Beyond the obvious

Self portrait taken in Scarborough harbour. I had to stand still for what seemed ages while listening for the shutter to close. Hence the static pose, which worked out quite well in the end. Friend, writer and fellow photographer, David Toyne , has posted a superb interview he did with renowned photo-journalist Jonathan Taylor. Jonathan shares many interesting insights into his work, ethics and experience. This is good stuff. Well worth a read. And I am delighted that I was able to help David a little with preparation for the interview. While on the subject of David's writing you should also take a look at his recent interview with top wildlife photographer, Andy Rouse . More soon. Cheers, Paul 

Johann van Tonder an award-winning news and conflict photographer, previously photo editor at Die Burger newspaper in South Africa and part-time lecturer in photojournalism at the University of Stellenbosch and Rhodes University shares his views in a highly entertaining article . Although it was published in 2004 the article is to me as valid today as the day it was written. My photography mentor and teacher, Obie Oberholzer shares a few colourful gems from his particular brand of wisdom in the article too. I could tell you some stories from back in the days when I studied at Rhodes. Maybe another time... Do have a read and let me know what you think. Cheers, Paul

Art print from my graphic kitchen series Why do people buy photographic art prints? I think there are several different reasons and different types of buyers. The premise is that people buy pictures because they like them and if they fall in love with the image they are prepared to pay a lot more for a print than some artists may imagine their work is worth. I realised that the concept of perceived value underpins the whole issue of what people are prepared to pay for a fine art print. In the first instance we have the photographer's perception of the value of his/her work. And then we have the buyer's perception. Lets deal with the buyers perception of value for money. Here we need to look at the different types of buyers. Serious collectors (a rare breed): usually collectors will specialise in images defined by a certain time period in history, the work of a photographer or group of photographers, a genre or perhaps related to a specific geographical area The emotive buyer: ...

Peter gives me the thumbs up during a recent portrait session. I regularly get asked to explain photographic terms and concepts. And I often see terminology being used incorrectly. Rather than rewriting stuff that has already been explained with great clarity it makes sense to point you in the direction of a few useful resources. There's tons of stuff on the internet. Two good resources for photographic terms are the wonderful Wikipedia section on photographic terms and this Canadian professional photography website with its comprehensive glossary . I don't mind being asked to explain things. However, these days camera manufacturers produce excellent manuals (often with a section to diagnose problems) and the help files with most software programmes like Photoshop are are very easy to understand. You could do worse than look at these sources as a first port of call. Cheers, Paul 

Suspense, fun and excitement mount in equal measure during a game of Tension Tower between father and son. New digital print technology has opened up tremendous opportunities for photographers to produce limited edition and even one-off books. Choosing the right supplier guarantees excellent quality. I am now doing half and full day portrait sessions and turning them into books for clients. Bespoke layouts and artistic design enhance the book making it a unique creation. More and more formats are becoming easily accesible to photographers ranging from the internet to CD ROM and DVD shows, through to traditional printed media - everything from a print on canvas to a t-shirt. There's a huge range of choice open to the photographer as to how he/she delivers pictures to the client. Framing methods have also come a long way. If clients have modern interiors then transparent acrylic frames may be more appropriate than gilded wood. I've never fancied the pseudo classical portrait st...

Magda Indigo in search of the perfect image, walking along the seawall in Scarborough. Today we were once again working in the studio. The weather was not too good. Anyway we were talking about images, as usual and about appreciating other photographers' work. For me images can be seperated into different categories. Here's my very personal and emotive response scale: Awful - I want to run out of the room screaming Boring Mildly interesting Good Something that I admire An image that I think is brilliant, emotive, technically wonderful and compelling And then there are the images that I dearly wish that I had made because they represent everything that I aspire to with my photography Like I said it's a very personal scale. I wonder if other photographers have a similar emotive response to the images they see. Cheers, Paul

Here's a thought for today: It's interesting showing work to non-photographers because their reactions are purely about emotion and content. If you only show your work to other photographers and imaging professionals you may be missing out on important feedback. The greatest reward is when the audience you took the picture for likes what you've done. If you take pictures to show them on image sharing sites then that is your audience - mostly amateur photographers. If you take pictures to sell them then your audience are your clients or the consumers of the published material. Cheers, Paul

I've just update the index of my most useful articles and strongest opinion pieces . Cheers, Paul

She absolutely loved this portrait. So does her husband. I was a little concerned about the strand of hair that blew across her eye but she felt it gave a more carefree and natural feel to the image. This was her favourite expression of the set of six I took in this pose. Portrait photography , at least in the UK, seems to be moving increasingly out of the studio. Instead of the stiff formal portraits with people dressed up in their best outfits, clients are now asking for informal reportage style images in a natural environment. The emphasis is on spontaneous and fun images which them at play and sometimes at work. Some photographers may think this makes things easier because you're out of the confines of the studio, probably working without a tripod but if anything it's even harder to master this style than studio work. In the studio you can control the lighting, there's no variable weather to contend with, no curious passers-by and basically anything can happen. So what ...

A young fisherman casts his line from Scarborough's harbour wall. I thought it best to upload a quick image to let you all know that I'm still alive and well. Working on a photographic project 24/7 at the moment so I've got very little time to go online. Lots of exciting things are in the pipeline and I'll keep you posted. In the meantime I hope you enjoy this image. Cheers, Paul 

"Steve Bloom’s Spirit of the Wild open air photography exhibition runs from 27 September to 15 November in Millennium Square, Leeds, UK. The exhibition was seen by an estimated three million people in Birmingham and Copenhagen. A free outdoor photography exhibition of 100 giant floodlit pictures, open 24 hours World facts and data of environmental importance. A short documentary about Spirit of the Wild showing Steve Bloom at work. The film runs continuously in the exhibition shop and information centre. Steve Bloom brings to us these breathtaking photographs showing the diversity of life from many places in the world; from the depths of the rainforest to the open expanse of the Arctic Circle. He shares his desire to capture the spirit and the beauty of the world’s wildlife and to engage the viewer with these images, but at the same time, show that this world is a fragile place that needs to be protected if these animals are to survive in the future. " - From the press releas...

A group of girls get into a street fight in Leeds city centre. A young man nearby spots me and imitates a photographer while on the other side a passerby looks on in consternation. I was out doing some street photography when this scene unfurled in front of me and the old photojournalistic instincts kicked in. It's the second street fight I've seen in three weeks. This time no blood. I think the chap imitating the photographer makes a good post-modern comment on the ubiquitous presence of the photographer and cameras in our society. That's why I chose this shot out of the sequence. I got a few other good ones with the 17mm wide angle on my Canon EOS 5D, inches away from the action. I like the image because there's a kind of raw beauty about it. The onlookers help tell the story through their reactions to the fight. Photojournalists are the witnesses of our society and their images are their testimony. Cheers, Paul 

Ferry passengers stand at the railings admiring the sunset as the ship leaves Calais in France, headed for Dover, England. At the moment we've got terrible problems with our internet connection - a fault on the line, which is making things difficult, like updating my blog. So apologies for the infrequent posts. On a forum recently a photographer was asking about the business case for investing in medium format digital equipment. The costs talked about for the new Hasselblad H3D system were in the region of 25,000 GBP. Extras like computer equipment to handle the huge files and a full set of lenses were also raised. I thought I'd share my thoughts on the forum with you here... "If you need a camera for a particular job, but not on a day to day basis then hiring it is an obvious way to go. I know a pro in London who doesn't own a single camera. He hires whatever he needs and charges it on to the client, as you would any expense ( for eg. lunch, travel, lights, model, sty...

This young lady was actually walking along the sea-wall but it looked like she was heading for the edge because of the angle of view. I took the shot because I like the starkness and simple strong graphic appeal of the scene. Although this was taken with a telephoto you may want to have a look at the article below which I've just written about using a standard lens. Cheers, Paul

Love it or hate it the standard prime lens has a very special role to play in photography - yes I think even today with all those superb quality zoom lenses out there. The standard lens has a focal length about the same as the diagonal measurement of the film with which it is used. The angle of view with this lens-film size combination is roughly the same at a given distance as the angle that the human eye sees clearly. For a 35mm film camera (or a full frame DSLR), the 50mm lens is considered standard. The standard lens used to sold with cameras and it was certainly the most used before the advent of cheaper consumer zoom lenses. Four key things combine to differentiate the standard lens from all other lenses: standard lenses are prime (fixed focal length), they are usually extremely sharp, they have a wide maximum aperture (f1.4 ), which means you can achieve shallow depth of field and handhold in extremely low light they show minimal distortion and provide a 'natural...

Curiosity is one of the driving forces in my photography. I often take a picture because I want to see how it will come out in the final print. It's also a way of capturing and keeping a precious moment forever. I have launched a new online exhibition called curiosity i n which I hope to share some of the visual pleasure I felt when I discovered a special moment through the lens. Over the next few weeks I will be adding more images to the exhibition , so please do drop by again. Cheers, Paul

Billions of images never make the transition from pixels to print. However, for the serious photographer the print is the ultimate test of an image, the goal, the tangible product at the end of the creative process. There’s something unique and special about seeing an image in print, whether it is reproduced in a book, on a billboard, an inkjet or any of the other tangible media. I suppose the only other media which has an equal impact is transparency film but here again a large print from a transparency offers a more accessible end result than a slide on a lightbox. I feel that any images of mine, no matter how good I think they may be, have not really come to life until I see them in print. It’s the ultimate test. I wonder though about the thousands of photographers around the world snapping away, manipulating their images and then uploading them to the web. I see so many images that may look reasonable at 500 or 800 pixels across, which I just know will not work in print. Any mistak...

In my blog advocating a mission or project orientated approach to photography I mentioned that taking this approach would change the way you see the world. It may sound surprising but photography happens in the mind rather than being a mechanical matter of picking up a camera and pointing the lens at the subject. Throughout the process of creating an image, from having the first concept through to visualising the image, then dealing with the technical capture and finally through to post capture processing and output in print – your emotions, intellect and even personality play a role in determining the final result. Beyond that a photographer's true merit is not judged by a single work. We all have good images, poorer images and if we are lucky one or two great images. The photographer's legacy is a body of work. Does it consist of saccharine, disparate images or does it delve into a subject and communicate the great truths of nature or life? Does the body of work resonate with...

Life is a long journey. I discovered this shepherd with his flock between the road and the canal near Damme in Belgium. There are very few shepherds in Belgium so this is a rare site. Cheers, Paul

Why do photographers take pictures? Well there's a huge question. If you're a photographer and you hope to get your work published in some form, a book an exhibition, online or in print then I've got some pointers which may help you. On the other hand, if you only want to make pretty pictures that people like, then your focus will be on technique, equipment and the craft of picture taking. For me, and I think most serious photographers, the craft of picture taking can be compared to learning the mechanics of driving a car. We need to learn how to handle the controls of the car because we want to be able to get safely and smoothly from point A to B. You can hone your driving technique all you want till you're as slick as a formulae 1 driver but that's still not going to get you anywhere unless you know where you want to go. Right, I've laboured that metaphor enough for now. Back to the main story. You're a serious photographer and you want to be published. Th...