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Building books and the tangible truth

October 22, 2012
Afghanistan, Military work, Opinion, Portraits
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If there is one aspect of digital photography and the internet that I don’t like it is simply the lack of necessity to print your images.

There is nothing quite like a decent print, and trust me it is never simply a case of hitting the print button.  So in the last six months or so I have been responsible for producing 4 photographic books, and all I can say is wow.  Although the books have been limited run or one offs, the sense of achievement you get after all the work of putting them together and handling it is second to none.

I now have the printed book bug.

A reflective image is so different from a back lit image, that seeing your images feels like seeing it again for the first time.

There are some amazing companies out there that can produce these books and some of the software you can use to complete the books are very straight forward.  All I would say is don’t feel the need to over complicate the layout.

Photo books should ideally, in my humble opinion, be about an image at a time, although that is not always possible.  There is certainly a skill in putting a book together and I feel myself getting better each time.  There is a lot of work, in particular when you are trying to include other contributors.

Another important effort is to do your best to create a narrative, to make the images inter connect and flow from one to the other and at times, even if you have a cracking image that misses the narrative, do not shoehorn it into the book just out of hand.  If you need to add another section to the book to fit it in, then try but be your own worst critic.

The end result is worth it though.

Finding the time, a photographers lot

October 19, 2012
Development, Portraits
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Well many of you may be aware the last few weeks have been a blur, but a happy one.  Now I am starting to move on and as a photographer, there is always a difficulty balancing the work with real life.  Any working photographer lives and breathes photography, and I find it gets worse the longer I go on.  Understanding light is probably the hardest thing with photography and it takes time.  There are no shortcuts here and learning to identify and use light is something every photographer constantly works with.

As I understand light more and more, I see opportunity and inspiration.  I suppose it feels a little bit like staring at the screen on ‘The Matrix’, you just start to see photographs everywhere.  That said seeing images and capturing images are two completely different things though the more I see light and its subtleties I base it on images I have taken.

Now I like working in the studio with controlled light.  There is a sense that anything is possible, if you can just control it as you need.  I really love photographing people but the most difficult part is ‘the people’, getting them to do what you want, no, need them to do.  A sitter does not have any idea what is going on in my head (probably a good thing), and I am working towards an end product that nestles in the outer reaches of my muddled head.

There is no substitute for working with people, it really is the only way you get to know the craft of lighting.  I can play with new ideas on an inanimate object but translating that to people is something that can only be done with people……

….and no two people are the same.

So there we have it, this post is no more than a plug, I need you to improve and you need me to take your portrait, so there you go, no excuses any more…

And here is to the weekend, all good in moderation.