We The People

Welcome to a very positive day; today my second book We The People was published through Blurb the book is going to be a resounding success, it certainly is a culmination of the styles I have picked up through comical captures, metaphors and juxtaposition. 

Am happy it is finally finished and to be honest it has been a bit of a learning curve putting this together, unlike Work, Rest and Play this is probably a lot more besides.

After having a conversation with another photographer, we discussed my style of photojournalism and the approach is certainly artistic in execution, I am though just learning though admittedly I am developing a style. 

When you click on the link to my latest work you will be greeted with colour! I decided on going for full bleed images on some pages throughout the book, and have also opted for photo-spread layouts for the landscape perspective which are also showing fantastic contrast with the paper used which is ProLine Coated Pearl; I just like this paper and the cover itself is an oatmeal linen with standard mid grey end sheets and finished off with a high gloss hardcover dust jacket. 

The paper gives a superb look, a high dynamic range for great colour, rich blacks and superb contrast. 

A majority of the photos I shot during the scotia-pride event in Edinburgh were featuring people were rich vibrant coloured clothes, and this paper really shows how professional a look the photographs give. 

 

Moving on to the other locations, Chester offered a few surprises as did Blackpool, a fight took place and you can clearly see the public reaction, everyone honed into the area of interest, as though they were watching a scuffle in a school playground. It made for a very interesting shot I shot it with a zoom lens though; I prefer to get in closer with a 28mm F/2 Soligor or an F/1.8 MK II 50mm Canon. 

Prime lenses are ideal for street photography especially at night you can if using digital open the aperture up and adjust the ISO to 3200. You can get great results, I have tried using flash but straight away people will see that someone is taking photographs and you have lost the element of surprise. 

So it is much better using a higher ISO rating and the shots still have a great clarity about them, not so much noise. So if you like the look of the book please share the link, leave a comment or just give me some honest feedback would you have done something different, and if so what? 

One pattern I noticed that started to appear was the subject matter wherever I went people were asleep, day dreaming or was it the heat of the day and too much drink?

It truly is remarkable when you start viewing this and it then twigs in the mind this can be another book, and so that is exactly what I have started to work on, and why not after all the narrative is their I just have to go hunting. 

In fact the other day when I was itching to shoot something, I went for a stroll along the sea-front to see what subject matter was readily available, and I stumbled on a few ideas as I always do when am out walking. 

Model Shoot

During September I am going to be working on a new project with a friend who is an MUA (Make-Up Artist) 

Were going to be working on a few ideas mainly involving models so first up will be a shoot of one of Mita's  friends namely a transgender named Isis. We will be shooting a few fashion stills which sounds really exciting, am going to do this with a unique style that will hopefully incorporate some of the lighting skills, I have learned from reading the Strobist 101 blog if not read his invaluable source of lighting information, and his vast knowledge of lighting outdoors or indoors, I suggest you do. It's a great place to start. 

So the shoot will involve to some degree strobist lighting techniques, I will also be using my Canon EOS 1D MK II , for the simple reason it actually shoots at a maximum of 8.3 fps (frames per second) so it is marginally quicker than my EOS 60D. 

Which shoots at 5.3 fps (frames per second). Not just that but my pro camera is just that its designed for these type of shoots. It may have only 8.2 million megapixels but it is still a revered pro-camera. So with that one firmly penciled in the book, the other shoot is a bit more controversial in the offing, it certainly will raise a few eyebrows, so watch this space for information, what I will say is this the work has been inspired a number of elements one of those elements is Paula Rego the painter.

Exciting stuff indeed the Lisbon born painter has a very interesting style, it's very evocative, and I want that to really shine through in my photography, so for those who do not know of her work, seek her out, you will be amazed at her art!

As for me am going to admire my latest work, if your interested in purchasing a copy please do, you will be very pleased with the work.