Featured 'tog Tuesday - John Lester

This weeks 'tog is landscape and nature photographer John Lester.

BLAB: Jumping straight in to the important question, what colour would your Ferrari be?

JL: I'd love to give the geek answer of 18% grey so I've got the coolest grey-card around, but I'd go for metallic Black. I understand the purists' point about red ones, but show some individuality! Besides, the sunset looks amazing reflected in a shiny black car.

BLAB: Can you tell us a little bit more about yourself?

JL: If I was to summarise my photography in just one area, it would be Landscape / Nature photography, but I enjoy other areas as well and am always looking for new projects and experiments.

My interest in photography started in 1988 when I was 10 and my parents bought me a Canon Sureshot point-and-click film camera for my birthday. It went everywhere with me and despite not having a zoom, I managed to get some pretty good nature shots - sneaking up on butterflies, grasshoppers etc. About 6 years later, I took my first shots with an SLR - a 3 frame panorama of Mount St. Helens (post eruption) using a manual Pentax SLR. I still have the pictures framed on my bedroom wall now.

On the strength of my little Sureshot, I decided Canon was the way to go so I saved up and bought a second hand EOS 1000F which I proceeded to improve my photography with. Purchasing various lenses and accessories gave me the opportunity to properly experiment with aperture, shutter speed, filters etc. I was fortunate to have a family who took me all over the world so saw wonderful things you can't get in the UK. I was also lucky to be egged on by a neighbour and now very good friend, Dr. John Davis, who has toted everything from Sony Cybershots to Leica SLRs and is currently using a Leica Range-finder as his main toy.

At University, I did the photography for one of the Sports Club Balls and sold prints from the event - that meant learning how to use, process and develop black and white film and prints. I spent DAYS in the dark room playing with settings. It was by no means profitable for me and in honesty was not hugely successful, but the money helped toward my EOS 5 which to date is my best camera.

In 2004 I went digital and bought an EOS 300D which still serves me well and nearly all my website pictures were taken with it. Despite going digital, I still believe that the skill of Photography lies in the camera and not in Photoshop. I make small adjustments to my images such as cropping and brightness, but nothing you couldn't do easily in a dark-room. I'm not knocking the Photoshop gurus out there but for me that's Digital Art rather than Photography.

I use Aperture on my Mac Pro for all my photo work. I've been a Mac addict since about 1985 and wouldn't dream of using anything else. My MacBook Pro comes with me on photo trips longer than one day and proves an invaluable tool for generating interest in what I'm up to.

I have no plans to be a full time professional photographer as I'm scared of turning my favourite hobby into a chore, but I am working toward selling a few prints / doing a few shoots to hopefully get my photography to pay for itself and maybe buy me the occasional bottle of winjavascript:void(0)e.

I put some pictures on my website, http://www.jalphoto.co.uk a few years back and really must update the site properly, it needs an overhaul so please do visit me, but also check back soon for an updated look at my work.

Right now, I'm doing some photography work with a friend of mine,James Corrin. He is teaching me how to do model shoots and I'm going to help him with his landscape work.

I've recently been made redundant from a small IT reseller so I'm using this time to work on things I don't get time to do whilst I look for a new job. If anyone works at Apple or needs an IT hardware sales guy....


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

JL: Oooh toys!

• Canon 5D mkII with 24-105mm F4 L IS (£2900) - This will be my next kit purchase as I've been dribbling over full frame since the original 5D was launched. I love wide-angle landscape work and the 16-35mm L lens I have is awesome, but just not wide enough on a crop sensor... I'm also looking forward to playing with HD video, but suspect that will be a minor part of the camera's use. The 24-105mm lens gives me something good for general purpose work with a very useful zoom range.
  
• Apple 30" Cinema display (£1200). I have an Apple 20" Studio display now, but more pixels are required for playing with a 21MP camera.
  
• Colour calibration kit (£100). I would like to be a little more accurate with my output. My Canon PIXMA printer is brilliant but is not colour accurate with my screen and that bugs me.
  
• A handful of Sandisk Extreme IV flash cards (£500)
  
• Canon EF 14mm f2.8 L lens (£1900). As I said already, I love wide angle landscape work.
  
• Canon TS-E 45mm Tilt Shift Lens (£1100). I have no idea how these work but the results fascinate me so I'd love to play with one, especially on someone else's money :)
  
• Three Speedlight 580 EXII Flash (£1000). Slave flash-lit work is another area I'd love to play in
  
• Canon MR-14EX Macrolight ringflash (£450). I've got the Canon 100mm Macro which is probably my favourite lens, a Ring Flash would be very useful for me.
  
• Two Elinchrom Freelight Ranger portable flash (£900). I want to get more into people photography, but want to combine this with my landscape work, so portable lights would make the list too.
  

BLAB: Sounds like that list is pretty well planned out, but which of your images means the most to you and why?

JL: This was taken beside Spirit Lake in Jasper National Park, Canada back in 2004. I love doing landscape photography and the wilds of Canada are just so perfect a playground. This trip was one of the last family holidays we took before my Dad died. He was a huge fan of the outdoors and this shot wraps up the awe and majesty of the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

As much as I hate to admit it, the location of this shot was luck more than judgement. We'd spent all day at the lake further up the valley with mostly cloud-laden skies and cool weather (even in August it's cold up there - it's only 3 months from snow melt to snow fall). We were just leaving for home when I saw this view in the wing mirror of the car. The sun had just broken onto the mountain in the foreground. I stopped sharpish and piled out of the car leaving my confused family wondering what had happened. The image is Canon's JPEG (I wasn't shooting RAW then as the camera was 2 weeks old and I didn't know what it meant) but otherwise untouched. The sky was that moody, the water that still. I was very lucky - I took just one exposure and got back in the car. Fortunately it worked.

BLAB: What would your dream photo opportunity be?

JL: I've got two - one that will never happen and one that I hope will.

My Dad was a Botanist and in 1995/96 was applying for budget to create a Flora of Yemen. If he'd managed to secure this, then I was offered the role of official photographer and would have spent 3 months trekking through the wilds of Yemen with a new macro lens and EOS 5 film camera and more film than I knew what to do with.

The opportunity I can still do (and am determined to one day) is to hit Fall in the maple forests of Eastern USA / Canada. This has to be one of the most spectacular events and presents so many photo opportunities.

BLAB: Pictures.... please?

This was taken at midnight by Chun Quoit in Cornwall. I'd set out to take star-trail pictures by the Quoit but had not understood what thin cloud and a full moon would do to my exposures. 5 minutes looked like daytime. Green grass, blue skies, SHADOWS!!. I changed tack and worked on this picture which I like as it shows the undisturbed ancient-ness of Cornwall but with the modern world close at hand. The Quoit itself is "painted" with a standard torch to bring it out.


I took this picture with my newly purchased 100mm Macro lens. It's of some old winch gear in Lulworth Cove, Dorset. Rusted metal has a fascination for me - I think it's something to do with the colour and the fact that it's been abandoned.

I was in Slovakia on a 10 day photo holiday touring the countryside. Near the end of our trip we'd stopped in a tiny medieval town called Spisska Sobota near Poprad. I saw these Houseleeks growing in roof at eye-level and the lighting was perfect.

Taken in Trengwainton Gardens, Cornwall. It had been raining all day and with a very low, flat light there wasn't much jumping out at me. I found these flowers with water droplets on quite fascinating and took this hand-held, naturally lit shot. For me it shows the brutal sharpness and background blur of the Canon Macro lens

BLAB: Thanks to John for being this week's 'tog on Tuesday, if you want to be here in the future comment on one of the Tuesday tog posts with some contact info and we'll be in touch. Your contact details won't be published since we moderate all blog comments.

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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.

-blabpictures-

Featured 'tog Tuesday - Andy McDonald

This week's featured 'tog is Andy McDonald, a professional photographer just starting out in the world of professional photography with his wife Erika.

Firstly, a bit about Andy....
My first camera was bought as a present by my parents & was a Russian manual 35mm camera called a Zenith E. My first Canon camera was an Ae1 which I still have in the loft & this really allowed me to work semi automatically Av etc & get prints back from the lab which were of a reasonable quality. Although my last film body was an EOS 1N I really believe that my photography began to improve far quicker when I purchased my first digital body which was a 20d, this allowed me to try things out & understand the impact, I have learnt more in the last 5 years than I did in the previous 20…

Erika and I love photography and “McDonald Photography” is our first step towards creating a successful business which supports our goals to do something we both love for a living. The challenge of creating images that your clients adore up against tight timescales, with what can be, to the un trained I everyday surroundings really keeps me on my toes, but without Erika having a guiding hand in to the styling and final presentation of our work Im sure we’d be less successful than we are today, taking the image is just a part of the process, I know great photographers who cannot “sell” their work at the right price and sustain a business simply because they haven’t got an end game, their images are sat on a HDD rather than providing entertainment.

First up and the only one we ask to everyone:
BLAB: What colour would your Ferrari be?

Well, it would have to be Nero with cream leather. In fact any other colour than red, I know this is against all the rules, but I don’t know cars just look great in black….

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

I think that far to much energy is given to have faster newer equipment, is this really what photography was about for you as a youngster? i would guess not. So to answer your question I would have to say

1/ Get a camera that has manual controls and learn how it operates. Understand how iso, shutter speed and aperture work together to create magic.

2/ No matter what lens you have, dont let it restrict your imagination, far to often i hear people saying i need a wide angle lens to take landscapes or you need an 85mm 1.x to take a portrait, i say rubbish. Your eye sees the image. No matter what lens or camera you have go take some pictures and enjoy them, in time you will know the improvements to be gained from specialist lenses and you can then go and buy with confidence.

3/ Find your self a forum, online or face to face where you can talk & mix with other photographers, its a great way to learn and ask questions you also get to benchmark yourself you may well be surprised.

4/ I think one of the hardest things to do not only as a beginner is decide what to shoot, so it’s a good idea to give yourself a brief, for example this could be a colour, a location, like a local landmark & take 10 images all different, this will get you thinking beyond the obvious and will stretch you. Try it its not easy.

5/ Although I use Lightroom and Ps to create a look, I have always tried to get it right in the camera, I think its best practice to do this and enhance with software, not rely on it to save you bacon… well not all the time ;-)

5/ Don’t give up, good luck.

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

Ok 10K that sounded a lot, but its not really when you start to think about it. I think I’d really like some broncolor portable lighting. I’d like some tungsten lighting. A 50mm 1.2 and a 35mm 1.4 a new Billingham bag please and a new Mac book pro.


BLAB: Natural light or flash and why?

Either, I’m happy working with both, I don’t think you can beat the excitement of the start & end of the day, maybe its because you have tight timelines to work too and the light is never the same twice. I’m currently loving working with my speed lights as I can be a creative as I like, Manchester is a great inspiration for me at the moment, the back drops are fabulous, one minute you’re shooting a derelict area the next a fabulous multi story Hilton hotel…so I think that I’ve got the best of both worlds and yes I’m just beginning to understand how fantastic finding that balance could be.

And now for some images:
A straight from camera shot as I always try to get it right in-camera:

The same shot but this time after the only editing that was done. I really try and stay away from Photoshop if possible and currently do all my editing in LightRoom 2.

A shot from a quite recent shoot with a local model

Another recent shot - I thought it best to show recent stuff rather than the selected best!

BLAB: Thanks for taking the time to come in and answer our questions Andy. Since you're quite new to this professional game (although your images and website show quite a talent), if possible we'd like to come back to you in the future and see how you're getting on? It'll be interesting to see how you and your business have progressed especially in these difficult financial times. Best of luck for the future.

If you'd like to be one of our featured 'togs, drop us a line in the comments and we'll be in touch. 

-blabpictures-

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.

-blabpictures-

Featured 'tog Tuesday - Joe Fox

Joe Fox
I suppose it all started for me back in 1981. I was 11 years of age and living in the lower Falls Road in Belfast. Things in that area were as probably as dark and as dangerous as they could be in the Summer of 1981 during the midst of the Hunger Strikes and all that entailed. My parents had luckily enough enrolled me in a scheme called the euro children, where kids were shipped off to live with families across Europe for a month each summer. I went to stay with a family in Geneva, funnily enough, no one wanted to live where I did. The night before I left my aunt arrived up at the door (no mean feat with the barricades and army cordons and gun battles on the streets (no I’m not making this up)) with a 35mm compact camera and 3 rolls of 24 film. ‘You cant go to Switzerland and not take photos of it’.
That was it, mountains, chocolates, cuckoo clocks the whole 9 yards. Hooked. I spent almost every last penny my parents gave me on films in the local supermarket.
10 years later I bought my first SLR (Praktica BX20) and the first shots I took with it were interrailing, I bought it with my ‘graduation money’, as I couldn’t go to Europe for a month and not take pictures – sound familiar. 10 years to the day I took a photo of the mer de glace in Chamonix as I had as a kid. I’d worked part time in the bookies that my dad was manager in from 11 years of age (I know its illegal) to 19 and every summer holidays. I blew everything I’d saved on that trip and left home carrying everything I owned.
I spent most of the next 8 odd years as an engineer, just taking photos of the places I’d been, no intention of doing weddings, taking photos of my nephews etc etc.
Then through family and health circumstances I had a career break and really couldn’t face going back to working for someone else again…
…I tempted and did very little whilst I decided what I wanted out of life and what I wanted to do with the rest of my time. I got a phone call one day from a mate of a mate asking if I wanted to help out photographing in a Santa Grotto seeing as I was handy with a camera, had bugger all else to do and they were stuck….
…the rest is history (and I’d still no intention of doing weddings). Oh and I blew every penny I had saved up as an Engineer to set up a photography business and more with the help of Mr Visa and the local small business agency. I thought I’d give it six months to see how it went. I’m still giving it six months…

BLAB: What colour would your Ferrari be?
I remember buying my Alfa, I test drove one, I test drove another, decided that I wouldn’t live more than 2 months driving a 2.5 V6 and ended up picking the engine and spec that I wanted. I spent about a half hour going over things with the salesman on the phone. Yes rear spoiler and not the pram handle one, yes sports pack, yes this, no that.
All done and dusted when the said.
‘Sorry Joe, I have to ask but what colour do you want’
‘No. You really don’t have to ask’
The salesman then laughed and then said ‘Great, you are one of us’.
Normally in Northern Ireland that means you are either a Protestant or a Catholic but he really meant petrolhead or such like.
He went on to say that anyone who orders an Alfa in any colour other than Alfa Red is either a dick or has no soul or more likely both.

I feel the same about Ferraris….
..Next stupid question. ;-)

BLAB: What's your best bit of advice for a new photographer?
Ok that’s not a stupid question. I’ll come at this from a business angle.
At the minute my answer would be get a proper job! No honestly, I mean it. I had a proper job once ;-)
Times are tough at the minute, very tough in places. Editorial and commissioned rates are being slashed, stock photography rates are being cut, portrait studios are closing all over the place (check ebay if you don’t believe me).
Its easy for people to say don’t do it and be laughed off as not wanting the competition. If I had to start again today I wouldn’t. I haven’t seen a downturn yet as such but Im still getting paid for stuff I shot last year, my weddings were all booked a year or more in advance, I don’t do portraits (well I do but selectively), newspapers are cutting staff and agency fees are sliding. Small businesses have a very high attrition rate at the best of times, when I started I funded the business with 10k of my own money and 5k of a loan, it wasn’t nearly enough!
Its not just photography though, its across the board, I went up to a small village yesterday for some fish and chips and to do one or two stock photos that I new the light and conditions were right for. I know the place very well, my parents used to have a holiday mobile home type thing there for years. I did a wedding there last sept so thought I’d call in and say hello to the people in the hotel, all very nice people. I hadn’t been there since Sept….
…what a shock I had.
3 B+Bs closed, bank closed,2 shops closed, chippie closed, nursing home closed, for sale signs, an entire new development either still as sites or with for sale signs outside.
Just looking at that effect on a small village means little or no portraits, weddings postponed, no commercial work, no Sunday papers etc etc.
I started in this business working for someone else, that’s the best bit of advice I can think of. My boss taught me things I’d never have picked up on my own and gave me work he couldn’t do after I’d set up on my own. A couple of years down the line I was able to reciprocate and help him (and others) out when they were stuck or just needed another pair of hands. Unfortunately I’d say that new opportunities are few and far between but if you get one grab it with both hands. You will learn more from someone with a long track record in the business in the first 2 days than a lifetime of courses or surfing internet forums.
Oh and don’t work for free. You may work for no money with my blessing, but never work for free. If you don’t know the difference, put the camera away and start up again when you do.

BLAB: If you had been paid ten thousand pounds for being our 'Tuesday
tog', what photo equipment would you spend it on?
You mean Im not?
After the taxman takes his cut I wouldn’t get out of bed for that sort of money. Ring me when its 25k and we’ll talk.
In all honesty, other than funding a move to do a like for like swap for Nikon kit I wouldn’t spend even half of that on photo equipment.
This time 2 years ago I had a stock sale for a figure not completely off that value. Im afraid I have to admit my first port of call wasn’t one of the well stocked uk photo suppliers, or ebay hong kong or indeed B+H or Adorama (other suppliers may be available in your area ;-)), it was tripadvisor.
By the end of that week Id trips booked to Tunisia and Krakow, had the train to Dublin booked and a couple of nights B+B on the West Coast sorted.
Only then did I buy a 5D for something light to carry on the trips, a smaller bag and a few other wee bits and pieces.
I remember a friend of mine asking what I would do with the 10k, I came up with loads of ideas the vast majority non photo related, he then asked what I would do if someone came in sat down and opened a briefcase with 10k in notes. That’s a different matter. The sensible head comes out, I’d pay off my mortgage (yes I owe that little) in the current climate. In 6 months time 10k sterling might not buy you a cup of coffee the way Mr G Brown is running things.
In all honesty, I’m 40 at the very end of this year, I’ve set aside Jan-Mar next year to do something spectacular with. 10 years ago this week I had a very serious accident which not to sound too melodramatic left me dying by the side of a road in a place very very far from home. I thought if I ever recovered I wouldn’t waste any more time.
I have, I’ve had a couple more warnings since. Life is far too short.
Im 39, I come from the Falls Road in Belfast, average life expectancy there is still very low, not too far off some third world countries. I’ve seen the sun rise over the desert, the sun set over the great rift valley, I’ve swam with sharks, scuba dived, white water rafted, drove over the arctic circle and equator, seen the sun rise on the atlantic and set on the pacific, blah blah blah.
To do it all again, yep 10k would cover some of that nicely thank you very much.

BLAB: Which photographer's work do you most admire and why?
The honest answer is none and everyone. Typical Joe Fox wooly answer but I’ll try and explain…
I don’t really get the whole big name thing, I prefer to admire photos or sets of photos but not one persons work. Its like you cant really say you like everything U2 have ever made as some of the Zooropa stuff was terrible. Some was inspired.
I could name you people I have admiration for but you would never have heard of them. I’ve seen colleagues go out in the rain, go to nativity plays, photograph the umpteenth cheque presentation that week and still come up with the goods. That says more to me than something that has had a budget of 100k, art director, paid models, post production team of 10 etc etc.
A lot of the greats are the same as the rest of us poor mortals and have produced some shite in their time as well. I tend to look at photos more in terms of the circumstances than the actual photos themselves. I teach photography and what some people have to go through just to be able to hold a camera never mind take a picture is inspiring in itself.

Photos:
I have difficulty showing any photos on the web at all. Primarily the fact that a few of the Agencies I work for have web crawler software that scans the web for copyright infringements and then sends the site owners a big bill. If I put any agency pics up here then I might just get that 10k after all.
But heres a few of the photos I like to talk about at talks and seminars (sorry about the logos)…

Rioting

Not a great photograph but the circumstances always make me laugh. I’d just spent a year learning to walk again in 2005, 2 months intensive chemo in hospital isolation ward, 3 operations and 10 months physio. And I end up in a riot. Worse than that I end up in the middle of a riot. Between republicans and police (in the photo) and police and loyalists (behind me). I had to get two colleagues to lift me onto a concrete security bollard to get this shot. Think it was on the 300 f4 with my 1D2 (couldn’t carry much else). Im standing 3 feet above the ground in the middle of a riot on a concrete bollard, having been lifted into a position I have no way on earth of getting down from before I thought of asking for help. Im wearing my get me noticed bright red jacket as well. The riots are live on Sky TV and my phone rings in the middle of it all. Its my mother. I ignore the call. It rings again. I ignore it. I get a text message. ‘Get down from there you f**king eejit, you are live on tv and I thought you said you weren’t going out tonight’
Anyway after a couple of hours its reasonably calm and I go home. Next morning the phone rings.
‘Is that Joe’
‘Yes’
‘Did you take that photo of the guys rioting in front of the police last night’
‘Err describe it’, they do ‘ Yes’
‘Can I have a copy?’
At this point all sorts of alarm bells ring, due to many many security issues and all sorts of implications.
‘Why’
‘Well that’s my cousin in the front row and it's his birthday next week and he'd love that photo.’


I use this photo quite often in talks and seminars.

What do you see in the photo? (Answer at the end of the post.......)

A wedding picture – what the hell?

Another photo that

makes me laugh. It was the middle of our ‘summer’ last year and it absolutely chucked it down all d

ay and I mean really chucked it down. It was the time that Gloucester and all that flooded, and this was in a stately home on the coast so high winds as well. The Bride and Groom had sooo wanted photos in the flower garden so whilst waiting for their first dance the skies actually cleared about 9 or 10pm just after it got dark. Now I usually take 4 or 5 flashguns with me ‘just in case’ and everybody laughs at me for being such a kit freak but nobody laughed when I dragged the entire bridal party out into the rain soaked gardens in the pitch black and put light stands with flashguns all around the place to light up the flowers etc. Think these were taken at some ridiculous

ly high iso on the 5D to get some of the night sky in it.
Not the greatest picture in the world but certainly one that was a ‘challenge’. We ended up doing all the bridal party shots again in the dark.

Contemporary dance

Not a lot of people know this but I do an awful lot of contemporary dance photography. Most of it I cant show other than my own website due to copyright restrictions and releases and all that good stuff but I’ve permission to use this one. It was from one of my major clients productions last year, 40s dance, dress, uniform right down to almost 40s style lighting. Some stupid ISO at 1.8 or the like and people dancing around. No flash allowed and no interrupting the performances etc. The dance photography isn’t really about the technicalities of the photography itself, its about capturing the mood, feeling and ‘focus’. In this shot theres two of the dancers who had never danced before, been trained up for 8 weeks and then put into costume and went for it. It sort of sums up the ‘focus’ aspect for me. Those two teenagers are in the 40s, they aren’t just dressed like it. That’s the key to this type of photography, probably more than any else.
It’s a straight shot with just a black and white conversion.

(....Answer from before....
A lot of people say police brutality or some such like, its actually police giving first aid to a reporter who was standing beside me when a blast bomb went off. He took the full force in the leg, I only got a nick to my backpack. It’s a good example of a photo where the text added completely changes the meaning of the photo and a great example of how to be wary of how things are portrayed by various nations media.)

For anyone wanting to see more of Joe's images of his hometown area, there is a youtube video set to music:

Blab: Joe, it's been interesting, informative, humorous and rather inspiring to hear your thoughts on photography. Coming back from a near-death accident to be a successful photographer must have taken time, hard work and dedication. It should be an inspiration to anyone reading that you can do what you want if you put your mind to it.

Oh, and hopefully in 6months you'll be giving it another 6months... :-)

-blabpictures-

Featured 'tog Tuesday - Steve Kaluski ARPS

I first purchased a camera in 1979 and, like a lot of people, I took images of everything and anything. In all honesty I had no real understanding about what I was doing, or what I was looking at!

Then, after a long period of time not doing any photography, in 2002 I decided to take it up again. And so, in 2004 I purchased my first digital camera. This gave me the excuse I needed to invest time, effort and energy in the subject. Since 2005, I have concentrated solely on wildlife, travelling all around the world. My work has appeared in various publications, including photography magazines but also others such as Travel brochures and BBC Wildlife. I am passionate about the natural world.

First up, the only one we ask to everyone:
BLAB: What colour would your Ferrari be?
Well it would have to be Red, no question! It symbolises the passion, pedigree, craftsmanship and the love of Italian racing. A Ferrari that isn't red is like chips without salt, LOL!

BLAB: Which photographer's work do you most admire and why?
Easy, it's the guy that kick started me back into photography with a passion for Wildlife and how to appreciate it, Andy Rouse. I became hooked with a series of TV programmes he did back in 1999 in which he spoke about photography and the love he has for animals in a very stimulating manner that appealed to me hugely. Several years later I met him and have become good friends with him ever since, visiting many worldwide locations with him. If you ever get a chance to work with Andy you
will realise that every time he will put the animals welfare first, irrespective of getting 'that shot'. Have respect for the animal you are photographing, they will have respect for you and you will achieve your image. In addition I also admire Neil McIntyre who I have spent time with, Danny Green and Edwin Kats, all great photographers, but it is the 'simplicity of their images I like best.

BLAB: If you had been paid ten thousand pounds for being our 'Tuesday tog', what photo equipment would you spend it on?
I wish!!!! And I guess this is the crunch question! If I had to choose today I would have to say Nikon purely because it does exactly what it says on the tin, and delivers! I have always used Canon equipment and have a small fortune tied up with them and therefore will continue to use it. However like for like, the Nikon bodies now outstrips the Canon and delivers the shots. I have even shots of the same images and settings etc, side by side, and the Nikon always seems to have the edge. The lenses are on par, albeit Canon might have the edge on that. But I now know a lot of pros swopping over to Nikon and they all seem to say it has worked for them.

[BLAB: Not exactly the answer we were expecting but this is the Tuesday 'tog post and what they say goes! While we may be a site aimed at Canon users, we know there are other views out there and there is no one perfect solution for everyone... hit the comments with your thoughts on it]

BLAB: What would your dream photo opportunity be?
No contest, 1-2 months in Botswana in May/June. I just love the country, especially the people and the wonderful abundant wildlife. They have adopted a low volume, low impact, policy in the reserves, with limited numbers of guests and therefore limited numbers of vehicles within each concessionary area. With only three vehicles at any one time on a sighting, the clients get the best vantage points and the animals are not pressurised or harassed. In addition the drivers and guides are, in my opinion, some of the best. I have a huge respect for them, especially their knowledge of the animals and birds and their environment. If you ever want to get the best out of your trip, then please do not put pressure on your guides saying, 'I must see lions...' or "I must see a chase or a kill". My experience is that if you just go with the flow and take pleasure in what you do see, then mother nature generally will reward you and you will see a lot more, more than you would otherwise think. And there is as much pleasure in some of the smaller more unusual animals and birds than the big five.


Canon EOS-1D MkIII, EF500mm f/4L IS USM, f/5.6, 1/320, ISO400
It was a very hot afternoon when we left our location, about 40 degrees. Confidence was high as Park officials and the foresters were talking of good sightings of Tigers that morning. We patrolled our alloted route listening out for any 'alarm calls', nothing! As the hours passed by, doubt began to set in, we were not going to see our Tiger. Talking one last route home we tried a small watering hole, as we turned the bend there she was, quietly walking down the sand track. We stopped, reversed up to the waterhole positioned ourselves and waited. Quietly she approached, hot and dusty, moving within feet of the jeep straight to the water. Crouching down she drank. Not a great picture with her 'bum' to camera but, then within a few minutes she turned and reversed into the cool water to face the camera. A perfect end to the day. After filling my boots with images it was a quick race back before the Park gates closed.

If you would like to know more about Tigers, or would like to help please visit www.21stcenturytiger.org

Canon EOS-1D MkIII, EF500mm f/4L IS USM, f/5.6, 1/4000, ISO400
Beauty is my favourite Leopard which I met about two years ago in the Okavanga Delta in Botswana. She brought her cubs into camp for us to babysit whilst she went off to hunt. Sadly her parenting skills left a lot to be desired and non of her cubs have survived. I hooked up with Beauty last year and again she was proud to show me her new two week old cub. This shot was taken early morning, we just sat and watched her play and drink until we lost her in the tall grass. We moved the vehicle around, hoping to find her again hidden amidst all the rustling sounds. But as we approached a big old tree I instinctively knew she was going for the tree. So we positioned the jeep,switched off the engine and waited. Then in two leaps there she was high above us, parading around like a fashion model. Fifteen minutes of pure bliss.


Canon EOS-1D MkIII, EF500mm f/4L IS USM, f/5.6, 1/4000, ISO400 -0.33
I thought this would be an easy assignment, choose three images and write about them. Well the third did prove a problem, but I trust you like my choice.

The reason for choosing this image is because of the bold, vibrant colours of the image. The Saddle-billed stork is a rather ungainly bird standing about five feet high and looks as if its plumage was created by 'paint by numbers' as it appears to be totally out of context with the surroundings and environment. This shot was taken about mid morning as we patrolled the channels in the Jao/Kwetsani area. The stork was feeding in the ever increasing water that was steadily flowing into the Delta. I just love the trail that the left foot makes on the waters surface as the stork walks through the water in a very 'elegant' manner.



BLAB: Thanks for your time and for answering our questions. Some interesting and (possibly for this site controversial!) views and some really stunning pictures. We wish you well with your photography in the future and we'll be keeping an eye out for your images around and about. With images like these it won't be long before you're knocking on the door of some of those names you've mentioned as influences. 

UPDATE: Steve has just provided us with his new website www.untamedimages.co.uk where you can see some more of his work. 

-blabpictures-