Antonije & Dejana | © Snapparazzi.com

A couple of weeks ago, I visited Antonije and Dejana at their home and shot some portraits. Both of them are very photogenic and I was able to experiment a little with various lighting effects. It also gave me a chance to try out a new processing look.

Val Shawcross CBE, addressing the audience | © Snapparazzi.com

Save the Herne Hill Velodrome is an action group and now a registered charity, led by Hillary Peachey, representing cyclists, local residents and other supporters. Its aim is to create a modern, fully inclusive cycling facility on the site of the last remaining finals venue from the 1948 Olympic games.

Following a successful campaign and to celebrate the launch of The Herne Hill Velodrome Southwark Olympic Legacy Project, a meeting was held on Monday
7 February 2011 at London’s Living Room, on the top of the City Hall, the HQ of the Mayor of London (currently Boris Johnson, himself a famously-avid cyclist).

The meeting was hosted by Val Shawcross CBE, London Assembly Member and featured several speakers, including: Lord Coe, Hillary Peachey, Herne Hill Velodrome Trust; Kate Hoey MP, Mayor’s Advisor on Sport; Mike Taylor, Senior Partner, Hopkins Architects Partnership; Peter King CBE, British Cycling; Philip Kolvin QC; Tessa Jowell MP; Tommy Godwin, 1948 Olympic Bronze Medalist; Tony Doyle MBE, Southwark Olympic Legacy Delivery Board; Freddie & Charlotte, VCL Young National Riders; and, Isabelle Clement, Wheels for Wellbeing.

One of the speakers, Mike Taylor of Hopkins Architects Partnership, who was recently featured in  The Guardian article about their hugely successful design for the 2012 London Olympics Velodrome, talked about his plans for the Herne Hill Velodrome.

There was also Kristian von Hornsleth, with the painting he created for the occasion.

Last, but not least, I’d like to mention my good friend Carl Ison, who is responsible for all the unique Save the Herne Hill Velodrome branding and collateral, both print and online, but despite putting in several days of his time, did not get so much as a mention…

My complete gallery can be viewed here, meanwhile here are some of my favourite shots:

Hillary Peachey, Lord Coe and Tony Doyle MBE | © Snapparazzi.com

Tommy Godwin, 1948 Olympic bronze medalist | © Snapparazzi.com

Isabelle Clement and Tessa Jowell MP | © Snapparazzi.com

Hillary Peachey applauded by Tommy Godwin, Philip Kolvin QC and the audience | © Snapparazzi.com

“Whether it’s joy or grief – or the many things in between joy and grief: financial problems, legal problems, friendship problems – the natural world is a great source of solace,” said Sir David Attenborough and I have to agree.

I’ve been visiting Kew Gardens a few times a year, on average, for the past twenty years and it offers escape from the everyday all the year round. When it’s grey and gloomy in England’s late winter, exotic plants are in bloom as their biological clock functions regardless of location. Here, they thrive in Kew’s conservatories.

So, as I’ve done for the last few years, I went to see the annual Tropical Extravaganza, which opened last weekend. It is a kind of Kew-meets-Koons and in many ways more satisfying than a visit to the Royal Academy. For me it’s another chance to get some beautiful colours inside my camera.

Now that’s what I call magic. And this is what I do for fun. If you fancy taking a look at my collected nature photography, you can find it here. How can one ever get tired of this stuff?

Three weeks ago I went to the annual SWPP Convention in Hammersmith’s Novotel.
For anyone uninitiated, SWPP stands for the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers and is part of a larger umbrella organisation, The Societies.

I’ve been going there for the past few years, usually for the Trade Show, to check out wedding album suppliers and to drool over tons of matt black kit I don’t really need, but this year I decided to spend some quality time learning from some very successful pros. Now here’s the thing about SWPP: the speakers in the so-called masterclasses don’t get paid for their appearance (or so they tell us) but share their hard-won knowledge and experience freely, to help pave the way for others embarking on similar journeys.

And you know, the sense of team spirit and enthusiasm is palpable. Beyond the pure educational value, attendance at the seminars can do wonders for one’s sense of self-esteem and purpose. You quickly realise that nobody ever had it easy and while there are no shortcuts, perseverance will pay off in the end.

Being a non-member until two days ago, I was only able to use my Masterclass Pass over three days; Friday, Saturday and Sunday (the fourth, which was Thursday, is typically the Members’ Day). There can be up to a dozen various seminars going on during the same time slots so I spent quite a bit of time beforehand agonising over the choice. In the end,
I managed to see thirteen masterclasses, of which about half were my original choices.

If you read my bio, you’ll see that I have a reportage style background and (not in the bio) I tend to use the available light, or ‘ambient light’ as it tends to be called. I tend to get a bit confused by that term, to be honest. If you go into a room with an angle-poised lamp on a desk, facing down, and there is a person who happens to be sitting there behind it – then you take a shot in ‘ambient light’, right? But what if I turn the lamp and shine it directly in their face? Well, according to one definition, the light is still ambient if I, the photographer, did not “supply it”.

But of course, I digress in my facetiousness – the point is that sometimes you need to ‘make light’ and the real skill is to make it appear, well, ambient…

Another area of minor discomfort that comes from being good at ‘capturing the moment’ is that very often you need to direct the moment and then capture it. And still make it look ‘captured’.

Finally, I felt that I could improve my business side, whether that was in terms of marketing or sales. So I divided my areas of interest broadly into three categories of Posing, Lighting and Business, with the last group splitting further into albums and eMarketing.

On the posing side, I saw some really great speakers and learned something unique from each of them. There is never one way of skinning a cat and it’s probably best to learn as many as possible so the cat doesn’t get away. The first speakers I saw were Mike & Pam Ayers, Ohio-based photographers who have over their 25 years devised a multitude of attractive ways of photographing not-always-so-attractive (=normal) people.

I was so impressed that I bought a dvd of their famous Ayers Arrangements which contains a database of nearly a hundred poses for couples.

Then there was Alan Carville, an Australian, but now Malta-based photographer, who started out in architectural and product photography, but has in time diversified to corporate portraiture. Well, as I mentioned in a recent Tweet, this year The Societies are offering a 2-for-1 membership offer so I also got myself an SICIP membership. Back to Alan: he was great. He offered a method, rather than a series of poses to memorise, and it’s all about building the stance from the ground up. I went to see him again towards the end of the show to see his lighting masterclass.

Another great ‘poser’ was Robert Lino from Miami. He’s a friend of Mike & Pam Ayers and offered a very classical perspective on people posing. His method is, “A pose must have a reason” (at this point I looked around, but couldn’t see John Locke in the audience…) and that it should be “a frozen image from a continuous movement.” Beautiful.

The final piece de resistance came from Andrea Barrett and Mark Jordan who took us through all of the required group and individual portraits at a wedding, using us, the audience as extras with pre-assigned roles (I was an usher, which meant I could concentrate the rest of the time on taking notes and photos). Here are some:

As you may have already guessed, the ‘bride & groom’ did not come from the audience. They were hired. And they were also ‘method acting’. Superb!

On the lighting side, apart from Alan, my other favourite was Damian McGillycuddy. He’s a man who needs no introduction…

… Ok, here’s an example of his presentation:

Damian’s studio set doesn’t differ much from his location lighting – and given the fantastic results he has obtained over the years along with his gazillions of awards,

I found that very encouraging. He gets free Nikons too.

So last, but not by any means least, I’d like to mention three presentations that have had the greatest ‘step change’ influence on the way I think about the business of wedding photography.

The first was Joe Photo, a Californian photographer who followed his dream to the dizzy heights of unquestionable success. His masterclass subject was wedding albums, but it was really his person that I found truly inspiring. He is a captivating speaker and his enthusiasm and energy are just infectious. It really gave me a boost.

Secondly, I’ve already mentioned Andrea Barrett and Mark Jordan. Part 1 of their masterclass was in fact the first seminar I went to over the three days, and that one concentrated on the practicalities of providing a successful and sought-after wedding photography service. 75 weddings a year – I don’t know how Andrea does it, but her energy and attention to the tiniest of details are truly amazing.

Finally, it is fair to say that I wouldn’t have created this blog and written this post if I hadn’t gone to see the eMarketing presentation by Chris Lord & Karen Martin. Even though the others have all mentioned Facebook, Twitter and blogging as a means to a better SEO it was Chris that drove the final nail in my Luddite coffin and so here I am putting the final touches to this article at 3am. Thanks Chris…

There were other great photographers that I learned a great deal from, but I won’t mention them all, since there will always be someone that I won’t. All I’ll say is that if you’re a social or wedding photographer who wishes to sharpen their skills, I can’t recommend the Convention strongly enough. If you’re non-professional, eg a future wedding couple, you can see for yourself and choose from a great range of wedding books and albums on display in the Trade Show. I invited a couple of my clients along and they found it very useful.

So if you’re thinking of going, see you there next year!

Here I am, once again at 02:21, hoping that I have finally figured out how to link this blog into my Facebook Page. Have I…? We’ll see. But not just tonight, because by tomorrow the cyberweather mind change, a gust of digi-wind will blow my binaries off some server and it’s back to square one (did they mean a pixel when they came up with that expression?)

Anyway, I’m tired. If this doesn’t work, then… Well, I’ll have to think of something else. Good night.

PS I must mention Snapparazzi wedding photography in London…