Marc Montocchio is a specialist in capturing unique and stunning images of ocean wildlife in their natural habitat. His hands on approach often leads to him getting into all sorts of extreme situations with the sea creatures he is trying to photograph.
Born in Durban, South Africa, Marc now travels the world in search of adventure and images. In the video below you will see a 'behing the scenes' look at his latest project of capturing Blue Marlins being fished in Bermuda, check it out, its well worth a look and you'll see just how dangerous things can get.
This fascinating image of a young boy playing with his 'pet' shark in Indonesia, was one of the images that won the 'Ecounters' section of the recently released 'Travel Photographer of the Year Awards 2010'.
It's well worth checking out this BBC audio slideshow that gives a good overview of the photo's along with commentary from Chris Coe the founder of the yearly competition which started in 2003.
Contre-Jour or 'backlighting' as it is more commonly known, is the technique of shooting directly at a light source.
This can cause lens flare, rim lighting, silhouettes and the effect is not always predictable either, which adds to the fun and makes it a great technique to try out and experiment with.
Our members presented a whole spectrum of images covering all aspects mentioned above. I really liked Alberto's image you see over there on the left, the rim light makes the ball literally jump of the screen.
You can see the rest over on the gallery pages, and please leave some 'thumbs ups' and comments.
Next theme is 'Photograph a Stranger', this webpage offers some tips that may help you out.
Good luck and I'll see you all again on the 28th June.
The recent presentation of Carlos Borrego to the club was our first photographer of our 'invited speaker' initiative. The club hopes that this will provide the members with the opportunity to understand and improve their creativity in photography by receiving first hand knowledge from advanced and professional photographers explaining their particular process.
Carlos' presentation was a fantastic mix of presentation of his photographic muse's, the reasoning behind his fascination with abstraction, along with a fun exercise in exhibition preparation and sequencing, topped off with some unusual camera techniques demonstrated with his very own equipment.
I came away from the presentation highly motivated and ever more appreciative of the amount of dedication and passion photographers proportion to their art.
Carlos promised to pass on his list of muse's which you will find below:
During Carlos' presentation last Friday I was very much reminded of the work of Susan Burnstine, that I have enjoyed ever since I started to investigate the world of plastic camera's a number of years ago.
Susan's superbly ethereal images are produced entirely in-camera, well really, in any one of her 21 home made camera's, she has even gone as far as moulding her own lenses.
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.
Do you clean your lens with your T-Shirt or any old cloth you have lying around ?, then you might want to check out this video if you want to see how the professionals do it.
Apparently, we should clean our lenses twice a week, maybe we should ask Timothy Allen what he thinks ;-) (see below).
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 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.
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... 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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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..!
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 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)
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.
Stephen Dupont an Australian born Photojournalist and portrait photographer has received many international awards for his amazing work over the years.
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. 
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.
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 :) )
