Published

Magazine published photoshoot.

Back in March I organised a studio session; intending to learn about and get experience of a more pressured photoshoot. The background is in this blog post.

There wasn't a big team, just three; Marylin, Jen the MUA and me. As you will have read in my precious post Marilyn did much more than model. I am very grateful to her for working so hard. But it didn't stop at the end of the shoot. She helped me choosing and processing the pictures. She planned to contact magazines, both printed and online, about publishing the set. It really pushed me to learn more about editing.
 
I could see the set improve as I added or took away pictures and how small edits changed pictures in big ways.

I had to consider the designer, and the MUA. They both needed shots they could use.

Orange dress, orange background; not easy to light. And then to ensure Marilyn's skin was lit correctly. It is one of my favourite shots though.

I wanted to provide a different look, one they hadn't had before.

And show off Marilyn's personality.

There were shadows cast by the multiple lights that I didn't want to remove completely. I tried to leave enough so that it had the appearance of only one defused light. Avoiding the floating in space look.

Here is a link to the published article.

This project was a challenge, which had me stressed. I was anxious about how the pictures might be received. But it was worth it.

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Years review

Matt and myself, reading my books. During a break on a ride.

Now that we are in to December I have started to think about the past year, and my photography.

I have continued to develop and focus on the type of photography I like to do. People photography is still at the top of my list.

But I have also come to appreciate the photography produced whilst cycling. I think this has seen the biggest improvement. I don't want to produce a snap of the event, just to record a place I cycled through or to. I want to have an image that stands on it's own. Without having the cycling as a reason for it to exist.

I had a picture printed on canvas a while back. It really stands out and looks good on the wall. So I started looking at the cycling pictures with a view to printing them in the same way. My last blog post talks about the books I printed from the pictures.

They need to be bold images, and the orientation has to be right for where I will hang them. One portrait, the other landscape. Selecting forty pictures for the books was hard enough, now I have to bring that number down to just two.

My portrait photography has continued to improve. But not as fast as I had hoped. The professional critique a couple of months ago showed me that what had really improved was my ability to connect with the subject. Put them and myself at ease. What hadn't improved as much as I had hoped was the end result. I see now that I had found a comfortable approach that meant the pictures were consistent, but not different enough from a year ago. I should have spent the year experimenting. With light and composition. I should have looked at each picture and said to myself. How could I have made it better? How could I have made it stand out? Instead of safe lighting, could it have been more dramatic? I have found myself using the same one or two lenses. I have others, why hadn't I used them? I could have been testing my control of depth of field, perspective etc. Damn it.

I'll start the new year with more questions for myself. I have a family portrait session taking shape for January. Seven people and a dog. I have some ideas, I don't want to produce a series of white background, high key pictures. I'll need to discuss what the client wants. But I think between us we can achieve a set that wont look the same as they will have seen from their friends studio shoots. I know it's putting more pressure on me. But I really want all my pictures in 2017 to have that something extra, to look better than I would have produced this year. I don't want anyone, including myself, to say they're just okay. 

Some of the contenders for possible canvas printing

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Vanity publishing

I really like to see my pictures printed, the bigger the better. But are there other ways to display them?

I wanted to look at some of the alternatives. This got me thinking about books. I hoped it would be a good way to bring a selection of my pictures together in one place. I could show them to people just by handing over the book.

There had to be theme, a story. What better than a decade of cycling photography.

Ten years ago I started cycling again after a break that started when I got my first motorbike. No pictures exist from back then. I've made up for it, this time around. 

It took some time to go through them all. Almost every ride results in a picture or two and I cycle most weekends. Then I chose the forty that I liked the most. I decided to make two books. The first one contained some specific journeys. London to Paris, the South Downs Way and trips to Brighton. Mostly bike shots. The second book contained more people. I wanted to show the people who have kept me cycling.

I don't expect to sell any books. It's just for me. An indulgence.

I might produce more books. I have so many pictures that aren't viewed very often, even by me.

To see a preview my books and purchase them. Click here.

I'm thinking Family and Beauty Portraits. Why not add your address to my mailing list. You'll be informed about future posts. Follow me on twitter. 

Please checkout my website and facebook page. And leave a comment about this post. I would really appreciate your thoughts on this or any blog post.

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website