But the trick is knowing how to see it. Being there at the right time very often isn’t enough. If you don’t recognise a great photo opportunity you can’t photograph it. Likewise, if you don’t have a camera with you, you can’t photograph it either.
I had the privilege of photographing an amazing wedding yesterday. We had the perfect conditions too. Lots of cloud cover so the loveliest, softest light a photographer could hope for.
The subject came up during the bridal prep about bright sunny days and how a lot of wedding photographers hate them. The highlights are too bright. The shadows are too dark. People squint. Etc. etc.
Well, guess what…
Continue reading Light is Light! Stop complaining and get on with it »
Earlier this week I had the pleasure of photographing a really cool jazz band at the Electric Theatre in Guildford. During the shoot I spotted (or rather almost spotted) one of the band members sitting in one of the seats in the auditorium. I say almost spotted because with only the stage lights on the auditorium was very dark, only being lit by the reflected lit from the stage. It was such a low light that I could hardly see him with the naked eye. This was a great opportunity to see what the 5DmkII could really do at it’s highest ISO setting. In most situations I photograph in I don’t normally take the ISO much above 1600. Every now and then the environment calls for something different and the extreme low light of the auditorium at the Electric Theatre was a good example.
With the camera on manual mode I metered the scene and dialed in an exposure of 1/50th, f/3.5, ISO25600. Apart from a very slight white balance tweak the image above is straight off the camera. Continue reading Darkness visible? Very Low Light Photography »
As we’re only a few days away from one of the biggest events on the fashion calendar, London Fashion Week, I thought I’d share some of my experiences to give you a feel as to what it’s like to be stood at the end of the runway during London Fashion Week. It truly is the best seat in the house and an experience not to be missed.
Shooting a fashion show is both as exhilarating as it is challenging, and as rewarding as it is pressured. Fashion show photography is without a doubt one of the most technical and demanding types of shoot I do. Any fool can stand at the end of the runway and snap away. It’s not difficult. To do it properly though takes a lot of preparation and hard work. There is only one chance to get it right and if you’re shooting for the designer the pressure is immense. The designer needs to see *everything* front, back, sides, full length, 1/2 length, 1/4 length, detail, detail, detail. Continue reading At the end of the runway »
I’ve been doing a lot of band shoots recently. Makes a nice change from photographing female models and has really helped to come up with fresh ideas and styles of image.
The first group was the Overthrow Band, depicted here. These images were made on that bitterly cold weekend just before we had our first dump of snow for the season. It was -5degC when we made these images and between shots the lads were running in rings around me, literaly, in order to keep warm. Continue reading Overthrow Band… »
Hi, I'm Gavin the photographer.
I used to work in IT until a few years ago. I was under a lot of stress at work and getting really p*****d off. Then one day I chose to give it all up and follow a dream. Everyone I knew thought I was nuts, that just made me try harder :-)
I believe any photographer can do what I did, earn money from their photos, maybe even start their own business.
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