End of a Year....Start of a New Decade

I think we can all agree that it has been a tough decade and a difficult year

In so many respects

In the photographic world too

At the beginning of the decade we saw the emergence of digital as a fully viable medium

Film once the norm has become very specialist to say the least

We are about to start another new decade

And yes, we are facing another new revolution, the HD DSLR.

We should not be fearful, but should embrace it as soon as possible

It will never replace stills photography but run alongside it I believe

I'm going to share with you all what I discover on my journey

So watch this space

2009 has been a very turbulent year for me

With many challenges still unresolved

I have watched hits to my website treble

And this is in no small part to the followers of this blog

Which, thanks to you goes from strength to strength

Exceeding my expectations all the time

Without you none of this would be possible

So a massive THANK YOU to you all

I look forward to sharing more of me with you

And to meeting some of you at shows and seminars etc

So parting shot from the year?

It doesn't matter what you do but keep shooting what you Love, and Love what you shoot

And just watch yourself and your photography grow

I hope I will remain in 2010, as the blog says...


'AN INFECTIOUSLY PASSIONATE PHOTOGRAPHER'

Happy New Year to you all

Converge One - My Contribution

The Flash Centre Organized and ran 'Converge One' at the British Film Institute in London on the 11th of December

It was an event which aimed to celebrate and foster the use of DSLR's with video capability

It was aimed at both stills photographers and Movie makers

The event was a massive success, with guest Speakers including, Phillip Bloom, Richard Jobson, Dan Fung Dennis and many more too

I'm not going to give the full post show report I wanted to yet as I just have not been able to write anything meaningful yet, my apologies

I will however talk about my small artistic contribution to the event

When I was invited to speak at the event I accepted straight away.

I felt I need to show something new, after all if we don't make new work, stills or moving, we are not photographers, at best just talkers or dreamers.

Then I started to think.....

'Wouldn't it be cool if I could produce a mini short with actors and actress's for £500 or less?'

I LOVE big productions, and it would be my first using the Canon 5Dmk2 shooting full 1080p HD video

Here are some of my stills which inspired me to take this route

I directed and lit all of these shoots myself, so how different was it going to be doing the same with moving images?

Now for all sorts of reasons, I produced this shoot by myself too.

So first came the idea, which I came up with and developed with my collaborators Katherine Holley and Graham Trott, along with some storyline help with my good friend Peter Payne

Here is Katherine's storyboard, which as you can see was pretty close to how it all worked out

The premise of the shoot was a cleaning girl at a big fancy house who is not invited to the party, but dives into a broom cupboard and transforms herself, to crash the party and become the star

All set in the 1940's

We decided to the shoot outside of London, we chose Studley Castle, part of the best Western Hotel group, who are photographer friendly and did us a very good rate

It fitted the role of a big fancy house a treat, with the added bonus that is was very close to where the model Jay Jessop lives (yes, of Water buffalo fame!)

Putting together an (over)ambitious shoot like this means pulling in every favour you can

Costume came from Nicky Albrechtsen and a few charity shops too

Graham bought a few dirty Rain coats with him (for the photographers)

I'm lucky enough to own several MPP and Speedgraphic's so that was the photographers sorted out

The car came from Robin Crump who made the long journey in the torrential rain in his Austin Fairline

Did I mention the rain? Well agood portion fo the shoot was going to be outside, so we needed LUCK

This is what the journey up to Warwickshire was like....



A project like this is only possible with the help of willing volounteers and the shoot would not have been possible without the support of Henly College who supplied extras, hair and make up

They had quite a big team.

Which had to be catered for, remember we are trying to do the whole thing for under £500.

So it was down to me



So we had from 3pm until 10pm to shoot the whole thing.

The crew, consisting of Graham, Katherine and I, as hard as we all worked was way too small

In fact the shoot came close to failing as we simply could not move the equipment and people around fast enough

Yes, it was low budget but I took the size of the crew to something smaller than I would have used on a stills shoot of equivalent size

I was trying to prove something though

We did not have tons of lighting, the mainstay of what we used was A spot, one kinoflo, a Chimera Triolet, and some mini light panels

Yes, you can shoot available light on the Mk2 but But I wanted to control the depth of field and have my 'Signature' lighting

We left the location not really knowing if we had covered all bases, and that the whole thing was going to edit together well

But Katherine is a brilliant editor and I'm delighted with what she achieved

Sitting round after the edit I realized that project would benefit greatly from a unique score

I put an appeal out on this blog and in under 2 hours I had two very generous offers of help

Firstly from David Getfrid in Washington State, and then from Douglas Black Heaton in Helsinki, Finland

I liked both of these very different approaches and have used both of them

Thank you SO much guys

David pointed out that a degree of 'Foley' (sound effects of laughter etc) would enhance things

So, another offer of help came in for Foley from Conrad Norton in Wales

I was very apprehensive to see how the piece was received at 'Converge' but I need not have worried. The audience was most appreciative.

And yes, I got a shiver down my spine as I watched it on the big screen of the National Film Theatre on the South Bank

It is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination.

Every time I watch it I see every last fault and failing.

But I did it

I produced, directed and shot it

And it cost £600, not £500

Hi Def to follow but in the meantime.....

Here is the Version with Douglas's music

'Cinderella' ' Music by Douglas Black Heaton from drew gardner on Vimeo.

If you don't want to wait for the high res Vimeo here is the low Res Youtube version

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFNXJsqtGfE

And Here is David's

'Cinderella' Music by David Getsfrid from drew gardner on Vimeo.

If you don't want to wait for the high res Vimeo here is the low Res Youtube version too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6wLkwOrljs




The price of freedom

I was going to post about 'Converge' which was a great success and a defining moment for the industry in my mind, I'm still crafting(if that is quite the word) that post right now

But I have more pressing matters to share with you

There has been a great deal written in the media of late regarding stills photographers being prevented from taking pictures in public places, sometimes even arrested, under section 44 of the 2000 Terrorism act.

I always thought this was a daft law which would not be an issue for any length of time, as surely common sense would prevail in this fine nation of ours

Notably a campaign was launched to fight for photographer rights

I'm a photographer not a terrorist

The Daily Mail ran a very good article which pointed out the absurdities of the law

People arrested for photographing park benches, chip shops, that kind of thing.

I was hoping that once it hit the mainstream and beyond the realms of whinging photographers (and god knows we do!) that politicians and the Police would sit up and take notice and that common sense would prevail

I was disappointed to see the Met Police's ham fisted wrong headed response to this

Which is why I'm blogging about this

They could have said 'this is something we are looking into'

What they in fact did was to release this to the media

This is their justification for stopping ordinary photographers taking pictures

My friend Jeff Overs of the BBC was prevented from photographing St Paul's Cathedral

Yes, these guys do seem like they were up to no good, no doubt but lest be clear about this, they were never convicted of this, or any terrorism offence

As the report says

'Two men were subsequently convicted of a huge mobile phone and luxury goods fraud scam and deported after serving prison sentences'

And goes on to say...

'The police said the CPS had decided there was sufficient evidence to bring terrorism charges, but it was not in the public interest because they would have received the same sentence as for fraud'

Am I alone in finding this lacks any credibility?

I think these are weasel words

If they are terrorists they should be prosecuted as such

No matter how difficult the prosecution

Period.

If they were terrorist why on earth did the authorities let them out 'back into the wild' ?

Now before anyone gets in touch and talk about danger to the public I have been on the receiving end of a terrorist bomb which killed 2 people, one of whom i knew to say 'hello' to in the mornings when I bought a magazine or newspaper from his store

A terrifying event with awful consequences

The real issue here is the authorities getting better perspective on this, the real issue is not that people are taking photos, but their intent.

Surely sleeper terrorist cells would go about there work in a more discreet manner? Or what about google earth?

If photography is such a danger it should be banned immediately.

Straight away tourists should be prevented from taking photos of Buckingham place, the houses of Parliament and Big Ben, along with photos of their kids at play on the beach (it could be a target, couldn't it?) and yes, those fiends taking photos of chip shops

Democracy and freedom is not worth one jot if we cannot live and go about our daily lives, in fact this means the terrorists have in fact won,for they have changed what we do.


I urge any of you write an email registering your objection to the home secretary Alan Johnson here

I already have.

He seems like a decent bloke, you never know he may even listen?

It will take you a few seconds and will help make this country, a happier free place to live

A New Year beckons - So does a new direction

Next year I will have been a professional photographer for 30 years.

30 Years!

Spalding Guardian Chief Photographer Tim Wilson took this pic of me in 1979...the paper used my pics too, my very first published work

How does one keep anything going for 30 years with passion?

Well for me variety is the spice of life and I have been involved with just about every field of photography over that time, shooting in just about every format there is.

For many years I was not aware of these phases of reinvention

So to the long list of genres of photography I'm adding the moving image

2009 has been a very challenging year for me in many ways, but it was the year I discovered for myself the joys of Canon 5dMkII and shooting HD video

Moving images and me, difficult to know where to begin but for sometime I have felt my work has life beyond stills, particularly 'the forest' series

In fact one of the motivations was  'Europa' (the water buffalo image)

One of the reasons I made the DVD was to show how much of my work is done 'in camera' and not relying on photoshop as 'a crutch for bad photography'

But still as time passed I realised that the vast majority of viewers saw it as a composite picture, even though it wasn't

I blogged about it on the Scott Kelby website, here is what I had to say

Drew Gardner photographed on Polaroid Type 55 by Lucinda Marland

Recently I was commissioned by Nexush to shoot a print and billboard ad for the Suzuki Swift.

It was based around an incident in a tattoo parlour, which goes horribly wrong, the tattooist misspells the
 word ‘respect’ writing ‘resplect’ instead.

To predictable consequences but very funny all the same.

Now this shoot is the most interesting I have undertaken in a very long time.

Why?

Because as well as shooting the ad as a still, my team and I shot it as a short movie for the client too.



How it was used on the Liverpool Media wall......




And a look behind the scenes too.....




A true glimpse into where I believe the industry is heading at breakneck speed.

We shot the still in the morning and decided to retain the same lighting to give the same visual ‘language’ in print and moving images.

It was a lot of fun but there are many differences.

Ok, first the kit………

We used a Canon 5d mk2 on a Zacuto Rig, which puts you in charge of the focus, and a Marshall V-LCD70P monitor, which lets you judge focus so much more acurately than on the LCD, I now mount the Marshall Monitor on my Manfrotto 525MVB tripod with its 503HDV fluid head with a Manfrotto 819-1 Small Hydrostatic arm and 386b Nano Clamp

In my mind the shoot just would not have been possible without the Zacuto and Marshall, those focus pulls with SUCH accuracy

I could bang on about the kit some more but this shoot revealed so much more to me.

For a successful moving image shoot it really is less about one person and more about the team of people around you.

In fact it was like stepping back in time to a pre-Photoshop age for one very simple reason.

Shock horror!

You have to get it right in camera!

Yes folks, if you don’t get it in-camera and have not made provision, it is not there.

I feel this is set to bring back ‘camera’ craftsmanship and will deal a blow to those who use retouching as a crutch for bad photography.

And we all know that there are many of those out there, right?

All of a sudden direction was back in on the shoot, and there was nobody paintively whispering in my ear, “Don’t worry we will fix it in post.”

We either got it or we didn’t.

All of a sudden I felt I had ‘come home.’

Less of the computer stuff and more of the photography.

Which in my mind is what it should be about.

When I’m lecturing I conduct a little question and answer session and I go round the audience and ask…

‘Why did you become a photographer?’

The answers are in the range of…

‘Because I love taking pictures.’

‘I wanted to travel.’

‘To meet people and see the world.’

Many, many others too, but you know what?

Not one person has ever said they became a photographer because they wanted to be a computer operator.

Now I’m not saying I’m against the use of Photoshop, something I use extensively in ‘The Descendants’ series.

But getting it right in the can is way more fun and profitable too.

So enjoy all the post production by all means, but get out there and remember the meaning of the word Photography.

‘To draw or paint with light.’

So there is part of my motivation

I'm really enjoying the unique look and feel of the files from the Canon and those STUNNING 'L' series primes

The Canon 'L' series primes I'm using at the moment...............

Canon 'L' Series 35mm F1.4

The photojournalists favourite, it fits like a glove in your hand, just the right size and weight, tack sharp too

Canon 'L' Series 85mm F1.2

My favourite lens of all time, if there was just one lens I could use for the rest of my life it would be this

Canon 'L' Series 135mm F2.0

A great lens and the cheapest of this lot too

Another prime I'm using at the moment is the......

Canon EF 100mm macro F2.8

OK, not the new 'L' series but it is very good

They make a world of difference, giving my work a cinematic look

Shooting full 1080P HD video at wide apertures has to be experienced to be believed

At the dawn of photography 'the dark art" (for that what it was called by some) split into two

I went to the remarkable 'Collision' conference in LA in August

It was remarkable as it was a forum for Film Makers, DP's and emerging stills-to-video photographers

Now we have a similar event in the UK

As I mentioned in a couple of 'tweets' I will be at 'Converge One' this Friday at the National Film Theatre, if you would like to see where the next step in photography is taking us, see my new mini project and engage in the debate ( not to mention see some of the gear too) do come and join us


So, I hear you ask, where does still photography fit in to my world now? It was my first love and will remain a big part of my life. In fact my still images will always be there, you will just be seeing them move.

Drew calling Ron 'Foley'

A few days ago I put a call for help out to followers of this blog for help with a score for my mini movie (more to follow on this soon!)

'Conrad' got in touch via the blog asking if I needed help with Foley

A Foley artist is, as Wikipedia says 'the person who creates many of the natural, everyday sound effects in a film, which are recorded during a session with a recording engineer. Before the session, a project will be cued, with notes kept about what sounds need to be created during the foley session. Often, the project will have a sound supervisor who will dictate what sounds need to be covered in a foley session and what needs to be created by special (audio) effects, which is generally left to the sound designer.

My project would benefit greatly from this as you might imagine

I was away for the weekend so we did not get to connect

So Conrad do get in touch via my main email drew@drew.it and we can get cracking!

Can you help score my latest short movie?

I never cease to be amazed by the power of the blog

So, I'm trying it again (previously I asked for help with making a TV programme and I received some very promising leads....)

Last weekend I shot a short self funded 60 second movie

For a joke budget - sub $1000

I will tell you all about it in due course but it is being premiered at Converge.One

If you check the line up it really will be well worthwhile attending if you have any interest in the DSLR HD revolution (and it seems everyone does these days)

Which leads me to my appeal

I shot a vaguely period piece at a cool location and I'm now seeking help with the score

Here are some screen grabs from the project








So, is there a musical genius out there who is willing and able to do this?

There is no budget.

At all

But I could work a ticket out for my collaborator, along with a credit of course.

Come along with me on my next shoot too if you like?

The short will be premiered on the 11th December at the National Film Theatre, so my friends, time is of the essence

UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! I'M leaving the post up, but I now am receiving help from one of the blog followers! So, no need for anymore help, I do not want to waste anyones time

Thank you

'Strictly Come Dancing' Made Simple

Regular readers of this blog will by now be aware of one of my 'tricks'

Keeping it simple

I was recently commissioned to photograph Ali Bastion and Brian Fortuna of The hit BBC programme 'Strictly Come Dancing'

You maybe aware there has been quite a lot of speculation regarding them in the press

To be quite honest with you I could not care less if they are or not other than to say they were both absolutely charming, lovely people, when I mentioned to Brian that my daughter Georgie, aged 7, was a big fan he wrote her a message, completely unprompted.

We were, as usual working with very limited time.

So, it was a matter of turning in a simple but impressive shot with the very minimum of fuss

The big danger is trying to be too ambitious and simply 'drowning' in a ton of gear that may or may not be useful in the circumstances.

The biggest single leap forward one can make with your art is to........

STOP BUYING ANYMORE EQUIPMENT UNTIL YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR EXISTING EQUIPMENT DOES AND THEN MASTERING IT!

For this shot I used one light, an Elinchrom 1200 style, but with one killer light modifier an Elinchrom Mini Spot



This is an accessory I seldom use but when I do, it is fantastic

A simple solution, giving me the look and feel of the dance floor with a minimum of fuss, and a ton of showbiz 'sparkle' to boot

I shot this with my Phase One P45+ 80mm lens 125th Sec at F9

So a one light solution to what could have been a fraught scenario

It is always good to have an idea just what you are going to use BEFORE the assignment

I have added the Black and White version which I actually prefer, I think

Jazz Voice - Celebrating a Century of Song

Yes, this is generally a photography blog, but it is actually a pretty accurate reflection of what is happening in my world one way or another.

Last night I went to 'Jazz Voice - Celebrating a Century of song' at London's Barbican

I confess I'm by no means a Jazz aficionado (in fact the first full on Jazz gig I have been to!) the only reason I went was to see Natalie Merchant, the incredibly talented singer song writer , as it was her first appearance in London for 10 years. If you are not familiar with her work and would like to listen to something which takes you to some other magical place, do check out her music ( my favourite album of hers is 'Ophelia' )

Needless to say I, nor the rest of the capacity audience were disappointed

But like so many things in life, you go looking for one thing and you find quite another

The line up included Cibelle, Kirsty Almeida, Kurt Elling( who was amazing and as smooth as you like), Natalie Williams, Roachford, Krystle Warren, Sarah Jane Morris, Sheila Jordan and the London Jazz Festival Orchestra (40 piece!) directed by Guy Barker.

The star of the show if there did have to be one was Sheila Jordan aged 81. She has the most beautiful voice and bursting with such warmth, enthusiasm and passion

Something to aspire to

A perfect Winter warmer on a cold rain lashed November night

It is being broadcast on BBC Radio 3 17/11/09

Stay tuned for more photo stuff soon......



PS Went to see her solo a couple of nights later at the delightful venue the Conway hall in London, which holds around 300 people. A more stunning intimate gig it is hard to imagine. Acoustic and soulful. Her new album is out in March and she will be touring the UK again, check her out if you have not done so already

Blinkbid-Software For Idiots

I can almost hear a collective groan go out from you, a blog which is about Invoicing and bidding software and not some groovy lighting trick or about some photo of a naked woman riding a water buffalo.......

Well guys I'm sharing this with you because it has made such a difference to the thing I'm really bad at- the paperwork

Recently I have started to do my own invoicing

I struggled for a day before remembering I had Blinkbid sitting relatively unloved and alone on my hard drive.

What I had been struggling with for hours I achieved in minutes without resorting to the 'help' menu, well not too much anyhow

It does many ,many things including working your VAT out, telling you when you have not been paid, and it looks SO professional

It is funny , we are all about image, yet we often pay no heed to the way our invoices or bids look, it is in-fact another opportunity to show the client we ARE a little bit better than the competition

It is the brain child of a passionate friendly guy called Lou Lesko who is a pretty bloody handy photographer too (well as he says on his own website 'Always serve chilled, safe with most medications')

So, software by a photographer for his fellow photographers

Blinkbid is as he says himself 'Shockingly easy to use bidding and invoicing software for creative profesionals'

In other words, use this software and your quotes will look way proffesional and your invoices like lightning.

Don't take my word for it, here are a few satisfied customers

Leaving you and I, the bleeding heart creatives, with more time to shoot instead of being buried for wasted hours sorting out our paper work

So ladies and gentleman, this leaves me doing my own bids and invoices, and you know what? I actually enjoy it!

Pass the medication.......

Capture One 5 - High 5!

Capture One 4 has been replaced by the rather predictably named Capture One 5

I have been using it for a little while as a beta tester and while my excitement upon down downloading was followed by being rather underwhelmed initially at least, because it does, at first glance look exactly the same as Capture One 4

In addition to a host of new and improved features I can tell you that even in beta version this software is SO stable, not a single crash or hiccup, ever, once.

You can read about the full feature set here

And Michael Reichmann's review here

I'm just going to share with you my very own personal highlights, but there are many, many more!

1. The Focus Mask

This is a killer feature, enabling you to quickly and easily cast your eye over a gallery of hundreds of RAW images and tell at a glance which images are sharp (the green area denotes sharpness)

Out of Focus......



In Focus..........




I have been using this feature extensively, saving myself a whole ton of time, works amazingly well on a two monitor set up


2. Spot Removal


As it would imply, gives the user the ability to remove spots, wether they be dust, gloop or whatever, and apply the correction to lots of images. Other competitor have boasted this for a little while now, but Phase have done an especially good job of implementation


Here we have an image marked for correction




3. Enhanced Colour Editor and skin Tone adjustments

Just brilliant control of skin tones, better and more accurate than ever before, yes folks, the best in my opinion.


This is just the tip of the iceberg, try the 30 day free download though here

Now, god knows I cannot think of a trade which moans more than photographer's, and I should know!

But in answer to the question 'is it actually worth buying?'

I can say a whole hearted YES! Upgrade from Capture One 4 is only $129 or €99

(Actually I got it wrong! It is even cheaper than I thought $99 or €69, so a real no brainer)

You get a whole host of improvements and new features which have transformed it into a joy to use

So congratulations Phase One, it took a little time to get there but I feel this is the BEST version of Capture One yet, not to mention the king of RAW software

Science IS fun!

I was recently commissioned to photograph the opening of the Young Science centre at the Royal Institute in London.

Now as you can see it looked like it was an awful lot of fun and indeed it was.

Just look at the faces of the kids!



It was another reminder to me of just how vital it is to get the first response, expression or emotion when you have set up a shot, keep the subject hanging around and take the picture again and again and again and it does wear thin, they get a frozen expression, no matter how good one is at direction, so the shots you see here are, needless to say amongst the very first frames shot, I'm not quite sure what the 'foamy' experiment was, but it did involve liquid nitrogen.
And of course we have the photographers trusty favourite the Vandergraph generator, which is an electro static charge
generator



Now for the lighting.....

The Young Science at the Royal Institute is a great facility but the room is, from a photographers lighting point a bit ordinary, we have all been there before haven't we? relatively low ceiling with fluorescent lighting great for experiments and education but a bit bland for the likes of 'us'

So to add a bit of drama and excitement I gelled up an Elinchrom Ranger Quadra with red and blue gels to give a groovy mauve background, placed the backlight behind the pillar to conceal it, this time using a Speedlight zoomed to 80mm (ish), and then of course the lighting the girl an Elinchrom Ranger with a Chimera Medium softbox all triggered with pocket wizards



Try as one may it is impossible to lose the reflection with retouching but I decided to embrace it, and ended up quite liking it

I used a very similar lighting setup on the bubbles pic but i had to use lower output on the gelled light at a slightly different angle, as it was spilling onto the kids in the background

My blog has been a bit thin of late. I have had quite a lot going on in my life but normal service has now been resumed, whatever normal is?

Phase One master class with Drew in California!

I have just finished a mini tour of Scandinavia with Phase One, Showcasing the P40 and the P65+ Backs along with a sneak preview of their new Camera, complete with its in lens shutters and a highly responsive shutter release.

Now it was fun, and I will be sharing some of the pics we shot there soon, but as with all day long workshops they are over all too soon.

I often have thought how great it would be to let people into my world, in a small and select way, using the equipment I use on a daily basis, both cameras and lighting, not to mention a download of my crazy mind!

Photographing a range of subjects in a beautiful location....showing fellow photographers exactly how I create my 'Forest' series and recreating similar shots



The good news this is no longer a mere thought but a reality

This year on 25-30th October I will be at the Phase One Master class held at Paso Robles Workshop

In addition to Phase One technique, the workshop will cover lighting on location and production planning for field shoots. Students will work in 3-person teams for the first half of the week. On Thursday, the class will work together on the production of a Drew-sized location shoot in the oak forest surrounding Paso Robles, in the heart of California's wine land


All this and supported by Phase One with one of their technicians in attendance along with 5 Phase One P45+ cameras for the class to use


I'm looking forward to what will be an outstanding and memorable workshop

How to get the most from your Optical slave- OUTDOORS!

When I was 'breaking out' of photojournalism, what i knew about lighting could be written on the back of a very small postage stamp.

Yes, I had read a few bits and pieces but they did not quite hit the spot, I just did not grasp it

My good friend Dave Beck had just joined the Flash Centre in London and I started to visit him and his colleagues and to be honest that is where my learning began in earnest

Now, photographers in the pre internet days were VERY secretive to say the very least, and to hang out in one of the main hire centers in London to see what was the most hired equipment for what kind of job was an eye opener

We live in an age where knowledgeable retailers are a threatened species, where people shop on line to save a few quid.

Money is saved but who do you call for vital advise when things don't go to plan

I was shooting some time lapse photography with a Pocket Wizard Multi Max in North Yorkshire and I just could not quite work it out. I could have resorted to the manual (heaven forbid!) but I had lost that years ago...

One phone call to Alex Ray at the Flash Centre and he talked me through it for 10 mins until I had sorted the issue.

Try that with your box shifter types......

These guys know some great 'Sweet cheats'

Tricks which help you save your skin when you have really messed up

Some years ago when I was shooting the 'Guinness World Record' series I had travelled down to deepest Devon along with the long suffering Clare (who is now my producer) to photograph Anne Atkin who has the Worlds biggest collection of Gnomes

Now Devon is a long way from the Midlands where I lived at the time, and seems even further away when you have 6 lights to trigger outdoors and have only 1 hard wired sync cable.

Yes folks, I had left all the Pocket Wizards 300 miles away

I was in quite a pickle in deepest Devon

Optical slaves work by detecting the flash from another unit and triggering the unit wirelessly, all well and good but there was so much ambient light they were not detecting the 'trigger' flash

We were lighting such a large area that the shoot was in doubt, not helped by a colony of crows messing on us.....oh the misery....the tears...

So how did I get the shot?

I spoke to Sav at the Flash centre and told him my plight...

'Oh have you tried covering the optical slave receptors with something like cardboard or gaffer tape?'


Here is the optical slave uncovered



And with Sav's gaffer tape modification



By doing this the slave only 'sees' the flash and not the ambient light

Go try it yourself

Now, there is no way I could have got the shot without Sav's help that day

This is not meant to be an 'ad' for the 'Flash Centre'

What I'm advocating is forming relationships with your knowledgeable dealer, no matter who it is, you support them and they will support you

Descendants- An Appeal for HELP from you guys.....

Those who follow my blog will know all about The Descendants'

Well I'm trying to get a TV company to make the a program or even a series about it

Believe me I have THE most exciting subjects in the pipeline

As they say its not what you know but who you know

So does anyone have any links to a TV station anywhere on planet earth who might be interested in making this with me?

Perhaps the 'History Channel' even?

If you could help me I would be VERY grateful and the finder would be most welcome on one of the descendants shoots...

Over to you

Maine Media Workshops '09

The Maine media Workshops, set in the picturesque town of Rockport, have always been very kind to me, providing nourishment to my creativity, while sharing my knowledge and experience with my class.

This was a vintage year indeed however, very special to me

The idea was to to split my class of nine willing and eager students into three groups of three and over the course of the week work on an epic photo of their own, under my watchful eye, advising them on lighting and production of the shot.

The results were outstanding

Have a look at the Facebook page the class created

Keep your eye out for for more updates as the class post them

Of course as tutor I can have no favorites, but I do love this shot by Claire Folger



A composite, following THE golden rule of the locked down tripod which I have covered in previous posts

It was put together by the talented and all round great bloke Andy Bloxham

We rounded the week off with a grand soot of girls in bikinis with a herd of goats (see top) and my good friend Jonathan Zuck shot a short silly video of the proceedings



And if it looks like we had a ball, we did!

Come and join me next year to join in the fun or check out the other classes there in 2010?

The Funnel

Odd name for a blog posting but let me explain..............

A little while ago I shot a series of historical re-enactments of the life of Queen Elizabeth the first

We shot this in Penshurst Place

It seems like a dream assignment, indeed it was in many ways apart from one, yes you guessed it-budget!

By the time we had paid for all the locations, costume ,props, and crew we had not very much money left for talent

So, how does one make nine actors and a sparsely filled table seem like a full on Elizabethan banquet?

The Funnel

I first heard of it in relation to a critically acclaimed BBC docudrama called 'Culloden' by Peter Watkins made in 1964

Peter Watkins was faced with the same problem

Not enough talent and a HUGE area to fill

It simply means putting more talent at the front and filling in the gaps with talent progressively further off in the background



I used the same technique for my shoot




I used Elinchrom Rangers, with the main light in a Chimera Large Softbox on a Redwing boom(the Flash centre have one going second hand here!)

Shot on a Canon 1ds 28mm lens 1.3 sec at F14, a long exposure to pick the candles up, so VERY little ambient in the room which meant movement was not an issue

Note also that by shooting diagonally across the table I'm making it seem like there is much more food on it than there actually is.

All a case of making less seem like more

Something I have made a career out of...................

Total Recall...Not quite

I love Canon cameras, they have been my DSLR of choice, and before that I bought my first 'proper' camera , a Canon A1 with my paper round money in 1980.

I use the stunning 5d Mk2 at the moment, a camera I LOVE

As followers of this blog will know, I'm an advocate of good prime lenses, but sometimes a zoom just hits the spot

My 'standard' zoom lens is the Canon 24/105mm F4 'L' Series, a good all rounder

Particularly useful for this type of classic slow shutter speed zoom

3.2sec at F16 on a tripod of course and then zooming slowly in.

Perfect for a simple dynamic shot which the client loved

But this shot has been enhanced by a quirk of a lens defect

Check out this weird striped flare from the headlamp



Early Canon 24/105 lenses were afflicted by a strange type of flare which only occurs under a certain type of light

In fact Canon issued a 'Lens flare advisor note'


If you sent your lens to Canon they would fix it for you, free of charge

Needless to say, I like the unique effect and have chosen NOT to send it back

I'm just aware of it and choose when to exploit this quirk

vive la différence!

Insight into the industry.

I'm fascinated by the shifting sands of the photographic industry

I came across this great piece by Michele McNally, assistant managing editor of the 'New York Times'

If you want to know where we are going and just a little bit more about where we have come from, do read it

I have learned a lot and it has sparked some interesting and lively debate.

And my Favorite lens is....

I hankered for one of these for just about ever but I never really understood just how good it was until I got one

When you shoot at F1.2 with this baby it elevates your work to a different level

In fact I know a photographer who has been asked to pitch for a major ad campaign based on pics he shot with this lens

When I was chatting with my photographer mates who own this lens we came up with a rather irreverent nickname for it

We call it the 'jesus' lens

It is nothing short of magical, super smooth bokeh

Frequently it is the only lens i walk out of the door with, if I could have one lens to use for the rest of my life this would be it, despite the drawbacks...

Drawbacks?

1. Cost £1800+ in the UK

2. Slow autofocus, great for portraits but sports would be a challenge

3. Size and weight, big and heavy (but I actually like that! it gives me much more stability in low light)

4. Shallowest depth of field ever. At F1.2 means that you can have someone's eyelashes sharp and their eyeball will be out of focus

5. As brilliant as the optics are, they do start to be somewhat challenged at full aperture, leading to a softness(which I like!) and dreaded purple fringing

Purple fringing is a type of chromatic aberration which occurs in high contrast areas (metallic objects are particularly prone to it)

I have found a very quick and easy way of correcting this though, or should I say those clever people at Phase One have

Using the lens correction tool in Capture One Pro, you simply click the purple fringing box and it is done!

Not using endless sliders like other software I could mention......

Check out the before.....note the nasty purple fringe around her face and on her earring



And the after....



And here is the final result

'The Descendants' LATEST!

I must admit keeping all of my many personal projects going as well as the the day job (commercial photography) is a bit of a challenge right now.

Very recently I shot the latest set of images in 'The Descendants' series

It was a first for me as it included Helen Pankhurst, the direct descendant of Emeline Pankhurst, the founder of the Suffragettes movement.

Helen is the first woman in the series.

This is not ideal at all.

I want to feature MANY more women but they seem to be very difficult to find

If anyone has any suggestions I would be most grateful.

When a descendant walks into the room I always hold my breath, as you never know just how much of a resemblance there will be.

When I saw Helen, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

She looked very, very similar indeed.

As you can see.



I shot the image in a daylight studio without flash

1/15th sec at F4,120mm macro on my Phase One P45+

I try to use similar photographic techniques as in the original

It is real fun reflecting and blocking light with polyboards

Additive and subtractive fill

Opening and closing blinds so the light hits just the right parts of Helen and the set

Here is a short video of the shoot




Hope you find it interesting

I'm cramming my life in a bag right now, heading to Austria for a shoot which I will tell you about in a little while.....

Watch this space

Perfect ending to the week

Ok,the sun is shinning in the UK but what has put an even bigger smile on face in this delightful gallery in the New York Times

On tuesday they ran a story about how a group of enthusiasts are trying to resurrect the Polaroid factory, they requested readers send in their own Polaroids.

The result is fantastic

Here are 3 which leaped off the page at me, go and choose your own from the site?



Exciting news as though I love digital I did mourn the loss of THE instant photographic medium which was with us through the second half of the 20th century

It was finicky mad stuff, faded but oh so BEAUTIFUL

I dearly hope the guys trying to bring instant film back to life do succeed

I have one request fro them though.

Please restart production of type 55, a unique Polaroid which gives you a print AND a beautiful black and white negative

Beauty in heritage go hand in hand with type 55, it was developed with the help of Ansell Adams

My good friend Lucinda Marland has shot two series on it, including the 'Lebensborn' project



A stunning powerful image which I don't think would have had the same resonance if it were shot in any other way.

'Quite Possibly The Best Two Days of Photography and Learning Ever'

Well I'm not quite sure about that guys! But you get the picture, it does sound VERY interesting!

The Flash Centre are having a two day course of Photo Festivities at Studely Castle near Birmingham
(UK!)

An interesting line up of experts including Bjorn Thomassen whom has taught me SO much.Big name in wedding photography Mike Larson....all this and surfing too. Peter Geller owner of California Sunbounce, winner of the World Press Photo, a man with a burning passion for photography (great bloke too!). Hopefully Jim Marks and Richard Jobson, movie director too.

Others too just check out the Flash Centre link

I would be going to this show even if I had not been invited.(I'm set to be there on the 3rd and for a little time on the morning of the 4th)

As it represents significantly GREAT value in these challenging times

One of the best things about events like this is to just hang out with other photographers at the bar, sharing ideas and techniques

Check it out

Personal work-Worth it

Last week was another busy week

I had the pleasure of photographing the talented and very lovely Kate Humble, presenter of the BBC TV 'Spring Watch' for the cover of the BBC 'Radio Times'





This was a commission of course, but how did it come about?

It was all down to 'The Forest' series which as some of you maybe aware is a personal project that I have been working on for the last couple of years.

I have shot this series for the love of it, nothing more.

As I have followed my heart though, people HAVE noticed

I had a near miss in Spain for a major advertising job, based on 'The Forest' and now of course the BBC.

It is easy to think when one is in the middle of an ambitious project to wonder 'is it all worth it?'

The answer is an empathic YES of course but those demons do surface from time to time

The BBC asked me to shoot Kate in a bluebell wood in Wales, and instead of much grinding of teeth I knew just how to do it, as I had done it before.

The Owl was flying to kate, the fox was there but the owl hated it so we had to shoot it in separate frames and comp the fox in afterwards, keeping the same lighting set up

One Elinchrom Ranger in a medium Chimera soft box for Kate, One Ranger(with a honeycomb) for Kate/fox/owl as a backlight, the smoke machine in the background lit with a Ranger and the sun of course.

A very similar set up to the waterbuffalo

It was shot on my Phase One P45+ 400th sec at F5 on a 50mm lens

This 'following your heart' thing does seem to pay off......