Beyond the obvious

 Photography is more than just capturing moments; it's about telling stories, evoking emotions, and portraying the world through the lens's perspective. At the heart of our creative endeavour lies an essential trait: curiosity. This picture shows a man peering through a window cut in the wall of a hoarding around a construction site. He was fascinated by the activity, and I was fascinated by his curious gaze. Curiosity fuels the photographer's journey, propelling us to explore the world with fresh eyes and an insatiable appetite for discovery. Creativity:  Curiosity is the cornerstone of creativity. It compels photographers to push boundaries, experiment with new techniques, and step out of their comfort zones. Photographers can unlock their creative potential and produce remarkable work by embracing curiosity. Storytelling:  Every photograph has a story to tell, and curiosity is the key to uncovering these narratives. Whether delving into a location's history, connecti...

Have you ever asked yourself why you photograph? It's a question that can be answered with a simple one-sentence answer until you start delving deeper. The answer then becomes increasingly complex and challenging to unravel. I've again undertaken this journey recently, and my answer is below. Portrait of Paul Indigo by Magda Indigo. Thanks Magda! I also reviewed my images over the last ten-plus years, selected 30 of my favourite photos, and compiled them into a slide show. This was a challenging task. My favourites change by the day, probably by the minute. Still, eventually, I got to a selection I titled "That's Life." Please click through to YouTube to view the full screen. My approach to people and landscape photography is characterised by a distinctive blend of documentary and fine art techniques. I aim to create images that are both deeply personal and universally relatable. Through portraiture, I strive to showcase the broad spectrum of human experience. I a...

  Portrait of Willem Vermandere in a bookshop. Photo © Paul Indigo In a world where we are bombarded with images constantly, how can photography still manage to surprise us and make us see the world in a new way? Social media, news, advertising, and entertainment all rely heavily on visuals to capture our attention. It's easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of pictures we see every day. It can be hard to imagine how photography could still surprise us or make us see the world in a new way. But the truth is, photography is a powerful art form that can still surprise and inspire us, even in a world saturated with images. My shoes are on the steep staircase in the Halletoren in Brugge.  Photo  © Paul Indigo One reason is that it allows us to see the world through someone else's eyes. Every photographer has a unique perspective. They invite us to see the world differently by sharing their images with us. A skilled photographer can make us see the beauty in the mundane...

The Alhambra in Granada is one of the must see tourist attractions of Spain. A selection of the images I shot there are in my You Tube video in full HD and you can view the still images at your leisure in my places portfolio . Here are a few tips on photographing the Alhambra which can be applied to other popular tourist attractions. The Alhambra limits visitors to between 5,000 and 6,600 per day and it frequently sells out of  tickets for the main attractions. So book well in advance if you want to gain access to the Palacios Nazaríes. Think carefully about what equipment you really need. The place is packed with tourists and in the palace the security guards ask you to carry your bag in front of you. So if you've got a big camera rucksack you're going to have to walk around like a pregnant lady for the afternoon. Being bumped and bumping into other people is not a pleasant experience, so it's best to travel light. When you have to book in advance and wo...

Music, smoke, bag and boots I have launched a new blog called Street Fashions . I hope you will pop over, take a look and follow me there using the Google widget, which is a great little tool. You can find out more about what I aim to do in the first article, Getting Started .  Street Fashions is my street photography blog celebrating people who express their individuality through their own sense of fashion. Hope you enjoy the photography. Please feel free to comment. Till soon, Paul www.indigo2photography.co.uk

Vincent shows a scale model of Leonardo Da Vinci's flying machine which he is working on. The model is as Da Vinci described with intricate joints, pulleys and wires designed to help the 'pilot' move the wings and tail to mimic  a bird's movements in flight. Click on the image for a larger view. Every photographer that has made remarkable work has used exactly the same three basic tools: light, a camera and their brain. Remarkable photography has been produced by people using everything from shoebox pinhole cameras to toy cameras, to technical view cameras, through to the latest sophisticated digital cameras. Not having the latest lens or camera is no barrier to producing remarkable work. Remarkable photography has been produced by photographers with very little time to spend on their photography, on weekends, evenings, during holidays or while engaged in other work. Being busy with lots of things is no barrier. Remarkable photography has been produced by amateur...

Two railway men in driver's cabin of their steam engine, Pickering, UK. Till soon, Paul www.indigo2photography.co.uk

Spurn Point lighthouse. Please click on the image to see the larger version. There are two fundamentally different approaches to photography. Identifying which type of photographer you are could help you focus your approach and remove inner creative conflicts that you were not even aware of. You have to ask yourself whether you prefer observing and capturing what you see happening in front of your lens or do you prefer to control your subject matter and direct the action to produce the result you envisage? Once you decide which type of photography best suits your temperament, creative approach and mindset you can focus your energy on playing to your strengths. Don't struggle against your nature. Go with it. The split between the two fundamental approaches is of course as old as photography itself. On one side we have the photojournalists, documentary photographers, street photographers and landscape photographers out to capture that special moment. And on the other side we have com...

A canal near Damme, in Belgium, provides the perfect landscape to create a strong design statement in photography. I've written two articles on using design in photography, here and here , and I said I would be adding to the series. Unfortunately I never got round to writing more but I hope this image illustrates several of the points I made in the earlier articles. There's a rather strange phenomenon that happens. I look back at what I've written some time ago and somehow it seems fresh and I discover things that I'd not thought about for a while. This is exactly what happened when I re-read my articles on design in photography this evening. As the readership of this blog keeps growing, at a quite phenomenal rate, I'm sure that some of you will not have read these articles and hopefully you will discover something of value in them that can be applied to your own photography. So in the best tradition of TV re-runs here they are once again: Design in photography 1 De...

Shell fish on Cornish rocks wait for the incoming tide to return. The premise for this article is that there are three basic elements which affect our perception and therefore appreciation of a photograph. I arrived at this conclusion during a typically philosophical breakfast conversation with my dear wife, Magda. Never mind breakfast, I hear you say, what are these three elements. Well the first is obviously the image itself. Secondly we have the viewer’s personal life experience which filters the image and influences the way they perceive it. The third ingredient is for me the eureka one, and a rather slippery customer to pin down. I’ll call it visual fashion or probably more accurately ‘learnt perception.’ Number one, the image itself is self explanatory really. Here I mean the subject matter but also the visual presentation (colour, black and white) as well as objective technical aspects, including saturation, sharpness, composition etc but excluding any interpretation or jud...

Magda Indigo in a Flanders field during a visit to the area where she grew up Magda has launched her own blog to share her wisdom, which is considerable with her many years experience as a professional photographer, her informative viewpoints and her philosophy. She is a great story teller and her images and words combine to convey her irrepressible sense of life with all its poignancy and humour. Click here to visit Magda's blog and don't be shy about leaving a comment. Cheers, Paul

Magda has been through a rough time with her health over a period of several months. She is now starting to recover. On Sunday we went for a walk in the local park. Naturally we had our cameras with us. A photographer's portfolio is the most vital marketing tool he or she has. If you would like to know more about building a successful portfolio then I recommend buying John Kaplan's excellent book, Photo Portfolio Success. Here are some of the tips from leading figures in the industry that he shares in the book: "Show your work and get feedback. Don't ever pass on a good opportunity." - Ruth Adams; photographer, educator. "Develop a personal vision, not just a style. One is just aesthetics and the other is a coming from the soul and the heart." - Tom Kennedy; Director of Photography, Washington Post Newsweek Interactive (Former Director of Photography at National Geographic). "Show the world through your eyes. It's as much about the real world ...

Welcome to the second article on design. If you missed the first here it is . There’s a lot to cover and we’ll get there eventually. I think it will take another two or three articles. For now let’s look at a few advanced design strategies . Anchoring the subject, or the lead into the subject, to the edges of the frame. This can introduce a feeling of structure and stability to the subject as well as enhancing the sense of strong design within a composition. Creating a path for the eye to follow. When you design an image you need to lead the viewer’s eye through the composition and make it easy for their eye to move from one element to another. The key here is how easily the eye can move through the composition without being distracted. Western people tend to scan an image starting top left and they then ‘read’ the image zig zagging down and leaving at the bottom right. Of course using strong colour or subjects of interest like faces will change the starting point but overall we still ...

I saw his wonderful glowing white beard and hair through the window of his shop, went in and asked if I could make a portrait. Pierre agreed immediately. He was very friendly and patient. My wife and fellow photographer, Magda, chatted to him while I made several portraits. He is a sculptor and a real craftsman with his frames. If you're in Ostend,in the Kerkstraat, pop in and visit. I prefer not to use flash if at all possible, so these were all shot at 1600 ISO. Now as promised here are some excellent websites for photographers www.photokaboom.com www.aphotoaday.org www.lightstalkers.org Photostream The big picture And my friend David Toyne's new blog Digital SLR Photography Articles Enjoy! All the best, Paul