Latest in the forest series....prelude post

No posts from me of late.

I have been busy, very busy.

I have shot another in my 'Forest' series, and I'm in post with it right now.

As ever with these shoots it is the logistics which are the killer.

The success or failure of the shoot came down to a calculation of how many journeys we would have to make up and back down the trail with Elinchrom Rangers, light stands and still be in the right ambient light 'window' to give a great picture.

Working for the first time with the Phase One IQ180, a new smoke machine too.

I had shot a total of nine shots in the series but of those nine only seven are good enough, so two shots are in the bin at not inconsiderable expense.

I'm pleased to report this one will make it number eight.

I will be sharing the details of this very ambitious project in the weeks ahead with all that went right, and all that went very wrong too, and how the Phase One IQ180 and the Gitzo tripod tipped the balance in my favour.........

Phase One IQ Far East tour-Kuala Lumpur

A super early run to the airport on mercifully deserted roads.

On the two-ish hour flight to Kuala Lumpur I thought I would have a crack at GoPro time lapse out of the window just for fun and it was really quite effective. I'm not quite sure how I pulled it off unhindered by cabin crew but they did not seem bothered.

GoPro=free timelapse fun.

The seminar was in a studio which was reminiscent of my old Docklands studio which I still miss, only quite a bit fancier.

It had a lovely open balcony which let me try out a 35 ISO, F2.8 flash shot, synchronised at 1/1600 sec, a combination which one cannot shoot with anything else but a Phase One IQ.

Here are some of the delegates I roped into assisting with the demo, putting lights over the edge of the balcony, with the key light over head.

During the live shoot demo I did a tighter shot and discovered that not only is the Phase One IQ180 capable of recording every bit of detail that the human eye can see but quite a bit that is not normally visible.

Like the printed pattern on contact lenses.

Truly remarkable.

Next top Singapore.......

Phase One IQ Far East tour-Jakarta.

Indonesia, my first time here.

To be honest, I had no real idea what to expect.

Chaotic traffic, way beyond Bangkok in terms of constant near misses from seemingly homicidal cab drivers and errant motorcycles made a pretty strong first impression.

My furrowed brow was met with laughter from our driver 'this' he said 'is nothing.....'

To give you a little flavour of the spicy traffic have a look at this time lapse I did from the hotel with the GoPro Hero 2.



Such a great way to document your travels in a fun way.

I will share my set up with you another time, but if you don't have one I heartily recommend you get one, I cannot easily think of anything else which gives a bigger bang for the buck.

I was surprised to see that Indonesia was the best attended seminar on the tour (so far).

The delegates asked a ton of pertinent questions and I was left with the impression that there was lots commercial shooting in Jakarta.

At the break I met Chris Bunjamin, who after training in Canada had returned home to try to break into his home market.

As you can see he has shot some really lovely work on his Phase One IQ180.

Top notch stuff.

I think his break will come soon enough.

The live shoot consisted of building up a mini set on stage with plants from around the hotel, which was fun.

But as I collected my GoPro camera up from its time lapse position I noticed these pleated white drapes which I thought had potential.

I decided to give it a go.

But where is the light?

When shooting on location concealing the light source is a priority.

So, I tried a new little trick, one that I will use again.

I hid the light in the elevator, jamming the doors open, a bit selfish but there were 3 others for guests to use.

The Golden rule of photography is that there are no rules.....

It's not every day I get to use the top of the range Phase One IQ180 so I'm making the most of it on this trip.

Next stop Kuala Lumpur.

Farewell Bangkok

In the shape of a timelapse from my hotel window.

Goodness the traffic there....




Next stop indonesia

We did it! Olympic Golden Greats opens at John Lewis Stratford City

It took Lucinda and I two years to pull it together but we made it.

Last night we had our private view of the exhibition which is on show at John Lewis in the stadium suite at Westfield Stratford City until 20th March.

With the passing of my Dad it meant that I had not seen the installed show until I walked through the door 15 mins before the party started.

It was only possible as Lucinda took the helm and with the help of my good friend Justin Sutcliffe, the show was hung in record time.

They did a fantastic job.

Never underestimate how long it takes to hang a show......

After Andy from John Lewis introduced us, I gave a short speech thanking all the people and companies who made it happen.

Manfrotto have sponsored the show and without them it simply would not have happened.

At all.

The images were printed on a Canon LFP printer by Velmex, if you are wondering why Canon LFP you could do a lot worse than have a look at the installed prints.

My good friend Brian mentioned on twitter that this show is a great place to see the difference between medium format and DSLR's

I will be posting specifically about this later this week, but if you go to the show before I do you might like to play a little game.....one of the images is shot on a DSLR, can you tell which one? I was surprised to note that EVERYONE got it right!

Not only are there prints on display but we have 4 videos on giant screens where some of the medalists talk bout their experiences and what it means to compete and win gold.

You will be able to see these on my blog next week.

Lucinda and I were also lucky enough to have 3 Olympic Gold medalists there too.

Judy Grinham, who won Gold for backstroke in Melbourne 1956

Terry Spinks, who won Gold for flyweight boxing in Melbourne 1956

Ann Packer who won Gold for the 800m in Tokyo 1964

Ann also came along to the press call where she spoke to kids from the local school about her achievements.

I will be blogging all this week as time allows, I'm in Holland speaking at the Professional imaging show along with Dave Black, Frank Doorhof and many others too.

I could not think of a more fitting way of closing my speech at the private view than by dedicating it to my Dad, he would have been so very proud.

What next after this two year long adventure?

Well, I have already done it, it's just a matter of when it will see the light of day.

This time I did not sell a car to make it happen, but a house.

The stakes are high, but the glittering prize is worth it.

My goose is well and truly cooked - A left field short with the Canon C300

No executions in the desert

No gang fights

No CGI

Just real life at Christmas.

I was cooking dinner for six after pounding the phone to set up our main feature.

Lan Bui was keen to video me cooking the sublime but simple 'Michaelemas Goose' from the award winning 'Loose birds and Game' by Andrew Pern.

So all pretty fraught on the cookery front has you might imagine.

But just check the video out.



Filthy,horrid, florescent lighting but the Canon C300 just shone.

Once again Apple's FCP X made for rapid colour correction

The whole thing was shot using Canon Log mode, which gives 14 stops dynamic range.

14 Stops....

Anyhow off to bed right now as we are up super early for what should be a fun shoot over the next 2 days.

More adventures with friends old and new.

With more than a sprinkling of Hollywood on hand.

What a tease I am, stay tuned and all will be revealed.

'Travelling Light' webinar with Manfrotto

Kick boxing on the Thai Cambodian border 1993 

This in some peoples eyes at least might seem to be an unusual subject for a webinar.

But many of us travel with our camera gear.

And in the last decade just how difficult has this become?

Often the 'problems' one encounters are not security driven but airline rules and regs.

Tighter rules on the number of pieces of luggage and a big focus on the weight of bags.

How many times have you had to put your expensive gear in an unlocked bag in the hold?

On 17 /11/11 at 19.00 GMT I will explain and share some of my coping techniques which have helped me navigate sometimes baffling rules.

All of my tips are legal and can save you delay or excess baggage charges.

I will also share incidents of where I have come unstuck and I will talk about carnet's too.

Please come and join me (it is free!) and see if you can save yourself some time, money and trouble next time you fly.

If Drew Gardner shot weddings......

Followers of my Twitter feed will know that I did just that on Saturday, when I shot my Niece's wedding.

My first full wedding shoot since 1981.

It was actually a lot of fun, but bloody hard work.

With so many bases to cover, the day just races by.

I now have enhanced respect for wedding shooters.

I shot the whole thing on a pair of Canon 5D MkII's and shot the vast majority of the day with the wonderful 'L' Series 35mm F1.4 and 85mm F1.2 lenses.

Even with the right focusing screens, in this case the Canon Eg-S super precision matte, the attrition rate of soft shots could be a bit worrying at times when shooting wide open with these lenses.
(If you own a fast prime lens and you don't have one of theses GET ONE! it is the cheapest way to get the best from your camera and lenses)

Like anything in life when you live to your 'Edge' it isn't easy.

But shoot wide open with these lenses and get it right, the angels sing.

Practice is the only course to take I'm afraid.

It's not all about primes though, and my general purpose lens to 'fill in the gaps' was the 'L' Series 24-105
F4.

I shot this rather 'Drew' ish shot with it.

I wanted to create something special and different that was 'me'

'Signature' is all in this world of 'Sameness'

There was this great view from Belvoir castle which dominates the valley beneath, and it came into my head to put the bride and groom at the centre of their own 'Painting'

Being part of but not totally dominating the scene, something which you could hang on your wall without being too cheesy....

Followers of this blog will know I gain much inspiration from the great painters

I lit the couple with a pair of Elinchrom Rangers, triggered with PocketWizard TT5 transmitter and ST4 receivers on the packs (no cables, and good range make them a very good choice)

I modified the light camera left with a Chimera Medium soft box and other on camera right just had a kill spill.

I mounted the set up on a pair of Manfrotto 'Stacker' master stands, which extend to over 3.5 metres. But thanks to their clever stacking design clip together and take up the least amount of space in your bag possible, with their very 'flat' profile.

A long but really lovely day.

I want to talk about the edit which I did in half a day.

Yes, 1500 shots edited and processed in half a day.

Am I a genius?

Certainly not, but with Capture One 6 and its fast and flexible local adjustments it enabled me never to go into Photoshop - at all.

This and a now sparkling sensor cleaned by Canon at Elstree.

Time IS money.

The less time I spend on the post production the more time I have to do other things.

So not having shot a wedding for 30 years, guess what I'm doing tomorrow?

Shooting another.

Drew Gardner 'Groups Webinar' with the Manfrotto school of Excellence

Henry V on the Night before Agincourt by Drew Gardner

Group photography is one of my trade marks.

I like shooting groups, no I LOVE shooting groups.

Why?

They are such a tremendous challenge, there is no doubt about that.

Yes, lighting on a large scale is a whole other world, but once you have lit the group you have to make sure that they are portrayed in a consistent and relevant way.

Directing the group to get them to do what you want is crucial.

And that is when you have all the people in the same place at the same time.

But what about when you don't?

A cornerstone of all high end advertising and commercial photography is shooting a photograph in elements, a person or an element to a photograph one piece at a time.

I shot this during one of my classes at the EXCELLENT Maine Media Workshops

Animals one by one........

The whole thing was as a result shot in sections.

It can all get rather involved.

On 16th June courtesy of the 'Manfrotto school of Excellence' I will be holding a one hour webinar where I will share my experience of group photography, both traditional and composite.

Hopefully it will be a useful and you will be able to apply some of the techniques I use to your photography.

Its free, but places are limited so sign up to avoid disappointment.

I look forward to 'Meeting' you then and doing my best to answer your questions.