Thorsten Overgaard Photo Seminar
I attended my 5th Thorsten Overgaard seminar in London over the weekend of 4 Sept 2011. I’ve now attended 2 in London, one in Berlin, one in New York and one in Sweden.
Here’s some of my images from it.
There’s several reasons why I, as a working photographer, keep coming back.
One of the things is that Thorsten has been a mentor of mine for many years and he has so much photography wisdom to give.
He also manages to attract a cool group of people at any seminar. Professional people who want to learn about photography, from all over the world, and usually with their Leica in tow. I’m always shooting with my Nikon but it’s OK.
It’s a weekend of theory, chats, dinner, and most importantly shooting on the street. I don’t shoot on the street enough, and to be pushed into it always creates interesting results.
Thorsten does these all around the world, you can see more info here. I always leave the seminar with renewed inspiration and creative drive.
My UK Studio
I took the plunge. I did the deed. I’ve put together a studio. And I’m ready to photograph you in it.
About 10 days ago, I decided that there was a better place for my equipment than to gather dust beneath the stairs.
Things came together pretty quickly, and yesterday I shook hands on the space. I’ll be using it until at least mid October. Located 50 minutes outside of central London, the studio was set up in an old, large, rustic barn, all set on beautiful farmland. It’s a serene spot away from the city, it’s got horses, fields, forest and all sorts of other features. It’s perfect.
The shoots I’ve already used the studio for are still in post production, so instead I called upon my friends/sometime assistants Mia & Raph to pose for me. These are some behind the scenes images (with the end result) to show it off.
I’m excited to have a space that I can use for nothing but creating photos. I will be shooting creative work, publicity stills, the odd headshot and will have some celebrities down for some sittings.
The whole point, of course, is to create beautiful portraiture.
The thing that really makes it special is that I have natural light when I want it. And, I can leave the studio itself in the shot. It doesn’t detract from the image.
I want to explore what can be done in terms of portraiture. I want to get a variety of personalities and really push myself and my subjects to create timeless images.
You can book your shoot now.
Just send me an email via the contact menu or comment below, I’ll get in touch.
One World One Photo – the power of Twitter
Oh, the marvels of Twitter. I’ve professed my love for the micro-blogging service on several occasions and have turned many people into addicts. Twitter connects me with people that I would otherwise not connect with, in a way that is somewhat impersonal yet personable at the same time. A few weeks ago I was tweeted by a student of Fine Art at Birmingham School of Art who pitched his ‘One World One Photo‘ Project.
Connar O’Keeffe somehow managed to cut through the clutter of tweets and I sent him one of my images from the ‘Mumbai – City of Colours’ series I shot over a year ago. It’s an image from the Bycula East Slum of Mumbai and it’s one of my most licensed images. He turned it and other art into a neat project and I think it looks great in printed form. Connar’s idea brought a bunch of photographers and artists together, that can only be a good thing. This is his description of the concept:
“The project ‘One World One Photo’ is intended to be ‘The Worlds Biggest Art Collaboration’ allowing anyone from any discipline to join in, formally trained in the arts or not. Participants are invited to submit a favourite piece of art work made by them whether it is a photograph, painting, sculpture or film still.
So far the 48 images in the collection range from Photographs and paintings to sculptures and sketches. The project has gathered images from all around the British Isles and has spread as far as Sydney, Mumbai and Las Vegas.
The book is a collation of 48 images – ’One World One Photo’. It contains images from professional photographers, fine artists, students and many more. One World One Photo is not just a one off, it is intended to grow and develop, with the hope of reaching every continent and every country in the world.”
Snow Day 3 – Night and Day
I was scheduled to have a bunch of meeting in the West End (London) but the heaviest snow in over 30 years has now turned into the heaviest ice in 30 years and is causing even more travel havoc. So instead I stayed home and again ventured out into the snow, only this time I had the sunshine I had so wished for. I even managed to get some great blue highlights in the sky long after the sun had set. The shots today are certainly a lot more cheerful.
Even though we are forecast to have the coldest night so far, I’d like just a little more snow overnight, I could do with one more day of fresh snow. Then let it melt away, I’m ready for spring.
We'll start today with a couple of images from my neighbourhood playground. Notice how the rust from the railings reflects red in the snow. I didn't see that until I got the image off the camera and onto the computer screen. Sometimes the camera picks up things the eye doesn't.
I hadn't photographed the playground before, I considered it boring. The snow made me look at my surroundings like I never had before. I suppose these aren't really snow photos as much as just photos of my local area, which until now I had considered to be fairly boring.
Telegraph pole with gravity-defying snow. This was taken during the day.
This is that same telegraph pole, taken after dark. Notice how the light of the sky could almost be daylight, but the yellow colour cast by the streetlight gives it away.
A peculiar place to keep one's boots, perched atop a snowman.
I convinced my sister to come out and do some dancing in the snow. I shot with a speedlight from the right to balance out the sunlight, which was coming from the left. She wore her point shoes and we threw together the styling in a couple of minutes and ran out into the snow. She froze half to death but did a great job nonetheless.
Walking back from the shoot.
This is what I was talking about - the snow becomes breathtakingly beautiful as soon as there's a bit of sun.
Nighttime crept in to give us interesting light. Even with a manual white balance reading, I still found that the image improved if I took some of the blue out. I guess it has something to do with the way the snow reflects and refracts light.
Check out the blue in the sky. You can't see it with the naked eye, but at a relatively low shutter speed and high ISO, you get amazing detail. This was taken handheld.
Last image for today - these traffic thingies just don't give up.
If you liked this, you might want to have a look at my portfolio.
Snow day 2
I walked for a couple of hours in the snow today. I was looking for something that would suit a fashionish shoot and realized a couple of things in the process.
Snow, to look real killer, has got to be photographed in combination with the sun. There’s no hope while it’s still snowing, because the sky is so grey and drab. I just about got away with it under the canopy of the trees, but I fear the only real result will come when there’s a clear, bright day. I hope the snow sticks around for that day!
If you didn’t see the previous post, it’s here
Roads are a popular subject. Luckily the brown slush didn't show up so much. The light under a canopy of trees is acceptable.
Likewise, some framing will make or break a photo. I love old victorian architecture like this.
The only sensible (or not) way to get around, he was having a blast and even offered to pose for pictures. I declined the offer.
Check Mate Mini with a hat!
If I can make it, I’ll be in London tomorrow, let’s see what that brings.
Midnight Snow / Night-Vision
It’s not all about exotic locations and fashion (see previous blog posts), today at around 10pm it started snowing heavily. I threw on some layers and ventured into the (almost) untouched snow.
Modern Camera technology blows my mind, I did use a tripod but none of these shots really needed it. Snow is like no other lighting condition. The sky is lit up somehow, I suppose snow is the ultimate diffuser. These shots were taken 15 minutes before midnight, they seem to have some weird light sources.
I love the way the streetlights really glow, they are amplified by the snow falling around them. At the top left there's a red glow, that's from the centre of my town, I guess they use very warm lights there.
The lines of the cars, they make my eyes follow the road. In this country you can stand in the middle of the road in a snowstorm, no-one dares to get in their car to drive.
You just walk, with an umbrella.
Where is all this light coming from. Everything is lit up, from the streetlights and the light pollution from my local town. I love the 'spread of light'. If you wanted this much light on the trees, the bridge the sky, you'd have major issues with blow-out from the street lamps, but snow makes it somehow work.
And if you get up close, the details come out just right.
Fashion is the first victim when the weather turns 'bad'. She borrowed an old warm turquoise raincoat, wore tracksuit bottoms and furry boots, a mumble-jumble of an outfit, but who cares, you can sit in the middle of the road without a care in the world.
Tomorrow I’m gonna see if I can shoot something fashion oriented. Have to find a suitable model who’s happy to freeze for the sake of the art.
Disposable Camera – Wakeboarding
Stepping it up a notch from the last time I posted disposable pictures. This time with a twist. With the help of Adam from Brighton Watersports I was able to get some ‘alternate’ angles. Shooting only from the boat gets old fast. I love the raw, rough and ready look you get and there’s something special about bringing film to the lab, not knowing what the results will be.
As usual, just click on the photo to advance to the next one.
Shooting with a disposable camera
With the advent of summer and my foray into watersports, I’ve taken to shooting with a waterproof disposable camera. I fall into the water far too frequently to take my DSLR anywhere near water.
There is something quite magical about purchasing a cheapo camera, snapping 27 exposures and taking them to the lab to get processed. The excitement we used to feel at getting film developed (or even finding an old roll of film somewhere) has all but disappeared with the digital revolution.
On my recent trip to Cambersands beach in the South of England, we took a batch of such photos. See the results below. Note the authentic ‘wrist-strap in front of lens’ look in a couple of these.