Oh fab man…. we made it into The NYTimes…..
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One of my stock images turns up in Arts Council England.
Really cool paper product supplier I did the photography for. Check out her site.
Still part of this book project I am working on —- the enterprising Biba Fox. What a name!
I had the opportunity to meet Caroline for a book project I am working on. She is absolutely a delight to work with. The day was fantastic and light amazing.
Caroline Russell is a British artist based in London. She is an Associate Member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors and has been a professional sculptor since 1993. You can view a selection of her sculpture at www.russellsculptures.com
…. this li’l ditty of mine. Seems it made its way into Women’s Health.
It’s great finding traditional stock buyers still are out there.
Well we are back from Poland. What an amazing place! And for you single guys out there, I HIGHLY recommend heading to the city to meet the women. The general population of ladies are so fit. It’s worth a trip back just to shoot street portraiture of the women. But that was not what we were there for. I had a multicultural wedding to shoot and what a day. 29c and humidity around 90% we were sweating just moving the gear down the steps of the apartment and the day had not even begun yet.
FYI: Here are some notes about the trip.
Flew with EasyJet. Airline was fine enough. No problems. Crew were nice and especially the flight deck I found very friendly and engaging with the travellers. One thing I didn’t find appealing is they do this charity raising thing where they come around with a plastic bag jingling with coins in it and asking for money — I just found it rather off — it’s probably a personal preference but there is something about being at 30,000 feet and being asked for spare change which tugs my strings. When I see the UK gov’t charging us a tax for leaving the country I think to myself - “Heck — I’d gladly give that to your charity instead” … but not likely. And we all know how the UK gov’t is spending our money these days don’t we?!
The new airport in Warsaw is spectacular. You enter the country in style. leaving the country on the other hand is another story — Etiuda Terminal is like taking off from some place in the middle of Nevada.
We had one bad cab experience while there, and we took many cabs , so not worth mentioning. Just make sure you take an accredited cab - otherwise - like taking a dodgy mini cab in London, you can pay double — which we did because we didn’t know.
Also don’t rely on the Euro. Yes Poland is now in the EU but they take pride in their Zloty as it’s inflating like a Olympic hopeful on steroids. Smalls shops and cabs won’t have Euro change. And shop around if you need to exchange your money. There is a huge difference in places and we got stuck in the tourist area and paid through the nose for our exchange.
The Polish language is tough - well it was for me - took me a week to learn to say “”dziekuje” or “thank you”. And do NOT assume everyone will know a bit of English - we were in large shopping centers and money exchange shops where they didn’t know any English. So I highly recommend carrying a phrase book.
Food yummy. Nuff said.
We stayed at this wonderful apartment in Old Town. Situated in the Old Town district with a view across the Vistual it was a real comfortable place to stay. Outside of the door we had wonderful outdoor restaurants in the square where we enjoyed Polish cuisine. And with the option to shop for our own meals and experience that aspect of “living” in the city with buying groceries and trying to figure out if what you are eating is what you think - I still think the butter we ate all week was really cooking lard and the bottle water was for contact lenses and not human consumption - then the apartment life is for you. The only think I would say is that if you are carrying heavy or many bags of luggage — think of getting an apartment on the periphery of Old Town. Cabs cannot drive into it and you end up walking your gear three blocks. The cobble stones are so rugged that wheeled luggage takes a beating. I really despised this rule, epsecially when we arrived at 10:30 at night and left at 7:00 am. And if it is a downpour you are stuck — there is no shelter to protect you. Also be prepared to pay a 15.00 Euro late arrival fee if you plan to arrive after 10:00 pm if you are staying with Old Town Apartments. But if you order a cab through them then they don’t charge that — which means a cab ride for 10 Euros from the airport which is cheap as borscht.
We didn’t get to see too much of the city as we were doing a bunch of reccees in the Old Town area and in the countryside for the wedding clients. But we did get caught in the Warsaw Uprising events and got to experience the sound of the air raid sirens in the center which ring out each year on August 1st from when the city was in the heat of the war. I get chills each time I speak of it because the sound of the sirens took us by surprise and then the city came to a stand still with people stopping their cars, getting out of them and standing with a hand to their heart and looking to the sky. Everyone just froze while the sirens rang out through the city. We were in the city center when it happened and it will be an experience never to be forgotten.
A photo to leave this blog with — shot by Julia — while we were working with the couple on the day of the shoot. Not the most flattering of me— think I was getting the light meter out of its pouch, but what a beautiful place to work in and a fabulous couple to work with. The shot that we should have here as well is the 150+ people gathered around on the square that stopped to watch us work the shoot. Complete theatre.
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… Reserve your space by calling 07941373678 …
Welcome to an OPEN HOUSE session of Introduction to Digital Photography one of the courses offered at SFX in Clapham South and taught by Karl Grupe.
While we have only two hours with you today we hope to cover some truths and misconceptions about digital photography.
On tap for today is:
Is digital photography working for you? Most of us have made the transition over to digital from film, but still experience no improvement in our work. Why is that? What did we think digital meant to us? What did the salesmen say? What do we actually own and how can we use it?
So let’s start jammin’.
What is photography then? What are we doing? What is the process?
All along the process we have control or we don’t have control of certain technical components. Control allows us to cheat a bit on reality — over emphasise, exaggerate, illustrate — all things which take us away from simply documenting and into photographing.
Before we look at some digital work let’s look at some cheap plastic camera work — nothing digital here just plain light, film and a pinhole into a light tight box — Toy Camera.com
Now that you see what can be done with plastic cameras let’s look at what you have — digital compact or DSLR. What is it good at? For that we go to the link taking us to the course material and the components which we need to learn and work with.
Knowing your gear, what its good at doing and what its not and using it to your advantage. That’s a secret worth knowing.
Finally — the most expensive cameras and lenses in the world DO help — but preparing, watching, seeing and REACTING is the work flow of a photographer.
Good luck!
Just announced today that Central Saint Martins ART OF THE SNAPSHOT is confirmed. They are however still taking bookings until February 16th, 2008.
tree by autobahn
C41 process
Karl Grupe 2007
PHOTOGRAPHERS LONDON at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.
DEADLINE FOR ENROLMENT DECEMBER 15th, 2007.
Start date January 12th, 2008 Saturdays 10 - 4
This course is aimed at people who may be new to photography or new to London. During the course your classroom will be the city of London, where you will explore the workings of your camera while daily photographing a theme. Each day will include an introductory talk and technical seminar followed by a field trip to put into practice the skills learned. This course will not include any darkroom practice, so students are asked to budget for their own developing costs, as well as a travel card to cover visits around London. On the first day students are asked to bring in ten examples of past snapshot photographs (mistakes encouraged) for discussion and critique. Locations will include places where we can explore the following photography topics; people and portraiture, architecture and the urban landscape, nature, travel.
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ART OF THE SNAPSHOT at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.
DEADLINE FOR ENROLMENT JANUARY 15th, 2007.
Start date February 16th, 2008 Saturdays 10 - 4
Ping Pong, Dublin C-print 700mm x 550mm
Whatever one’s photographic experience, at some time we all have passed into photography through the doorway of the snapshot. Its power in catching the narrative, documenting a moment, or expressing an emotion in an instant, almost void of any technical or formal perfection has allowed for a photographic “”democracy”" to all who pick up a camera. In this series of workshops we will use the informal nature of the snapshot to serve as a vehicle to promote and explore concept and interpretation. Uncovering what is your own visual identity, isolating the voice that makes a body of work original. Through exercises exploring aesthetic and analytic photography, concept generation and story telling, and the importance of the edit and presentation of one’s work you will examine what are your components of visual voice and how can you express what it is you see or believe to your audience. This course involves assignments that require students to use photographic labs or desktop printing facilities at home or work in addition to local travel to galleries and an assignment on location. Please budget for this. Students are asked to bring 10 – 15 unbound samples of personal work for a presentation on the first day.
Well, today was a very, very exciting time. Wye Ho, a wonderful artist - whose exhibition I have had the pleasure of curating- opened her delivered art works and we placed them. They look absolutely beautiful and I do hope those of you who know about the show do come — it’s spectacular work. Exhibition opens November 5th at the Institute of Physics, 76 Portland Place, London, Uk, W1B 1NT. Visits by appointment - Please contact Jenny Hollock on tel: 020 7470 4871.
I struggle with this. I really do. I struggle with the politics of photography. And when it comes to evaluating wedding photography/ photographers I seem to have the most struggle.
I was shooting a wedding a few months ago when a car advertising photographer came up to me and said - “You know, I was supposed to be photographing this wedding. The couple are friends of mine but I just couldn’t do it…. way to stressful… I’d never shoot a wedding” …
“But you are car advertising photographer”, I said, “this should be easy for you!”
“One chance and that’s all you’ve got — too stressful for me” he said.
Ever since then I have been thinking about the value of wedding photography, and how in the past, from within the industry of photography, that to mention you shoot weddings is like the kiss of death if you wish to obtain work in other markets.
I’ve never understood this. In fact I think its arrogant to think that wedding photographers are a lesser form of photographers. In fact, wedding photography is certainly a testing ground for the ability to match creative with interpersonal skills and problem solving techniques within an extremely limited time frame that is given to you only once. There is no reshoot or second chance, no “that looked good but can we do it better just this once more”… Nope… It’s fly by the seat of your pants or die (in respect to future business) trying.
I came across an amazing photographer in the States — John Dolan — and I have to admire him for his ability to be selling himself as an advertising, art and wedding photographer while participating at the higher end market on all fronts. He is up front and celebrates his ability to accomplish all lines of work — from a Lexus ad to a private wedding. And so it should be this way. Isn’t it in the end all photography and all creative solutions made to satisfy the different demands of the client. It shows a successful photographer — not one who is not “making the grade” because he shoots weddings.
There is such a fear factor here of admission to shooting weddings in the photographer community. I see it more in the UK than in the States. And an assistant of mine says its worse in Italy. Commercial photography/ editorial photographers think wedding photographers are the crows of photography.
The truth is - as far as I can piece it together - is that photographers participating in other markets participate in wedding photography but under another name. This way they hide themselves from the “judges that be”. A web designer friend of mine told me she sees ad/ stock and magazine photographers coming to her saying “I need a wedding website but I need to have it under a different name”. While it can certainly be a business choice most do it to protect themselves from having a label placed on them and this costing them future work. Silly. Really. I mean because you lecture in photography does that make you less a photographer too?
In my opinion if your practicing photography in any form than you are a photographer and are learning and honing your skills. Balancing it in a way that you can promote a style which transcends throughout the markets you pursue is the secret. This certainly has been John Dolan’s strength and success.
