Beyond the obvious

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...

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 b...

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

Street musician, France Photographers can get their work seen by thousands of people across the world and receive instant feedback on their images. A socially popular photographer can reach a larger audience on the internet than a major printed magazine. But what is the real value in that to the individual artist? I watched a French street musician performing (see pic), putting his heart and soul into every song. He was doing classic Edith Piaf. He stood in the street between two restaurants, moving from one terrace to the other, focusing his attention on individual tables for 15-30 seconds at a time during the song, working the largest audience possible. Some people looked up appreciatively, nodding, while others did their best to ignore him, perhaps afraid that if they did look at him they would be morally obliged to give him money for his efforts. It struck me that this man had to earn his living by performing so well that people were prepared to pay for his art there ...

Belgian sculptor Willem Vermandere talks about his work at the opening of his exhibition in Poperinge, 31 March 2010. I wanted to capture the atmosphere and not to disturb the event with flashes going off all the time; so I used available light (gallery spots). It was a challenge as Willem can be quite animated and he was moving in and out of the light all the time. Trying to get everything together, expression, the moment and the light wasn't easy. Multi-talented artist, Willem also gave a speech and played his bass clarinet. Till soon, Paul www.indigo2photography.co.uk

To me photography is all about speaking with light to tell the world about the reality I discover in a person, place or subject. I seek truth and authenticity because these are the only things really worth pursuing. Without integrity there can be no love and without love there is no passion. My images are gifts to you. Perhaps they will make you smile, feel warm inside, nod as you recognise something real. Some of my images may not touch you. But my hope is that I will make an image that does move you, that does touch you and shows you something more than you expected from a mere photograph. Till soon, Paul www.indigo2photography.co.uk

Take this to the bank. A good freelance photographer can make all the difference between getting a press release published and having it disappear forever at the click of an editor's delete button. Why? Because the photograph that accompanies a press release often determines whether the story gets published. "A good freelancer is worth his/her weight in gold to a company. When we look at press releases the photograph is often the deciding factor whether we publish a story. We 're always looking for good pictures for the newspaper. That's where it starts. Sometimes a story which is not as strong may be chosen because there's a good picture. And once we have a good image in the library we may use it again for another story at a later date," I was told by the deputy business editor of a large newspaper. And he's the guy that makes that decision. Keep it or delete it. He fails to understand how time and again companies send in press releases ...

I had no idea when I was making this portrait, that Mrs M only had eight days to live before she passed peacefully at the retirement home. She had a full life and was one of the pioneering Belgian woman photographers, specialising in social photography. She used a large format, bellows camera. While I made the portrait we chatted happily about the changes in photography. Her hair was in slight disarray but she would not let her son touch it, leaving the sea breeze to play with the strands. That's how she was. At the moment I took the image she was staring out to sea, seeming to look past her mortal existence. When I look at this image and think of that sunny afternoon it touches me. I hope it moves you too. Photography is all about light and time - that particular, never-to-return moment we freeze forever in a picture of light that becomes an 'aide-mémoire' . Till soon, Paul www.indigo2photography.co.uk

Book covers featuring photographs by Magda Indigo. Click on the image to see the large version. Today publisher Harper Collins officially launched three books, Romeo & Juliet, Pride & Prejudice and Wuthering Heights, all featuring book cover photographs by Magda Indigo (aka my dear wife). Needless to say I'm rather proud that her images were chosen for these classic novels. In the last three months Magda's images have been chosen for seven different books by a variety of international publishers. With the quality of her work she deserves every success in my opinion, and it seems that some pretty renowned art directors in the book publishing industry agree. Anyway I wanted to share this little bit of news with you and take the opportunity to brag about my favourite photographer, who I just happen to be married to. If you'd like to see more of her work head over to our website www.indigo2photography.co.uk and there are links from her portfolio page to a lot of her...

Taking the plunge. It's good to know that some of the best things in life are still free. Free Linux software, digiKam was used to tweak the above image and prepare it for upload. Free photo software that delivers image results as good as you get from Photoshop or any of the other paid for packages. Sounds too good to be true. Well I have been researching the possibilities here's what I found for the cash strapped photographer. Very topical, I'm sure you will agree. The image above of the Sand Piper was processed using digiKam, UFRaw and Gimp. My mission started two weeks ago when my shiny powerful PC had a hardware malfunction over the weekend. Our other PC was being put to full use so I hauled out my old laptop, 2003 vintage. It worked but was very slow despite a Gig of RAM. It had software driver conflicts and all sorts that needed sorting out. I got more and more frustrated with Windows. Suddenly I had a light bulb moment. It had been a while since I looked at Linux a...

Everyone has to find their own way of seeing the world. I photographed this youngster at a Brass Band festival in Delph, a small village in England. How do photographers get those great shots? Most writers focus on the obvious answers like photographic technique – composition, lighting and enhancing images in the digital darkroom. Obviously these are important but there's something perhaps even more important that barely gets a mention. So let me a share a few 'secrets' about getting 'once in a lifetime' images again and again. It all comes down to luck. You were there and everything fell into place perfectly, just at that moment just as you pushed the shutter button. Look at many of the astounding photographs of our time and what do you think? Yes, that photographer was darn lucky to be there at that moment. Why are some photographers luckier than others? Well there may be an element of pure chance but on the other hand there are several strategies you can use to i...