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.

Polarising Filters 101...

Probably the one filter every photographer should have in his bag is the polariser, great for saturation, removing unwanted reflections and generally souping up you images (you can even use it a neutral density filter, if you need to lose a few stops of light) .

Take a look at the video below for a quick tutorial on the sort of things you can achieve with the most versatile of all the filters.


Polarizing Filters for Photo and Video from Olivia Speranza on Vimeo.

'Flying' video camera's...

GoPro's are those little sport video camera's that you can stick onto you bike helmet (amongst other things) to record your daredevil downhilling skills for example.

However, they also seem to be popular with our feathered friends to show off their daredevil flying skills !

Check out the video below and all will become clear...



(I think thats enough of the 'aerial' theme... I'll find something different for next month... I promise !)

Psychography...

Latest Camera Technology...

This has popped up on quite a few web pages recently and is the new 'light field' capturing camera from Lytro. Apparently all you have to do is take the picture and then you can select the focus point later on (click the image above wherever you like to see what i mean).

Maybe a few of our Scientist members could gives us an insight into what exactly are light fields and their potential uses ?

Photography from Space...

Continuing the 'aerial' theme, ESA's Paolo Nespoli appears to be making a name for himself recently with his images of the earth captured from the International Space Station. The one you see above is of Lake Gairdner in Austrailia.

Paolo is taking images every few days and then sharing them with the inhabitents of the earth via his Twitter account !!
 
You can also check out his Flickr pages for the latest images.

Kite Photography...

Cris Benton a professor of architecture at UC Berkeley is a self confessed 'tinkerer' with a talent for constructing, flying and taking aerial photo's with a kite.

The images that he has created are really quite stunning and in the video below you begin to get an idea of what is involved with this type of photography and also the ingenuity that Cris shows with respect to the rigs he constructs to hold and move the camera.

You can find more images and information at his website here.

Kite Aerial Photography on MAKE: television from MAKE magazine on Vimeo.

African Air...

Flying in a motorized paraglider over one of the most diverse continents in the world, George Steinmetz captures in his photographs the stunning beauty, potential and hope of Africa's landscapes and people. See the project at http://mediastorm.com/publication/african-air

It's been a while since we've mentioned MediaStorm and when I saw this video on the aerial photography of George Steinmetz I thought it was time to remind everyone of this great site and concept.

You should also check out George's website as well, as it's really quite spectacular.

PHotoEspaña 2011...

PHotoEspaña 2011 has started this month and you can get all the information regarding participants, events and galleries here.

By the way that's a photo of Jackie Onassis taken in New York in 1971, by the worlds most famous paparzzi, Ron Galella.


 



Extreme Fish Photography...

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.

(via fstoppers)

TPOTY 2010...

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...

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.

Invited Speaker - Carlos Borrego Iglesias (Part II)...

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:

• Rania Matar - (A girl and her room)
• Maite Caramés - (Ausencias)
• Israel Ariño - (Estudio sobre el arte de enmascarar) 
• Aline Smithson
• Tanyth Berkeley - (The Special Ones)
• Georges Rousse
• Jose Ramón Bas - (Ícaro)
• Antoine d'Agata
• William Klein - (Life is Good...New York!)
• Juan Manuel Castro Prieto - (Viaje al Sol)
• Masao Yamamoto
• David Nebreda
• Isabel Flores
• Robert ParkeHarrison
• Joan Fontcuberta
• Ansel Adams
• Harry Callahan
• Eugene Smith - (Deleitosa)
• Otto Steinert
• Diane Arbus
• Stanley Kubrick
• Sally Mann
• Isa Marcelli
• Francesca Woodman
• Henri Cartier-Bresson
• Richard Gibson
• Jim Goldberg
• Atelieretaguardia
• Paco Elvira - (Manifestación)
• Albert Gusi

That's a lot of homework to get through !

Thanks Carlos, hope to see you again next year !

Susan Burnstine...

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.

She has her own column in the UK magazine Black+White Photography and has exhibited extensively, she will also shortly release her first monograph 'Within Shadows' at the The Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition next month.

In the video below, Susan explains a bit about her technique and why she produces the images she does.

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.

Everything you wanted to know about lens cleaning but were afraid to ask...

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...

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.