just because Mark doesn’t like us enough to come on holiday with us, please don’t believe that he’s not working awesomely hard behind the scenes to make things happen for us!
Scholey’s Coffee from James Burns on Vimeo.
Yes, yes, I’m still alive and back from the dead… :p
It’s that time of year when the 4Togs (well, the 3 least-hairy 4Togs, anyway) like to pack up their bags and head for pastures new.
So, whilst Mark is chained to his desk (which he quite enjoys, apparently), the rest of us are upping sticks and heading to Newquay for some sun, sea, surf and shandies. You can expect a variety of daftness over the course of the next week as we share our adventures with you all.
We welcome audience participation, as always, so if you have any suggestions on where to go, what (or who) to see, or adventures to have – please let us have them. So far, all I’ve managed to come up with is a day out as the Pyrites of Penzance 
Watch this space… The frolics start Sunday!
There’s a new photo-blog out there, that you probably have heard of, “Lens” from the NY Times, another one that I visit on a regular occasion since first coming across it.
This post on Prisons in Arkansas reminded me just how much I like the panoramic aspect ratio. It can give a very convoluted composition that really makes your eye work in the frame, but can really tell a story through that. An example is shot 4 in the Arkansas Prison series.
Maybe I should get that panoramic camera…..
A friend sent me this video:
Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party from William Castleman on Vimeo.
When I was in Utah I saw a night sky like I never had before… and I so wish I had done something similar to this, next time! Night photography is something that has always interested me. I must get out and do some more. It is worth checking out the HD version on Vimeo.
Three of the 4Togs have shown extreme concern over the whereabouts of Monty, he was last seen a long time ago following a can of lager on a string, and has not been seen since. If you know where he is, or have a lead that may help us find him; please do not hesitate to contact any of the three remaining 4Togs.
His return is important to us, as without Monty, the 4Togs are one quarter less awesome than before…
Back in the archives of the 4togs I wrote about the gear obsessions that people seem to have with the latest kit. So what did I do when I got a bit of spare cash… No, I didn’t go and spend it on the next piece of trick kit, instead I signed up for a Seminar. Not just any seminar though, as I’m building a business it had to be close to the area of photography that I was working towards and relevant for my learning requirements.
So what seminar did I go for? It was the three day workshop with David A Williams and his ‘Almost Alone’ sessions. Why this course you may ask, well I knew I needed to work on posing groups and couples for portrait sessions and it would be relevant to wedding photography. It also gave me the chance to meet one of the most wonderful and respected photographers. All I can say is that I was not disappointed with my investment in any way, being a hands on course, with posing sessions as well as talks about several areas of posing groups, couples and individuals, it went further and demonstrated lighting (both available and flash), telling the story of wedding days and even into album design. All this was offered up by the most energetic and caring person I have had the pleasure to meet, David Williams, he also has a wicked sense of humour. One of the highlights was the one on one critique session, it was a great experience and not one negative in there, all the feedback was positively re-inforced to encourage learning and self improvement.
So have I improved following on from the course? I know I have, but I’ve not stopped yet… every day is a new chance to learn and improve, one of the key things that I took away with me, was that now matter what skill level you are at, you can always learn something new and improve yourself. All this without buying any new kit!
So go on, treat yourself to a workshop, course or seminar.
One of the compromises you have to make on beery holidays is the time you can spend with the camera – you can’t hold up your mates indefinitely whilst you wait for the right light, so you have to be pretty instinctive and reactive with your photography.
I had such a weekend in Jersey where I shot about 400 shots of random stuff in 4 days, mainly in boozers or walking between them. Getting anything that’s meaningful from that is more of a challenge than any dedicated weekend in the lakes with your kit bag and 20 hours a day. All I had was a 5D, 24-105, 3stop ND Grad and a lensbaby with the pinhole adaptor fitted (by accident, thought it had the normal optic in – arse!).
I think you need to try to tell a story where possible, avoid posing everone, look for moments to arise naturally rather than force them into action and gradually people will just accept that you’re taking shots and act naturally. Avoid flashes too, just attracts attention and blinds people, may even set off a fit if you’re not careful.
So I got the shots back and just cropped and used some actions that I happened up on once – one grainy mono, one Grunge Rock – no more, not much point in doing too much processing as I was story telling, not trying to get an award in some photo magazine or anything…
Here’s a few I quite like anyway
