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12/10/2017
Can Dogs Be The Photographer’s Best Friend?
Have you noticed that whenever you spot a likely photo opportunity in a park, or public space, there’s always a dog in the way? You have to wait ages whilst they sniff everything in sight, go about their business, lark around or studiously ignore all attempts by their owners to bring them to heel.
By the time they have moved out of shot, the light has changed. Those magnificent shadows have faded as the sun disappears behind a cloud. The two people absorbed in each other’s presence, in such an engaging way, right in front of your lens have passed out of sight.
There must surely be more dogs than people and certainly more than photo enthusiasts. There’s always a dog!
I must have missed hundreds of grab shots thanks to errant Alsatians, Labradors, Beagles and even the odd Dachshund.
For all that, photographers can still find good reason for offering genuine thanks to man’s best friend.
Being forced to wait for a dog to move on also requires you to slow down. That provides time to think more about the best angle, the right camera settings and to re-assess the light. Sure, sometimes the dog may result in you missing the shot – but on other occasions it might mean you end up with a better, more thoughtful image.
Often you just don’t want the animal in your frame. Then again, sometimes the presence of the animal, and perhaps its owner, may add that indefinable something that completes the composition. If all else fails, you can always just photograph the dog. Sometimes their actions alone make for good images.
All in all, the next time I’m wondering why the dog is always there, I’ll remember it can be the photographer’s best friend, too!
mfimage
27/09/2017
Should Every Picture Be Perfect?
We all strive to achieve great images that combine impact with technical perfection but does absolutely every photograph need to be perfect in every way to have any value?
There’s no doubting that capturing a stunning landscape photograph, encapsulating a dramatic scene, ephemeral lighting and displaying front to back sharpness; making a striking portrait; or grabbing a once in a lifetime news image are worthy goals – and can bring artistic rewards (quite apart from income).
Nevertheless, every day countless numbers of pictures are published that do not tick the box marked ‘perfect’. Instead, they meet a need. That might be, for example, to illustrate a news item in print, broadcast or social media, to add a relevant visual element to a corporate presentation, to reflect the weather forecast, or capture forever a significant personal/family moment. Recording fleeting events – whether tragic, joyous, or funny – may often not provide time for perfection but still allow the creation of images with their own importance. Such photographs are used worldwide and our media would be the poorer without them.
Of course, the closer to perfection the better and the best photographers are able to make the very most of even the briefest of opportunities. They create the images that truly lodge in the mind. Such pictures stand out from the crowd but everyday photographs also have their own, albeit more transient, value.
Looking back a few years into the history of photography serves to underline that an image doesn’t have to be pixel perfect to stay with us. Many of the classics would fall far short of modern day image quality expectations but have enduring artistic and monetary value because the photographers saw their subjects in a special way and caught so well a particular moment or personality.
The point is that the bar is certainly high but not so high that anything less than perfect should automatically be consigned to the recycle bin. It is also not so high that at least a measure of success can be attained by those of us currently falling short of perfection.
mfimage
09/09/2017
Photographic Competitions – Why Bother Entering?
Here’s a thought. The chances of winning are pretty slim, so why bother entering photography competitions or making submissions to open art exhibitions? Look at the images that caught the eye of last year’s judges and there is at least a fair chance you might decide to take up origami instead.
Go for one of the bigger contests, such as the Sony World Photography Awards, and you will be up against hundreds of thousands of seriously good photographers. It can’t be worth the effort, can it?
Well, yes.
Deciding to enter a competition means spending time sorting out the very best images in your files and going through a process of self-critique, checking out composition, story-telling and technical excellence. That’s a valuable part of the learning process.
If you don’t already have a relevant image, then reviewing previous winners, entry categories and judging criteria can provide inspiration for upcoming projects. That helps keep you out there shooting.
If a submission is a winner, commended or even gets short-listed, that’s going to be a real boost to confidence and awareness.
If the entry goes nowhere, more self-critique is available as you benchmark your image against the winner(s), which should be useful next time around.
There’s no disgrace in not being a winner. If you are up against 100,000 other entries, there are 99,999 photographers in the same boat!
It’s also worth noting that it generally does not cost much to enter. In some cases there is no charge, in others you might be asked to contribute £5- £20 for an entry, to help cover running costs. A single ‘win’ or ‘highly commended’ could bring publicity with many times that value. (Tim Cornbill won the open architecture category and UK national award in last year’s Sony World Photography Awards. I had never heard of him. Now he seems to be everywhere I look on line. QED).
All of the above keep me tracking photo contests and making occasional submissions – on the basis that ‘you have to be in it to win it’. Maybe one day I will! Maybe you will! Good luck.
mfimage
17/08/2017
It’s Only A Bargain If You Need The Gear
Recently, I had the opportunity to pick up a couple of studio flashes, stands and softboxes for as little as £50 at auction. That compares with a new price of several hundred pounds for the same gear. The temptation was considerable.
I might wait a long time, I reasoned, for a similar bargain. Studio photography is not my focus but you never know when I might want to do some portrait or product work. I have space, so I could easily put the lights in store until needed.
The desire continually to add to one’s photography gear is a recognised ‘hazard’ of this game, for amateurs and professionals alike. Keeping expenditure in check calls for a realistic assessment of the extent to which that new purchase will actually be used. Even small amounts of money add up over time.
So, in the end, I didn’t bid for the equipment. After all, it’s only a bargain if you need the gear and it’s going to be put to regular use rather than gather dust in a cupboard.
mfimage
08/08/2017
Right Place, Right Time, Wrong Attitude
Ever envied those photographers who just happened to be in the right place at the right time and captured the perfect image? I certainly have. Hoping for that one very special moment when you have the chance to grab a ‘once in a lifetime’ shot is probably part of every photographer’s psyche.
However, more often than not great images are, of course, the result of much more than luck, a fact driven home time and again by events – or more specifically events missed.
Recently, on a lazy evening, I happened to look out of my window in Bristol and notice unusual colours in the sky. I looked out of another window, with a different aspect, and saw a brilliant, vivid sunset. I grabbed my camera and headed for a great viewing location only minutes from my home. Guess what. Just as I arrived the colours disappeared. I missed capturing that special sky by five minutes.
The following morning, checking Twitter, I saw that Keith Morris (@KeithMorrisAber), one of Alamy’s top earners, had tweeted a couple of striking sunset images taken in his home town of Aberystwyth. How lucky, you might think, that he happened to be out with his camera at sunset and how lucky to live in such a photogenic spot. Well, we all need a little luck but more often than not it’s planning, hard work, getting out in unsocial hours and knowing your territory that wins the day. That’s why his images are so often bought and seen in our national media.
Twitter also demonstrated that plenty of other Bristol people caught that sunset but the message is still clear. Relying on happening to be in the right place, at the right time, is the wrong attitude!
mfimage