thaisphotographyworld-blog

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Lockdown 2020

E-Learning 

I watched regularly videos on Linkedin Learning webpage - to learn new skills on specific themes (Photoshop, exposure, film camera...) 

I signed up to 1854 Access to watch online interviews with photographers, curators, historians... Live broadcasts allowing viewers to ask questions at the end (Martin Parr, Jack Latham, Peter Funch, Michael Pritchard to name a few)

Selection of a new camera 

In light of the summer, I need to purchase a new camera as the Nikon D50 I acquired a few years ago only support 2GB SD memory card. I have purchased few, but I am yet to receive them due to delays with the mail. 

Few must have: 

Full frame or APS sensor camera 

Light body 

Compatible with Tamron or Sigma lenses 

Shoot Raw

High ISO range

.... 

I will contact the Technicians to ensure I get the appropriate guidance. 

WEX: https://www.wexphotovideo.com

LCE: https://www.lcegroup.co.uk

At the moment, I am in favour to buy the Fujifilm XT30 as I want a light body to carry with me everywhere. I have also read that Fujifilm provide a large range of high tech lenses, although they are not compatible with Tamron or Sigma. 

A Photo Journal 

I dug out a book that I purchased 2 years ago called ‘Use this if you want to take great photographs’ by Henry Carroll. Since the pandemic outbreak caused disruptions and meant that people are to comply to new regulations on social distancing. I thought this book would help me  to challenge myself creatively and experiment on conceptual ideas rather than taking photography too literally. 

Day 1: “Photograph your earliest memory”

My first crush was a plug, I could stare at it for hours and hours... 

Day 2: “Take the best picture you can. Right now.”

It is an art to be messy...

Day 3: “Shoot an advert where the image says it all without the need for any additional copy.”

Day 4: “Photograph a park bench. Below give it a title which changes our understanding of the image”

‘The Urban Gym’ 

Day 5: “Take picture that helps you come to terms with a personal hang-up.” 

Day 6: “Imagine you’re Elvis. What was your last photograph?”

Day 7: “Take a picture of a lie.” 

The aim was to take a picture every day with my phone following the instructions on the book (as I had an issue with my DSLR camera). It allowed me to keep focus and creative during the lockdown. 

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Prince’s Trust Collaboration (Ongoing)

I have previously worked for 5 years as a Prince’s Trust Team Leader, delivering Team programmes in different colleges across London. This collaboration is something that was at the back of my mind for a long time as I know how difficult it is to engage students on the programmes or get them there in the first place. 

Find out below what does the Team programme involve: 

A Team Leader and mentor that I used to worked with, Mr Samuels, was going to celebrate the delivery of his 50th Team in July 2020. So I wanted to grab the opportunity to put together a collaboration between Photography and Film and Production students at Portsmouth University to cover the story by creating a short documentary (which could be used to promote the course). Alongside, environmental pictures and headshots would be taken, outcomes are yet to be discussed... (Marketing, Portfolio, Exhibition are possible) 

Step 1: Gathering a Team to contribute to the collaboration 

I sent a blurb of this project to different people that were recommended to me by tutors. And to my great surprise all of the people I targeted where really enthusiastic and responded really quickly. Consisting of 3 Film & Production students and 4 Photography students. 

Step 2: Organise a Team meeting for brainstorming of ideas and story boards

As a result of the meeting, where we discussed ideas and responsibilities: Laura compiled a very well presented booklet, gathering all information that needed to be shared to the contributors at WFC - She printed several copies for the meeting. 

Nicole was responsible to get the equipment and the Risk assessment signed off for the first meeting - where we would have opportunity to film testimonies at the Prince’s Trust Morgan Stanley centre, where I have organised former colleagues and students to get filmed and questions about their experiences on the Programmes. 

Step 3: Attend a meeting to pitch the idea to the Waltham Forest College 

I contacted the Prince’s Trust Marketing team, was helped by a previous colleague to approach the appropriate person. 

I also contacted the delivery partner manager at Waltham Forest college, in order to arrange a meeting in March 2020. (Agreed date 10.03.2020)

Left to right: Tom B (WFC Marketing Manager), Laura (Film and Production), Nicole (Film and Production), Tomas (Film and Production), Donovan S (WFC Prince’s Trust Team Leader), Omur D (WFC Delivery Partner Manager, Head of English) 

During this meeting we discussed the possibility of the project to go through and what WFC would benefit from this: 

Dates of filming were discussed with the Team Leaders, the most beneficial would be to undertake filming during week 2 (residential), 5-6 (community project), and another visit to film ex-students testimonies (before/after shots) maybe during a quieter time for you (week 7-8?).

As for the photography involvement to support the marketing department across the College and PTTP, we could discuss this further with Tom. I really liked the ideas of banners, Newsletters' cover potentially resulting into an exhibition of the work during an opening event for instance. The Delivery Partner Manager, Omur, mentioned that this could be a pilot for future students from the University of Portsmouth to do professional work for the College. What a brilliant opportunity. 

Step 4: Start gathering some testimonies and photographs concept ideas 

I had compiled a list of questions for the interviewees, and Laura was going to be the one asking the questions. I learnt on this day that in order to get the most genuine answers, these questions would need to be adapted to the individuals and probably reformulated. It was still a success to the Team on the day as we managed to get testimonies of a variety of people that knew a lot about the Prince’s Trust from different angles. 

Charlie P - Operations Executive at the Prince’s Trust (Our contact at Morgan Stanley Centre) - Getting ready to give his testimony. 

Katrina P - Former student on the PT programme, now Head Chef in a notorious restaurant in central London 

These pictures were taken to document set ups and the people we interviewed, looking back at these, I should have experimented with a flash... 

Sadly due to the global pandemic outbreak the University has decided to close down as from mid march this and all projects are not being allowed to go through until further notice. Most of the students have returned to their relatives homes, as we haven't been given a time when the University is likely to resume to normal activities. I am aware that Colleges are likely to close too. 

In the meantime, I will speak to the students to ensure development of storyboards and photographic ideas and make connections with people that would like to partake in this project. 

Photographer JC Candanedo has expressed interest already (see work De-stress)

https://www.jccandanedo.com/personalprojects

TBC...

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Beautiful You Fashion Tour 16.02.2020

Day of the actual event, all creatives are to be at the venue from 2pm - the event itself doesn’t start before 7pm, it runs out late by an hour and half. All creatives are to be prepared for the event to start and get the right camera settings. I take this opportunity to secure a spot right in front of the double T shaped stage where I know the models would end up posing for a longer period. There is a very nice ambience and all creatives are supporting each other and interact with each other. 

I am glad to have taken 3 memory cards and a battery grip, the event lasted until 1am and I have taken 1275 photographs. On the week following the event I spent half of a day to go through all the pictures on Lightroom and select pictures with a star rank system, 4 to 5 stars would be the ones I edit and send back to the organiser, Pavel Diaz, so he could redistribute them to the models, designers and marketing. As it is a Time for Prints agreement, a discreet watermark is required on my photographs. I never thought about what it would look like, but for now I designed a signature with a type I liked (highlighted in red my favourite): 

Below are the contact sheets of the 51 photographs that I ranked 5 stars - after light editing on Raw camera, and adding few adjustment layers in Photoshop, including the watermark. I edited a total of 162 photographs, I spent approximately 3 days from the processing, editing and sending the files through google drive. 

I wanted to send the edited photographs within a maximum of a week and half from the event, to keep momentum and opportunity to have a great review from the organiser.  

Camera setting: Manual F/11, 1/250s, ISO 8000, Lens: 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM Zoom Lens  - I only changed the Aperture when the light felt brighter or darker (looking back, I maybe should have experimented more with the ISO settings and a smaller aperture)

Head to toe shots:

Selective crop pictures: 

After this email, I received a lot of instagram tags by models and designers and an increase of 50 followers in the space of a week. 

The experience does not stop there, as since we had to work on a portfolio for the Professional Practice and Work Experience unit. I selected few of these pictures to edit further to emphasise the models and get rid of the noise and harshness in the background. This was achieved mainly by retouching and blurring the background in Photoshop.

I was kindly surprised by the support given by different photographers on the day of the shoot. What I most enjoyed from this experience was the opportunity to capture different models from different backgrounds and looks, in various settings (backstage, runway,...) and the editing! This is something that I would like to do more of. I didn't use the monopod as it didn't work for me, I needed to have the flexibility to shoot from different angles and being reactive. I also forgot to set the camera on auto continuous focus, looking back, this would have given me better quality shots and wouldn’t have to readjust the focus between captures. 

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Beautiful You Fashion Tour 9.02.2020 (Preparation & rehearsal)

Preparation and research about Fashion shoots: 

Considered tips: 

- Be creative, capture atmosphere (include people in the audience).

- Placement of the model, change of composition. Shoot details (hats, belts...) Avoid repetition shoots. 

- Look at the environment (make a mental note of where the lighting is, where the models would be walking towards).

- Precompose the shoots.

- To keep focus on the model, use the panning technique. Set focusing on continuous A/F.

- Ideally looking for wide leg walking shot, put camera on burst mode. 

- White balance: Try tungsten or daylight 

Considered tips: (how to prepare)

- Backstage: shooting preparation of the show (avoid getting in anybody way), must not move something without permission, shoot with a telephoto lens.  

- Attend run through 

- Settings recommended 1/250, F/4, ISO 200 (consider changing ISO only during shoot)

- Focus point on eye, whilst looking at the models’ feet. 

- Favorise head to toe composition 

- Post edited select only the pictures that you be sent to the client 

- Arrive early to have the best position

- Bring monopod 

What is Beautiful You Fashion tour? 

Held in Paris, Milan and London in February 2020

I found this opportunity on StarNow; the advert was enticing photographers with all levels of expertise to participate in photographing runway models during the Beautiful You show during the London Fashion week. 

I first went to the rehearsal day on the 9th February 2020, where I met other creatives (photographers, models, designers). It was a really good opportunity to mingle, get familiar with the hall, sign legal paperwork and ask what equipment would I need to take on the actual day. I was advised to take the following by other photographers that had shot fashion runway before - 200mm and 50mm lenses, a grip with 2 batteries, 2-3 memory cards, a monopod, a stool. 

A map of the set was shared with all creatives to visualise how the layout would be on the day. 

During the rehearsal, I had to use a head shoe flash as it was fairly dark in the hall. First of all, I struggled with the settings and having all my pictures focussed. 

Focal Length: 70, F number: 4, Exposure time: 1/80, Flash ETTL

Strengths - The use of a 50mm lens brought really good head to toe shots, I was able to capture good poses where the models had their feet on the ground and looking at the camera. I felt at ease networking and asking what the designers would be looking for in a great pictures of their clothings.  

What to improve on - Better control of the light, adjust ISO, balance the yellowish tone (white balance), try out different creative shots. Use of flash on the rehearsal day - really challenging (I wasn't on the right channel to start with slave mode - so my flash was triggered by all the other flashes in the room, I didn't feel in control) - Not always easy to keep focus on the eyes of the model in action.