A Positive View

Just a quick one to wish my (two!) readers a Happy Easter. I'm heading back oop North but if you're in London over the bank holiday I would point you towards Somerset House. As well as being warm and dry, it's home to A Positive View until Monday, a free exhibition featuring some of the greats of photography and some celeb pictures (like an early Kate Moss taken by Corinne Day, Sienna Miller by Mario Testino and a couple of beautiful pictures of Audrey Hepburn).

Pictures by Irving Penn (whose portraits of the famous are still on show at the National Portrait Gallery), Helmut Newton, Horst P Horst, Rankin and Don McCullin are just some of the well known names on display. With most genres covered, there's something for everyone. Look out for the ethereally magical Queen Charlotte's Ball taken by none other than photography's founding father Henri Cartier Bresson in 1959.

One of my favourites though is German film director Wim Wenders' Lounge Painting, Gila Bend, Arizona, 1983.

 I don't profess to know much about Wenders' own meaning behind it (must look it up) but his films often concern someone on a journey without a destination. I like his use of side-lighting with bright colours to create atmosphere. To me,  it's about the viewer's longing for the open road while surrounded by the trappings of the modern day. Which is how I feel today.


A Positive View runs until Monday 5th April.

Photography and the changing city

At the risk of sounding like a photography geek, hasn't the light in London been magical over the past two days? Crisp, clear blue skies and low winter -almost spring (hooray) - sun casting long, lean dramatic shadows. Perfect photography weather. I keep mumbling "the light, look at the light" at friends who agree, slightly bemused. I'm turning into a poncey twit. Although the very realisation that I sound like a poncey twit means I'm not one, surely. 

So I've been bombing round on my bike which I resurrected from the cellar yesterday (after accidentally deflating the tyres when I meant to inflate them at the local garage-doh). I biked over to Battersea Power Station which I'd never photographed before. Quite unbelievable when I live fifteen minutes away.

And of course the key to photographing anything, cities in particular, is to get to know your subject. Get out there with your camera and have an adventure. I've found that people often want to talk to you when you're taking pictures with an SLR. They're nearly always friendly, interesting and interested (apart from an angry shopkeeper in Brixton market the other month but she was an exception). So it's also a great way to interact with fellow London dwellers and we all know how tricky that can be in this city. I met Duncan from the Association of Photographers near the power station. He gave me tips on the best views and nearby bridges to shoot (cheers Duncan!).

Which brings me to the point of this blog. Four brilliant photographers talked through some of their London projects last night at the British Library. These guys have photographed the establishment (Mark Power had exclusive access to the building of the Millennium Dome and rebuilding of the treasury), the historical (Mike Seaborne captures an ever-changing London as senior curator of photos at the Museum of London), the overlooked  (Rut Blees Luxemburg's tower blocks and motorways have graced album covers - Hackney high rise "Towering Inferno" above was the cover of the Streets' debut Original Pirate Material), and the personal (Paul Halliday, leader of a photography MA in Goldsmiths, spent twenty years capturing memories of a poetic London, like this one below).

It was Halliday who advocated walking round London, quoting photographer Christopher Tilley "Walking is a process of appropriation of the topographical system, just as speaking is an appropriation of language." In other words, it's natural. But rather than wander round randomly taking pictures - like me - Halliday advises focusing on a particular aspect eg urban life, architecture, found objects to keep you engaged. Devising your own projects is key.

I absolutely love German photographer Rut Blees Luxemburg's work. Photographing mainly at night, she uses a large format camera on very long exposures (ten to fifteen minutes) which she says results in unpredictable colouring. She's inspired by literature and poetry which shows in her raw yet brutally beautiful pictures.

About the above shot of the Westway which graced Bloc Party album A Weekend in the City she said "The motorway is an emblem of modernity which we find difficult to come to terms with. So there's a tension between leisure and transport here."

Magnum photographer Mark Power is often very conceptual in his architectural work which I like. Again, he uses similar techniques to Rut which he said, sometimes made it difficult to photograph people because of long exposures (Rut never photographs people).

While Mike Seaborne made a good point when he said to teach yourself to think laterally. Everybody carries a camera today so it's about ideas. "Ideas present themselves all the time," he said. "It's just recognising them." You can view Mike's pictures taken from the top of a double-decker bus here.

And finally...'well I never' fact of the evening goes to Paul Halliday who told us that while it's not illegal to take pictures in public spaces, you do have to be mindful of bylaws. A tripod is thought of as a tent in the Royal Parks and can't be used. 

Last week to see new exhibition by influential photographer

You know that famous scene in American Beauty when the camera follows a white plastic bag dancing on the breeze? When mainstream film goers saw something extraordinary in the very ordinary, perhaps for the first time? Well that scene owes a great debt to the American photographer William Eggleston.

For it was Eggleston who pioneered an informal photography style in the seventies where he transformed everyday scenes and objects, from old coke bottles to car parks in his hometown of Memphis, into things of beauty, simply by looking at them in a different way.

This time last year I didn’t know my Eggleston from my Einstein.  But now I’m getting into taking my own pictures, I feel the need to discover the great photographers (blog to follow soon on new Irving Penn exhibition at the National Portrait once I’ve been) if only for inspiration. And Eggleston certainly delivers on inspiration. He can find beauty in the simplest of things.  He showed you don’t have to shoot amazing architecture or lush landscapes to take emotional, thought-provoking pictures.

His current exhibition, 21^st Century, at the Victoria Miro gallery near Old St/Angel (shown simultaneously at Chelm & Read gallery in New York) includes many such pictures shot over the past decade. Who would think of photographing layers and layers of ice, coloured with age, in a store freezer and making it interesting? Or the pink hue of old curtains which blanket a Cuban bathroom with an enchanting, barely-there glow?

Many professional and amateur photographers have tried to emulate Eggleston but few have succeeded in capturing moments in (everyday) life as magically as he does. Now in his seventies, he’s still able to use light and vivid colour (he’s also known as a father of colour photography) to create dreamlike, otherworldly pictures.  Humour also features in his work – look out for the flying santa.

If you are in any way interested in photography, this exhibition is not to be missed. It runs at Victoria Miro until Saturday 27th February (open Tuesday to Saturday).

No way José!

 

 

Which one of these pictures is the odd one out? The middle one and I'll tell you why in a minute.

Every year, for the past few years, I've marvelled at the skill, patience and imagination of the photographers chosen (out of 43,000 entries this year) for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition.

So I stood open-mouthed half-way round the exhibition at the Natural History Museum yesterday. Not because a shot had floored me with its brilliance. But because there was a blank space where the overall winning photo should have been (the middle of the three above called The Storybook Wolf). With words saying the winning photographer José Luis Rodriguez has been disqualified because he was found to have used a model wolf. No way José!

After announcing The Storybook Wolf as the winner of the 2009 Wildlife photographer competition, it has had pride of place since the exhibition opened in October. Three months later, the judges decided this week that it is "very likely the wolf is a model". By that, they mean a trained wolf from a zoo as the BBC explain here.

Suspicion fell on the Spanish photographer late last year when wolf experts concluded that a wild wolf wouldn't jump a fence. It would squeeze through the gate's bars instead.

Rodriguez has been banned from the competition for life and presumably has had to hand his £10,000 prize money back. This is certainly the most dramatic event in the competition's 46 year history.

The question is, why on earth has this only come to light half way through the exhibition's run? Calendars, mugs, postcards have all been printed. It's so odd. Something very strange has gone on methinks.

Take A View: How to photograph landscapes

Christmas has taken over. Culture has taken a back seat. Mulled wine is the new art. Ahem, or maybe that's just in Poptart's world. So, in between all the festive get-togethers, I squeezed in a landscape photography talk at the National Theatre.

Now in its third year, thousands of people take pictures around the country in the hope of becoming the Landscape Photographer of the Year . The amazing picture above of sunrise over the Old Man of Storr on the Isle of Skye by Emmanuel Coupe is this year's winning entry. This and other stunning pictures can be seen at Take a View: a free exhibition at the National theatre.

The awards which aim to show the UK in its myriad forms from rural, suburban to urban, were started by top landscape photographer Charlie Waite.*

And it was he who shared his secrets and tips from decades in the job as he talked through a slide-show of his iconic images.

First and foremost to be a good landscape photographer you need to engage with your surroundings, absorb them and become one with them, said Charlie. It's also good to have an idea in your mind of what you want. "I create a rough idea of how I'd like the photo to be. If the variables don't come together then it isn't too disappointing because I've enjoyed experiencing and observing the landscape."

Charlie is a man who thinks nothing of hanging around for an hour or two for a few clouds to pass by. Clearly patience is a key trait for a landscape photographer. He waited (no pun on his surname) for hours for the middle horse in this picture to straighten his right ear so that it matched the other two.


As I'm impatient and also a night owl rather than an early bird (those who are, catch the best light), I think I might not be cut out to make a living from this type of photography. So, back to clouds...

Charlie on clouds: they're very friendly things. If they comply with your wishes you can use them to deliver light or to conceal unwanted elements with their shadow. Clouds can also pull a picture together so that different elements interlock and talk to each other.


Charlie on light: Don't be afraid of juxtaposing dark and light fields as it helps convey a sense of depth.



Charlie on bad weather: If the weather is bad, water will give you twice the light so start working with it. Look for reflections in rivers and lakes. Similarly if it's windy, work with it not against it. Use a long shutter speed to try to capture the movement of long grass.

Charlie on trees: lonely trees often work because when a tree is isolated you see the true nature and nobility of it.



Charlie on infrared: I took a picture of Beech Avenue in Kingston Lacy in Dorset using a compact with infrared which gave a tonal value to the sky and made the trees look more cavernous.


Charlie on looking for relationships: (no not that sort although you never know who you might meet in a muddy field). It's important to look for relationships between elements. The human eye locks onto reference points and shapes first, then roams around after. This all takes one second. And that's when the viewer decides whether it's a good picture or not. In this picture:


the upturned boat in the foreground is shaking hands with the mountains behind.

I liked Charlie's views on how to "make" rather than "take" pictures. He works in the traditional way (he has a forty year old Hasselblad) and never photoshops skies. "Why sit hunched over your computer salvaging a picture when you could be outside using filters?" is his way of thinking.

If you want to hear more tips from Charlie than I can possibly write down, he is giving two more talks in January. More info here.

You can view some of the Take a View exhibition at the Guardian Online. It runs until 24th January.


* All pictures, apart from the winning entry at the top, are copyright of Charlie Waite.

DIY travel photography

Ever wanted to know the trade secrets of that astonishing ethereal landscape or startling wildlife shot in guide books? Well I found out the other night from Lonely Planet travel photojournalist Juliet Coombe at a talk she gave at Intrepid Travel in Islington (who incidentally seemed like a lovely bunch and no, I'm not on commission).*

Of course having the right lenses helps but it's amazing how Juliet has learnt to improvise out on the road saving potentially thousands by not buying fancy equipment. She has photographed an entire country in thirteen days for Lonely Planet from beaches to mountains via caves and jungles so she knows how to think on her feet. I couldn't believe the mundane items from around the house (mainly the kitchen) that Juliet inventively used to take the shots she was showing us.

So if, like me, you have a basic digital SLR camera and don't have heaps of dosh to spare, here are some of the lovely Juliet's top tips (I do hope I'm not ruining her income from talks by revealing her secrets).

Bin bags  - these are absolutely essential apparently. Not only can one be used to waterproof the camera (wrap it round and poke a hole through for the lens), it can also camouflage the camera for wildlife shots or it can be stretched over the lens so that you can cut out a rough shape of the object you're shooting while the bin bag filters the rest of the scene out. Take a roll of them.

Foil - take lots of it. Fills in shadows on faces.

Cling film - stretch it over the lens and smear on brylcreem or soap, or stick lace on it to create patterns. Use coloured cling film as cheap filters.

Tights - can be used as filters.

Clothes pegs - use them to attach silk scarves or card (again with the object's shape cut out) to the camera.

Toilet roll holder - pop over the end of the lens to create a longer lens.

Matches - apparently top travel photographers never use flash because it's too bright. The old-fashioned match gives a softer light.

Tissues - tip different quantities of tea or coffee on them, dry and you have filters of various sepia tones.

Rope - for lowering your camera to the ground from a landrover when you're on safari. Perfect for undergrowth shots. Or strapping to the roof of the vehicle.

Small step ladder - for those who are vertically challenged like me this could be the difference between a shot of the back of heads or an engaging picture.

Juliet recommends experimenting with all these devices before you travel, choosing one subject on your doorstep, so you can see which effects you like.

Successful photojournalists are able to create profound pictures by thinking about their message before they take the picture, emphasised Juliet. Apparently practical people can take pretty pictures but they won't necessarily have the longevity of those who've thought it through. And finally...remember: a good photographer will be prepared to do anything to get the picture (within the law presumably).

* All pictures are by Juliet Coombe.

Shapes in the sky

They're dramatic, colourful and make people smile. What's not to like about fireworks?

 

Especially when they light up the sky with funny shapes like a palm tree:

Or this flower:

I love them as they bring people together too. Having said that, I had two sets of friends on the common this evening and in true Pop Tart fashion, didn't manage to hook up with either because of the general pandemonium and lack of mobile network coverage.

More gratuitous pix:

Pink and gold are my favourites. I really fancy a mulled wine now...