imposed on me I was inspired to try and capture the natural beauty of the country and not the troubled times it was suffering.

BLAB: It's possible Chris and the last Tuesday 'tog Joe Fox saw similar things in Ireland but maybe from different vantage points; strange these kind of coincidences.

CN: In a career spanning 23 years I travelled to some amazing places with some amazing people. Consequently, taking photographs of where I’d been and who I was with was almost a natural thing to do. Some years I did more photography than others but I was always taking pictures so that I could return from my travels and share images of the life I was leading with my friends and family at home. On ‘retirement’ from the military I moved into General Management, the transition from ‘Army life’ to ‘Civilian life’ also meant that photography took a back seat for a few years, the need to share images with family no longer applied.

Not long after the Millennium my brother in law decided he was going to sponsor a rider in the British Superbike Championship. This introduced a whole new world to my wife and I, we soon became avid fans of the series going to as many races as would could.
Of course I would take my camera and as our interest grew so did my interest in capturing the action. I bought a new ‘digital’ SLR camera an EOS 400D, and an EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens. I talked to as many other photographers as I could at the circuits (and still do) trying to learn the secrets of motorsport photography. I’m now a regular at the circuits throughout most of the series and my images have been used by some of the teams, so I must be doing something right. I also found I had a knack for taking pictures of people, starting with simple portraits and progressing to weddings and then commercial style fashion photography. I also found I was competent at taking pictures of ‘things’ so another progression has been product photography.

In June last year I was made redundant and decided that I would have ago at photography full-time. It’s been a tough 8 months and my timing of starting a business just as the economy crashed could have been better. But I’m still here although it is getting tougher each week to find enough work to keep going.

BLAB: Time for the blabpictures questions; What colour would your Ferrari be?

CN: Perhaps the question should be why would you want a Ferrari in any colour but red? If you must have a Ferrari (and it would not be my first choice) then it has to be red!

BLAB: What's your best bit of advice for a new photographer?

CN:Assuming the new photographer is a complete novice my advice would be

1. Read the manual that came with your camera; learn how to change the controls and what each change does to the pictures you are taking.
2. Take loads of pictures; take pictures when you are out and about with friends or family, when you’re on the bus, nights out, long walks with the dogs, everywhere and anywhere.
3. Then check the results; notice how the light in your pictures change throughout the day, how different exposure settings affect the picture, how different angles of the same subject can change the picture from a ‘snap’ to an image to be proud of.
4. When you have a good image try to work out why it’s good so that you can do similar shots another time with a similar result. Conversely try to analyse why some of your shoots did not give you the result you were looking for so that you don’t repeat the mistake.
5. Don’t expect to become an expert overnight and even having the best equipment money can buy will not make you a great photographer. Like all skills practise makes perfect and I for one am still practising.

BLAB: If you had been paid ten thousand pounds for being our 'Tuesday tog', what photo equipment would you spend it on?

CN: An easy question for me; A new Canon 5D Mark II to replace my 5D Mk I, a Canon 50D, a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM, Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS USM & Extender EF2x II. Not much change from £10k there & if you made it £20K I could go on...

BLAB: You can't have seen the latest list prices for the EF 400mm f/2.8L IS, that'll be most of the 10k gone!

BLAB: What would your dream photo opportunity be?

CN: I’d love to do a portrait of the Queen. I was lucky enough to be awarded an MBE in 1998 and it was presented to me by the Queen at Buckingham Palace. She is tiny, but has an aura about her that just makes her special. Now if I could capture that in a portrait... Seriously it would be the ultimate portrait session, the pressure to get it right in the small amount of time that would be allocated for the job would be immense. It is certainly not a job you could afford to get wrong.

BLAB: Natural light or flash and why?

CN: Without doubt flash, I’m a self confessed control freak and I like to control the light in my images. Purists will argue you cannot get better than natural light but it is difficult to get right and you have to learn to compensate or compromise on the image you wanted.

BLAB: Which photographer's work do you most admire and why?

CN: Another easy question... Paul Sutton of ‘Postscriptphoto’. This guy is a master of landscape photography and he has a real gift for processing, giving his images the right amount of light, colour and toning to provide atmosphere. Landscape photography is a skill I have yet to master to any degree but one day...

BLAB: So how about some photos Chris?

This is my current favourite image of the moment. Taken at the Adrian Pini Studio in West London using a single light, high to the right to simulate a street light. It was taken as part of a series of images to demonstrate the differences in make-up and style through the decades 1950’s to the present.

Canon 5D, EF 24-70mm f/2.8L, ISO 100 f/11 1/80s

One of those images that is guaranteed to get an ‘Ahh’. Taken at the Wildlife Heritage Foundation in Ashford, Kent. My wife had bought me a ‘Big Cats Photography Experience’ run by Peter Davey, it was cold and wet but it did not stop the lions from posing as if it was all they had to do all day. A great day out!

Canon 400D, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM, ISO 100 f/5.6 1/100

Canon 5D, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM, ISO 100 f/9 1/200s
Taken at Druids Bend Brands Hatch in October 2008, the last round of the British Superbike Championship. ‘Druids’ is one of the most accessible places to take unrestricted photographs at Brands Hatch and is popular with amateur and professional photographers alike. I have developed my own ‘panning’ methodology which means I can get shoots like this on a consistent basis

An example of my ‘things’ photography, in this case a thin slice of apple. The apple slice was placed on a sheet of glass; I placed a light under the glass as well as lighting the subject as normal.
Canon 5D, EF 24-70mm f/2.8L, ISO 400 f/5.6 1/60s

Thanks indeed to Chris for some valuable thoughts and pictures on a Tuesday. If you have a need for a photographer do stop by Chris' website www.chris-neill-photography.co.uk.

If you want to be here one Tuesday, and wake up to a whole new set of fame, then leave a note in the comments and we'll be in touch.

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Featured 'tog Tuesday - Oliver Godby

This week's featured photographer is Oliver Godby, Oliver contacted us through the comments in reply to our first featured 'tog James Corrin.

Oliver's Biog

I’ve been taking photographs for around twenty-five years, but I’ve only been taking the pursuit seriously since I was about sixteen. A good friend of mine at school was considering submitting some of his photographs for a GCSE and looking at his portfolio and talking to him about how and why he had taken them I started to realise that I too could see another level to photography, beyond that of capturing a moment or a memory. I realised that one might create something larger and more meaningful with a camera; I have been trying to do that ever since.

Almost all of my photography revolves around people and or life. That’s not to say that I don’t often try my hand at landscapes, architecture and other disciplines, but I tend to find that time and again I return to what I seem to be best at; people. Whether we are talking about club photography, event photography, weddings, candid portraiture, portraiture, fashion, nudes, erotic or anything else involving people then I am interested in shooting it. For me, the way that I see people and the way that I try to express the wonder, beauty, darkness and light of the human experience through my photography is a necessary part of my passage through life; when others see something that they like or moves them in what I create then I am even happier.

Caution
Some of my current work is of a particularly erotic nature and maybe not appropriate for readers of the BLAB Blog in an open office. It is not my only interest by any means, but if readers are interested in seeing that side of my work, then please contact me via the website at the end of the article.

As is usual for featured 'tog on a Tuesday, we ask tough questions to see what makes the 'tog tick.

BLAB: What colour would your Ferrari be?

Oliver: Red, of course. I realise that a different colour would trumpet my individuality or something, but the truth is that a Ferrari should be red, even if they were originally all yellow. I used to despair of people in the eighties who bought the Testarossa, which means ‘Red Head’, and then ordered them in a colour other than red, but that’s just me…

BLAB: What's your best bit of advice for a new photographer?

Oliver: Take a camera with you everywhere you go and take lots and lots of pictures. With digital being the financial godsend that it is you can make a lot more mistakes without it costing you a fortune, but there is no point taking lots of pictures and making those mistakes if you don’t learn from them, so be prepared to get some criticism and __really__ listen to it. I can’t recommend Flickr enough for positive and constructive peer review.

BLAB: Rucksack or shoulder bag and why?

Oliver: When I started out in the world of digital SLRs I was all about the sling or shoulder bag, and I had an awesome one (that is no longer produced) called “The December Quarter” by Crumpler. I could fit two bodies and three lenses, plus a half decent sized laptop and enough clean underwear, socks and t-shirts for a weekend away without having to check my luggage. Can you see the problem? Yep it was an unwieldy bastard. So I started to look for the perfect backpack, and I think that I’ve found it. It’s a camera and laptop backpack by Kata, an Israeli company that started out making equipment for media personnel in dangerous environments. They still make stuff for those kinds of applications, including kevlar helmets with cutaways for camera viewfinders and the like, but they now also make really well designed and rugged camera and kit bags for the pro market. They are a little bit more expensive than Lowe Pro and the like, but I have never been so happy with a bag. So in answer..? Rucksack, every time.

BLAB: Natural light or flash and why?

Oliver: I know that this question appears to be an “either or” kind of deal, but my feelings on this argument are very strong and somewhat contrary to the spirit of the question; there is no definitive answer. In terms of my own photography, I like to use natural light, and I like to construct the light that I want, and in the end this all comes back to what the shot needs in order for it to be right. Taking a purely strobist approach removes natural light from the toolbox, and saying ‘I only use natural or available light’ creates the same restriction in reverse. I suppose that the important thing is to look at any shot and understand what adding a flash, or several strobes can do for it, and also what they may take away. Some of my most treasured images have been taken based entirely on making use of available light in odd situations from windows in a run-down section of a practice studio to the outside light at the back of a pub, but at the same time I have created images based on camera mounted flash or even studio heads (when I have had access to them as I do not currently have my own set) that I am not only proud of but that achieved everything that I had wanted for them. While I understand that many who espouse the strobist ethic feel that one can only ‘paint with light’ if one is in control of it, I firmly believe that a photographer needs to see in both ways, to see the potential of the light around them and what effects and emphases it can offer, and also how to change those potentials with a well placed flash. Once you can do that you won’t ask the question ever again, you will simply do what is needed to make the shot that you want.

BLAB: How about pictures, we love pictures?

The first is a portrait that I took as part of my project that ran from 10/05/2007 to 09/05/2008 wherein I undertook to and succeeded in creating a portrait of a different person every day for a year. It is a portrait of my paternal grandmother taken under purely natural / available light in a snatched moment on one of my rare visits to the North West during that year.



This second photograph is an entirely constructed picture, created in a kind of minimalist-strobist approach with a single, camera mounted flashgun, firing away from the subjects and to the right and bounced off a silver reflector held by an assistant. This gives the sharp, stark light you can see in the image, but it generalised the light so it is not as directed, giving compelling highlights and light in general to the surroundings as well as the models.



This third is an example of some of my gig photography shot with only the available light in the venue, and just to own up to it in advance, I was using a VERY wide aperture in order to keep the ISO as low as possible, but I don’t consider that cheating - I got the lens in America when the dollar was almost 2 to the pound!



I have also developed an interest in nature photography on a recent trip to South Africa, and am now beginning the mammoth task of trying to save for another trip and the glass that my experience has told me that I am going to need to create the images that I want to create in that arena. Still some of the images that I managed to create on that trip were worth showing off, and so I leave you with this, captured on a cloudy morning in Kruger, at a doubled 200mm, with a stabilised Canon lens that I would not be without for love nor money:



I’d like to thank the BLAB Blog for the invitation to be their Tuesday ‘Tog, and to offer any readers who are interested in seeing more of my work to visit my website here: http://www.techno-mage.co.uk/blog/photos/

If you want to be our featured 'tog on Tuesday in the coming weeks, then leave a comment on this post, it could be you here.

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Featured 'tog Tuesday - Chris Shepherd

Chris's Biog
I first became seriously interested in photography when I was given a digital point & shoot in the summer of 2002. To me this was a complete revelation, the power of digital immediately allowed me to see my pictures and mistakes. No more waiting for pictures to be developed and forgetting what it was I had in mind when I pressed the shutter release.

Within a few months I was producing results I was happy with, but wasn’t able to control exposure as much as I would now wish. So I then upgraded to a Fuji S602 which gave me plenty of control and allowed me to capture the beauty I saw in the world everyday.

In a fit of optimism I then booked an exhibition space a year in advance and planned to document a year in the life of our local nature reserve. To be honest I didn’t have a clue how big a job I had made for myself. The reserve is not the most photogenic place I could have chosen, so I really had to teach myself how to create images rather than just snapping what was there. The exhibition went well and as a bonus, I also made some sales to the public. Since then it has been a case of more photos, more equipment, more exhibitions and more sales.

In 2006 I was invited to join The Painting with Light Society www.painterswithlight.com a group of leading Landscape photographers based in the South East of England. I am also a moderator and the locations editor for the online photography magazine ePhotozine.com

My main areas of interest are Landscapes/Cityscapes and Abstract work.

The British Landscape and its nature is my first love. In the early morning light, much of the British countryside has a magical quality that is sometimes difficult to capture; but very rewarding when you do. I always feel a sense of pride in my work when people who have travelled all over the world ask “is that Britain?” It’s great to be able to show people the magic that is on their doorstep.

Cityscapes are a relatively new area of work for me; I have an ongoing project "London Light/London Life" documenting what I see in the city. I live very close to London but it’s not one of my favourite places at all. I am much more at home in the countryside than a busy city. However, I find it extremely challenging to find and produce good images of the busy city streets and architecture.


BLAB: What's your best bit of advice for a new photographer?
Forget about the technical stuff, learn to see first. You can spend hours fiddling with the controls on your camera or massaging an image in Photoshop but if the scene you are trying to capture doesn't express what you want you are wasting your time.

Try to develop the process I call “Active seeing”. This involves not just passively looking at a scene, but constantly evaluating even the most mundane scene from all possible angles, to find a composition that works as a stand alone image. Whether it actually represents the place you took the shot is not as important as producing an image that works on its own.

Spend a lot of your time drawing frames around a scene in your mind, ask yourself "what would I include in this scene if I shot it". Photography is all about the stuff you leave out, so identify what shouldn't be in there. Do some reading on composition, then take a look at loads of professional images and ask yourself does it work? what makes it work? and how you would have shot the same scene.

Once you know what you are trying to achieve it's time to start understanding the technology that allows you to achieve it.



BLAB: If you had been paid ten thousand pounds for being our 'Tuesday tog', what photo equipment would you spend it on?
I'm not really much of a gear head - though that doesn't seem to stop me spending a lot of money on it!

I think that I would spend £5000 touring my very favourite locations: New Zealand, The Canadian Rockies and Iceland. The other £5000 would cover my bar bill in Iceland - I'm not a heavy drinker but Iceland can be very expensive.



BLAB: Rucksack or shoulder bag and why?
Oh, err, um. Can I have both?

For landscape work it's the Lowepro Rover AW2 with room in there for 5 lenses, heaven knows why, I'll only use 2 of them at most, but it's always best to have the option. The top contains Lee filters and a nice thermos of steaming coffee for those cold mornings.

In the city it would have to be a shoulder bag or smaller, in these days of a war on terror (or the war on photography as I like to call it). The more inconspicuous you can be the less hassle you get from security and police. I often only use a Powershot G9, in the city - you can still get the shot but you also have the fun of watch photographers with tripods being hassled at the same time.


And finally...
BLAB: What colour would your Ferrari be?

Oh, Lime Green I think maybe with orange wheels, whitewall tyres and a nodding dog in the back. It's important to make a statement

Chris has also selected three of his favourite images to show on Blab:

Blea Tarn
I visited the Lake District twice last year. The first week, in the summer consisted of me opening the door every morning to be greeted by a solid wall of rain. The second started the same way. But finally after 3 days of solid rain the skies cleared. The rain had washed all the dust from the atmosphere creating vibrant colours and mountains that looked over sharpened to my eye. Looking at the resulting shot I think it was worth the effort.


Snow & Gate
Last winter I was really hoping for snow. So I was real chuffed when a huge dump of snow was forecast. Getting up before the dawn allowed me to have the pristine snow of my local nature reserve to myself (well just me and the Long Horn cattle who live there).

This is one of my favourite trees, I love it's big broad shape and have photographed it on many occasions.

Treads
I spotted these vibrant painted stairs on London's South Bank one afternoon. I simply waited till some feet appeared in just the right spot.

BLAB: Thanks for your time and images Chris. The lesson to look around close to home and see what you can produce is a good one. If people are anything like me, they feel the need to head off to foreign climes and take travel pictures, but that completely ignores the beauty we have to hand. Not taking what we have on our doorsteps for granted is a lesson we should all learn.

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Featured 'tog Tuesday - Martin Dyer

This week's guest photographer is Martin Dyer. Martin describes himself as a wildlife photographer who has a particular passion for bird photography. You can start by reading his biography:

Martin's Biog:
I started to take photos from the age of about nine when I was bought my first camera. My late teens involved lots of trips to motorcycle races and airshows, so I have packs and packs of very poorly processed 6 x 4 prints taken from the same corner of different motorbikes or aircraft taking off and landing. Very rarely was there anything of any great photographic merit, although I do recall taking pictures of the 1996 F1 Champion, Damon Hill, some time back in the 80’s, on Kawasaki Z500 production bike in a clubman’s race at Brands Hatch, on the inside of the track at Druids Hill hairpin, when you could actually do such things as a member of the public.

Photography fell a bit by the wayside through the 90’s as I was disillusioned with a lack of control of the whole process, and I couldn’t afford or even want my own dark room.
In fact I was about to sell off my EOS500N and two kit zooms when Canon launched the 300D. Well that got me back in to it in a big way. I had been into my wildlife for a long time and so this now gave me the opportunity to combine my two interests. So I suppose you could say I was a wildlife watcher first before photographer, which in some ways gives me an advantage in terms of subject knowledge and behaviours. My philosophy is firmly that the welfare and well being of my subject comes first and is embedded in the Nature Photographers code published by the Nature Group of the Royal Photographic Society. 

I take regular trips to the Isle of Mull to watch the wildlife there, probably the best place in the UK to see Golden and White Tailed Sea Eagles. Very difficult to photograph, as everything is at extreme range, but you have to keep trying from public locations and hope they come near you. Last year a photographer ‘s actions resulted in the failure of a Sea Eagles nest and the subsequent loss of the chicks, which is totally unacceptable and I believe a prosecution resulted. No picture is worth that.

There are sites in Europe where you can pay plenty of money to photograph them in more controlled conditions if that is what you want to do. But to me, I get the greatest satisfaction as a result of fieldcraft and patience, which usually involves a lot of cold and uncomfortable sitting or laying about, often with nothing to show for it.

I do a bit of printing work, usually for Photographic exhibitions, using both the Canon Pixma Pro 9000 and 9500, depending on what type of work I am doing. Both are excellent printers in their own right. Since I acquired the 9500, it has opened up the monochrome world to me and can finally finish some of my landscape work.

If you would like to see more of my work, then I have a blog with another wildlife photographer friend of mine, David Courtenay at Wildlife Across the Water. and also my own personal website at Martindyerphotography.co.uk that I will be updating and overhauling very soon.

As with all of Tuesday 'togs, we ask them a list of questions and they get to choose which ones to answer. We also one question they all have to answer:

BLAB: What colour would your Ferrari be?
Well if it had to be a Ferrari, then there is only ONE colour and it must be Red.

But why would I want a car that crashes into walls in airport tunnels in Manchester? – No for me it would be a Porsche GT2 – in bright metallic blue with gold wheels, configured just like the one I have on the Nintendo - Wii Need for Speed Pro Street as my grip car 

BLAB: If you had been paid ten thousand pounds for being our 'Tuesday
tog', what photo equipment would you spend it on?
As a wildlife photographer, I would buy the EF800mm f5.6L IS USM as you never can have too much length, and also the EF400mm f2.8L IS USM as it is not something that I could ever see myself purchasing ordinarily, and the results I have seen from it are stunningly sharp

BLAB: Rucksack or shoulder bag and why?

I use both depending on what I shoot. For studio work and people shots that I get dragged into doing, I tend to use an old Jessops shoulder bag – does the job OK.

For my wildlife and landscapes I have three rucksacks. When I am using the 500f4, I use a custom designed and made bag that will take the 500f4, with the hood fitted the right way round, with a 1.4 converter attached to my 1Dmk3, ready to shoot straight out the bag. When I am shooting from the car, it sits in the passenger footwell good to go, and then out in the field pretty much the same. A frustration with most other bags is that you have to build your camera/lens combination, by which time that rare bird or mammal is a small speck in the distance. It is an exceptionally comfortable bag, made by a fishing equipment manufacturer, that I can carry for a long time on my back.

My other rucksacks are the Think Tank Airport Acceleration – perfect bag for travelling by air. I can get my 1D, 500f4, 300 f2.8, 70-200f2.8, 24-70f2.8 and 17-40, plus 100f2.8 macro in, plus numerous other bits and bobs – great and complies with the smaller of the aircraft carry on sizes that some airlines insist on. The other bag I use from time to time is my Lowepro PhotoTrekker, usually for landscapes as it made of materials that seem to cope with the usually disgusting conditions that I end up putting my bag in

BLAB: Natural light or flash and why?

Landscape and wildlife are my preferred genre so therefore natural light is everything for those subjects. All my best wildlife images are down to the light, well in my opinion anyway. My landscape work is usually done in the golden hours of sunrise and sunset, although I won’t waste overcast and cloudy conditions to ‘see’ and take monochrome images, particularly when it works well with the subject matter. So while I do use studio flash from time to time for portrait and figure photography, and have even been known to use flash for wildlife, usually with the Kirk Flash Extender, it is not my preference.

Martin has also selected three of his favourite images to show on blab:

Milkcap fungus. I enjoy the challenge of macro photography particularly for fungus, and here the technique is all about the lighting. Compared to other natural history macro photography, fungi are really easy as they are not going to get up and run away, so the results are entirely down to you. I took this a couple of seasons back with my beloved old 1Dmk2N plus my trusty Canon 100f2.8 macro lens at my local woods. It was a fabulous season two years ago and I have kept my fingers crossed every year since, but have been sadly disappointed. M mode, ISO400, f20 and 1/5 s exposure. Using aluminium kitchen foil to reflect light back under the head of the fruiting body. An additional bonus with this particular specimen is the lactating gills, hence the name.

This shot was just a practice pan and so goes in the lucky file. I was out in Switzerland last year with my good friend and wildlife photographer, David Courtenay at Lake Geneva, trying to photograph in flight, landing on the water Goosanders. Dave and I would take turns throwing in the bread to attract them while the other took the shots. Sadly for us, somebody else was also feeding the birds a bit across the lake from us, which was distracting our subjects. It was a late Feb afternoon and the sun was setting just behind us. I saw two Pochards coming round towards the feeding activity, and as I often do just practice my panning and focussing techniques, with a suitable subject. It look pretty reasonable in the viewfinder so just gave it a double tap to squeeze off two images, and really thought no more about it and when back to my Goosanders. Well it wasn’t until I looked at them on computer that I realised how good the image looked. Moral of the story – always use any opportunity to practice your skills. Taken with the 1Dmk3, which still wasn’t fixed at this time, although this doesn’t look too bad does it? and my Canon 500f4L. Av mode, ISO 400, f7.1, 1/2000

I saw these stunning birds for the first time last year courtesy of a friend of mine who took me to the site. We watched up to seven in this one field over a number of days. Another image blessed with late winter afternoon sun coming on from the left. I blagged my partner Sue’s Canon 40D for this image to give me some additional ‘reach’ with my 500 f4 plus the 1.4EFTC to give me the best chance for frame filling images. M mode metered off the grass, ISO400, f7.1 and 1/1250. I was pleased to get a ‘Highly Commended’ for this at the Smethwick International Exhibition this year in the Nature Digital Projected section.

BLAB: Thanks for your time and answers Martin, they're very interesting and will hopefully help some of the readers either learn a bit or get inspired to go out and shoot more themselves. 

If any readers have any feedback or thoughts about Martin's work, hit the comments! Equally, if anyone else fancies being our featured Tuesday 'tog, let us know! 

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