Don’t forget! If you used to take part in the Tuesday Photo Challenge, it’s now over here… http://www.photo-challenge.co.uk/. You can also join the group on Facebook if that’s your thing.

Go and take some photos! I do*!

(*um… sometimes. when I remember)

Just before I start, there was a comment from Trouty about a lack of wedding pictures. Don’t worry, they are coming, but our official ‘tog hasn’t finished processing them yet. We’re bouncing around with anticipation here. Anyway… on to the blog…

Interior Shot

We creative people (yes, even us Leicestershire Photographers) sometimes have a creative low. All sorts of people get lows but a creative low isn’t nice. Especially when it’s what’s supposed to be paying for your roof, clothes and food. Of course, I knew it was coming – a couple of weeks preparing for a wedding, then actually going ahead and getting married, and then spending a couple of weeks away touring the Emerald Isle meant that I haven’t been able to take on new work for a while. I had, however, been working on my new commercial brochure which is about ready for launch.

I did a client test-shoot just before the wedding and it didn’t go so well. I did other stuff and it didn’t go so well. I put it down to a slightly higher-than-average stress level – time, money, wedding, Japanese GCSE etc.

Well, yesterday morning I got up with the larks (well, with H actually – she had to get into work early due to that silly unpronouncable volcano. The larks, unaffected by flight restrictions, were still snoring away in bed) and went for a walk. Coming home, I noticed that my most local Indian restaurant had changed their front-window display. There were my photos in the window! I haven’t linked to their website because that still has their old ‘atmostphere killed by flash-on-camera’ shots.

I fired up Lightroom to prepare some pictures for a sample wedding album and decided that my wedding shots really aren’t that bad. I went back to the test shots I’d done and they really weren’t that bad (excellent by Auntie Mabel standards). I looked at some of my recent portrait sessions (one pictured) and they really weren’t that bad. I have a stream of enquiries coming in, some of which are turning into work – apparantly one in five is a good rate of conversion.

Recent Portrait

In terms of quality, though, what I have realised is that the people I am hanging around with, and more importantly who are critiqueing my work, and whose work I am looking to match are bloody brilliant (pardon my French). They’ve been in the game for 20 years and then some. I’ve not even made 18 months yet. Every shoot I do is an improvement on the last and I’m going in the right direction.

I need to be just as harsh on myself, but less down about it – if that makes any sense. If I don’t judge my output harshly, I won’t improve. But I should be allowed to pat myself on the back about where I’ve come to. Yes, I should.

What’s more, I used to feel that taking photographs is not a creative endeavour. I now know that’s the case. However, we professionals don’t take photos, we make them (so said Ansel Adams). Once I got that distinction in my head, I do – at last – feel like ‘a creative’.

The Cabbie - Introductory Still

I’m a great fan of film shorts. I think to tell a story in a minimum amount of space takes real skill – unlike some of today’s three hour “blockbuster” films which actually have no story. Vincent Laforet has been shooting shorts with the Canon EOS 5D Mark II and I think he really has a good vision.

Sometimes you can see a hint of actor wooden-ness, but on the whole, the storytelling is good and the visuals are – in my opinion – stunning. Try out “The Cabbie” which was filmed as the introduction to a competition called “Beyond the Still”. It is each contestant’s job to interpret the still frame at the end of each winning entry and begin the next chapter from there…

I’ve been looking into ’style’, and finding the right position I want to aim at with my photography. By researching a huge collection of brands, I can get a feel of how they put forward their message and reach their customers. I’ve been looking at handbags for example… it’s something that most ladies have, but some go to Bagzone, some to Radley and some to Dior. There is nothing wrong or right about any of them, as long as they have a consistent brand and live up to their expectations.

I was also looking into hotels, and today found out about “Crazy Bear”, which is the main reason for this blog. Opulence to the max! Really.

How about the dining room? White leather-upholstered walls with swarovski crystal buttons…

All rooms (£390+VAT approx per night) have copper baths which fill from the ceiling…

Need I go on? What a fantastic experience it must be to stay there! Expensive, but fantastic!

Erm… where was I?

Oh yes… so I think that might be a little over the top for my needs, and I’ll certainly not be aiming for that kind of clientelle, but I guess when you know where the reasonable limits lie, you have a better chance of finding your position on the spectrum.

This video by Zack Arias is almost Les-Dawsonesque in its incompetence.

Love it!

As if the perviously posted* advert wasn’t bad enough. Due to a lack of responses, it seems that our ‘glamour club’ photographer has decided that SHOUTING would be the way forward…

GIRLS, I STILL HAVE VACANCIES FOR MY GLAMOUR PHOTOGRAPHY CLUB ON FRIDAY AND SATURDAYS. 2 HOUR SESSIONS FOR A GLAMOUR STYLE SHOOT, GOOD HOURLY RATES AND IMAGES ON CD FOR THE RIGHT CANDIDATES. IDEAL OPPURTUNITY TO BREAK INTO THE GLAMOUR WORLD. CONTACT [NAME REMOVED] FOR FURTHER DETAILS, THANKS.

(*accidental typo, but since it was apt, I thought I’d leave it in)

And while we’re here, how about…

Bad Job Adverts #5

Photography assistant in busy studio c.v and photo

I bet their attention to detail is unrivalled.

I’ve decided to run a prize draw during April for people booking summer (and beyond) portrait sessions!

There’s a first Prize of a free 15×12″ framed print from the sitting. Second Prize is free 10×8″ framed print from the sitting. And last but not least, the third prize is the whole sitting fee refunded towards the cost of prints.

If you know anyone who’s thinking of having a portrait sitting done, now might be a good time to book!

Full information is available on the April Prize Draw page.

Had a brilliant shoot today – a half-day with some lovely ladies who’ve launched themselves as a wedding planning and supply company. They have some stunning stationery, cakes, flower arrangements and themed sets. I can’t wait until they’ve built a website so I can link to them. But while we’re waiting, how about a few cakes? First from the brown-themed table…

Then the green table…

The upshot is that I came away with 72 cupcakes (less than half the total number they had brought along) and a big bunch of flowers for H. I managed to pass 36 cakes on to the gardening club who were using the hall after me. I still have 36 to polish off in some manner, though.

The Digital Economy Bill is on the cards in parliament at the moment. They’re hoping to rush it through while there’s the excitement of general election in the air. However, it’s a very dangerous bill.

Firstly, it allows your ISP to disconnect you if they think you’re illegally downloading copyright works. That’s a little harsh, but fair enough.

BUT and it’s a big BUT… it also introduces powers to steal your photos from you. If someone finds your photo and likes it, and can’t trace you through a “diligent search”, they can pay the government a licensing fee and use the photo. Worse than that, even if they can find you, they can opt to go to the government’s licensing board instead of finding out what your fee would have been – pay that fee and it’s theirs to use.

So they’re protecting the copyright of the massive media corporations, while taking a bite of the money that independent media creators could be earning in license fees (for their hard work, I should add – a license fee for usage isn’t free money).

This bill has to be stopped. Seriously. Or at the very least given due debate and consideration in parliament instead of being rushed through.

Full details here.

And 38 degrees has made it simple to write to your MP right here.

This week’s Photo Challenge topic was Old and New. My first plan (actually, I think it was H’s idea) was to stick a SatNav on the dashboard of my stepdad’s 1927 car, but I never seemed to manage to bring the SatNav, the car and the camera together at the same time. Then a thought struck me… I noticed a new logo on a can of Pepsi a few weeks ago (and decided to use a similar one for my blog titles). I had immediately rushed out to buy an old can so that at some point I could have some comparison photos.

That was two or three weeks ago. It seems I didn’t have to rush because when looking for a new-logo can for the challenge, I had to search far and wide. I didn’t realise how few shops sell cans now – it’s all bottles. Then if you find a shop that sells cans, they do Coke but not Pepsi. Then if you find a shop that does sell Pepsi, they still have the old-logo cans.

Eventually, though, I found one.

And that’s all after doing a great corporate photo shoot this morning using no lighting other than a single on-camera flash, along with a big white sheet over a backdrop stand to bounce the flash off… a nice portable 6×6-foot softbox without the problem of trailing wires and bags of kit.