Animal portraits in black & white as fine art

Atem © Wolf Ademeit

Wolf Ademeit is a German photographer who considers himself a hobbyist, although he owns an advertising agency and a photo studio. His specialty are incredibly expressive portraits of zoo animals, many in black & white – one example is shown to the right. For some more background either see read the interview by Topaz Labs (advertising their software, but explaining his approach) or read the 'about' section under his own pages.

Tips for Better Portraits...

Pete Hurley, one of the best known (and most successful) headshot photographers shares some nuggets of information that can help you turn your portrait from the mundane to the marvellous in the article below from the The New York Times.

If you liked what you read, you'll probably enjoy the video below and maybe even tempted to cough up for his DVD. Enjoy !



Peter Hurley: The Art Behind The Headshot DVD from FStoppers on Vimeo.

Mary Ellen Mark...

Profoto on Set with Iconic Mary Ellen Mark from Profoto USA on Vimeo.

Mary Ellen Mark, another one of my favourite photographers has gained worldwide visibility through her numerous books and exhibitions where she has addressed such difficult social issues as homelessness, loneliness, drug addiction and prostitution.

Working primarily with analogue camera's using black and white film, she has travelled the world extensively taking pictures that clearly demonstrate a high level of commitment and humanism. It is exactly what you will see from the above video, where Mary passes on some sage advice and you really get to appreciate her persona and begin to understand why she achieves such stunning and touching imagery.

It would not be time wasted, investigating further the work of this master photographer.

Kickstarter...

Kickstarter is the world's largest funding platform for creative projects. Project creators present their idea to the world and potential supporters decide whether or not to pledge money, when, and only when the funding goal is met is the pledged money passed on to the creator to complete his/her project.

As complete ownership and control of the project always remains in the hands of the creators, they normally offer something in return for the support given dependent upon the amount pledged.

There are many categories such as music, film, art, technology, design, food, publishing and of course photography.

Which brings me to the project of Tim Mantoani above, even though he has already surpassed his target, you may want to consider to be part of the group of people that are supporting the production of his book that he will explain to you above.

Personally, I consider the 20x24 Polaroid Camera to be one of the great photographic achievements of the last century and his idea of using it to photograph famous photographers with their favourite photo's really got me interested.

Take a look and see what you think.

Inside Out Project...

JR a parisian street artist who scooped the 2011 TED Prize is known for his constant attempts to challenge and combat social equalities with his use of art.

He basically enters problematic or marginal area's, makes contact with the locals, takes their photographs and comes back with enormous posters and pastes them in the street for all to see... or on trains... or on buses... or on bridges... or on steps... or on roofs... or on security towers...

As you can see above he uses a lot of inginuity with respect to location for his images, and his ability to engage members of the public is quite extraordinary as you will see from watching the very emocional video below which will give you an excellent insight into his projects in various countries across the world.

If you would like to get involved, just go here to find out all the details, and you can see more video's on the Inside Out YouTube channel.

Portrait Photography the Rube Goldberg way...

This is just so good.... Just how many photography accessories can you recognise ?



......and if you want some 'behind the scenes' action here you go...

Martin Schoeller and the TIME 100 list...

TIME Magazine recently released their 'TIME 100' list of the most influential people in the world and I quote "They are artists and activists, reformers and researchers, heads of state and captains of industry. Their ideas spark dialogue and dissent and sometimes even revolution"

Martin Schoeller just happened to be one of the photographers who was chosen to photograph these honoured person's.

Martin has a very distinctive style, especially when it comes to lighting and concept which you will see if you track down his work on 'Close Up' and 'Female Bodybuilders'. You will also note that he uses both digital and film to complete his projects.

Anyway back to the Times 100.... Below you will see a 'Behind the Scenes' video of how he went about the task. I love these sorts of videos as it always gives you an insight into how a photographer works and the techniques they apply to produce the work they do.

Stephen Dupont...

Stephen Dupont an Australian born Photojournalist and portrait photographer has received many international awards for his amazing work over the years.

Not only is he a great photographer he also produces hand made books of his images and exhibits extensively.

His passion for Afganistan, a country he has visited for over fifteen years almost cost him his life with a suicide bomber attack outside a police station he was visiting at that moment.

He also appears to have an amazing ability to connect with his subjects and project a level of trust and compassion which allows him to get close to people often in the most dangerous and marginalized regions of the world.

In the video below you will see him taking polaroids of people in the middle of Kabul with a Polaroid Land camera, his approach with respect to his book making and some of his portraits of members of the notoriously dangerous and violent 'Red Devils' gang from Papua New Guinea, an image of which you can see above.

Stephen Dupont Profile - ABC Sunday Arts from Stephen Dupont on Vimeo.

Albert Watson...

Albert Watson is one of the worlds most successful Fashion/Commercial/Art photographers. Born and raised in Scotland, he moved to the United States in the seventies and took up photography as a hobby. His career effectively started after being introduced to a Max Factor art director who eventually bought a couple of shots from him after a test session.

Watson's distintive style caught the eye of many fashion magazines and he began working in both Los Angeles and New York. His first celebrity portrait was of Alfred Hitchcock which is one of his most famous images to which he has added literally hundreds of  well-known iconic photographs of movie stars, rock stars, rappers, supermodels, presidents and royalty. In 1976 he finally settled in New York where he has remained until today. 

Now having reached almost 70 years old he continues working and exhibiting all over the world.

RETV recently interviewed him to discuss his life, career and what he thinks it takes to make it in the photo industry today and the answer is not to be a equipment lover as you will see from the video below.


Fall 2010 Feature: ALBERT WATSON from RETV from Resource Magazine on Vimeo.

Ryan Muirhead...

I've just discovered a rather nice web page called [FRAMED] who provide a free weekly broadcast hosting different photographic talents who share a piece of their wisdom, work, processes and art.

Whilst looking through the content I came across the video on Ryan Muirhead a young photographer from Utah in the States. As he is a film addict and you all know that I have a bit of a soft spot for that sort of stuff as well, I'd thought you might appreciate the heads up.

You will see that he is a lover of natural light portrait photography and he doesn't tend to venture too far from his home to make his pictures and just to round things off he's also a bit of nutter.

Basic Lighting Setups...

Do you know what Rembrandt, Split, Broad, Butterfly or Loop lighting is ?

Do you know your key from your fill from your rim ?

Well in the video below Jay P Morgan will not only explain what they are, he will show you exactly how to set up your lights as well (what a nice guy he is !).

Zip on over and take a look at his blog and youtube channel as there are many more examples from the simple to the complex... enjoy !!

Studio for 70 Euros...

This is not the first time we have featured Bert Stephani on our blog.

This time the photographer from Belguim shows us that with a couple of halogen working lights, shower curtains and old blankets you can produce shots like the one over on the left.

What are the disadvantages, you may ask.... for a start the lights generate a lot of heat, so you have to be a bit careful about placement and in the end the amount of light you have to play with is not that much, so expect to be using a tripod and slow shutter speed.

Well, in the end thats not so bad, the fact that you are forced to use a slow shutter speed along with a wide aperture is something I really like, it just gives a look that is more analogue and it this case fits the moody portrait perfectly.

Anyway, I'll handover to Bert to explain further in his video below and you can always check out his blog which is an absolute goldmine of information (and yes, if you like the idea of using an iPad to see each image instantly after its taken, he has a blog entry for that as well !)

Mark Tucker and his latest project...

We've seen Mark's work in the past and I recently dropped by his web pages, just to take a look at what he's been getting up to.

He images still continues to amaze and inspire me and its great to see he still maintains his passion for homemade camera's. In this case, not made by himself but by John Minnicks, whom I'm trying to find out more about, but if like me, you don't have a Facebook account your going to be out of luck.

You can see the camera in action above and its a custom design using as its base, the Graflex RB Camera from the early 1950's. You may also notice that the lens attached is the famous Kodak Aero Ektar often used by David Burnett.

I have to admit that I really want one of these camera's as the thought of having a 4x5 reflex camera (meaning that you don't lose the viewfinder image of your subject when you load the film into the back) is really appealing, and it looks like a quite compact package as well.

Anyway Mark has set up a new blog to show the results of his new project to photograph special people in the Nashville area.

If you don't remember Mark from our past blog entry his web page is here and his 'normal' blog here.

THIAPS produces book...

produced and edited by Frans Peter Verheyen

THIAPS, the International Analogue Film Society who are strong advocates of Analogue Photography, have recently released a book which is comprised of many images that have been shown on the Society's web page "Film is not dead it just smells funny" over the past three years.

It took them 6 months to create a short list of photographers who they wanted to participate in the UNLIMITED GRAIN project. They also had so many images that they decided that one book would probably not be enough, so hence a series of books will be released of which Portrait Photography is the topic covered by the first one. Following books may cover landscape, urban, street and nocturnal photography.

Based on the 'preview' you can see above, this looks to be a worthwhile series of books to collect and will be a motivation to any analogue photographer and maybe even encourage the digital users out there to give film a go as well.

Danny Santos, Weekend Warrior...

Danny Santos II is a self confessed weekend warrior who likes to shoot strangers in the streets of Singapore. 

He's been shooting street photography for about 2 years and is a graphic designer by trade.

In this article, Danny explains his motivation and exactly what he goes through when he spends his weekends wandering up and down Orchard Road asking strangers if he can take their pictures. Would anyone dare to do this on Gran Via in Madrid ?, maybe we should put it as a theme ?

If you want to know more about Danny, who is very articulate as well as an excellent photographer, you can check out the following sites:

His Flickr page
His Webpage

Frank Ockenfels 3...

Camerabag.tv recently put up their latest entry regarding one of my favorite photographers Frank Ockenfels.

Frank, who appears to be an all round good guy, as you can see from all the comments written by attendees of his presentations and workshops, has the amazing talent of being able to do everything photographic, and do it well.
 
There has been much discussion over the need for professional photographers to specialise in order to survive in the commercial world, but Frank is a clear case that there's always an exception to the rules.

As you will see in the video interview on Camerabag.tv he is the owner of an amazing selection of analogue camera's that he uses to create the various effects you see in his images and his studio/home looks like a place I could spend hours looking at all the photographs, books and journals he has everywhere.

Apart from the video interview on Camerabag.tv, this blog entry on A Photo Editor will give you a very good insight into this fascinating character from the world of photography..!

Jane Bown...

The Man Who Shot the Sixties...

THE MAN WHO SHOT THE SIXTIES from CHRIS DUFFY on Vimeo.
Brian Duffy one of the 'Terrible Trio' of British photographers from the sixties, probably not as well remembered as David Bailey and Terence Donovan, is often considered the more talented. After deciding to 'chuck it all in' he took most of his negatives from his studio and burned them before leaving photography completely to pursue other activities.

Recently his son Chris has put together what remains of his father photographic legacy and also staged Duffy's first exhibition in decades. The video above is absolutely fascinating as Duffy explains his entrance into the photographic world and features people like David Bailey and Joanna Lumley who explain what he was like all those years ago. It's almost an hour long but well worth a view.

More details about Brian Duffy can be found on his website here.

Dan Winters...

"People aren't gonna remember the things you do, there gonna remember how you made people feel..." says Dan Winters in his video where he describes his photographic process and the motivation behind both his work and approach to photography.

Its good to hear the emotional side behind photography and not just the technical chit-chat that we are endlessly bombarded with.... very refreshing indeed...

If you want to know more about him you can check out his web site here, and these articles at strobist and FLYP.

Zuckerman on Wisdom...

Andrew Zuckerman always looked up to his elders and identified them as the ones having answers to many of life's questions....

Using this as a motivation for a personal project... he travelled the globe to photograph and interview 50 significant personalities from the world of politics, art, religion, music, fashion, film and TV... all of whom are 65 years old or above.

The result is the book 'Wisdom' with an accompanying DVD documenting all those wise words on subjects as diverse as Love, Work, Environment, Conflict and of course... Wisdom...

There are some wonderful videos on his website for the book here... don't forget to look at the ones regarding 'the making of' as well just to see the enormity of the project he took upon himself and to get some insights into why he chose to shoot it the way he did and just how much equipment he needed to achieve the look of all the images.

.... and for more information on his other projects check out his personal website here...