Beyond the obvious

View from the ferry leaving Calais in France. You probably thought I'd disappeared. Yep, it's been a while since I updated my blog. Longer than a week anyway, which is a record for me. So what have I been up to? Well the usual pressures of work but I've also got ever so slightly addicted to Flickr. You can check out my profile here . Magda (wife and fellow photographer) and I have launched a group too which within 48 hours had over 165 members, which I think is pretty good. Best of all it's a great bunch of people. The launch has proved time consuming though but well worthwhile. I keep encountering friends and acquaintances on Flickr. It seems the whole world is on there! I'm amazed. I've tried several other upload and photo sharing sites in my time but none have had the scope of Flickr. There are critics of the site. Typically the problems revolve around censorship and images being stolen by unscrupulous people and companies. Ah nothing is plain sailing unfo...

This gentleman agreed to pose for me. He wanted to know whether my camera was digital or film. He said he would pose if it was digital but not if it was film. I am not sure exactly what his reasons were. He was patient and followed my directions on where to stand. Several photographers have asked me how I get people to pose for me. Rather than repeating myself I'd like to refer you to an article I wrote back in May 2005. I hope it helps you and as always your comments are gratefully received. Cheers, Paul www.indigo2photography.co.uk

This image of a young lady, taken in Leeds, UK, is from a series of street portraits which I'm working on at the moment. The aim is to produce a series of powerful street portraits that immediately connect with the viewer's emotions on a deeper level. I'm continually amazed by how generous people are with their time, agreeing to pose for me on the street. This young lady was no exception. Cheers, Paul

The above images are from my gull portraits series. Both images have a strong sense of eye contact with the photographer (me). The gulls hung around and I had a sense of connecting to them. They were definitely aware of me and as they hovered in the breeze I had a sense they were posing (yeah I know it sounds weird ). I've come to realise that in a sense all of my photography is about making portraits. The strict definition is a likeness of a person. But the Roget's Thesaurus expands on this: Main Entry: portrait Part of Speech: noun Definition: representation Synonyms: account, characterization, depiction, description, figure, image, likeness, model, painting, photograph, picture, portraiture, portrayal, profile, silhouette, simulacrum, sketch, snapshot, vignette (Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition) Most of my images are portraits, in other words a representation, depiction, description, account or characterisation of the subject. I supp...

If you look at the great masters of photography and their images, many of which have become iconic, you see that there is a distinct gap between text book perfection and what they've produced. Most great pictures that touch our hearts have technical flaws. The technically perfect advertising shots will never have this kind of power and impact on humanity. There are so many examples I don't know where to begin. Look at Robert Capa's shots of the Normandy landing. Grainy, blurred, scratched (the negatives were trodden on in the darkroom during development) and yet all of that somehow contributes to their impact. Even top modern photographers like the legendary Annie Liebowitz get away with publishing pictures which would be severely criticised or ignored by the masses of photographers critiquing each other's work on the Internet. For example in Annie's book, Woman , there are a number of portraits which are not perfectly sharp (the greatest sin that can be committed a...

Spotted by Magda and friend Marleen who became aware of me taking a candid shot of them as they as were chatting in the street. David Toyne has written an informative piece on the recent verdict in the British courts which supports the freedom of street photographers to take candid pictures of people in public places. Read the full story here . Cheers, Paul www.indigo2photography.co.uk