Workshop Wednesdays Vol.50

Workshop Wednesdays vol. 50

Happy New Financial Year! Sorry to sound so nerdy – I am definitely not a numbers person, but I love any opportunity to celebrate new beginnings and starting fresh. And it certainly feels like we need a new starting point for this year! A radio presenter this week commented that if this was half way through a football match – we would need one hell of a pep talk to get through the second half! I couldn’t agree more! Having said that, we are very fortunate to be fuelled by pure excitement for our upcoming move. And LOVING the amount of amazing families we have welcomed into the studio since reopening! July is nearly full already and we are so excited about the diverse and interesting portrait shoots coming up. We feel so relieved to be emerging from the “otherside” of covid-19 (can I say that yet?!) and sincerely hope everyone else is also starting to find their feet again and looking towards our “second half” with optimism and resilience.

In The News

Barcelona, Spain

“Agustina Canamero, 81, and Pascual Pérez, 84, hug and kiss through a plastic film screen to minimise the risk of catching coronavirus, at a nursing home in Barcelona.”

Photograph: Emilio Morenatti/AP

(Please zoom in and look at the emotion in this mans eyes – just heart wrenching!)

SOURCE

Photo For Thought

“Musicians from the UceLi string quartet perform Crisantemi by Puccini for an audience made up of 2,292 plants. The plants will be delivered to 2,292 healthcare professionals from the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, accompanied by a certificate from the artist Eugenio Ampudia.” 

Photograph: Jordi Vidal/Getty Images

SOURCE

'Life' photographer Francis Miller (C), shooting presidential beagles on White House lawn.

Iconic Photographer

– Francis Miller

“James Bond could not have concealed a camera with more finesse. Francis Miller (1905-1973) hid them in cigarette cases, camouflaged them with neckties and carved out the pages of a copy of The Best Known Novels of George Eliot to encase his lens. His agility with a surreptitious camera was so well-known, a colleague once blew his cover by yelling to him. “Hey, Miller. where you got the camera hid this time?”

—Adapted from The Great LIFE Photographers

DISCOVER MORE HERE

Model demonstrating the Aqua Bobber. (Photo by Francis Miller/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

Orphaned brothers watching a TV set for the first time. (Photo by Francis Miller/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

Interesting Read

“Why does this legendary photographer’s work continue to resonate today? Recent protests in St. Paul evoke the work of Gordon Parks, an influential 20th-century interpreter of African American life and culture.”

Gordon Parks became one of the 20th century's most influential interpreters of African-American life and culture. Here, a 1948 self-portrait. PHOTOGRAPH BY GORDON PARKS, THE LIFE IMAGES COLLECTION/GETTY

“SOMETIMES ONE OF the most interesting things about a photograph is what’s just outside the frame. That’s the case with the portrait of Deveonte Joseph that Nathan Aguirre made on a street corner in St. Paul, Minnesota a month ago during the protests after the murder of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, by Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis police officer.

Across the street from where Joseph stood, barely outside of the camera’s view, is a building that connects him to another young black man who lived in St. Paul nearly a century ago. The building is Gordon Parks High School. Its namesake was a man who, as a photojournalist, became one of the mid-20th century’s most influential interpreters of African American life and culture. The connection between Joseph and the school reveals much about the enduring nature of racial oppression in the United States and, at the same time, allows us to think about how that oppression and resistance to it have been represented in photography.

Joseph’s portrait, which I wrote about soon after Aguirre made it, captured the public’s imagination. It quickly went viral on social media and attracted the attention of mainstream news outlets such as CNN. It’s easy to see why. In the photograph, Joseph was incongruously dressed in an academic cap and gown, stylishly torn blue jeans, and basketball shoes, as if he were ready for both a graduation ceremony and the party afterward. Although he was isolated in the center of the frame, enough commotion was visible behind and to the sides of where he stands — men in riot gear, police cars, a large emergency vehicle of some sort — to suggest that a civil disturbance was nearby. Joseph’s outward calm belied the chaos that surrounded him. For many, the portrait symbolized a hopeful future for young black Americans “as well as our failure to fulfill the promises we make to our youth,” as the writer Connie Wang put it.”…..

BY JOHN EDWIN MASON

… Please read on and see the incredible photographs as well…

READ FULL STORY HERE

Story of the week

Ahhhhh… the good old days of weddings before coronavirus changed the industry (and the world) forever! We were reminded of how much we loved Katie and Mark’s wedding from 2017 when they visited the studio again last month to welcome their adorable baby boy Archie into the world! It didn’t feel like nearly three years had passed since this stunning day in the Gold Coast hinterland. Not even the fact that the limo with the BRIDE was late and lost, could dampen anyones spirits on the day. Thankfully Katie still arrived in time to get married and enjoy the sunset with her groom Mark and their friends and family from all around the world. It was just magical. And even more magical to see them again with their brand new little human that they have created! This is why we love what we do so much and feel so so lucky to capture these tiny little moments in time that will be treasured in their family story forever.

 

Best Wishes From HP!

Thank you so much for all of your support and love –  we couldn’t do this without you! Wishing everyone a prosperous 20/21 financial year ahead!

Best Wishes,

Hannah, Olivia, Angela, Nic and Charlie

The Hannah Photography Team