Branching out

So, I've decided that I'd really like to add a new string to my bow, in the form of arty photos that anyone can buy from me for their walls (if you feel so inclined). This really will be a mixed bag of all kinds of things, like landscapes, urban photographs, abstracts, and who knows what. So, here's the first photo for you, along with the story behind it.

This all started due to sheer lack of sleep on the part of my wife. We managed to palm off our 2-year-old on his grandparents, but I said I'd take our youngest for a drive around. I took my camera gear just in case we happened upon anything worth getting out of the car for. It really was a bit of a mystery tour, and I didn't really know where we were to be honest. Anyway, past Longridge we turned down this long straight road, and I saw this really cool looking landscape of marsh and trees. Making sure Caleb was fine, I squeezed between the dry stone wall and barbed wire fence and started quickly trying to find a picture. My first attempts didn't really work out as, with forest in the background, there was no separation of subject and background. I span round a bit so that the background was mainly sky - this meant that the tree was no longer swallowed up by the forest. So really this was about seeing the wood, not the trees.

I really liked the angles of the two hillsides, the lean of the tree and the colour and texture of the marshy grass. I decided that, to make it all a bit more arty, I'd manually defocus the tree, leaving it a bit more abstract in the frame. At home, I tried to keep all the Lightroom and Photoshop work really subtle and to a minimum. I added a couple of light textures, played a bit with the colour, tweaked the contrast slightly, and, besides a slight vignette (darkening of the corners), that really was about it.

So there we go, hopefully it was worth getting wet socks for. I really appreciate any comments and feedback :)

Phil

The story behind the photo: Episode 1

Hopefully this will become a regular feature on my blog, where I can give you all a bit of the story about how the photograph came to be, as well as what I see in the image. OK, so the first picture I want to show you was taken at the wedding of Ben and Clare, on the 29th December 2010. 

It was one of those days when the sun really took its time getting over the horizon - a bit like me pressing the snooze button ten times before getting out of bed, but by the time we all arrived at Ashton Memorial in Lancaster for the ceremony, the sun had had its coffee and was ready to go. Now let me tell you that this venue was absolutely special in so many ways, not least in terms of the lighting and ambience inside the building. It is completely surrounded by windows, but no light comes from above (a photographer's dream really). As I probably mentioned in another blog post, this ceremony was really intimate, and whilst it was obviously a wedding, Ben and Clare had thought about every last detail of the day, to make it completely unique to them. Following the ceremony, I really wanted to just let Ben and Clare soak up the experience and enjoy themselves and their guests, without being instantly snatched away for a million group photos.

Anyway, eventually we decided to pop just outside the doorway for a few portraits of Ben and Clare together. This is where this photograph was taken. After taking a few head-shots, I looked down and instantly saw this image in my mind. 

So, what do I see in this image, besides the obvious answer of 'feet'?

Well, I'm looking at some pretty subtle things I guess but let me give you a few insights. 

1) The lighting - this was the whole reason for the shot, as I noticed how cool the light looked through Clare's dress. It kind of glows, doesn't it?

2) The lines - There are a few lines in this image that I think really help the composition. Notice how just by Clare's feet there is an angle in the gap between flagstones? Well, that line is mirrored just above by the way Clare's dress is falling. Her feet are also aligned with the direction of another gap, leading to the bottom middle edge of the frame. The angle created by Ben's feet runs perpendicular to this line, which for reasons unknown I like.

3) Dynamic range - There's a really big tonal range in this shot, right from the whitest part of the sunlit dress, to the blackest part of Ben's left shoe. I also happen to like the almost creaminess of the flagstone in the bottom left corner.

4) Simplicity - I'm in a bit of a purist phase right now, which means I really want to let the natural qualities of the image shine through, rather than processing the crap out of it in photoshop. 

Anyway, this is a bit of an insight into how I look at this photo. It would be great to hear some of your thoughts or observations, just make a comment below :-)

Phil

Updates and shmupdates

Yet another of my meandering blog posts, I'm afraid. Here's what's been happening with me over the last week or so ...

1) I've got a new hobby, and it's called photography! You see, with the digital age comes disposability (is that a word?) Don't like a photo? Just press delete and it's gone, no cost to you. This often leads to people taking a million pictures and liking just one or two. So, my new hobby is this: grab my wife's old Nikon Film camera, loaded with a roll of black and white film; grab a random lens that happens to fit the camera; grab a light meter; go for a walk, again, somewhere pretty random, and take photos. Of what? Anything! The only rule to this game is that you get one shot at one thing - no repeats. What this does is force you to get everything absolutely spot-on in the camera, so first comes a meter reading, which tells you your aperture and shutter speed, then you compose the shot as best you can, focus and shoot. And the best part is you'll never know what you've shot like till you get the film developed. Well, I like it anyway.

2) Product research - My philosophy on the products my business offers is very simple: they've got to be good enough to make you think "wow!" This is what I said the day my print samples arrived anyway. Not all printers are created equal, it turns out. So, I'm currently having fun seeking out the coolest and best quality products out there. I actually take a pretty big risk (so would say many other photographers) by giving my clients DVDs of high-resolution images .. after all, why would a client come back to me for prints when they can just take the entire DVD to Asda or Snapfish and get something that looks good for 1p? Quality. My products (not talking about the images here) are amazing. They rock. They look and feel so so good, that after having them you may not ever want to go back.

3) Photo Training - So, I'm thinking very seriously about putting on an action-packed, hands-on crash course in beginners' photography. In an afternoon you can learn all about crazy things like Exposure (no in the flasher sense), different lenses, aperture, ISO, and all the other scary things that lurk in the basement of your Digital SLR camera. No more Auto!

Bye

Being a chameleon

OK, so you're probably wondering (as am I right now) what I must have taken to make me put a title like 'being a chameleon'. I'll level with you, I have a seed of an idea, which I'm hoping will grow just by typing, stream of consciousness style.

For quite a while now - pretty much since I started my photography business - I've been constantly asking myself who I am as a photographer, and consequently, what is my brand? What is my place in the market? What is my natural style? This is something I've been having some major headaches over. It's true, when you hear a guitar riff, you can take a guess at who could be playing it. I don't know much about painting but I could probably recognise a Picasso if I saw one.

Here is the problem: I like Picasso, but I also like Rembrandt. I like Indian food, but I also like Italian. Sadly, the two are not particularly reconcilable. It's the same with my photographic influences. I love the fresh, carefree, lifestyle approach of photographers such as Mike Larson, Jose Villa and Jonas Peterson. But ... I also love the fine-art, restrained, high taste feel of Damien Lovegrove, Jerry Ghionis, etc.

I'm beginning to get to the point of this post I think. Creating a successful brand is largely about being true to who you are, and - to a point at least - modelling your business and your art into an avatar of yourself. One of the most annoying things about me (from my point of view) is my tendency to change depending on who I'm with, or, in artistic terms, to let my influences sway me too much. For example, after looking at a fine-art portrait by Damien Lovegrove, all I want to do is create high art that people can look at whilst sipping port and smoking a Cuban (cigar, not citizen). Then, ten minutes later I check out Mike Larson's blog and I just want to drive to the nearest beach at sunset and have a fun shoot with a great couple.

I'm not sure there is an answer to this conundrum, other than to return to the title of this blog.
A chameleon can change its colour, but it's always a chameleon, it can't morph into a completely different species. So maybe I should just relax, whatever I do, so long as I stay true to my vision, it will still be .. me.

The end, for now

Happenings

One of my goals for 2011 is to try and keep this blog updated. So, without further ado, let me tell you all what is happening in my world at the moment. I currently share a house with two sick kids (well, just slightly ill really), and it's beginning to drive me slightly bonkers. I've been meaning to take some more 'arty' photos of Caleb for a while now, but whenever I think of it, he's not interested in the slightest. Today, however, I managed to take a series of shots, one of which I like. Right after this one he proceeded to vomit milk out of his nose.

Apart from this, I'm really trying to think about what direction I'd like to take my photography in 2011. I've even downloaded a handy little app onto my iPad, called Moodboard Pro, where I can make a collage of all the images that really inspire me, and make me say "wow, I wish I'd taken that one!" I've only just started, but am finding that photographers such as Jose Villa, Mike Larson and Jonas Peterson are producing some really great stuff. Their work is so fresh and full of life, that it makes me want to go out and take pictures. In fact, I think I'll carry on with that right now!

Ben & Clare's Classy Winter Weddding!

I know it's been an age since I've written a proper blog post, but then I have had another son, and it has been Christmas :)

So, last Wednesday was a day I'd been looking forward to for aaages. Yes, it was Ben and Clare's wedding. What I loved about this wedding, as well as the couple themselves, of course, was the way they made it just how they wanted, and in doing so, showed themselves to be people of great taste.

The day began at around 8am at the Lancaster House Hotel, next to the university. Oh yeah, they'd decided to walk in to the ceremony together, which meant they were able to enjoy breakfast together too. The light was still struggling to break across the horizon at this point so I got chatting to some guests, whom I hadn't seen since we all left school in 1998 (is it really that long ago?!). After a brief panic about my camera, I discovered it had been set to 'lock' mode. Regaining my composure, I came back in and started shooting the day, as I saw it, in a mostly documentary style. We got to do a great 'first look' series of shots, when Ben saw Clare in her dress for the first time (maybe I'll get to blog those sometime soon).

Next was the ceremony, and the venue was the Ashton Memorial in Lancaster. This is a stunning building right on top of a hill. A string quartet played a mixture of classical stuff and tunes by modern bands like the Verve & Snow Patrol.

Next was Hipping Hall in Kirkby Lonsdale. This is another beautiful cozy little place, which happens to serve amazing food. We hung out in the lounge for the group shots, then headed off for lunch. Later in the day I got to take Ben and Clare off for a few shots by themselves, and, as it was pretty much dark by this point, we went for some more dramatic, flash-lit pictures. So, all in all, this was such a cool day. Sublimely classy and fun too :)

My growing family

So this has been a pretty exciting week. My second son, Caleb, was born last week (3 days late). It's crazy how quickly you forget what it's like to look after a newborn. Compared to Eden he weights practically nothing, sleeps all afternoon and throws up every 2 seconds. What's even weirder is having a newborn and a 2 year old in the same house. Eden has been a sobbing mess for most of this week, but we think he might have molars coming in. Anyway, I haven't had the chance to take any considered portraits yet, but here are a couple of semi-snaps.