Feet, heads and bellybuttons

      Is India the next photo-destination? Just a few hours of watching the Diwali festival in Auckland I think it is! The colourful Diwali festival are a feast for a shutter! Have a look yourself!

  See the original gallery here

resisting the iPhone...getting harder and harder!

When it comes to taking photos new smartphones are a blessing: calculate the sunrise and sunset times in a minute, get that DOF and make some notes of locations. Real help! But...

Some are better than others. I resisted overpaying for an iPhone and was happy enough with smaller HTC Wildfire: did the job and all apps that I needed worked fine. The camera sucked - but then at least it made you take the big guy out and not just take a shot with the crappy phone...

The tiny memory soon became an issue and, as a result, I changed to HTC One V. A few weeks later, when trying to plot the sun trajectory with Sun Surveyor (a great app!)I realised that the compass will not work. As it turns out -no magnetometer and that means the digital compass will not work. No idea what the idiots were thinking - but I guess HTC with their rather peculiar strategy will soon join Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola. I'm pretty sure that the next change will steer away from HTC - sorry but can't be bothered with finding out that yet another cost-cutting compromise made half of the apps useless... Would it be an iPhone? Still hope there will be a phone that works and does not cut corners (instead could cut that silly chin...)

An update:
the HTC One V has died all together.
In the meantime Apple decided to release their new iOS7 - which screwed up WiFi on the iPhone 4....
Since there is no more WiFi guess better stay away from iPhone and their slightly destructive updates!

back to phone that sends texts and makes calls maybe?

Photo fashion

I'm definitely not the fashionable one. Outdoor gear and bulky camera bag hardly comes as 'fashionable' in a city... Fashion becomes enslaved by practicality, protection and comfort. Instead I usually laugh at 'badly' coordinated fashion - or people who spent heaps on most ridiculous (i.e. uncomfortable and impractical) overpriced rugs - I mean top-brand fashion items.

So, although photography and fashion go hand in hand, I never really was that bothered or interested and found most of the models too grumpy to point a lens at. But then one day...

One day you might get invited to a fashion show. If it comes with free nibbles and drinks it would be rude to say no! And since you going there anyway - may just be worth to try and see if can get a shot or two. From the moment of arrival - forget about any decent spot at the end of the catwalk where the lights shine and the models pause, turn and sometimes even might smile (or more likely smirk...). This is already full of better-dressed pros with accreditation cards, step-ladders, big flashes and even bigger lenses. It looks like a vertical bamboo forest from a distances - small and big tubes pointing in one direction, swinging from left to the right. 

 
Finally we found a spot at the other end of the catwalk, near the entrance. It felt pretty low to the stage. Introductory speeches seemed to be delivered by very high heels as could not really see the designer from the low vantage point at the very end of the catwalk. What can I possibly do in here? what the choices might be? Go wide and capture the walks? Take out the mini travel flash to get some extra light? Go with a 50mm f1.8? Wasn't really sure what to go for, what to choose... So started off with a zoom - but wide angle just did not work. The high-heels looked stupid from that perspective (speeches are still going on so some time to experiment and see what just might work the best). Than, of course, is the problem of not having a vaguest clue who Trelise Cooper is and what to expect! Not the best start ever...

But as things started rolling out soon I realised that the flash is too restrictive (OK - should have changed the batteries!) - it takes too long to re-charge and the models did not seem to be too keen to stop and wait! Standing at the far end of the catwalk means the models whizz past and do not give you that split second to pause and pose. F1.8 and manual mode was the best bet as often needed to shoot into the light. And most of shots would be upwards - a bit like shooting puffins in a flight...

Fortunately, following the mundane 'office' fashion things picked up: colours filled the stage and with the backlit the hair were just looking amazing.

The speed of the models moving meant there was no time to plan too much - just check the exposure every few shots and try to get the frame... Considering that at that spot the models were passing each other and just coming from the backstage a lot of shots meant one of them just walking into the frame. Argh... patience... planning, panning and forecasting. It finally worked with a few shots that give the feel of dynamics of the catwalk: models whizzing past each other, the stage being pretty dynamic at all the times.



And then the umbrellas came - a twist in its own right that made for some really nice compositions. Not an easy task as the 50mm was a wee too long for the job - but again, with a bit of planning and nearly hurting my back the photo was bagged...

So all in all - not a bad experience, a few good shots and lots of practice - and all for free (plus nibbles!)

Hair, fish and event by Trelise Cooper.

When light is no good

      When the light is too harsh it often feels like pack it up and move on.

Or not even take the camera out...



But sometimes it is just worth experimenting a bit. The direct sun created strong reflections - and after watching the shimmering light for a while I realised the reflections of the pattern of concentric rings forming on the water. Combined with 2 steps underexposure made it an interesting picture... Or at least a picture worth taking.

Or sometimes just shoot into the sun - with a little help from flash...

A BADGE!

      Wow!!!! A badge just came through the email...

Not sure what to do with it  - so will park it here and have a bit of a think about it...



It is sort of nice - but really not sure what to do with it...

What could that be?

      Photography offers the possibility to play with unusual perspectives of the, sometimes ordinary and mundane, elements of the daily world.

What this might be? Mayan pyramids during solstice? Perhaps... Or...



Actually it is just a pile of empty barrels stacked up in the Speyside's cooperage. When we first passed by the scene looked exactly as what it was: a pile of barrels in a flat, unappealing light. But the jiggered shape of the stacks looked interesting enough to come back for the sunset. 'Silhouette might just work better' I thought.
When we got back a few hours later I walked the scene up and down looking for an interesting angle - to cut any distractive shapes out and bring some more symmetry to the scene. After a couple of scratches on the barber wire I spotted the mall gap between the barrels: with a perfect alignment of the sun setting behind the barrels and a correct setting of the aperture to create a sunstar it could add some 'astronomical mystery' to the picture. The position to take the photo was extremely uncomfortable - but well worth the effort. A few more scratches and a cow's poo accident on the way back to the car were all well worth it!

Sometimes the secret lies in looking for the strange shapes, features or patterns of colours that look different, strange, unusual or even alien from a particular angle. Another example is a close-up of some patterns on a coast on Isle of Arran.

Travel flash

Traveling often means indoor photography or trying to take a portrait in a harsh daylight... One of the options is using a flash. We all know the limits of the build-in flashes - even on the most expensive cameras. And most of external flashes are intimidatingly big...

I started with Nikon SB600 - great but the incredibly unclear menu meant that changing the settings usually meant missing the shot. The off-camera function is great - though sometimes it is hard to make sure that the camera flash will reach the sensors on SB600 - not a match when compared to a wireless trigger.

The size of SB600 meant that 99.9% of the time it stayed at home and did not even make it to the bag. And if it did - it would often stay inside as the sheer size of the gun can often scared any potential portrait candidates away. It may be great for studio or portrait sessions - but not quite a travel flash. Complicated menu further added to the frustration as changing between different modes (e.g. on / off camera) often took too long.

The smaller option - NIKON SB400 - costs an arm and a leg for no controls. The Metz 24 (or 20 C-2) seems like a good value for money - but again, the design makes it still substantially bigger than SB400. But there is a hope: the Sunpak RD2000 Digital is incredibly small and yet still can produce decent output. The smart tilt design makes it much easier to add a home-made bounce card (all you need is a rubber band and a small white card). As the shoe rotates into the body the flash easily slips into a small pocket in your bag. The only downsides are a comparatively long - and NOISY - recycling times. But if that does not bother you - it is hard to go wrong for the price it sells for...


dark room, dark object - and reasonably even illumination

Sunpak offers some controls (+/- 1.5) and - unlike SB400 - still fires up when hooked up with a wireless trigger. OK - in the simplest "crude manual" mode (with the option of +/- some output) but even that will extend your creative - end especially macro - options. Some "quick" examples of possibilities that small little fella offers when hooked with Hähnel combi TF:




detail of pheasant's feather

So for the same price you can get an even smaller flash (it packs smaller than SB400) and a wireless trigger (e.g. hähnel combi TF). For the more demanding work you wold still need to get a more substantial flash (Metz 48 is on my list). And SB400? With both Sunpak or Metz 24 (or 20) you can simply do more whilst spending less.


backlit peat

 

backlit detail of a wine label for a desert...

The Tree is Dead

The iconic Tree of Ranoch Moor (aka the Jeremy's Tree to many) is no more... A tree that was a focal point for countless photographs, a trunk that inspired hundreds - if not thousands. A meeting point for plentiful workshops, seminars, courses, retreats....



We first were introduced to the tree in 2009 during one of the photo workshops with Jeremy Walker - and over the few days we have visited the tree in the morning, afternoon, evening - at any time of the day and in all possible weather conditions. And each time hoping for some good light...

after 3 early mornings and -12C finally we got the light!

waiting for the perfect light...

It was a training ground to many. A reference point for framing, composing, getting the hyperfocal right... The tree was photographed from every possible angle and in each direction.

An icon that probably could outshine many of the top catwalk models when it comes to the number of lenses pointed at!The tree was also an apple of discord on the long and cold mornings when groups of photographers, after dragging their feet at 4am from a cosy bed just to stand under the cloudy sky in hope for a nice sunrise, would find a bunch of tripods already planted in the position with their owners desperately looking at the clouds where the sun should soon appear.

Some wound wander off in disappointment, some would actually ask us to move as we were in their frame. Emotions were high and the global tripod battle was on the brink...

And so Jeremy's Tree is no more adding to the misery of many of the photographers who already suffered from the declining sales. One still remains in place though - but be early as its bound to be crowded with tripods!

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A large size prints or canvas of many of the photographs are available (contact via email) - or for commercial purposes you can purchase the photo of the Glencoe Sunrise via ALAMY . 

a BIGGER win!

WOW This time the image has been commended in... hold on tight!

As the email on one early morning said:

I am delighted to announce that your image has been commended in the People Category in the Open Competition of the Sony World Photography Awards 2012. Your work has been selected from 52,323 images entered from 171 countries. This is an incredible achievement.

And soe the image will be shown in the SWPA winner's book as well as digitally at Somerset House, as part of World Photo, London from 27th April - 20th May, 2012.

And so the matador keeps getting more and more attention:

The photo is for sale either via ALAMY - or contact me directly. Many more photos in this series are for sale - please, contact for details. 

a small win!

Dear Frank Siedlok,
I am delighted to let you know that your picture “Regret” has one first prize in the People Category of the National Geographic 2011 photography contest.

National Geographic photographer, John Burcham, said of your picture:

“This image really captures a moment of real pain and frustration. The composition is excellent with the way the bull leads you to the matador.”

I would like to wish you a wonderful Christmas and very happy New Year.

Best regards,
National Geographic magazine

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And the winning shot:

But there was more to this story. First, we got a nice free tasting of Bowmore whilst listening to Colin Prior talking about his travels and photography (link).

The evening was fab and we left with some valuable new knowledge of what judges in competitions are normally looking for as well as a few Bowmore miniatures.

The tips from Colin helped to choose the right shot - and the miniatures came handy to celebrate!

For more info:

NG competition site: http://www.ipcuk2011.nationalgeographic.com/

Colin Prior's site: http://www.colinprior.co.uk/home/

Bowmore site: http://www.bowmore.com/competitions

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The photo is for sale either via ALAMY - or contact me directly. Many more photos in this series are for sale - please, contact for details.