I’ve been thinking about setting up some sort of ‘photo walk’ scheme… not a new idea – I often see groups of people armed with cameras walking around together and I did quite a lot of ‘group shooting’ during my training – but something I think could be quite fun, planning informal lessons and giving me the opportunity to rethink some basics. I decided to have a test run yesterday with a couple of people who had shown an interest, for the price of a coffee. Since they are definitely not complete beginners, I decided to plan the lesson around aperture and depth of field, simply instructing them to try out different apertures on the same scene, mixing up the focal points and observing how zooming in and out can effect the depth of the focal plane. In order to narrow the field of vision a little, avoiding too much confusion, I asked them to only take photos from below their waists – I think it also helps to start really looking for images rather than happening upon them. I took my camera along as well, and ended up trying to follow my own instructions – initially to goad them a little and progressively as a really fun exercise for me too. I often go out on photo walks but I can’t remember the last time I bothered to give myself specific technical instructions and restrictions… yet it’s such a a useful and even relaxing thing to do. I’m really keen on continuing this idea – it’s great fun for me to write up little handouts, think up ideas and meet up with other enthusiasts and hopefully quite useful for them too.  A little of my own output… I’ll ask my companions if I can post some of theirs too in the coming days:

When I first began considering studying photography, loads of people warned me against it – too competitive, digital technology will have terrible effects on the business and so on –  I didn’t know at the time how much of that would be true but taking photos was the one thing I’d been doing for years and still enjoyed, and I am lucky to have had the luxury to think that I could study something that wouldn’t necessarily have to become a career.  I told myself that if studying photography simply meant that I could take better photos of my friends and family, then that would already be pretty good! Now that I actually am working as a photographer, I still believe that that is one of the biggest benefits, and one that I can share. I’m always proud when friends use my photos of them as their profile pictures on facebook  and I certainly haven’t renounced my role as the official ‘holiday’ photographer just because it’s now a job. I imagine that’s pretty rare and lucky – to not desperately feel like escaping work! (of course, I do have days when I just don’t feeling like carting my gear around, but they are the exception).

I started out taking photos of things and people I like and I still think that’s probably the single most important thing to keep in mind. I try to find something I like about every gig, and generally I do. Sometimes, the photos themselves aren’t going to be the most fascinating (conferences, cocktail receptions…) but there’s always people to meet, techniques to try out, interesting conversations to eavesdrop on… all of which make the experience itself rewarding and, honestly, I just quite like being ‘the photographer’!

Before I go completely off track – I wanted to finally post a few shots of my brand new niece, who happens to be someone I rather like! I spent a long weekend meeting her in London and kept thinking how pleased I was that I had studied photography, that I have a nice camera, and that taking photos of people I like is still something I genuinely enjoy. I’m also quite thankful that my brother and his wife didn’t tell me to stop sticking a lens in their baby’s face and let me snap away happily. It was amazing meeting her – something very special about family babies!

The 8th of March has officially been recognised as ‘International Woman’s Day’ since 1965 – although previous woman’s days were observed as early as 1909 in the States before dwindling out until the rise of feminism in the 60s. The Soviet Union were the first to declare the 8th of March an official holiday and were closely followed by a host of other nations (from Angola to Turkmenistan) but not Belgium or any of her neighbours. This does not mean woman’s day is ignored – far from it.

I had spent my last 8th of March in Vienna, joining in on the march there which is forbidden to men… a debatable move in my opinion. On the one hand, it’s nice to feel the bond of sisterhood and it is important for women to have their own space… however, I’m not so sure a public march is the right platform – where surely the point is to raise awareness and for participants to demonstrate support, however vehemently feminist or not. Had the millions of people taking to the streets to protest the war in Iraq been weeded out for not being Iraqi, the peace marches would have had far less impact, surely (the usefulness of marches is another story of course). Furthermore, feminism lost a lot of ground after the initial successes in the 60s and 70s, with the public image of your average feminist baring the brunt of unflattering caricatures – hairy armpits, man haters … so much so that ‘feminism’ very almost became a dirty word. Excluding men from showing their support not only does little to revive the public image of feminists but also risks excluding sections of women from the marches – women who cannot be out in public without men by their sides, less radical or ‘still-to-be-convinced’ women and so on. Not to say I didn’t enjoy the march in Vienna but I did notice a lack of diversity, with a crowd mostly made up of young leftists and lesbians.

Brussels held it’s woman’s march yesterday and it was heartwarming to see thousands of people in the streets – women, children, men, old, young, left wing, right wing, gay, straight and so on… Obviously the unions were out in force and there was a large majority of red and green clad participants but also number of groups from Middle Eastern, South American and African support networks. It was a noisy, joyful affair on a beautifully sunny day – although the cold sent me home pretty much as soon as we arrived at the finish line! A small selection of images shot with freezing fingers:

I have just spent the weekend meeting my first niece (no nephews yet, one due in March!) and am of course dying to put up a post starring beautiful little Maya. Unfortunately, I was a bit too snap happy and not only do I need to clear some space on my hard drive but it will take a while to wade through the mountain of shots (if you can have a mountain in digital terms). In the meantime, I have a few shots sitting around of a recent trip to the Province of Zeehaven in Holland. I’m still a little confused as to where we ended up exactly, but I think the nearest city was a place called Vlissingen which is ‘Flushing’ in English according to google.

The aim was to hit the North sea in Belgium but the roads were clear, the sun was shining and we got a little confused and ended up crossing the border and taking a very long tunnel to a large island with a seemingly glorious naval past (evidenced by a number of signs pointing to ‘het arsenaal’ and large dockyards scattered about). Either way, a happy surprise and the main goal of escaping grey-freezing-urban Brussels was achieved. I was lucky with the weather, clear blue skies and a nice happy-making sunset to put the final touch on a successful escape!

Even though I don’t specifically advertise as a wedding photographer, I always end up shooting a few every year (for example…) – I actually quite enjoy it; people are generally in a good mood and happy to have their photo taken, the settings can be spectacular and the good food is a bonus! Every wedding has it’s similarities in terms of what you MUST NOT MISS ranging from the obvious (the aisle walk, exchanging rings, the first kiss…)  to the more obscure. So many people have come together to help make everything look great so forgetting to immortalise the flower arrangements Aunt Tania spent days on is a definite nono – basically, it’s important to try and gage who has done what and make sure nobody feels sore when you send over the photos. The same goes for actual people – I’ve heard too many brides complain that there were hardly any photos of their brother/sister/best friend … or groom’s mothers unhappy that the focus was all on the bride’s family and so on. It’s generally a sound idea to collect a who’s who list from the couple and make sure somebody is on hand to point everyone out to you from the get go.

Group shots generally happen sometime post ceremony/pre food and, again, a short list of what different group shots the couple want is handy! Shooting groups is generally pretty straightforward – collect bodies, arrange them around the bride and groom, make sure the sun is not right in front/behind/above them, ask for a smile, snap. I always like to shoot from a slightly low perspective but that’s really up to personal preference. The group shots which I tend to spend a little more time on are the groomsmen and the bridesmaids shots – often these are young groups who rarely come together suited and booted, and I’ve found that the ‘group of friends’ shots are often the ones which end up framed and hung in the couple’s house. Choosing how to shoot them depends on the setting/weather/how extrovert/conventional they are and so on, but it can be a lot of fun and the session itself tends to put everyone (photographer included) in a good mood:

I’ve just bought a new/10 year old car, which means that my carbon footprint will grow a size but also, on the upside, that I’ll be able to take more frequent road trips. This refers partly to my previous post on shooting cities in a short amount of time but also leads me to ‘drive by shooting’. I once saw an exhibition in Columbia Road, London, of a whole series of photos taken by a taxi driver from New York city from his cab. These were some of the most interesting photos I’ve seen of the city, really original and vibrant. Unfortunately, I can’t remember the photographer’s name and googling ‘drive by shooting’ isn’t bringing up anything I want to link to! (if I remember, I’ll post a link). Anyway, it seems pretty lazy to just sit in a warm car and snap away, but some of my favorite personal photos have been shot from the passenger seat on car journeys. There’s something really atmospheric about endless road, huge skies and the inevitable sunset if you’re driving long distances. If it’s just been raining and the sun has come out, you can take great shots of the view outside framed by the little drops of water left on your window; the motorway at night is great for experimenting with slow shutter speeds – quite hit or miss but there’s plenty of time even if the dashboard is not always the most reliable tripod; rows of bushes, fields, trees in movement often look really painterly… all in all, quite good fun. I must admit, though, that I’ve never managed a good ‘driver portrait’ from inside a moving car! I would love to take a really long trip across Canada or down Route 66 one day, they’re classics for a reason. In the meantime, a few shots from closer to home…

I’m reaching that time in my life when the twosomes I know are rapidly becoming threesomes – having spent most of my life pretty much separated from small people, I’m suddenly regularly asked to catch candid shots of these new families. This has led to a bit of a rethink about portraiture – So, here we go, a few basic rules for shooting (photographically speaking) mini-people candids:

1) the focus is always the baby!
2) Since adults generally have a protective role over infants, it works really nicely to use them as human frames, not being afraid of cropping their bodies and faces or blurring them to simply suggest their presence and their role.
3) It’s really important to try to shoot the baby from their height – I think this is probably the first mistake ‘big people’ make – we’re used to taking photos of friends who are more or less our height and don’t think to adapt that to the size of the person… but all it takes is one squat!
4) expressions – you shouldn’t have too much trouble getting a baby to look good but it looks great when the baby seems to be looking straight at the lens, or if you can make it seem as if the baby’s glance is mirroring that of the adult

I wanted to post something about how I go about recording quick city trips. When I’m visiting a different place for a couple of days, I’m often there to catch up with friends or attend a specific event – meaning I don’t have the leisure to walk around the city focussing purely on photography. This doesn’t mean I leave the gear at home – but I have come up with a way of capturing these places without much fuss. Simply put, it involves focussing on the small details which make somewhere unique and combining these details to create city snapshots. I might even make a quick checklist before I go – it helps if I already know the city but you can vouch that every city has it’s own underground logo, street signs (and specific font on those), many have rivers, they all have a few landmark buildings, culinary specialities and so on. In order to illustrate this post, here’s a small series from a day spent in Paris recently (at the risk of cheating a little, since I grew up 30 minutes outside this particular city!)