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The shortlist for the third Prix Pictet was announced on 10 November 2010 at Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire, Paris. There is an exhibition which will run from 12 to 27 November where members of the public can view the entries.
There are twelve shortlisted artist’s work on display from the original 450 entrants. The theme for the third cycle of the Prix Pictet is Growth. The prestigious competition, although only in its third year is one of the worlds premier environmental photography competitions. The winner of the huge prize sum which works out at about £63,000 will be announced in March 2011.
Looking at the Prix Pictet website at the shortlist entries the standard looks incredibly high and it was very inspiring. One of my favourite projects was Oil by Edward Burtynsky. Edward is one of the worlds finest industrial landscape photographers and is much celebrated in Canada. You can read what he has to say about his project on the Artists Statement part of the Prix Pictet website.
Nov 13, 2010 | Categories: Photography Competitions, Photography In The News, Photography Inspiration | Tags: Art, competition, Edward Burtynsky, Galerie Les Filles, Nadav Kander, news, Paris, Photographic, photography, Prix Pictet, Visual Arts | Comments Off on Prix Pictet – Shortlist Announced at Gallerie Les Filles du Calvaire, Paris
Nov 13, 2010 | Categories: General, Uncategorized | Tags: Bodyart, Niche, photographers, photography, Studios, Tattoo, Temporary tattoo | Comments Off on Tattoo idea for photographers!
I have just been looking at the photographs of the Hasselblad Masters competition some of them have just gone on display on the BBC news website.
BBC News – In pictures: Hasselblad Masters
For a competition that is acknowledged to be one of the most prestigious awards the industry has to offer I found the finalists work quite uninspiring.
Disheartened I decided to have a look on the Hasselblad Masters website and although the quality of work is much better than those that are displayed on the BBC website I still found a lot of the entries uninspiring.
That said the work of 2009 winners like Mark Holthusen who merges traditional styles with a digital age to produce an inspiring set of images. London based Dirk Rees is another photographer who was a winner in 2009 who’s work stood out for me.
Here’s hoping that the judges for this years competition find some outstanding talent for their winners this year. Perhaps one of the most exciting things about the Hasselblad Masters award is the fact that its open for up and coming photographers and established photographers.
Nov 12, 2010 | Categories: General, Photography Competitions, Photography In The News | Tags: Arts, competitions, Hasselblad, Image sensor, Mark Holthusen, masters of photography, medium format, Photo, photography | Comments Off on BBC News – In pictures: Hasselblad Masters
Photo provided by Ambro
Last week David Cameron came under fire bacause of his ‘personal’ photographer paid for by the Tax Payer.
He was attacked in the House of Commons by Labour Leader Ed Miliband who mocked the Prime Minister saying ‘I can’t believe he is talking about hard choices this week because who has he chosen to put on the civil service payroll? His own personal photographer,’
Cameron’s spokesperson defended his appointment of photographer Andrew Parsons by saying that the Government’s communications budget has been cut down to a third of what it was. Cameron’s spokesperson also stated that the appointment of an in house photographer was a huge saving for the British tax payer compared to the cost of freelancers.
Downing Street stated that Andrew Parsons is not the Prime Minister’s personal photographer and would be used across several departments and for taking photos of several senior government workers.
In my opinion having an in-house photographer can only save money for the government. The cost of freelancer’s fees and the administration costs of hiring different photographers and getting them to sign the relevant confidentiality agreements would be far greater than having someone on the payroll.
You can see examples of Andrew Parson’s work here on the Guardian website
Nov 12, 2010 | Categories: General, Photography In The News | Tags: Andrew Parsons, cost cutting, David Cameron, Ed Miliband, Government, House of Commons of the United Kingdom, Photographer, Photography News, savings, Tax Payer, UK | Comments Off on Photography in the news – Cameron’s ‘Personal’ Photographer Paid For By The Tax Payer
I have been following several RSS Feeds and I thought it was about time I reviewed 10 of my favourites. These RSS Feeds give me many things from inspiration to industry news. They are in no particular order so I hope you will follow them all. Add them to your RSS reader of choice and enjoy reading them with your morning coffee!
A Pictures Worth – Photoshelter
Photoshelter is a fantastic site in itself and if you haven’t had a look at it you should!
Even if you are not using their services though you should be reading their blog. Written by PhotoShelter co-founders, Allen Murabayashi & Grover Sanschagrin, it has their take on the photo industry, photographer websites, selling photos, SEO, gear and more. An invaluable source for anyone in the industry.
A Photo Editor
Written by former photography director Rob Haggart, this is a source of common sense for photographers! As a photographer some of the best advice is the advice that comes from your customers or photo buyers. With up to date industry news interspersed with interviews from Rob’s contacts that he has built up as a man with his finger right on the pulse, this has to be one of the best RSS Feeds for photographers.
Chase Jarvis
Chase Jarvis is one of the current day’s great photographers, not just for his fantastic and inspiring work but also because of what he gives back. Chase blogs about his work, gear and lifestyle. With posts about how he creates his images, industry conventions he has spoken at and so much more. Chase Jarvis is a hero of the photography world. It is also worth my mentioning that in other parts of his website there are videos of his shoots that are well worth watching!
Jim M Golstein
Jim Golstein is a travel and landscape photographer who has a particular interest in nature. His blog displays some of his photos from his shoots which are well worth a look at.
Joe McNally
Based in New York, Joe McNally has an impressive CV amongst which lies 20 years of shooting for National Geographic. Blogging eccentrically about life as a photographer, his shoots and his projects to put back into the photography community the skills he has learned. I think the most wonderful thing is the amount of variety his work carries.
Peta Pixel
An open vault that is constantly updated with new jewels of the photographic world. Aimed at technically minded photographers it hosts information on the more technical side of digital photography. Written by Michael Zhang and Jessica Lum together they produce some amazing content that I cannot get enough of.
Photocritic
Photocritic is written in a very individual style and the content is always forthcoming. Articles are a range of funny personal projects and opinions on all aspects of photography by the editor.
Scot Wydon
Scott Wyden is a photographer based in New Jersey he is currently on number 315 of his 365 series. Most of these series are like kissing your dog, they are cute but kind of stink at the same time. With this one I have enjoyed the photographers style throughout and its broken up with other interesting articles.
The Photoletariat
This is a fantastic read, the articles are like full magazine pieces and have great content. Recent articles have content about workflow, technology and philosophy. I can’t wait for the next article to be published.
Light Stalking
With guest posts from several contributor, Light Stalkers hosts articles with how-tos on computer software, camera techniques and post production workflows. Some of the articles are a bit soft but there are some gems.
Nov 11, 2010 | Categories: General, Photography Inspiration, Uncategorized | Tags: A Photo Editor, Best, Chase Jarvis, online blog, Photo, Photographer, photography, Photography Mentors, photoshelter, RSS Feeds, top 10 | Comments Off on 10 Top RSS Feeds Every Photographer Should Read
For a long time night photography has fascinated me, the patience of the photographers to set up their shots and freeze away waiting for the star trails to appear. With the changing of seasons and a lot of patience on my part for the right time of year when the moon is low enough in the sky so as to not bleach out the stars, autumn arrived in Ennerdale along with a few clear nights so I decided to crack on.
I had a quick sweep on google for a couple of “how to shoot great star trails” and “photos of stars” and armed with a starting point I nipped out after doing the washing up to shoot a couple of frames.
I started out knowing I wanted an
exposure time of around 30 seconds [to get a static star shot without trails] and stared with quite a high ISO of 800 and an aperture of f/2.8.
Star Photography 24-9-10 – ISO800 – 24mm – f/2.8 – 30.0s – RAW AND UNEDITED
I shot a few frames and although the first night was quite bright as the moon was still quite high it lit up the valley and the made the clouds almost white as they streaked across the sky and I could make out the stars shining through.
The next night I decided to shoot using the same settings but set up my self timer to shoot 30 second exposures at 10 second intervals. In post production I then animated all my stills into a movie.
When I was running through the animation I noticed a flash of light through the sky that wasn’t on the frames before or after (unlike with satalites and planes) so I realised it must be a shooting star!
Star Photography 25-9-10 – ISO800 – 24mm – f/2.8 – 30.0s
Happy that I could shoot any star filled landscape given the right scene should I have one of my ‘opportunist
photography‘ moments I decided to turn my mind to capturing star trails.
Star Photography 07-10-2010 – ISO100 – f/6.3 – 2633.0seconds (nearly 45 minutes)
Its obvious to most that the camera moved due to the thundering breeze whipping by but I was happy with the length of the trails to make me want to try again the next night with the addition of gaffer tape to steady the camera on the tripod.
Star Photography 09-10-2010 – ISO100 – f/5.6 – 4897.0seconds (just over an hour and a half)
I obviously pleased with my results, framed between the hills of the valley and with the glow from the set sun I love this picture (even though some guests wandered about with a torch which was a quick
Photoshop jobby!)
Nov 05, 2010 | Categories: New Uploads, Photo Shoot, Photography Techniques | Tags: Ennerdale, Gaffer tape, Lake Distr, Long exposure, Night photography, Photograph, photography, Shooting, Shutter speed, Star, Star Trails, Techniques, YHA Black Sail | Comments Off on Mini Project – Star Photography – Shot at YHA Black Sail, Ennerdale
Oct 27, 2010 | Categories: Photography Inspiration | Tags: dance, interviews, movement, photography, reportage | Comments Off on Dancers Among Us – My Modern Metropolis – A must read!
Here are a few photographs from the start of this season of Black Sail Youth Hostel. As you can see there was still a bit of snow around at the top of Ennerdale Valley.
YHA Black Sail was first opened as a Youth Hostel in 1933 but closed for a couple of years during the second world war. We have been wardens for the last two summer seasons but still have varying stories as to how Black Sail got its name.
Oct 27, 2010 | Categories: Photo Shoot | Tags: Black Sail, Cumbria, History, Hostel, Photo, Snow, YHA, Youth Hostel | Comments Off on YHA Black Sail In The Snow – Opportunist Photography
Desaturated image edited using Gradient Map in Adobe Photoshop
One evening last week I decided to play around with some landscapes I shot from Haystacks of Buttermere Valley. I have always enjoyed playing around with black and white images, sepia toning and cyanotype. It has probably stemmed from being one of the last of the privileged few that was taught photography with film. Since shooting with digital it is rare that I de-saturate an image, only a few portraits mainly or a good architecture shot.
After desaturating the landscapes though, they just didn’t seem to have the punch I wanted so I decided to import them into Photoshop and hunted about the house till I found a digital camera magazine I had knocking around. It is worth me pointing out I feel that this is not a regular read of mine there just didn’t seem to be much of a selection in the supermarket. Living in an area where internet access is limited to 28kbps on dial up, radio signal is limited to a fuzzy
BBC Radio 1 and television only available via satellite (which I don’t have!) you always need a plentiful supply of reading material and I wanted something for the blog!
I had never really looked at gradient map in
Adobe Photoshop and so I set about experimenting. I fiddled about with the settings not very confidently at first, watching the preview turn some alarming colours till I had the desired effect. Although I like the overall render I have achieved I am looking forward to going out and shooting with this technique in mind. Sometimes you can achieve some really good effects in Photoshop with the pictures you have but I am looking forward to shooting with an effect in mind so I can put together a series of great images display together using this technique.
Oct 27, 2010 | Categories: Photoshop Techniques | Tags: Adobe Photoshop, Black-and-white, Gradient Map, Graphics, Haystacks, Image editing, photography, photoshop | Comments Off on Black and white experiments with Gradient Map in Adobe Photoshop
Emily and I spent a weekend surfing down at
Llangennith Bay. One of the evenings we were down there the typical wet welsh weather abated so we grabbed our wellies and headed to the beach for a quick walk along the sands. I was glad I grabbed my camera when the late sun and clouds from the days rain were creating a very atmospheric sky and the light was shining up from the wet sand. Abandoning romance I set up my tripod and started shooting.
Post production-wise I ran my bracketed images through the software I have on Aperture creating a high quality HDR picture and enhanced the colours slightly. Needless to say I loved the end result so much they are on the wall on our lounge.
As a post script the best lesson I learned from this shoot was to always clean your tripod straight after coming off the beach because when I should have been relaxing and shooting a sunset later that week I was cursing and attacking my tripod with pliers!
Oct 18, 2010 | Categories: New Uploads, Photo Shoot | Tags: Arts, Arts and Entertainment, Gower, High dynamic range imaging, Llangenith, opportunist, photography, Recreation, Techniques and Styles, Tripod, Wales | Comments Off on Photos From Rossilli Bay, Llangennith, Gower South Wales – Opportunist Photography
