Category: Photographers

Cliff Mautner

 Gavin   Photographers

I came across Cliff Mautner whilst listening to the LightSource PodCast. He’s one of the world’s truly great photographers and I’d recommend that anyone who takes their image making seriously to pop over to his website and take a look at his work. You won’t regret it.

I found his work to be very fresh and quite different from a lot of the wedding images one normally sees. Rather than the typical softlight portraits that are in vogue at the moment, particularly in the UK, Cliff’s style produces a much more grittier image which heightens the overall mood and feeling of his shots.

Advanced Lighting with Adam Duckworth

 Gavin   Courses, Journey, Photographers

I met Adam Duckworth back in April 2009 when I took his course on Advanced Lighting Techniques, courtesy of theFlashCentre.

Advanced studio lightingTo be brutally honest, I was really nervous when I booked myself on the course, having virtually no studio lighting experience to speak of other than a day’s studio macro course and fiddling with my own studio lights. I have to say though that Adam was really great to spend the day with. I learned so much from that single event. Much, much more than I could have hoped for. I can certainly see why he has been awarded Editorial Photographer of the Year.Advanced studio lighting

It wasn’t just Adam either.

We had a great model for the day, the lovely Leah, and I learned nearly as much from her as I did from Adam himself. Between then they made a great team. The whole day was very relaxed and informal and totally charged with positive energy. I think I floated all the way home down the M6.

Adam and Leah between them were very instrumental in me deciding upon a career change and indeed the birth of this very blog.

Continue reading Advanced Lighting with Adam Duckworth »

David Hobby – aka Mr. Strobist

 Gavin   Photographers, Strobist

Yet another inspirational photographer is David Hobby, made famous by his amazing use of speedlights for off camera flash. David isn’t just a great photographer he’s also started a huge following, me included. I love the concept of taking my 580ex and setting it up on a light stand for a shoot. This has given me an ultra-lightweight lighting setup that is quick and easy to use on location.

Another source of inspiration: David Ziser

 Gavin   Photographers

I stumbled across the work of David Ziser by listening to the Camera Dojo podcast. Aside from being a fantastic photographer, he is also a champion blogger too. In fact his website is a veritable gold mine of really useful hints, tips, stories and how tos. Well worth checking out but be warned that you’ll need several hours to spare, such is the depth and wealth of information it contains.

The true genius of Mark Robert Halper

 Gavin   Photographers

I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts this year and one photographer that they have introduced me to is a gentleman by the name of Mark Robert Halper. If you haven’t heard of him before or come across his work, it is definitely worth popping over to his website to have a quick look. (BTW – Can’t show any of his images here as I don’t have permission but they’re easy enough to see if you go to his website).

For me, the man is a true genius and this is very evident simply by looking at the depth of each of his images. What I like about the podcasts I’ve been listening to is the way he discusses each shot in detail and the care and attention to detail that has gone into each one. One is easily fooled upon a first glance to mistake a lot of his work for pure happenstance such is his skill and ability to control it.

I would urge anyone serious about their craft to take a look at his work and other like him with a view to seeing what can be achieved by simply pushing oneself a bit harder each time.

You never know, one day he may run some of his workshops here in the UK and that would definitely be money well spent.

To hear Mark Robert Halper talk about his work, check out the podcasts over at CameraDojo here and LightSource here and here.