Giving Advice

I like helping people. I get great satisfaction from it. I get loads of emails from photographers, both new and experienced, asking if they can get my opinion on their work, or come and assist me on a shoot.

The problem with someone coming to assist me on a single shoot is simple... they only learn what I do on that one shoot. There's far more to photography than lighting and technical stuff. I would much rather sit down one to one with people and discuss the philosophies and thinking behind what we do. That to me is far more valuable.

Inspiration : Richard Avedon

Whenever people ask me who my biggest photographic inspiration is, I've never hesitated with my answer. Richard Avedon is such a massive influence on what I do. I dream of shooting the types of people he shot, for the people he got to shoot them for!

Avedon was born in New York in 1923 and by his mid twenties was shooting for Harpers Bazaar, Vogue, and Life. He was a true pioneer in fashion photography, and was one of the first to break from the norm of static, lifeless models. Instead he would capture, movement and emotion in his images, giving them life and stories.

Instead of trying to photograph the image of a subject, Avedon tried to capture the essence of who they were, and what they were feeling at the time in order to tell a story. It's the story that captivates the viewer and makes his images stand head and shoulders above all others.

Out : Kirk Originals

Networking is important. The internet is amazing for making contacts through things like Twitter and Facebook, but in order to cement those relationships, you need to get out in the real world... that's where it all happens!

As a result of being at London Fashion Week, I recently started tweeting with the multi-faceted Lois Waller, who is both a stylist, and fashion writer as well as managing PR for various people. Lois and I are going to be working together on some cool things over the coming months.

Last night we popped into the opening of Kirk Originals flagship store in Conduit Street, London. Kirk Originals make some awesome eyewear, and it was amazing to see so many people sporting some of their designs and trying on the many pairs on display. This is quite possibly the coolest optician I've ever been in, both for their designs and the way the store is laid out. You should definitely check it out!

Labels!

As part of my effort to blog more, and on various subjects (although still being mainly focussed around photography), I'm going to be categorising my blog titles.

I've already blogged a couple of posts under the "Workflow" header, which will be step by step walkthroughs of my images and processes.

I'm also going to be blogging from some of the various events, places and parties I get invited to, under the "Out" title.

If there are other things you'd like to see, let me know and suggest a title. Maybe you'd like to see more of my published work? Or maybe some outtakes? Perhaps you want to know more about who inspires me, and why?

Let me know, either by leaving a comment, or by emailing [email protected]

Workflow : JP Omari

I was commissioned to shoot some images to promote JP's StreetFunk, a Brighton based dance company. I'd known JP for a while, having worked with him before. He's a breakdancer, who also featured on the BBC's Strictly Dance Fever programme in 2006. Even during the first phonecall from JP, I knew what I wanted to do with him. He told me he wanted some edgy shots to help promote his business in the local area. I told him I was going to get him "jumping over Brighton Pier". He didn't believe me, but was up for giving it a go!

A few weeks later I was down in Brighton on the seafront with JP. It was only the two of us. No assistants, and minimal equipment as I needed to be able to carry it. The sun was high in the sky, so I knew I wanted to add some more light to give the look I had in mind. I set up two speedlites on stands, and used the sun as a third light source. Here's one of the test shots...

So with the lighting and exposure sorted, all that remained was to get him to jump. JP's one of those people who seems to be able to get insane amounts of height when he's flying through the air. I still knew I wanted to get low down in order to accentuate the height and create the illusion of him jumping over the pier.

It took about 9 attempts to get the shot. We had to adjust the style of jump from the one we'd originally planned, and out of those 9 shots, 5 were completely out of focus, but then we were only after 1 shot! It's important to know the shot you're trying to create, because it helps you to know when you've captured it, which in turn stops you from shooting aimlessly and filling up memory cards for no reason.

Validation

I'm often asking all you people out there what it is you'd like me to blog about, and every time I get asked about the same types of subjects, workflow, equipment, techniques. So I tried to work out why...

As photographers, we're often trying to find a benchmark as to how good we are. Sure, we can ask friends, but they give us biased opinions. It's hard to get constructive critiques from peers, so we're often left with self evaluation... which is usually the worst kind! So how does this relate to people asking me how I do what I do? It's simple... Validation.

Although I do this for a living, I still see myself as an aspiring photographer. Sure I've done some cool stuff, but I'm very much at the beginning of a career I hope will span many decades, so I often look at the photographers I aspire to for my own form of validation. When I first decided I wanted to do this for a living, I would spend hours watching behind the scenes videos, reading blogs and books to find out who did what, how, and using what equipment. In my mind, I thought that if I had that equipment and worked in that way, I'd be half way to being where they are.

Portfolio 2010 Book

I mentioned in my New Years blog post that I'd ordered my 2010 Book. Well it arrived today, and as happens every year I do this, I'm really pleased with where I am with my work when compared to this time last year. That's not to say I'm happy with where I am though, far from it! I'm often frustrated when I look at my work, because I know I can do better. This is a positive thing, however, as it pushes me to work harder and improve. If I was completely satisfied all the time, why bother to get better? One of the other noticeable things about my latest book is the size! Stacked up with my previous years I can definitely see a pattern... my work is improving because I'm shooting more images!

Know your rights... and keep hold of them!

It's an amazing time to be a photographer! Now more than ever before, we are able to create stunning images using the latest equipment and then share those images with millions of people all around the world!

Unfortunately, as a professional photographer, the business side of things is getting a little bit trickier. I'm lucky to have been commissioned and published in magazines all over the world. I really enjoy shooting editorial content. It's usually lots of fun and creative.... and who doesn't like seeing their work in print or on magazine covers right?

Well yesterday I along with every one of their other freelance contributors received a proposed new contract from one of my magazine publishing clients. I've had a standard agreement with Bauer Media (formally Emap) for the last couple of years, and everything has been fine. Unfortunately, as it stands, I and a great many other freelancers feel unable to work for them again under this proposed new agreement, simply because I would be giving away all of my rights to my own images.

As a photographer, any photograph you take, is yours and yours alone under international copyright laws designed to protect your intellectual property rights. No one can use that image without your permission. If they do, especially for commercial purposes, they are in breach of your intellectual property rights and can be taken to court. When a client is paying a photographer for him/her to produce content for them, they're not just paying for their time, equipment and experience. They're also paying for the licence to use those images.

It's not the camera...

Talk to any photographer, and number one on irritating comments goes something like "wow, your camera takes amazing photos!". It's the nature of what we do that we can't make photographs without the technology, and as the technology advances, a lot of people assume it does most of the work. It's funny that if someone writes a book, they don't receive comments on how amazing their word processing software is! After seeing this cartoon on "What the Duck", my usual retort is something like this...

We all like to say it's not the camera, but the person behind the camera that makes the photo. Well out of principle, before Christmas I decided to do a little experiment. I was shooting at Toni & Guy Swindon with Vicki Blatchley and thought it would be interesting to compare shots from cameras from opposite ends of the spectrum. All the lighting would be the same, as would the clothes, make-up, hair, settings. The only difference would be the cameras themselves. I was doing the shoot on My Hasselblad H3DII, but also did a few shots on my really quite crappy Canon Powershot A590IS...

Workflow : Process

A lot of people keep asking me to write a blog about my workflow, so here it is, but before i start, i should point out that a lot of my jobs are different and as such have a different workflow. Some jobs (particularly magazine clients) require little planning, and no retouching as the publishers often have their own in house retouchers. Some jobs don't need any planning other than knowing my subject matter. Each job is different, and is approached in a different way, which helps keep things interesting! :)

Planning
Before a shoot I always do a bit of background planning on my subject. Obviously if I've worked for the same client several times, this becomes less necessary, but still important to have a good idea of the images you're going to aim for in your head before the day.

One thing I find extremely important is having an inspiration folder. Whenever I see an image I like, or something that gives me an idea for a shot, I save it in a folder. This folder is then sync'd to my iPhone/iPad so I always have something to fall back on if I get stuck. I should point out that I don't copy the images in my inspiration folder. I usually take elements or ideas from them whether it be a location, lighting, pose etc. Being inspired by someone/something is good... copying is bad!

Some of the dance shoots I do can't really be planned for in the same way as I'm capturing what's there, rather than creating the scene. The planning for this comes from knowing and understanding the subject, and getting myself into the right place at the right time and knowing when to click the shutter. I still have a good idea of how want the shot to look before I start though.

Goodbye 2010 : Hello 2011!

Happy New Year Peoples! Thought I'd follow suit and write a blog about what's happened over the past 12 months, and what I'm hoping for in the next.

Well, what can I say? 2010 has been quite epic. I didn't realise it until last week when I started to put together my annual portfolio. For those who don't know, every year I put together a book of my best work from that year. This is purely a personal exercise so that I can look back and hopefully see an improvement as time's gone on.

Anyway, yesterday I ordered my 2010 book, and not only was it twice as many pages as the year before, but also I was really able to see how far I've come in the last 12 months, which in turn has made me very excited about the year ahead!