January. People don’t give it much thought, other than the occasional shudder of dread. After the build-up to Christmas and the alcoholic anti-climax that is New Year, the only thing that most people associate with January is cold weather and an unwelcome return to work.

We at the 4 Togs Blog are sympathetic to your feelings. We don’t want you to feel lost and alone, cold and unhappy. First of all, we’d like to remind you that there is a cause to celebrate in January – My birthday falls fairly squarely in the middle of the month and I’d like to invite your participation in celebrating with me, no matter where you are! However, with a view to the fact that a birthday is but one day, Matt has devised a plan to keep you occupied and happy the whole month through: The return of the 31-day Photo Challenge.

The premise is simple: Pick a camera, pick a lens. Take a photo each day for all of the 31 days of January and upload them, daily, to our Facebook group. Beyond that, there are no rules other than the ones that you choose to impose upon yourself. Some people like to try and maintain a theme through their images… Others are just happy to maintain the goal of taking one picture a day.

So, think of it as an early gift for you all. Please take a look at the Facebook page and sign up – we’d love to have your participation!

Bookmark This:

Gear. We lust after it. Camera manufacturers know that, and they play on that “must upgrade” mentality/desire. I know I am guilty of it, my recent post on the new offering from Panasonic is a case in point. It is the carrot that they always tempt us with and a bloody juicy carrot it is too.

I was browsing a web forum dedicated to photography and there was a comment regarding the new purchase that someone had made. They’d upgraded from a Nikon D40 to a D200, quite a jump and to a very capable camera, a good learning step. However, a comment from someone made me think, this person was looking forward to what they’d produce with this camera, almost as if they would suddenly improve. I know what they meant, a better more capable camera gets in the way less, so you can perform better, however, as a photographer it is not the camera that is important and often we are not better with a new camera as it means a change to how we work,  so what did this person mean and why, to an extent, were they right?

Well, I remember a review of a new camera in the early(ish) days of the DSLR revolution* and the reviewer made a reference to receiving the boxed camera, which he came back to at the end of the review. The best part about new gear, they said is “opening the box”. The joy you have at getting  the camera out and using it. Yes, we can never recapture that, but the reviewer made a great point. Put your main camera away in its box, use another for a while. Your backup camera if you have one (and it is different to your main camera), if not break out the old film cameras (or spend a little to get one). Once you have done thatfor a while go back and get your main camera out, you will be surprised at how you feel with it in your hands.

The difference it will make will be quite surprising. If it is a camera which you have not used in a while, you will be amazed at how comfy it feels and what memories it brings back… yes it will have its flaws, perhaps be slower but with it comes some good memories and that lovely sense of nostalgia. If it is a new ( but old) camera then with it comes a period of discovery, tinged with expectation. What does this key into? Well it taps into that “love” that we have for making pictures.  That sense of joy and fun, either from an old friend or finding  anew one. Reusing an old camera reminds us why we liked it in the first place and re-invigorates our desire to make pictures. On top of this you feel refreshed when you go back to your main camera. It becomes new again and a welcome return.

This re-invigorsation for your love of taking and making pictures will always show in your images. Technicality aside, if you are loving the process, in tune with yourself and the subject then there will always be the making of a good picture in there somewhere. That desire and joy will shine through, so go pack up your main camera for a while, pick up a different one and go shoot.  Once you have finished open the box, and revel in the return of your main camera, as if it was new. If you are lucky you will enjoy both aspects of this challenge, at the very least you will enjoy getting your main camera back and so will have a renewed interest/appreciation of it, at best you get enjoyment out of both aspects. What’s to lose? Box it up and have fun, embrace the love and joy of picture taking.

*I wish i could remember who the reviewer was and which camera it was, if you know drop a line in the comments.

Bookmark This:

Don’t worry, I’m not honestly suggesting that you go out and plagiarise someone else’s work or ideas. As creatives, it’s almost certain that the idea fills you with revulsion in any case. However, a certain amount of duplication can be entirely healthy when attempting to learn new skills, or to push yourself just a little bit further than normal.

Take the above picture of Ade, you might recognise it as the full version of the one that I’ve used as his avatar photo at the very top of the page… It actually came about as a discussion on an online photography forum. A bunch of people were discussing the influence of films on photographs, at which point someone else chimed in wondering how to get a “Sin City” effect on their photo’s.

A long discussion followed, most of which dealing with the processing after the the image had actually been taken. Hardly anybody, other than myself, made any mention of the lighting involved. In order to give myself a bit of a challenge (and also, I admit, to make a point) I set about taking a photo to see if I could replicate the style. I used this poster from the film as my starting point.

By dissecting the lighting used, we can see that Hartigan (played by Bruce Willis) is lit from behind and from either side, creating two strips of light down either cheek and backlighting the hair, but leaving the majority of the front of the face in shadow. I replicated this by using two speedlights 45 degrees to Ade’s back and above him. Another speedlight on-camera provided some fill to keep detail in the face and give catchlights in the eyes.

The resulting image was then processed to black & white, with a slight red tone added to maintain the feel of the film production.

So there’s today’s challenge: Find yourself a film poster or another image that you like (or find inspirational). As part of your ongoing photographic education, attempt to determine the lighting used and then go off and attempt to replicate it in a shot of your own. If you have the time, leave us a comment with a link to the original, and a link to your take on it.

Bookmark This:

Well the new boot camp at the Strobist blog has kicked off, and it starts with a doozy, head shots of you and your subject. We photographers generally like to hide behind the cameras and this is a good one to force us to get in front of it for a change.

I’m thinking about taking up the boot camp series as it will be good to push myself into some assignments that I don’t set myself, you know work to someone else’s brief for a change.

Matt, do you fancy doing some head shots?

Bookmark This:

We may enjoy the odd shandy or two at 4Togs Towers, but we want you to know that we are concerned for the environment as well. Therefore we always recycle the empties!

p.s. We still have more to empty yet…

Bookmark This:

Just another short post to let you all know that the Twitography Project, that I conceived and blogged about in an earlier article, is now off the ground and running. I photographed my first victim, sorry, subject last night and now have a list of other users to start making my way through.

@shepy was my first willing volunteer – mainly willing to stand around and laugh whilst I tried to inflate a stupid blue chair with my mediocre lung power! We took this shot as a homage to another famous Twitter user, @twitchhiker:

To find out more information, to see more images, or to get involved with the project whilst helping to raise money for the very worthwhile folks at Macmillan, please visit the Twitography site.

Bookmark This:

The Twitography Project, that I mentioned in a previous article, is now fully-formed and ready to go. I’ve created a brand-new blog for it, so that it can stand entirely on it’s own, and now I just hope that as many of you as possible will join and help to make this as big a success as we possibly can.

Please spread the word: Twitography is here.

Bookmark This:

So, I was sitting this morning trying to think of some new photo challenges to push myself, or to come up with a new, long-term photo project to fill in some of the (rare) spare hours I have. Inspiration finally struck, though like many of my other projects, it’s a bit of a biggy…

But first, some background:

I’m a bit of a sucker for large-scale photo projects. Just last year an American photographer I know of, John Michael Cooper of Altf, started a pay it forward project for photographers that he christened Roadside Families. John is a phenomonal photographer and following some online conversations with him I tried to get it going in the UK. Unfortunately a lack of time and enthusiasm meant that it didn’t really get going, but it’s something that I fully intend to resurrect some time soon.

More recently I became aware of Peggy Dyer’s One Million Faces project – an incredibly heartwarming enterprise that is also benefitting a number of worthy charities.

I was sitting, considering these projects, when I checked my Twitter account and saw an update from Paul A Smith, the Twitchhiker – if you haven’t already read his story then I fully recommend that you do. Paul is travelling around the world purely via the power of other people’s charity – it’s an indication of the power of social networking.

So did I arrive at the genesis of my own idea, provided I can get other people involved… Like all new ideas, there are still details to be worked out, but I’m sure you’ll get the general idea.

What I would like to do, over the coming weeks and months, is to see how many Tweeple I can photograph. I don’t want to use a studio, I don’t want to visit your home… I want environmental pictures, any place, any time, any weather. If you like, you can bring one or two items that are important to you… You can even bring your family if you like!

Ultimately, I’d like to incorporate some form of charitable aspect to the work. I’m still working on that, but I’ll hammer the details out and communicate them at a later date. It’s equally important to say that if you don’t want to get involved in any charity donations, then it won’t stop you from taking part.

I’m looking to start in the North-East, and as soon as possible. If the project has legs, then I’ll rapidly start to expand the geographical area. If you are willing to get involved, then please give me a shout as soon as you can – the contact page is here.

Bookmark This: