The Talking Head

The internet has brought us many good and many bad things. One of the latter is arguably YouTube.

The thing that really bugs me with it is when you have self-confessed gurus, icons or people who seem to think they are some kind of God telling you that you should do something. I have never been very good at doing what I am told, so this is not a good start.

Common phrases are:

• You must take it to the next level
• You are not progressing
• If you want to be better
• You should do this
• You have to remember
• You must do this
• I do this, so should you if you want to be successful
• Don’t buy this
• You must buy this
• Why I changed from Brand X to Brand Y
• I have lots of people ask me…

Perhaps they have enlarged heads with that ego and have to walk sideways through doors. There is rarely any consideration of the viewer’s own intelligence, desire or intent, and there is an assumption that we all want to hear their opinions and not have our own.

I would not mind so much if the information was factually correct, and so often it is presented as that but is just an opinion, albeit based on their own experience.

One area that really grabs my goat is film stock and lenses. Many of the YouTubers are too young to remember film when it was all that anyone could use. The comments made about the difference between stock x and y are sometimes just rubbish. It does not tie in with the manufacturer information that is freely available, and they add wild comments that seem to be for effect with no evidence or factual back-up.

There lies the rub… YouTubers should not be relied upon as your only source of information. I suppose that is obvious really. Do your own research. This thing called the internet is great for getting a balanced perspective and forming your own well-informed decisions.

Good Things Come in Small Packages

I do not know who originally said this, but I am sure you have heard it before.

Just for fun, I have decided to put it to the test. I am going to do the majority of my shoots and photography for a while using a smaller camera.

The camera is physically small, but the sensor is big and the lens is an interesting and good design that should help me to prove the above. I have been using ‘smaller’ cameras for a few years, but not this small. There are also advantages with weight that only have positive benefits, especially on longer shoots.

I have one problem, linked to shoots that use a model. They may assume ‘big is beautiful’ and make a negative assumption about the size of my equipment. Forgive the wording, I had to find a little humour somewhere…

The only way around this is to forewarn them so they do not think I am unhinged in some way. Maybe doing them as paid shoots will also help. I will post an update on how it went at a later date.

Consistency and Stability

The two words above are very important to me when it comes to arranging and doing shoots.

I recently worked with a model and because I had not worked with her before I suggested picking her up. The train times were not very agreeable and the drive was, on paper, straightforward. The other good thing about this was that we had time to chat in the car and that served as a further ice breaker.

My drive was fine until the last 5 miles, and due to an accident all my timings were off. It was all fine in the end and we got to shoot and have a good day. However, that problem with traffic upset my creative mojo. This sin turn meant that the pictures I shot were not, in my opinion, up to usual standard. This was a paid shoot, so I did not have a commitment to the model as a customer, but to my mind that is no reason to not shoot your best.

I made some different choices on lighting for some shots during the day, and I am not sure why I did that. The lighting is probably why I am annoyed with myself, and I am not sure why I did check myself as I would normally. The end results were not bad or a disaster, but I see some little errors that I would normally not have had made.

I felt slightly stressed through the day, and this was entirely down to that traffic messing up my plans. That is what I mean by consistency and stability. I can blame myself, but no one is to blame, it was just one of those things. What was important was that I got to build a solid foundation with the model for future work. That outweighs any negatives.

It did serve as a reminder that I need to factor out these wrinkles in my planning as much as possible as they can have a detrimental effect.

Not Just About Taking Photographs...

Some people may think that taking photographs is all a photographer does. Well, for some it may be, but I have always tried and liked to embrace a fuller picture.

This summer I have attended various art auctions, camera fairs and exhibitions. I find it very rewarding to immerse myself in the ‘art’ world. I do this all through the year, but some things just seem to work better in the summer.

I recently attended an art auction where a painting that was estimated as selling for £12000 ended up selling for £18750. In it’s own way it was exciting as the two remaining bidders got into what looked to us like a bidding war. One was a suave older gentleman in a navy blazer, with a cravat and cream trousers. This was topped off with a panama hat. The other bidder was a lot younger and looked like a punk rocker from the 1970’s. I am convinced they knew each other, so there could be an interesting back story to this assumption.

When I am in London I try to include a visit to The Photographer’s Gallery. In 2012 it moved to a new site which is far more suitable for what it has become. It has always been a good place to view some work, but also to treat myself to a coffee and a piece of cake. If you have camera equipment with you it is often easy to end talking to your neighbours and discuss anything ‘photographical’ (I know this is not really a word). If you have a film camera, it is even easier, as many people find that subject interesting. Business cards can be exchanged and friends can be made.

The camera fairs are a great chance to step back a few decades or more, and look at the equipment that I would have loved to own, but maybe could not afford or justify. Beautiful older cameras can be picked up for a fraction of what they originally cost, and sometimes in excellent condition. If you want to create a display, you can collect non working items for a very reasonable price.

This is a world with a past, present and future, and to many they are all valuable in their own way.