Uncategorized

First post and new project

feloescoto — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:10:06 -0500

Hello World!!

This is my first post in this blog and hopefully one of many to come.

I will try to use this space not only to tell my story as a learning photographer, but also to provide tips of what I find useful in this journey in an attempt to help others in their own.

So, here is the first.

I recently read a post about how to keep your self motivated and also a way to document your life and the changes it brings, among many other benefits.

'One photo a day'

As the name states, the idea is to take at least one picture every day, not just any picture, it should be something that says something about that day, you can post it and add comments, or you can just let it tell the story on its own.

The idea is to carry your camera all the time, it can be your phone camera or your DSLR, anything works.

So, I will keep you posted about what I find and learn in this new venture, and I hope you all can too.

Regards,
Felipe

Bystander - The ethics of photojournalism

ed — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:35:59 -0500

Photojournalists, I like to think, are the world’s only professional witnesses.

Our role requires us to be on the scene when the news breaks. I have written about this before, but there is one interesting dilemma on which I have not yet touched, namely how we interact with the world while photographing the developing stories.

Every witness of every event plays a small part in the event itself. Whether you are a football fan cheering on your team to victory, or an interested bystander peering into a car after a horrific accident, the mere fact that you are there has an influence on the events and how they unfold.

When I started my first job as a local newspaper photographer, my editor took me out to the scene of electricity substation explosion. “What would you have done,” he asked me, “if you were here when it happened and you saw an injured man lying nearby?”

“I would call an ambulance and then take pictures,” I said.

“Very good,” he replied, “but you have the order wrong.”

For many years I have thought about his words, and I agree with him even less today than the day he said it.

There is a school of thought that believes that we, as witnesses, have a very specific role to play when events unfold around us. The doctrine goes that we should have a responsibility to record what has happened, not to play a part in it. If we find a lost man in the desert, on the verge of dying of thirst, it says, we should stay there, take his picture, and watch him die.

If we saw a monk burning to death, our responsibility is to capture the moment. If we saw a father raping his daughter, our best course of action is to get the picture and expose him to the world.

We have no right to interfere, only to record and alert.

Over my dead body.

As witnesses, we are by default human beings, and as human beings, our first responsibility is towards our own humanity.

I contend that we not only attempt to change the world with our presence on the scene, but that we also have a responsibility to interact with the reality around us while we take the pictures.

Go on, be the difference you want to see in the world.

When Opportunity Knocks...

ed — Sat, 31 May 2008 08:27:47 -0500

Being in the right place at the right time is what good photography is all about.

To get the picture, you have to be there when it happens, right there in the thick of it. Nobody knows this better than a photojournalist. Turn up late, and you’ve missed the shot. It’s simply impossible to replicate certain situations. For instance, say you get sent out to a burning building, if you arrive on time, you can get shots of brave firefighters rescuing terrified residents, arrive late, and all you have is smoldering ashes.

Often the phone will ring in the middle of the night, and off you go, pulling on your work pants over your pajamas, with your poor wife laying dazed and confused by the blur of movement rushing to the door, dashing down the stairs and into the car, skipping red lights as you go, with the camera on the seat next to you, to the latest Chernobyl-like disaster to hit your news-patch.

But being in the right place at the right time is often thought of as pure luck.

If it is, then it is the luck of the poker player and the fisherman, rather than the lottery gambler.

This type of luck is made, not found.

Being in the right place at the right time requires thought, planning and dedication.

All pictures, they say, are born out of ideas, so the first thing to do is to think of the shot you want to get. Plan it, think it through and visualize it. Then think of a place where you are likely to find it, because there’s no point looking for a blizzard in the Sahara.

And then, put yourself in position and wait, patiently with your camera ready, so that when opportunity comes knocking, you will be ready to open the door.

Cookie

ed — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:23:06 -0500

Does the camera matter?

ed — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:01:37 -0500

There's been a massive debate about whether the camera maketh the man raging across the web. For those who have missed it, here's what started it.

Ken Rockwell wrote an article claiming that the camera doesn't matter, and that a good photographer can take excellent images with the most basic of picture taking equipment, such as a disposable point-and-shoot.

Then the website Luminous Landscape printed this loaded response, claiming that the camera is the cornerstone of good photography, and that to get good images you need the best possible gear.

Now, these two gentlemen are excellent columnist, and they doubtlessly know a great deal about photography. I normally value their opinions and I have often referenced them on this site, but on this particular occasion, I do feel that they have both absolutely missed the point.

Both have taken radically extreme points of view, and as is invariable the case with radical extremism, it divides the world into black and white and ignores the infinite ocean of colors in between.

The Luminous Landscape piece beautifully illustrates the fact that you cannot take a picture without a camera and a lens, but it completely ignores the obvious. It makes no mention that the camera cannot take an image without a photographer.

The camera is a tool. Nothing more, nothing less. It is a means to an end. It is a piece of equipment used by photographers to capture what they see and to communicate their inner thoughts by the way they see and interpret the world around them.

As it was so eloquently put in our own forums, the word image derives from the same stem as the word imagination, and the imagination is indeed the birthplace of nearly every image worth taking.

To get a good picture, the photographer needs to first 'see' that picture, he needs to be able to visualize exactly what he wants, and then plan how he intends to get it.

Sure, we have all taken the accidental masterpiece, where we fired the shutter unintentionally and were blessed by a perfect composition, but this is by far the exception, not the rule.

Think of Michelangelo for a moment, who would start with massive block of granite, and after imagining what he wants from it, set about with a hammer and a chisel to turn it into the statue of David.

Without first imagining it, he would never be able to create that unique beacon of perfection.

But neither would he be able to create it without that simple hammer and chisel.

And sure, he might be able to mold a much better sculpture with a dull chisel and a broken hammer than I ever could with the best tools in the world, you can be sure that he would always use the best equipment that he could lay his hands on.

And why is that? It is because, as a master of his art, he would know that the best possible equipment which is best suited to the job at hand will allow him to operate at the peak of his ability.

It is just the same with photography.

A master will of course be able to get more from a point-and-shoot than a novice would from a Hasselblad, but if the master wants to perform at the peak of his ability, he will pick the perfect tool for the job. If a large format camera is called for, he'll use one, if a 50mm lens is required, it will be to hand, if a red filter is needed, you can bet your favorite lens cap he'll slip it on before he takes the shot.

So, in conclusion, I offer these two thoughts: to become a master of photography, you have to master both the art of seeing, and the craft of handling and knowing the equipment; and just as we cannot take pictures without our cameras, our cameras cannot take pictures without us.

The Great and Good

ed — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 03:31:08 -0500

Life's hierarchies are strange things, aren't they?

Those we revere and those we despise and how we distinguish between the two.

But often the most revealing is not the place we give to specific professions in society but rather how those at the very top of a specific pile relate to those at the bottom of another.

Take the lowly photographer for instance: Hardly the most respected of individuals in a newspaper office, yet take him to a political party conference and the masters of the known universe are literally gushing to get his attention, fawning and flattering, complementing on pictures past and camera present, taking an unnaturally keen interest in the intricacies of his duties, checking to see whether the light is right and the background is good, even offering bribes in the form of alcohol laced beverages in return for being shown at their most caring best.

In my previous life as a paparazzi photographer in London's West-End I was often spurned and abused by members of the general public who saw me as a peeping-Tom scumbag who goes around invading people's privacy.

Of course, the sad fact, of which Joe-Public is blissfully unaware, is that the very person who tipped me off is the one now hiding in the hotel room far above.

You see, celebrity needs publicity. Those in the limelight breathe exposure. Without it their fame would wither and die as sure as a lilly without water.

So there I was, at the Conservative conference, waiting for the arrival of the new but slightly tardy leader of the party. With me, a little girl holding a bunch of flowers as big as her head.

A party representative walks up to me and says: "As Mr Cameron is running a bit late, he will not be posing for pictures."

And I think to myself: "Just you try and stop him."

Trip to Sri Lanka

ed — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 08:26:54 -0500

There are two types of professional photographers in the world.

Those who take their camera on holiday with them, and those who don’t.

I fall firmly in the first category.

That’s not to say that I don’t get bored with the daily slog of taking pictures that others want me to take, but rather than seeing a holiday as an opportunity to get away from my camera, I see it as a chance to get back to basics and shoot the things I love.

No surprise, then, that my camera was the first thing I packed when I planned a trip to Sri Lanka. In went the tripod, the 35mm film body, an array of lenses, and the filters I still carry out of habit.

And as I stated in a previous blog entry, I was really planning on keeping my camera in the plane with me, relegating the wife to the hold, but the airline staff wanted to hear none of this idea, and parted me from my camera.

Woe be me.

The F90x, which has never been know as Nikon’s most reliable body, did not like the turbulence, and though it appeared to be in one piece, suffered internal damage, leaving me without an SLR.

Fortunately the wife has forgiven me for threatening to put her in the hold, and agreed to let me use her Fuji Compact camera (which I feel is only fair, as I was the one who bought it for her).

Anyway, to cut a long story short, all the pictures on my trip was taken with this piece of kit, and though it is a capable little camera, the lack of manual functions left me feeling rather restrictive.

But because I could not take all the pictures I want in exactly the way I want, I was forced to think about my images more. It made me plan, and it made me visualize. And to be honest, the entire experience was extremely liberating.

Be a Moody Photographer

ed — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 11:23:20 -0500

Ah, the life of a photojournalist...

One hour to the next, you'll never know what the day will bring. From ghost hunters to the unveiling of a brand new sikh temple (pic), you see it all.

Your diary can change in an instant. You'll have it all worked out, the route, the appointments, the plan for the day, and then in a moment, a fire at county hall, and the whole schedule is forgotten.

Great!

No, really, who wants to plan their days weeks in advance? Where's the romance and adventure in that?

Of course, just because your diary is ruled by your day is no excuse for not keeping one, quite the opposite in fact. Because events can change at any moment, it is all the more imperative to keep track of what you need to do and what you can't reschedule. Without it, it is almost impossible to prioritise.

But that's only half the story...

See, just turning up when events unfold will only take you so far. Once you're there, what you need to do is capture the mood of what's in front of you. It's no good treating a fatal road accident the same way you do a 115th birthday party.

The trick is to communicate the essence of the story to the readers, and to do this you have to both understand the story and have consideration for the angle the journalist will approach it from

And that's the hard part.

Often, especially with breaking stories, you will not even have spoken to the journalist. You will have to assess the scene as soon as you arrive, cover a variety of angles and return to the office for a hero's welcome... hopefully.

What's your favorite type of photography

ed — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 09:14:21 -0500

More than just pictures

ed — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 19:23:09 -0600

Professional photography is about more than just taking pictures.

Sure, getting good quality, sellable pictures are important, but there is another side to making it as a pro.

I am, of course, referring to the dark arts of the boardroom.

As any successful snapper can tell you, you either spend many ours paining over numbers and spreadsheets, or you get someone else to do it for you, because if you don’t, the bank will be round to collect your camera, and that’s as sure as taxes.

The most important aspect of the business of photography is identifying the market. If you can’t find anyone to pay you for your picture, then as pretty as it may be, it won’t pay your rent.

Luckily, from stock libraries to newspapers to website and postcard vendors, there are a million and one ways to make people pay you for what you love. Not forgetting, of course, the myriad types of commissioned shoots, like portraits and weddings and product advertising.

But whether before you take the picture or after, and no matter if you are a freelance news photographer or an aspiring model portfolio creator, at some point you will have to sit down and do the sums: how much does it cost and how long will it take; what are your overheads and how much do you need to live; transportation and batteries need to be reckoned and you can’t forget about the wear and tear on your equipment or the fact that your kit will need to be insured.

Then there is the craft of promoting yourself. You’ll need a website and a business card, perhaps even a letterhead to portray that ultra professional image. You may need an advertising strategy, a slogan and a company name.

To be a professional photographer, you’ll need to be that rare thing, the jack of all trades, the master of ONE.