I took this portrait of author P D James, 91 years young, holding her audience mesmerised as she discusses her writing career at Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge WordFest. It was one of those photos where I had to bide my time to capture an angle where you can view most of the face, while the subject is not looking directly into the lens. I was focusing on the hands as I can only imagine the numerous words which have been written and typed by those hands over the years. With the news that BBC Radio Humberside’s Betty Smith, 90, and Beryl Renwick, 86, have become the Sony Radio Academy’s oldest ever winners, it makes you question if society is missing a trick by not fully embracing the talents of those with long life experience?
Murder she typed…
May 15th, 2012Fly away …
May 14th, 2012
Cambridge Airport welcomes inaugural scheduled Jersey service flight … France and Italy destinations to follow later this year. This is one of those photos where it’s all in the planning as you there’s no second chance to re-pose. Selecting the correct shutter speed is very important with prop aircraft as you need to see some movement but you still need to ensure that the approaching aircraft is in focus. Lighting is very much dependent on the position of the clouds and Sun at time of the plane’s arrival … you just have to wing it.
Little green shoots …
May 8th, 2012
It’s an expression we’ve heard a lot of over the last few years … for me it became a reality when I was recently commissioned to undertake some plant photography for a client. You may think that photographing such small seedlings would be a a relatively small job. However, it seems to me that the closer you focus into any object the more care needs to be taken over the detail within the image. Lighting close-up compositions requires precision as shadows and extreme highlights can be very unforgiving if not managed precisely to the points where you require them.
Something I also like to do with any close-up photography is to keep the light looking as natural as possible regardless of the environment I’m photographing in – to this end I prefer to use reflectors and daylight rather than flash lighting. When photographing close, it is important to ensure that the foreground does not dominate your point of interest especially if it is out of focus.
Seize the moment …
April 25th, 2012
At long last … typical spring weather has reappeared and – although it means the dry spell has long gone – it does bring with it more photo opportunities, if you’re prepared to brave the showers and get out and about. One of the most rewarding views at this time of year are the ever-changing cloudscapes, as long as you keep glancing skywards – head in the clouds, so to speak.
To capture such images you need to be decisive and seize the moment – one such photo is the image posted here – King’s College, Cambridge – a location much photographed and arguably one of the hottest photo subjects in Europe! However, as everything looked almost perfect as I was passing on my way to a Photo assignment it seemed – especially with those lovely detailed clouds – too good an opportunity to let float by. The sharp-eyed among you will notice the groundsman’s tractor parked middle far right – I like the fact it is there as it reminds the viewer that a lot of hard work goes into keeping the courtyard lawn looking so fresh and pristine!
Instagram back to the filter …
April 16th, 2012
Instagram is the “new kid” on planet photography – and like most new developments, it’s causing lots of debate as to whether it will influence the future of photo-taking.
Instagram is a free photo-sharing platform which allows smartphone users to apply a digital filter to photographs and then share it with other online social networking sites. One of the program’s features is that limits all photos to a square format – just like the Kodak Instamatic and Polaroid images. The user can choose a selection of filter effects – most of which seem to me to be a throwback to the pre-digital days when we prayed for better rendition and quality films!
What has got some Professional photographers hot under the collar is the suggestion that creative input at point of image capture will no longer matter – as everyone will be able to create stunning photos. To my mind this school of thought is poppycock – all it means is that lots of smartphone users will gain hours of more pleasure from taking photographs – and – whilst not wanting to appear flippant about any threat to my profession … I’m of the school of thought that as more and more people are turned on to image-taking, the more appreciative people will become about the skills required to produce good photos. How much easier my life would be if it was only all down to selecting the correct filter effect!
If fellow professionals feel threatened by Instagram, they had better watch out as social networking and how it may impact on our future lives has not even left the starting blocks. Like it or not, it’s here to stay – us photographers must embrace it and try to exploit it for all we’re worth. The observation that the lines between enthusiasts and professionals have become less distinct is true in one sense regarding ease of image capture, but as a professional it’s down to me to continually “up” my photo technique and ensure my clients know that I have skills worth paying a premium for.
Facebook has allegedly paid a reported eye watering $1 billion for Instagram – which one assumes they think it is worth. However from where I’m viewing it, slightly tongue in cheek, I find it milady amusing that over one million of it’s subscribers are wanting their images to appear of a poor quality which since 1960′s has been rejected by every picture editor working! The one important social point about Instagram is that it underlines how radically peoples use of imaging and networking is evolving – where it will end? imagination is the only thing holding it back.
The photo I have posted , Youth in Prague in the Republic of Czechokvakia , is my homage to Instagram , for which I used my Nikon D700 and Adobe photoshop to get the square crop and a filter effect – sorry smart phone and Instagram fans .. still as my Gran use to say ” What goes around , comes around” .