Better Than Being Stuck In A Drawer

Hello all

Another nice little success story to tell you about this morning. I recently had an email out of the blue from an ex-West Dean student, Clare Mansell, who had trekked down all the way from Scotland for the course! Here's what she wrote.....

A success story for you - I woke up this morning to a strange email from someone congratulating me on my picture being used by today's Observer… to cut a VERY long story short, it's a picture I uploaded to Alamy after last year's West Dean course and pretty much forgot all about. I haven't yet seen it in the actual paper, but here is a screenshot of the online version…

Your "better than being stuck in a drawer at home" philosophy certainly worked, I had better pull my finger out now and upload some more!

Clare

Andrew says......Excellent stuff Clare! A great, great shot that is perfect for the story. Had you not uploaded the picture to Alamy, only close family members would have seen it, so this is superb news. Hopefully, you'll get a few bob for it too!

Thanks folks, keep 'em coming.

Andrew

And whoosh, another three months goes by like a rocket. Christmas behind us and the summer’s ahead. I hope everyone is keeping happy.

I’m getting ready for a short course I'll be running soon. It's taking place at West Dean College in May (24th - 27th) and I am really looking forward to it. It’s called Freelance Photography for Journalism and should be fun.

West Dean is one of those charming places that has an atmosphere that just seems to inspire. Last time I taught there, some students who lived nearby came daily, but one or two took the residential option. Yes, you can actually stay in this amazing castle / mansion / country house! The food’s good too!

I’d be grateful if you could spread the good word about the course to any of your friends. here’s the website address.

Meanwhile, here's a stock photo I took in the New Forest a couple of years ago, on another assignment, that The Guardian used this weekend. Yes, I was happy.

Paul's Fireworks

Here's a lovely piece of correspondence I got recently from one of my former students, Paul Adams. Look at the extra detail Paul managed to squeeze out of his picture from the RAW file! Excellent stuff Paul, and thanks for staying in touch!

Dear Andrew

Thanks to you I am getting the hang of this game!

Gear set up and timings tested, I took this image and uploaded it with 3
others to the Portsmouth News within 15 mins of the Gunwharf fireworks show
finishing. Captioned 'Pictures of Gunwharf fireworks 2 Nov 20.00hrs from
above Gosport showing harbour foreground'. Then I phoned the newsdesk who
brought up the images, liked this one and agreed a credit (no money, but
there...) and it was in the paper the next morning at 15x11.5 cm with the
Caption 'Lit up - Paul Adams took this great picture from Rope Quays in
Gosport'.  I did not have the computer with PhotoShop with me so sent the JPEG
straight from camera ... subsequently I have brought out more detail from
the RAW file as in the xxx+.jpg and would have preferred for that to be
published. As it was, mine proved to be a better image than a collection
from their own man in a double page spread of 10 images!

No money but a result, teaching me that the process matters as much, if not
more, than the picture! Next time I will rename the image file to make it
more identifiable.

Thanks for your inspiration!

Kind regards

Paul

Film Stills

A freelance needs to keep his or her net cast as wide as possible these days. I am a great believer in this.

So I recently decided to dip my toes into the world of film and video. I have owned a Nikon D300s for a while now and I figured it was about time I actually learned how to use the video facility.

I made a few test films and, on the strength of those, I got an assignment from Ardingly College, for whom I do quite a bit of photography. They wanted a film concentrating on the school's hockey department, which would hopefully entice a few students to take up the sport and even come from abroad to study and join the team.

It worked, and the school decided to commission another, more wide-ranging, film, this time showing other aspects of the sporting curriculum.

If you decide to give it a go, get yourself really, really familiar with some editing software. I used Adobe Premiere Pro and loved it.

Here is the second film......

It's a dog's, and a ferret's, life

Hello all

More successful photoshoots have come the way of Nigel Goddard, one of our first alumni. This time, he managed to get himself a double page spread in Sussex Life, a splendidly-glossy publication about, er well, Sussex. Fairly obviously.

Even more impressive.....he managed to get paid for it. He didn't tell me how much, but our collective thought processes might persuade him to let us know by leaving a comment below.

Portrait Course Alert!

In response to demand from many of you who have attended one of my freelance photography courses, I am running a one-day portrait course in September.

"Portrait Photography - Breaking The Rules."

It's all well and good taking portraits that follow the rules, but often the most striking portraits are those that actually break the rules.

This one-day course examines some of the rules and will show you how to take great portraits by breaking, or at least bending, the rules.

You will learn how to:

• Experiment with framing and lighting
• Play with the background.
• Break the rules of composition.
• Alter your perspective.
• Introduce movement.

"Portrait Photography - Breaking The Rules" will take place in Brighton on Saturday September 15th.

9.30am - 5pm, lunch is included.

£95.00

Relax with a short film or four.....

Hello everyone

This week, I'd like to welcome on board Clare, Paul, Don, Jenny and Diana; five students who joined me on a residential course at West Dean College, near Chichester in West Sussex, a couple of weeks ago. Also, Lonnie, Nigel, Martin, Mogens and Paul; five students who came to the course at Park Cameras in Burgess Hill a few weeks ago. It was great to teach them and see their undoubted progress. Some of these students nowadays are pretty good, you know.

I hope that they will look back over some of my previous rantings on this blog to get a flavour of what's going on in the modern world of freelance photography.

Today, I'm going to give you some videos to watch, prompted by Judith Ricketts' recent experience of not getting a photo credit and wondering if she might have lost out on future work. These videos demonstrate the way it is today. Don't take them too seriously; it's just satire. Sit back and enjoy (although the last one might be a bit much if you're easily offended).....

Number 1, on why exposure doesn't pay the rent.....

Number 2, a cracking rant on why the artist should be paid (not about photography, but the principle still applies. Bits of swearing in this one).....

Number 3, on the vendor-client relationship. How on earth did it come to this in our industry.....

Number 4, on how the modern print industry views photography (there's quite a bit of swearing in this one, so if you don't want your children to hear it, put headphones on)......

With reference to that last one, there are a few further adventures of Robotog on YouTube, all of them scripted (uncredited, ironically) by the marvellous Graham Trott (www.grahamtrott.com).

I hope you like them! Speak to you all soon I hope. 

Here comes the judge...

Hello everyone

Judith's post prompted someone else to get in touch, so step forward Mr Kim Freeman......

Hi Andrew,

Nice to hear from your blog. I've had a few things happening, two magazine pieces and a greetings card.

The greetings card sale came out of the blue from a publisher that specializes in winter scenes of North London, they found my photo on-line and soon after it was in the new 2011/12 line-up. What's interesting is that I took this photo back in the mid 1980's!

BH Life Magazine front cover: I took this photo in 2010 and had it mind for the magazine. I knew the layout of the cover, so I made sure the composition fitted around the text elements. I had to wait a year before the 2011 winter edition but got it to the editor early and she thought it was perfect. Also the magazine was running a photo competition inside and the editor asked me to judge the winner and runners-up.

Life Begins magazine, British wine feature: I had these photos already so when I heard that this article was being published I put them forward to illustrate the story - very pleased they used all five.

I also carry on posting photos to Alamy.

I hope things are okay with you and it's good to hear news from other students.

Kim

Andrew says.....excellent progress Kim. Keep it up and keep us posted!

Danny Fernandez flying down to Rio....

Following last week's Judith Ricketts post, I was emailed by Danny Fernandez, who some of you might remember was on the course at the same time as Judith. He's the one that flew over from Barcelona especially! I know, I still can't quite believe he did that!

Anyway, here's what he had to say.......

Hey Andrew,

Ive been meaning to mail you, I was in the same course as Judy, and also had a full cover front page and interview for a Barcelona magazine in March (see below), and shortly after the course I won a trip to Brazil where one of my photos was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, in Rio de Janeiro. My pics were also published in a magazine / booklet.

Thanks again for you help!

Dan

P.S. I also had my first paid photoshoots last week, taking product photography and photos for a fashion blogger!

 

Well, Danny, I'm chuffed for you. Great pictures. And a trip to Rio? Fantastic.

Can we have a large round of applause for Danny please?

Here's a good way to do it....

Following the recent post about Judith's front-page picture in The Argus, I was contacted by Nigel Goddard with an interesting take on getting your pictures credited. It's not exactly the same situation, but Nigel has managed to get The Argus to give him some publicity by creating a news story from his work. Clever stuff, and nice pictures. Well done!

Hit and Myth

I was delighted to get an email from former student Judith Ricketts a couple of days ago, letting me know that one of her pictures had made the front page of the Argus here in Brighton. I cannot tell you how pleased and proud I was. Here it is for you all to enjoy......

As you can see, the paper had a ten-page Jubilee picture special and Judith tells me she had a few in there as well, so well done you! Great picture...perfect for the front page.

She mentioned that she had not been given a photo byline, which is a bit disappointing. Apparently, someone had told her she would get a credit, which certainly surprised me. I remember The Argus asking to use some of my pictures for a feature over twenty years ago. I was told that not only would they not pay me, but that it was actually company policy not to credit any non-staff photographers.

This kind of treatment by publishers can be very annoying; it's a nice feeling to see your name next to your photo and, let's face it, credit should be given where it is due. However, I would encourage Judith not to feel bad about this; it will have no impact whatsoever on any future commissions.

I get asked on average once a week if I will give away one of my photos to a publication in exchange for a byline, the implication from these "customers" is that a credit is as good as currency; that if my name is printed next to their free photo, the work will start rolling in. "We can't pay," they usually say, "but we will give you a credit."

The idea that work will naturally follow after a picture byline appears in print is a myth. In almost thirty years it has never, ever happened for me or any other professional photographer with whom I have discussed this issue.

Anyway, enough about that. Judith made the front page and that's all that matters. Congratulations!

Oh, the shame.....

Dear Alumni

I am horrified to learn that I haven't updated my blog since Christmas. If it's any consolation to you, I am currently hanging my head in shame.

However, as quick as a flash, I am now holding my head up proudly. Why? Well, our friend and colleague Patrick Kneath has sent me a link to a great picture story that the Daily Mail ran featuring all his own work. Here's the link.

Patrick did the story as an assignment for Barcroft Media in London and the Mail went all out on the story, using a total of eight pictures, which doesn't happen very often I can tell you, so a massive congratulations to him.

Earning his daily bread....One of Patrick's cracking set of pictures.

Happy Christmas Alumni!

I wish I could tell you that I’ve taken ages to post something new because I’ve been so busy. Freelancing is tough right now for most photographers, and I am no exception. 
Still, it’s Christmas and I wanted to upload some pictures for you to take your mind off the endless playing of Slade and Jona Lewie on the radio. 
These photos show a giant redwood tree standing next to the house at Wakehurst Place, a National Trust property near Haywards Heath. Every year, the tree gets decorated with hundreds of lights and becomes the country’s largest growing Christmas tree. 
I have shot this tree before, but I wanted to do something a little different this year. I kept checking the forecast until a clear, cloudless night came up; I wanted to see stars. I used a facility that I found on my camera called “interval timer shooting”. Have a look and see if your camera has it. 
I was able to set my camera to take a series of twenty-second exposures with a break of twenty seconds between each one. Clever stuff.
After loading all the pictures onto my Mac, I used Dr. Brown’s Stack-a-Matic to lay all the exposures on top of each other to give the star-trails you see in the pictures. There's a link here to Russell Brown's site. He has an interesting vocal style, there's no doubt about that (just watch his videos!), but he is a very interesting guy with some amazing stuff on his site. 
The one at the top is my favourite, and I quite like the one at the bottom, but it was this one that The Guardian used.

 

I also wanted to tell you about a couple of courses that I’ll be running in two locations this year. They are both slight variations on the course that you all successfully went through with me at The Argus building. 

The first is at Park Cameras in Burgess Hill. Details here. 
The second is at West Dean College in June, near Chichester. Here's their website.
If you know anyone who would be interested, send them a link! 
Meanwhile, have a great Christmas! 

You Are Not A Photographer

No, not YOU. You clearly are....that's why you came on the course, right?

However, I came across a site recently that I am sure you'll all enjoy. Then, I want you all to promise that you will never, EVER, produce work that will earn you a place on this, er, prestigious website.

http://youarenotaphotographer.com/

I know I've talked about experimenting (see below) but this stuff is not what I was talking about. Take a look and give yourselves a good laugh.

The Joy Of Six, or Maybe Seven

As I told you all during the course, it’s always worth experimenting. If you get an idea worth pursuing, it’s fun banging off a few extra frames with some kind of wacky exposure or something.

To that end, I think it would be good for you to experiment with panoramas. You might be surprised at the results.

The way to do these, in my opinion (and please let me know if you disagree), is to shoot a series of vertical shots, rather than horizontal ones.

One of the brilliant things about panoramas is the file sizes you end up with; massive files with fabulous quality and fine detail.

After I have processed my RAWs into JPGs or TIFFs, I use the Photoshop command “Photomerge” in its automatic function. I then correct any problems with the horizon and play around with the sky until I’m happy.

That is obviously a condensed version of what I actually do. I can run a class if you like!

Normally I use a wide-angle for these shots, ending up with a sort-of-but-not-quite-fish-eye effect, like this.

I was recently in the Pacific Northwest region of the US, staying with family, watching ships glide gracefully past me on the Columbia River when I thought I’d have a go with a long lens instead.

I used a 70-200mm and shot seven vertical frames. I didn’t have a tripod with me, so I just shot and hoped for the best. I am pretty happy with the result.

Go on, give it a go yourselves. It's fun and, as with all these kind of things, you will always learn something, even if it's not what you were expecting, or even wanting, to learn.

Would you like a Flake with that?

Alumni from the first course are now trying to outdo each other with front covers, I am delighted to announce. More power to their sharp elbows, I say! Following on from Nigel's "Horse and Hound" triumph, here's Patrick's response....

Here's a front cover of this month's Kemp Town Rag (not as prestigious as Horse and Hound though!). A client has opened a Gelateria in Kemp Town. As per usual there was NO brief until I got there! He wanted some shots of the shop and something to go on the front cover as he had just opened and also wanted an article in the magazine. Had to work fast as the shop was open and there were customers coming in and out all the time....nothing like winging it!

 

Exactly. Winging it can be exhilarating, especially when you manage to pull it off so stylishly. It's exciting, not daunting. No brief? No problem. Make sure you cover all bases, which you clearly have, and everyone ends up happy. Well done Patrick.

Up front with Nigel Goddard

I had a nice little email this week from Nigel Goddard, who was on our first course....

"When I left your course, I said that it was an objective to get a cover with Horse and Hound magazine.


Last week I went to Luhmuhlen in Germany for the European Eventing Championships and as an accredited photographer I used the press facilities fully for the first time. I sent several photos during the event to Horse and Hound on-spec and when I arrived back in the UK last Monday I received an email from the Picture Editor who said "Really excellent shots you sent us, nicely captioned and I'm really pleased you got the cover."


All credit to your course and how to take shots and present photos to editors. I am now looking for more Horse and Hound covers!


Nigel"


Andrew writes.....Well done Nigel, I feel myself bursting with pride here. That is really something brilliant and I am delighted for you. Did I say well done? Let's have a look at Nigel's front cover shall we? Fantastic.

Andrew's Working Stories, number 6

This week's edition of The Times' Bricks & Mortar property supplement features my pictures on the cover story. Here's how that sort of thing happens.

The story was about the renovation of a terrible-condition one-bedroom flat in Hove, which is now a stylish and beautifully-refurbished weekend bolt-hole by the coast.

The brief asked for "bright, engaging pictures of the couple in their beautiful flat. Can we also have exterior and interior shots of the flat without the couple so that we have a range of portrait and landscape shots. Bear in mind space for headline and coverlines."

I often like to telephone the people involved the day before. Its good to introduce yourself beforehand and chat for a while. I also usually explain to people the difficulties that can be caused if they wear all-black or all-white. Basically, it doesn't reproduce very well in newspapers and some magazines.

Ricky, the chap in the picture sounded like a great guy on the phone but he laughed and told me that everything in partner Jemma's wardrobe is black. Oh dear.

The flat itself was very impressive and the couple were lovely. Jemma was indeed wearing an ankle-length black dress and black jacket but as I looked around, I realised that the whole flat was either black or white. Black floor with white walls in the living room and black walls with white fittings in the bathroom. Double oh dear.

For the shot of the couple in their bay window, I did a few test shots without them first. I didn't want the exterior to be too over-exposed, nor the floor too under-exposed. I positioned them so that their shape stood out against the background and, it's a small thing this but really important, I asked Jemma to put the weight on her right side and show her left foot. Why? Well, the only bit of colour she was wearing was her purple shoes. If I could see that shoe it would separate her from the black floor.

The bathroom shot was tough too, as it's a small room. I used a 12mm lens and took four vertical shots which I stitched together in Photoshop to give a fish-eye effect. I lit it with a diffused, bounced flash. With that whole black-and-white thing going on, I really had no choice. Still, this had the fortunate side-effect of lighting the ceiling which, in turn, showed the shape of the mirror. Result!

The cover? Well, the flat in question is the one directly underneath the letter 'M' of Mortar. It's at a jaunty angle to disguise the scaffolding covering the building next door. The couple are lit by a fill-flash to show a bit of detail in the clothing and reduce shadows in the faces.

The paper used a total of three shots (plus one collect and an alternate verion of the cover shot for the website). I had submitted fifty pictures which might seem a lot, but have a look at that brief again and you'll see why.

Update from one of your VERY grateful students!

Hi Andrew

Loved the camera review and thank you for not going too "teccie and part numbers on us". Looks a cool bit of kit that. Your images are really cracking. Did you manage to sell any?

Couple of pieces that I have done recently - Ovingdean Hall College Brochure - Not all the pictures are mine, they have used stock images, but front and back cover and around the grounds and the student shots are all mine. They have also used the images on their website. I have attached a pdf.

Also I photographed the front cover of this weeks issue for Latest 7, together with the Kids review images which head up the editorial. (Not the girl in the pink jumper).The children are my boys. Charlie also wrote a food/restaurant review - they are his own words - so at 8 yrs old he has been published and on a Front Cover.

Just as a note to all your students - the amount of knowledge that I gained just in the 4 days I was on the course has really helped my awareness of what sells. My "photographic eye" is getting better and going out being pro-active and snapping loads.

Patrick Kneath

Fantastic stuff, Patrick! Really, really good.

Fellow students, this really is Patrick grabbing the bull by the horns. I have no wish to be patronising, but Patrick has clearly started to "see" the picture on the page before he actually takes it. That "Latest" cover shot is the kind of thing that sub-editors love.....There's plenty of room to overlay copy and the picture itself has pretty much written its own headline. The Ovingdean Hall shot is, I imagine, exactly what his client wanted; happy, smiling faces of young people from all over the world..........all laughing at the photographer lying on his back on a gravel driveway!

Reading between the lines, here is what I am picking up......

1. He's putting himself out there, finding new clients.
2. He's shooting pictures all the time and therefore getting to know his equipment.

Put those two together and you will get better. As you get better, you will find more and more people willing to pay for your services.

His confidence and skill grows and grows and long may it continue. It should be an inspiration to us all.
 

New camera for Glastonbury

I’ve just got back from Glastonbury and have finally got rid of all the mud in what’s left of my hair.

Before I went, I bought a new camera to take with me, a Panasonic LX5. Now, I’m not normally a techie kind of bloke; I don’t sit around discussing f-stops and lenses and resolution. The last time I was asked how many megapixels one of my Nikons had, I had no idea. I still don’t.

However, this camera has impressed me like no other, so I’m going to write a little bit about why, and show you some examples of stuff I shot at Glastonbury with it.

The last pocket camera I had was a Ricoh GX100, which I ended up hating. Sometimes it just refused to take a picture for no real reason. The flash was utterly inconsistent, the colours were weak and the digital noise was crazy. If that’s tempted you, it’s going on eBay next week. I think I might re-word the sales pitch though.

So, I got the Panasonic. Google told me that this is actually the exact same camera as the Leica D-Lux 5, with one minor difference and one major difference. The minor one is that the Panasonic has a slightly different shape to the body, with a curved handgrip in front. No big deal. The major difference is the price. The Panasonic retails for about £450. The Leica, however, is about £200 more. That’s a lot of money to pay for a nice little red badge.

Before I went off to the mudfest in Somerset, I spent a week or so playing around with it, just testing as many options as possible. I wanted to be really familiar with it, so that I would be able to react quickly.

I realise that for many people, the word Glastonbury is the very definition of hell on earth, but myself and my family love it, even when it's wet and muddy. I wanted good pictures, but if I wasn't actually working, I didn't want to lug around my Nikons. This Panasonic appeared to be the perfect compromise.

I need a pocket camera that can do several things. It must be able to shoot RAW files, it must have a manual setting and an accurate flash. I need it to feel solid and I need the digital noise to be minimal. This camera does that and loads more stuff, all too technical and dull to go into.

I’m going to shut up and let the pictures speak for themselves. Now, these were all shot in the RAW format and there has been some post-processing; they didn’t just pop out of the camera looking this way. But they are an accurate representation of what I saw at the time and this brilliant camera was able to deliver the goods. I am a happy customer.

P.S. I shot them all in the 16:9 format as I like this shape. It's especially good for audio slideshows on a widescreen TV.

 

 

I have included the last two to show just how well the camera can cope with low-light levels. Both were shot at ISO800. The one of the chap in the hat was shot in almost pitch darkness, balancing the camera on my knees for a quarter of a second.