Time Lapse Photography...

The Mountain from TSO Photography on Vimeo.

Time Lapse Photography is a cinematography technique which allows the viewer to see time passing at an apparently accelerated rate.

There are many examples out there on the web, but the one above by Terje Sorgjerd has to be the best I've ever seen. You will see that he must also have had his camera mounted to a motion control rig which adds yet another dimension to his video.

Take a look at this wikipedia page just to see what things you have to take into account, now imagine the amount of work Terje had to do, pre-planning each shoot, lugging around all the equipment, setting it up, choosing the composition and just being around in the right place at the right time... really impressive !!

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.

Newborn Photography...

Cute no ?...

How on earth could you get a newborn only a few weeks old to pose like that ?...

Well you have to do no more than take a look at the video below from [FRAMED], which features the work of Laura Farris and Amanda Andrews, for a wonderful insight into the world of Newborn Photography and to get an idea of the huge amount of creativity, attention to detail and patience that's required to get these sort of shots.

A very big thank you to Laura who very kindly granted us use of her fantastic image above.

Simplicity...

Simplicity... its really quite difficult to take a'simple' image isn't it ? Does simple mean a single element, a single colour, a single theme or a combination of the above ?

Looking at the image above it looks like Benja had no problem in facing up to the challenge with his deceptively simple image of tyre tracks in the sand. The club would also like to welcome Richard who presented for the first time.

Have a look at the galleries page and you'll see the varied interpretations, please leave comments and a few 'thumbs up' wouldn't go a miss either.

Next theme is 'Contre-Jour', looks simple right.. lets see how easy it is to come up with something original !

Until next month, thanks for all the images and the attendance to the presentation.

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.

Life in Frame

Enrico Mignotto is an Italian photographer with an interesting project (who doesn't?). He just puts an old frame in the middle of the street in different European cities and takes pictures of what happens around. Simple as it seems the results are extremely interesting (at least for me :) )
You can visit the exhibition in Bologna, but if it falls a little bit too far for you it can still be viewed at his web site Life in Frame. I hope you enjoy.

Seeing with Sound...

| Artists Wanted | In Focus : Pete Eckert from Artists Wanted on Vimeo.

Watch this video, I'm not going to say much here, I think Pete Eckert deserves to tell his story all by himself.

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 !!

David Bailey interview in the Telegraph...

David Bailey the only remaining member of the 'Black Trinity' from the 60's (made up of Donovan, Duffy and of course Mr Bailey himself), has recently given an interview with Andrew Graham-Dixon of the Telegraph.

Whether you love him or hate him he is always controversially consistent with his comments and wit, see below for a great example :

AGD: Is there such a thing as a great photograph that’s been touched up? 

DB: I think so. I mean Raphael used Photoshop didn’t he? 

AGD: Did he? 

DB: Of course he did. When Medici said to him: “I fancy that bit of stuff over in Portugal, can you go and take a photo of her?” he didn’t show her dandruff and her scabby skin and her black teeth and the spots, did he? He used Renaissance Photoshop.

'Renaissance Photoshop'... fantastic !, if you want to read the rest of this very entertaining interview you have to do no more than click here.

Whatever you want 2011...

Taken by Michele

As always the club started its thematic presentations with the always very popular 'Whatever you want'.

18 members presented images and we welcome Michele, Viney and Helen who presented their photographs for the first time.

While the actual turnout was still not quite up to standard, we still managed to have a lot of lively discussion and pass on a few tips and tricks between us.

All the images are available in their glory on our gallery pages, so take a look, leave some thumbs up and make some comments as its alway motivating to see that other people have took the time to look and comment on your hard work.

Next theme is 'Simplicity'.. see you all again soon..!

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 !)

Mickey Smith Surf Photographer...

Mickey Smith is a Cornish surf photographer who now lives in Ireland. The video above gives an insight into the mindset of these photographers have and you also get to see that you need to know what your doing in big waves, and even if surf photography isn't your thing, if you love the ocean, you're going to enjoy the video... a lot.

If you do like what you see above you might also want to check out a short film with Mickey and a few other surfers which is set in Ireland (see here)

Holga and the New York Times...

Came across this nice article in the New York Times 'Lens' section about the Holga, a 120 film, medium format plastic toy camera made in China.

The camera has a cult following due to its ability to give you results that you weren't quite expecting, say goodbye to digital perfection and hello to light leaks, soft edges and a complete lack of control..... all very liberating don't you think ?

Randy Smith of Holgamods fame gets a mention for his inventiveness when it comes down to modifying these cheap plastic cameras. I bought mine with a waist level finder from him a number of years back. Real nice guy to deal with, honest and open, does it because he loves it not because he is on some sort of get rich scheme.

There are mentions of a number of photographers who actively use this camera and I have to admit I liked a lot the work of Richard Sintchak whose image you see above.

The Holga world is a big one and there is a lot to explore, if you are tempted to buy one, get it from Randy who will make sure you get something just to your liking.

Invited Speaker - Carlos Borrego Iglesias

The club is very pleased and honoured to announce that Carlos Borrego Iglesias, will be visiting us on the 13th May to give us a talk on his photography and creative vision.

Carlos from Barcelona, already has a number of exhibitions under is belt and is a passionate and creative artist and advocate of analogue photography.

A very big thank you to Miguel for organising everything and I think that this is an amazing opportunity for all of us to experience close up, the work of a fellow photographer.

You can see more of Carlos' fantastically creative work on his web site and Flickr page.

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.

Winners of Sony World Photography Open Contest announced...

The Open contest specifically devised for amateur photographers has ten categories in total; Action, After Dark, Architecture, Arts & Culture, Fashion, Nature & Wildlife, Panoramic, People, Smile and Travel.

.. and its James Chong's image from the Travel category you can see above.

More than 51,000 submissions from 148 countries were made with the Asian entrants scooping up almost half of the available prizes.

You can see more of the entries over on the World Photography Organisation's web page.

Madrid Foto announces dates...

MADRIDFOTO starting on the 5th May will be in Pavilion Number 1 at IFEMA.

With more than 5,000 sqm exhibitors from as many as seventy international galleries, publishing houses and journals will participating.

MADRIDFOTO is the only international fair in Spain specialized in contemporary photography, and is designed to encourage new private, corporate and institutional collecting.

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.

Blurb's Storytelling Video Series...

Storytelling Series: Daniel Milnor from Blurb Books on Vimeo.

Blurb have been running these short video stories for a while now on authors that they consider to have an inspirational story to tell.

They really are quite a nice insight in to the motivation and thought process behind the creation of a book. The series covers authors of many different styles of books, but the video you see above, of course, is about a photographer (in this case its Daniel Minor who also has a very interesting blog you might want to take a look at as well).

You can check out the whole series so far over at Vimeo.

Angelo Musco...

Angelo Musco and his team spent an amazing 2 years of 8-15 hour days putting together this image called 'Tehom'. Using tens of thousands nude bodies the image you see above is just a small part of the final artwork which you can see below.

'Tehom' refers to the 'great deep' of the primordial waters of creation, mentioned in the Bible, and biblical/mythical references appear to be the inspiration of a lot of his work which you can see on his website (Although I consider these images to be Contemporary Art, other work colleagues may not agree, so I give prior warning that these may not be work safe).

Angelo recently had his first solo exhibition in the States and it took one week just to mount all the individual images that make up the final huge art works, see the video below.



(credit 500 Photographers for bringing this to my attention)