Workshop Wednesdays vol. VII

Happy New Year everyone! Are we the only ones excited by the new financial year commencing? The last 12 months were full of big changes for HP – with Hannah off getting married and Olivia swooping in to save the day and keep things running. Then, returning from honeymoon, we made the big, bold move to a brand new studio, completely off the track! With so many disruptions, we thankfully managed to survive and we are now raring to go for a big year ahead. One exciting new addition to our services is the introduction of a one-on-on workshop available here in the studio. Please see details below and let us know anytime if we can help….. Now – onto some inspiration, information and general LOVE for all things photography!!!

Tip 1

Our first tip this week is to try a one on one tutorial with us! We will tailor the intensive session to suit you whether you are just picking up a camera for the first time, or looking to expand your skills and knowledge. This could also make for a really special gift.

BUY NOW

Random Fact

” Darkroom is not actually pitch black. It is often lit by a red or amber colored light because black and white papers are sensitive to blue, or blue and green light.”
SOURCE
This is true for black and white printing in a darkroom. The colour darkroom is actually close to pitch black. It used to be my favourite place in the world, with the music up loud, watching in wonder as an image would appear from nowhere while being developed in the chemical tray. Magic!

In The News

Relatives of slain members of the news team from Ecuadorean newspaper El Comercio embrace as the coffins of their loved ones are carried on to an airplane of the Ecuadorean air force to be flown to Quito. The trio – journalist Javier Ortega, photographer Paul Rivas and driver Efrain Segarra – had been kidnapped and slain while covering a story on violence along the remote border with Colombia, prompting both countries to send troops to hunt the perpetrators.

Photograph: Luis Robayo/AFP/Getty Images

SOURCE

Photo For Thought

It’s never easy to identify the moment a hinge turns in history. When it comes to humanity’s first true grasp of the beauty, fragility and loneliness of our world, however, we know the precise instant. It was on December 24, 1968, exactly 75 hours, 48 minutes and 41 seconds after the Apollo 8 spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral en route to becoming the first manned mission to orbit the moon. Astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve of what had been a bloody, war-torn year for America. At the beginning of the fourth of 10 orbits, their spacecraft was emerging from the far side of the moon when a view of the blue-white planet filled one of the hatch windows. “Oh, my God! Look at that picture over there! Here’s the Earth coming up. Wow, is that pretty!” Anders exclaimed. He snapped a picture—in black and white. Lovell scrambled to find a color canister. “Well, I think we missed it,” Anders said. Lovell looked through windows three and four. “Hey, I got it right here!” he exclaimed. A weightless Anders shot to where Lovell was floating and fired his Hasselblad. “You got it?” Lovell asked. “Yep,” Anders answered. The image—our first full-color view of our planet from off of it—helped to launch the environmental movement. And, just as important, it helped human beings recognize that in a cold and punishing cosmos, we’ve got it pretty good. SOURCE

Iconic Photographers

David Bailey

“David Bailey was born on 2 January 1938 in North Leyton, East London. After living through the blitz he started school and was put in the ‘silly class’ due to what he later discovered was dyslexia.

He left school at fifteen and was conscripted to the Royal Air Force in 1956. Whilst posted in Singapore he bought his first camera and was inspired to be a photographer after seeing Cartier Bresson’s photograph, ‘Kashmir’.

Bailey started working with fashion photographer, John French as his assistant in 1959. He left soon after to strike out his own career as a photographer and published his first portrait of Somerset Maugham for ‘Today’ magazine in 1960. Discarding the rigid rules of a previous generation of portrait and fashion photographers, he channelled the energy of London’s newly informal street culture into his work. In 1965 he published David Bailey’s Box of Pin-Ups which is now seen as defining an era and shaped the future of photography.

Bailey’s career has been varied, and in the early 60s he began to direct the first of hundreds of commercials. He has been recognised internationally for his skills as a filmmaker, and won a Emmy for directing the “Sophisticated Lady” commercial for the American Cancer Society in 1990. Also the D&AD black pencil (Gold Award) amongst many other top awards for directing commercials.

Bailey has exhibited worldwide, the first of his landmark exhibitions in 1971 at the National Portrait Gallery, London featuring alongside the works by David Hockney and Gerald Scarfe in the exhibition SNAP! Internationally renowned, Bailey has produced some of the most famous photographic portraits of the last six decades.

He has travelled extensively, and although best known for his fashion and portraiture, his interests are varied, extending beyond photography to TV commercials, film, painting and sculpture.” SOURCE

Tip 2

Long exposure photography is a true art form with endless possibilities with landscapes, cityscapes and even wedding photography. You will need a very sturdy tripod that isn’t subject to any movement caused by wind. And a steady hand when clicking the shutter, or find a cable release so you don’t have to touch the camera to commence the long exposure. Choose the BULB setting on your camera for exposures that are longer than 30 or 60 seconds. 

This photograph by Lincoln Harrison was captured with a long shutter speed of 15 hours! Read more HERE

Our Story of the Week

How has it been over four years since your wedding Kristen and Dan!?? We know it’s been quite a journey for you and we are so happy that your family is growing again this year! Elka will make a wonderful big sister and Tui will of course provide the madness and cuteness as only a beautiful pup can. It really has been a pleasure to have met such a down to earth couple, full of love and respect for the environment. Your wedding was so personal – full of little touches that represented you as individuals and a couple. You are just beautiful and I can’t wait to see what the next four years and beyond have in store for you! X

P.S. If anyone needs pet sitting – Kristen is the best! Here is Whisker Watches Facebook Page

Tip 3

“Long–exposure, time-exposure, or slow-shutter photography involves using a long-duration shutter speed to sharply capture the stationary elements of images while blurring, smearing, or obscuring the moving elements.” SOURCE
 

“When each frame takes a half a minute or more to capture, the road to learning long exposure photography can be a long one. Here’s a much-needed shortcut to get started with this classic photo technique.

What’s really great about long exposure photography near bodies of water is that it helps to simplify the scene. As Andy Mumford points out in this video, the water will usually add a lot of texture and visual noise to a regular photograph, distracting the viewer from the lines and forms that were important in the image. Many people enjoy these more simplistic, surreal looking photos that long exposures create.

The gear needed to create long exposures isn’t too complicated. Besides a tripod, a neutral density filter is needed to block some light from reaching the camera sensor, this way the shutter speed can be decreased all the way down to 30 seconds or even a minute or more. Beginners sometimes rely too much on stopping down the aperture of their lenses to f/22 for slower shutter speeds, but this creates softer images due to diffraction. You’ll want to find a neutral density filter strong enough that it can bring your shutter speed down to long exposure levels while still having the aperture in the optimum f/8–f/11 range.

For more help on long exposure photography, be sure to watch the full video from Mumford HERE”

Thank you for getting this far! We hope it’s been a worthwhile read for you and we’ll look forward to checking in next week.

Please call or email anytime if we can help.

Best Wishes, 
The Hannah Photography Team:
Hannah, Olivia, Nic (and Charlie the Cat)