Flamenco story video

See and hear the Flamenco photo story action. And turn up the volume!

In my previous post I described the photographic technique I used and how we came to shoot this story on a world famous Flamenco dance school. There was a lot of interest in the blog post so, using Magda's Indigo's behind the scenes video footage I made this short film (3.45minutes).

You'll get a much better understanding of the lighting conditions and circumstances we were working in, and we have have included some of the still images from the story so you can see how I interpreted the scene and the results.

In all the whole shoot lasted about 60 minutes. We used minimal equipment (see previous blog post).

Hope you enjoy our film. Please let me know what you think of the images too. If you'd like to see the higher resolution versions you can view them on my portfolio of Flamenco photographs.

Till soon,
Paul
www.indigo2photography.co.uk

Shooting the Flamenco photo story

Flamenco is full of passion and fire.

When these dancers tap out there vibrant rhythms the floor shakes. As you watch your heart beats faster, your temperature rises and energy courses through your veins. The dancers work incredibly hard. You'll see that in the images.

We were fortunate enough to photograph an advanced dance class at one of the world's best Flamenco schools. Please take a moment to view the selected images from my photo-story. When the image opens you can click the i to see the accompanying text. Here are most of the same images on Flickr too.

For those interested in the technical side, I used one flash, bounced on the white walls and 'dragged' the shutter to achieve a balance with the ambient light (which was mainly terrible overhead florescent). It was a real challenge. For the most part I used a 50mm lens. The wider shots were done with the 17-40mm on my Canon 5D. I did not use burst mode. It's too random and you miss vital moments - far better to anticipate and capture the perfect moment in one shot.

Thank you in advance to those that share this post and take the time to comment.

Till soon,
Paul

www.indigo2photography.co.uk

The making of a photograph

A porter reaches back to help another as they struggle to carry their burdens up into the city, Istanbul, Turkey.

It strikes me that photo enthusiasts are often more interested in the equipment used to take a photograph and the settings as if somehow that knowledge will help them create images like the ones they admire.

On the other hand art critics look at images as the starting point for an interpretation. They often give images a meaning far beyond what was in the photographers mind at the time of making the image.

Professional photographers on the other hand look at images and think about how they would have tackled the same situation to get the shot. They are less concerned with the equipment or the interpretation and more interested in the practical decision making involved and the point of view, both physical and interpretive, of the photographer.
 
Over the years the image above has become quite symbolic to me. Each man carries a burden through life and sometimes everyone needs a little help to take the next step. My understanding of the image I shot on that day has evolved. Here's how the actual moment of capture happened...


One day when I was a young photojournalist student, I was walking near the harbour in Istanbul when I saw a row of men with heavy barrels on their backs. They were crossing the road and as each man crossed the one in front turned around to help the man behind him up onto the pavement. It immediately struck me as an iconic and symbolic moment.

I had my SLR, loaded with Ilford HP 5 film, hence the grainy print, and an 80-200mm lens. I was a long way off and had to run flat out to get close enough for a shot at 200mm. By the time I was in range I could only manage to shoot one frame of the last two men in the row. Weeks later when I got home and developed the negative I realised I'd captured something special. The image has been in my portfolio ever since and reaction from viewers has always been good. Generally people 'get it'.

The thing that interests me now though is that over time the power and meaning of the image has grown.

More soon...
Paul
www.indigo2photography.co.uk

Celebrating real photography

Therese in front of her souvenier shop in Bruges. She has been there for almost 50 years. Nothing much changed in her shop in all that time. This year she is retiring.

I've been thinking about writing this blog for quite some time now. It's not easy. I could take a critical line like I did in my blog post about the photographs I hate looking at (and why) but instead I decided on a more positive approach, so this post is in praise of all those photographers who respect and celebrate the relationship photography has with reality, truth and photographic 'seeing'.

Arguably the real value and power of photography is in showing the world as we actually see it. Photojournalism has a strict code of ethics forbidding altering an image substantially. This has to be adhered to because if it were not then a photojournalist's images would be worthless. Likewise individuals taking family snapshots, or local photographers recording daily life as we see it make images that become valuable records of our world today.

These are the photographers and images that I want to praise and that I think are really important and interesting. The passing of time will add to their value.

Now consider the real value of so many of the popular images we see all over the internet. I really do not understand why these 'fad' pictures attract so much attention. What do I mean?

• Portraits of people with airbrushed skin (plastic looking) with bright white teeth and glowing eyeballs
• Bad cartoonish HDR 
• Over saturated  landscapes that look like they were taken on another planet 
• Pseudo 'artistic' often blurred pictures with scratch effects and filters that do everything they can to NOT look like a photograph

I could go on but I'm sure you get my drift. If anyone could explain the value of these images to me I would be very interested. Ah, perhaps they are art. But isn't real art supposed to be powerful, interesting and a reflection of the human condition. Surely applying a filter in Photoshop does not equate to making art, especially when a 100,000 other budding photographic artists have also downloaded and applied the same filter and pushed a few sliders about.

In the above I do NOT include the great digital artists out there that incorporate photographic imagery in their work and blend perfect visualisation of a powerful image with immaculate technique. But these are few and far between. Ironically one thing these digital artists often have in common is that the strength of their work lies in making a visual construct that looks incredible, precisely because it appears so real. They pay attention to every detail, the way light falls, shadows... all to fool you brain into thinking the impossible construct really did exist.

Again it comes down to the true strength of photography being its relationship to reality, the truth and what we actually see in the world around us. So I ask again; why on earth are all these awful, unrealistic messed up images so popular?

To all the photographers out there who enjoy capturing the real world, I urge you to keep up the important work of showing things, places and people as we see really see them in the great tradition of photography.

Ciao,
Paul
www.indigo2photography.co.uk

My social media strategy

I find myself spread very thinly across all the different social media sites. There are simply not enough hours in the day to keep up. So for now I've decided on the following strategy:

Google + is my new social media hub (home) where I publish photo stories, images and news.

My photographic portfolio, about me and the centre of my online universe is www.indigo2photography.co.uk

My blog, which you're reading now is where I write my more indepth views on life and photography.

Twitter is good place to catch up with what I am posting and sharing at that moment

My Facebook page is the place where I'll post links that interest me and I want to share.

I am aware this strategy is tricky because the golden rule of social media is to go where your audience is, so I may have to review this.

What is your social media strategy?

See you,
Paul

*******************************************************Web-site www.indigo2photography.co.uk
Twitter: paul_indigo
Facebook: Paul Indigo
Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/paul.indigo
Google+: Paul Indigo
Flickr: paulindigo

Saturation slider test

The saturation slider test (click to open large version)

I've devised a fun self help test for photographers. Where do you put your saturation slider.

By the way Dictionary.com defines kitsch as "something of tawdry design, appearance, or content created to appeal to popular or undiscriminating taste."

This post is intended to be a playful jibe, humorous and I know that I've definitely pushed my saturation slider too far to the right (and left) in the past LOL.

Till soon,

Paul

Web-site www.indigo2photography.co.uk

*******************************************************

Twitter: paul_indigo

Facebook: Paul Indigo

Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/paul.indigo

Google+: Paul Indigo

Flickr: paulindigo

Suzanne 1919-2011

Suzanne 1919-2011, originally uploaded by paul indigo.

Known to family and friends as Marraine, Suzanne was always happy to pose for a portrait. Over the years I made a number of images, both posed and candid of her. She always had a kind word, a smile and a laugh to share.

In 2010 I gave her a print of this portrait and when she saw it she thanked me with a tear in her eye. It moved her. A wonderful moment and one I will never forget.

Sadly she passed away on 8 November 2011 at the age of 92. She will be missed.