'Best experience'
I cannot recommend Hannah and her team enough! We had the best experience at our shoot with our newborn and the photos (which I wanted to capture our little one as naturally as we could) are just unreal. Hannah captured...
Workshop Wednesdays Vol.XXII
Workshop Wednesdays vol. XXII
As we enter our 7th year in business, we feel even more dedicated and focussed than ever! Well rested, revived and raring to go…Our intention is to continue with Workshop Wednesday’s each week to explore the world of photography and hopefully inspire and educate! Before we begin – we want to wish everyone a wonderful 2019 and hope that this is a positive year filled with amazing experiences for all!
Tip 1
New year, new beginnings and new resolutions… Let this be the best year of taking photos yet and if possible:
Shoot every day! Explore the functionalities of your camera as much as possible and remember to always SEE THE LIGHT!
Random Fact
“The first “photographic paper” was made of asphalt.
More precisely, asphalt varnish was applied on the copper or the glass
plate.”
More precisely, asphalt varnish was applied on the copper or the glass
plate.”
In The News
“In London Fireworks explode over the London Eye as Big Ben rings in the new year, watched by an estimated 100,000 people.”
Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images SOURCE
Photo For Thought
“Henri Cartier-Bresson was documenting the newly independent India when he captured this light moment between Pandit Nehru and Edwina Mountbatten…
Cartier-Bresson was in India to document the newly-independent nation. This picture of Nehru with the Mountbattens was his most famous picture of that assignment. Edwina and Nehru share a joke, while Louis looks away. This image took a different turn when it was revealed that Nehru was having an affair with Edwina Mountbatten.”
SOURCE
Iconic Photographers
W. Eugine Smith
“A photo is a small voice, at best, but sometimes – just sometimes – one photograph or a group of them can lure our senses into awareness. Much depends upon the viewer; in some, photographs can summon enough emotion to be a catalyst to thought”
– W. Eugene Smith
William Eugene Smith was born in 1918 in Wichita, Kansas. He took his first photographs at the age of 15 for two local newspapers. In 1936, Smith entered Notre Dame University in Wichita, where a special photographic scholarship was created for him. A year later he left the university and went to New York City, and after studying with Helene Sanders at the New York Institute of Photography. In 1937, he began working for News-Week (later Newsweek). He was fired for refusing to use medium-format cameras and joined the Black Star agency as a freelancer.
Smith worked as a war correspondent for Flying magazine (1943-44), and a year later for LIFE. He followed the island-hopping American offensive against Japan and suffered severe injuries while simulating battle conditions for Parade, which required him to undergo surgery for the next two years.
Once recuperated, Eugene Smith worked for LIFE again between 1947 and 1955, before resigning to join Magnum as an associate. In 1957, he became a full member of Magnum. Smith was fanatically dedicated to his mission as a photographer. Because of this dedication, he was often regarded by editors as ‘troublesome’.
A year after he moved to Tucson, to teach at the University of Arizona, Smith died of a stroke. His archives are held at the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, Arizona.
Today, Smith’s legacy lives on through the W. Eugene Smith Fund to promote ‘humanistic photography’, founded in 1980, which awards photographers for exceptional accomplishments in the field.
Three of my favourite photographs by Smith:
GREAT BRITAIN. Wales. 1950. A Welsh coalmining town. Three generations of miners.
1948. US writer Tennessee WILLIAMS.
WORLD WAR II. The Pacific Campaign. February 1945. The Battle of Iwo Jima (Japanese island). US Marine demolition team blasting out a cave on Hill 382.
Tip 2
“We all want to get the very best in-camera exposure, and a good exposure is all about correctly capturing light, the main element in every photograph. That said, your idea of the best exposure might be different from mine because, for one reason, you may prefer photographs that are a little darker or lighter than I prefer.
The first step in capturing the light is to “see” the light, to visualize the effect of light on a subject. After all, if you think about it, a photograph isn’t a picture of an object, it’s a picture of light falling on and reflected off an object. No light, no picture.
As creative photographers, we also need to think about the importance of shadows. Here are my four easy-to-remember expressions that drive home the importance of shadows in a photograph. Light illuminates; shadows define. Shadows add a sense of depth to a photograph. Shadows are the soul of a picture. Shadows are your friend.
Of course, you can and should use your camera’s histogram and highlight alert to help you determine a good exposure. Basically, you want to avoid spikes on the right of a histogram, and you want to avoid “blinkies” (overexposure warning) when your highlight alert is activated.
In this article, I’ll share with you some examples of the effect of light—more specifically, the six qualities of light—on a subject. Those qualities are contrast, direction, quality, color, intensity and movement.
CONTRAST
The most important technical element in a photograph is contrast. I say technical because the mood, or feeling, of a picture is of utmost importance. What’s more, we can control contrast in Photoshop and Lightroom, to a point, but for now, we’re just talking about getting the best in-camera exposure.
One of the elements that makes the opening image (which I took in Death Valley, Calif.) for this article interesting is strong contrast: The wide difference between the highlight and shadow areas of the scene. We need to see that difference in contrast because we usually don’t want to overexpose the brightest part of a scene—the woman’s face in this photograph—which is a very small part of the entire frame.”
Our Story of the Week
Wind the clocks back to December 2017 when we first had the pleasure of meeting Ebby and Nick for their maternity session not long after we moved into our new studio… A few weeks later in January 2018, baby Hannah arrived safe and sound and slept peacefully for the entire photo shoot.
One year later, our first photo shoot of the year happened to be on my birthday and it was to capture Hannah celebrating her very first birthday. Not only do we share a name – but a birthday too (well, a few days apart at least!)…
Ebby’s Mum was also visiting from Kenya so we were able to capture some very special photos of three beautiful generations all together.
Such a wonderful way to celebrate and a great start to the year of portraits. Thank you Ebby and Nick – I can’t wait to share all of the photos with you next week! X
One of Olivia's beautiful captures from Bec and Pat's wedding.... Nearly one year ago! Sending lots of love your way for your first anniversary Bec and Pat! X
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)
