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December 7, 2011 by graham

New Year’s Resolutions – #5: Make Some Art

In an attempt to hold myself to my resolutions this year, I’m blogging them. You can read more of my resolutions here.

Make Some Art

I’ve loved shooting pretty much everything I’ve shot this year. I’ve shot fashion, beauty, live music, editorial portraits, weddings, burlesque shows*… I’ve loved all of them.

But I feel like I’ve made very little art. The fashion and beauty work comes closest, but it’s still not what I’m aiming at with this resolution.

I’ve banged on for several years about Drew Gardner‘s work. I’m a big fan of it, there’s no doubt, and in particular I’m a fan of his Epic Fashion shoots – his series “The Forest” is a favourite of mine. That’s the kind of thing I want to shoot. Maybe it’s somewhere on the border between fashion (or editorial portraiture) and fine art; I don’t know. But there’s something about producing an image that’s beautiful for its own sake, rather than making one to showcase a person or a dress or a makeup artist’s talent, that appeals to the creative bits of my brain.

Of course, defining “art” is like nailing pudding to a wall, but you get the idea.

*Well, one. I’ll be shooting another on Friday, though.

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December 2, 2011 by graham

New Year’s Resolution’s: #3 Get Off Your Arse and Shoot

In an attempt to hold myself to my resolutions this year, I’m blogging them. You can read more of my resolutions here.

Get Off Your Arse and Shoot

I’ve spent a lot of time – and not an insignificant amount of money – over the last year on training. Seminars, video training, magazines… And it’s only recently occurred to me that I’m not getting as much from that money as I was at the start of the year.

Another resolution for 2012, then, is to stop spending so much time and money on training and instead go out and train by learning on the job. If I have an idea, I’ll go and shoot it, rather than researching to see how others do it and talking myself out of it in the process. If I see an image I like, I’ll try and reproduce it (not to include it in my portfolio; just to work out how it’s done) with the help of a willing friend.

Sure, I’ll still consume videos on the web, but I’ll be a lot less willing to splash out money for the sake of splashing it out. Because I don’t think that I’m getting back what I’m putting in. The only way to do that is to put my time into learning. And my heart.

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November 30, 2011 by graham

New Year’s Resolutions – #2 Play More

In an attempt to hold myself to my resolutions this year, I’m blogging them. You can read more of my resolutions here.

Play More

There isn’t a huge amount of craziness in my work to date. Mostly, I think, that’s a result of my trying really hard to get the simple technical aspects of my craft right – sharpness, no limbs amputated and so on. I’m not saying that I want to start producing out of focus work where people are missing fingers, but as an extension of my first resolution I’d love to feel a bit freer with what I shoot.

Maybe it’s as simple as getting the ‘perfect’ shot in the can and then playing around and trying out ideas; maybe it isn’t. But it’s a good place to start.

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November 28, 2011 by graham

New Year’s Resolutions – #1: Take More Risks

In the interests of actually blogging something for once (and notwithstanding the fact that, as another photographic appointment, 2012 will be the year in which blogs die in favour of social media pages), I’m going to start posting my resolutions for 2012 here. Why? Well, for one thing, it means that I actually wrote them down somewhere. For another, it helps keep me honest. Well, in theory, anyway.

So, resolution number 1, then:

Take More Risks

2011 has been an amazing year. I’ve been busier than ever as a photographer, and although I’m nowhere near being able to make a living on this alone I know now that I’m capable of working at this as a professional.

But I’m still not taking enough risks. By which I mean that I shy away from doing things that would be cool and fun for entirely specious reasons. Not asking if I can use a location because I’m certain I’ll be told no is a classic example. I should just ask anyway, but getting to the point where I’m willing to do so takes far too long.

So, for 2012, take more risks. Stop worrying about what people think or say; GOYAJFDI

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October 26, 2011 by graham

Some thoughts on an accident of art

Sometimes, accidents happen. Often, though we don’t always realise it, they are beautiful accidents. And when beautiful accidents occur we should seize them with both hands.

Take this image, for example (click for a bigger version):

This image was made right at the end of a shoot. One of the models had already headed back to the changing room to get changed and remove her makeup. Katie and I were left to get one more shot of this last look, a 20′s flapper-like dress, with assorted accessories.

Katie happened to strike this pose, and whilst my light wasn’t set up for it I immediately knew how I wanted to light it. We shot the look that I was already set up for – which was fine, but didn’t hold my attention for long – and then this one. Simple lighting: a gridded light off to camera right; the idea being to follow the angle between Katie’s face and the wall light.

There are plenty of problems with the image – the lower section is darker than I’d like, for example – but I still love it. It occurs to me that the more I do this job, the more I’m starting to think in terms of a phrase used by David Hobby: Lighting in layers.

I’m starting to think that I want to shoot an entire series where I treat the lighting rather as one would approach painting with oils: adding light to the canvas however it needs to be added than getting wrapped up in thinking about all the technical details. This image embodies a look that I’ve been trying to achieve for some time, and to have come across it almost entirely by accident is both quite delicious and quite galling at the same time.

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October 18, 2011 by graham

In which our hero blows the dust off his blog

Here’s the problem with blogs: they don’t update themselves. There have been many points over the last six months where I could have really done with it updating itself, but it didn’t. The upshot is that I’ve now got to get back into a blogging routine or let the thing die, and I don’t particularly like letting things die.

So consider this a start – albeit not much of one – of a new blogging routine. The aim is to publish something new every Tuesday and Thursday, though I might try for three times a week if I find I have more time than I currently think I do.

Instead of waffling on, I’ll leave you with a few choice images to enjoy – which, if you’re following me on various social media, you’ll have already seen. The top image on this post is of Ben Warburton, guitarist with local band Scarred I.D, whom I shot last week in a makeshift studio that we put together in a primary school classroom. Ben’s a great guy and I foresee great things for both him and other members of the band.

I’ve done quite a few shoots over the last six months that didn’t really fit with the work that I’ve been doing thus far (because when people offer you paid work it’s never a bad idea to at least consider it; at the end of the day it’s allowed me to continue to create images I love). One of the great discoveries I’ve had this year is how much having a good team with you on a shoot can make a difference to the outcome. I’ve particularly enjoyed working with wardrobe stylist Helen Waugh and model Jen Brook, who formed the core of the team for these two shots. I’m hoping to work with them again in the near future, but that’s a story for another post…

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September 4, 2011 by graham

Things I say sometimes…

Over on my Facebook page, I did just quoth:

Two things that keep occurring to me this week:

1. I love shooting drummers. Seriously. Could do it all day. Nutters, the lot of them.
2. I love that the Bay area has such a great local music scene.

… which leads onto a third thing…

3. It could be quite cool to do a book of portraits of local musicians.

Just a thought…

 

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August 29, 2011 by graham

That Tony Whitmore

Breaking radio silence to note that my good friend and occasional collaborator Tony Whitmore has launched his wedding photography website.

Tony’s a genuinely lovely bloke and I’ve no doubt that he’ll be an excellent wedding photographer as a result of that. My only regret is that he didn’t realise that this was what he wanted to do before I got married…

Anyway, go, visit, and, if you have friends in the South East of England (or indeed elsewhere) who need a wedding photographer, give them his name.

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April 20, 2011 by graham

Haters gonna hate

Thanks to the wonders of technology I’m writing this about 10,000m above Nevada, en route to London from San Francisco. More about that later, perhaps. Of course, I can’t actually post this from up here, but I like being able to write the draft on my phone nevertheless.

Anyway, I was rather tickled to find, whilst idly browsing on SFO’s wifi, not one but two comments by someone calling themselves – imaginatively – “anon”, both of which took the time to tell me how terrible certain of my photographs are.

I don’t allow anonymous commenting on this blog, and comments like this are why. Whilst I value anonymity on the Internet I think that you should have the courage to put your name to artistic critiques of others’ work. To do otherwise seems cowardly to me.

But it occurs to me that these comments are actually a success of sorts. I’ve annoyed someone enough for them to try to give me bit of a kicking, and that means I must be doing something right at least.

So thanks, anon. I don’t care about you or your opinions but I am pleased to say that you’ve brightened up my day.

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April 8, 2011 by graham

Laser focus

Once again, I’m moved to think – and blog – by something (actually two things) that Chase Jarvis has written.

It’s that time of year when, with a new tax year starting, you have to think about your priorities for the next 12 months. Okay, you always have to think about those, but it seems like the ideal opportunity to consider starting up new lines of business.

For a while now I’ve been thinking about starting up a small company, separate from my main photographic concerns, through which I can work with one of the larger markets that’s available to me up here in North West Lancashire: social and family portraiture. I’ve no doubt that there’s a market there and that I could sell to it and that it would probably result in a decent return for me.

And on Wednesday evening, whilst toying with WordPress themes for the website that I was planning to set up for that little business, I realised something: I don’t actually really want to do it. Not right now, anyway.

The truth is – and it’s one of those truths that I should have realised sooner but didn’t, goodness knows why – that social photography doesn’t excite me. It’s not that it’s something that’s beyond my abilities, not at all; I get on with pretty much everyone and I enjoy shooting family portraits to a certain extent, but I can’t imagine, right now at least, getting up out of bed in the morning and being excited about shooting family pictures. That’s not to say that I won’t do it if asked – that would be foolish – or that I think it’s beneath me or any such nonsense. Far from it.

In fact I want to go out of my way here to make it clear that I’m not saying that I look down on that kind of work or that I don’t respect the people who do it. I have oodles of respect for them. It’s a job that takes time and dedication and lots and lots of hours to make sure that you’re doing the best you can for your clients. And that’s exactly why I don’t want to do it right now.

I have my own focus, and it’s in a more conceptual, fuzzily-defined space than social portraiture. If I don’t have a laser focus, if I don’t dedicate myself absolutely to being the best at what’s in my head and in my heart right now, then I’m just going to be mediocre, and that’s not good enough.

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