One of my favourite photographers, Lara Jade, is releasing a DVD in collaboration with her buddy Joey L. As yet, I don’t have much information to pass on but I am looking forward to reviewing the DVD when it is released on 1st December. Until then, here is what Lara herself has to say:

Me and photographer Joey L are finally excited to announce the release of our upcoming tutorial DVD “Photographer Shoot-Off: Lara Jade VS Joey L” that will be released on December 1st!

This unique comprehensive tutorial DVD features vision from my both sides of the photography industry – combining personal vs commissioned work as well as each of our individual shoot styles.

The basic concept: Joey L, rising from the advertising scene and Lara Jade – working within the fashion industry. Both photographer’s once living on other sides of the Atlantic and coming from entirely different backgrounds.

So what ties them together? The rivalry of course! Way back in 2007 on one of Joey’s first trips to England we met with the intention of collaborating on a shoot together. After shooting, we were surprised to notice that even with the same set-up and model on location we produced completely different final shots. If anything, one thing was very clear that day – photography style is entirely driven on the vision of the photographer, no two photographer’s are the same.

Both Lara and Joey have their own websites which are worth a visit:

• www.larajade.co.uk
• www.joeyl.com

Wembley and The FA will attempt to create a record breaking 10-gigapixel panoramic photo of the entire Wembley crowd at this year’s FA Cup Final between Manchester City vs Stoke City on Saturday 14 May. The photograph itself will be taken by 360Cities.net photographer Jeffrey Martin working closely with Dare Digital.

360Cities.net photographer Jeffrey Martin taking practice shots in Prague.

The Wembley 360 is likely to be the largest live sporting panoramic photo ever taken. And with a turnaround time of just 24 hours to shoot, stitch, fine-tune and upload, it’s also been an unprecedented feat of online publishing.

The story began a few months before the Final when Wembley commissioned renowned photographer Jeffrey Martin from 360 Cities.net, creators of the ground breaking 80-gigapixel London Panorama and 40-gigapixel Renaissance library shots, taken from inside a Prague monastery which currently holds the record for the largest interior photo ever created.

Capturing a stadium filled with moving fans, flags and drama, would pose its own very unique set of photographic challenges. In preparing for The FA Cup Final shoot, Wembley invited Jeffrey and the team to carry out a test shot to ascertain the optimal combination of speed of shooting and final resolution – the two biggest challenges for the team being limited time to capture the required shots and ensuring that the maximum number of people would be able to find themselves in the photo.

Google maps helped approximate the distances from the camera to the farther reaches of the inside of Wembley and Prague’s Victory Square was chosen to stand in for Wembley Stadium in the first test.

This enormous outdoor space was then captured in 360-degree panoramic detail using the same equipment and in the same amount of time that would be available during the match. The result was then analyzed for clarity of detail and settings noted for the next test shot at Wembley for the Manchester United v Manchester City Semi Final on 16 April.

Since positioning Jeffrey in the middle of the pitch during play, or suspending him from a wire above the pitch, raised one or two practical issues, Jeffrey and his camera were positioned just on the halfway line behind a broadcast cameraman.

He proved a master in multi-tasking staying alert to shield his tripod from the odd stray ball while remaining crouched down out of sight of the spectators in the front row behind him while monitoring the progress of the robot tracking device and photographing around the inside of the stadium.

The kit itself comprised of a professional Digital SLR and zoom lens mounted on a custom designed programmable robotic tripod head. The robot turns, focuses and snaps photos in a continuous motion around 360-degrees until the entire inside space of the stadium has been captured.

The hundreds of high-resolution images were then transferred to the stitching server via a super fast broadband pipe. Once uploaded, the images are automatically joined and blended together. The actual processing of the final image was done on a special Fujitsu Technology Solutions Celsius server with 192 gigabytes of RAM. In short, upwards of 1000 individual photographs are sorted, matched, stitched and enhanced to produce a finished image that would otherwise take days or weeks to create using traditional methods.

With some large differences in light, particularly at Box level, the Semi Final threw up some challenges to take to the Final.

The whole team looks forward to a packed Wembley on Saturday to capture 90,000 fans and 90,000 memories for the final. Tag yourself in the crowd and be part of history from 3pm on Sunday.

wembley360.wembleystadium.com

*What is a ‘gigapixel’ photo?

A gigapixel photo is an image of at least one billion (one thousand million) pixels in resolution.

The photos from the phone in your pocket have about 3 million pixels, the photos from your digital camera about 12 million. A gigapixel photo is made by stitching together hundreds or thousands of individual high resolution photos to produce a Godzilla-sized image that allows the viewer to zoom way in to see amazing detail.

About 360 Cities

360 Cities is the largest collection of beautiful high-resolution panoramic photos on the web as well as the biggest online community of panorama photographers. With tens of thousands of geo-referenced, 360-degree images of amazing places, 360 Cities lets visitors explore the world are available. 360 Cities is a Premium Content Partner of Google Earth.

This 15 minute documentary tells the story of Denis Smith, professional light painter. Two years ago, Denis was in a high pressure sales job, struggling with drink, debt and depression. His marriage was driven to the brink and he was forced to make drastic changes.

He moved to Australia and soon discovered light painting, a unique form of photography which allows for vibrant and surreal imagery. Through a new found love of creativity, Denis began to change his life and find clarity.

The Video:

For more information, visit Sam’s website: www.samcollinsmedia.com or Denis’ own site: www.balloflight.com.au

• Talent alone is not enough
  Tasting commercial success as a photographer means you must know how to sell the pictures you take. You may have the best technique in the business and know how to produce stunning photographs, but if you’re stuck with your entire collection at the end of the day without having sold even one, there’s really no use in trying to use your talent to go into business in photography. You need to be a salesman and a good businessman as well as a photographer, and if you lack the skills needed for the former profession, you’re going to need someone to help sell your photographs for you.
• You need persistence and patience
  It’s not easy to break into the business of photography because the well-paying jobs are few and far between and the ones that are available are already taken. So you need to wait for your opportunity before you’re able to cash in; very often, photographers choose to freelance until they’re able to get regular business. On the bright side however, it takes just one good assignment to turn your fortunes around; once people start talking about your work, you’re going to be in great demand. But until then, you need to be patient and persistent.
• You must customize your craft
  Not every photograph you take is the same, even if they are of the same subject. To make it as a successful photographer, you have to know what your clients want and deliver accordingly. And for this, you need to know your clients and what they want out of this assignment. Very often, you have to be able to communicate well and understand their needs without them being explicitly communicated to you.

In general, besides an exceptional amount of talent, you need a good business sense and great people skills if you want to make a success of your photography business.

This article was written by Kathy Wilson, who writes on the subject of Photography Colleges.

Kathy can be reached by email: kathywilson1983@gmail.com

Simon was one of the first people I followed on Twitter. When I learned that he was producing a book about his photographic safari in Kenya, I was fascinated, partly because I was fortunate to spend two days on Safari in Kenya myself a couple of years ago.

I asked Simon if he would share a little of the experience with us and he has kindly agreed.

Gary.

The idea for the book was spawned from wishing to record what is, for many, a once in a lifetime experience – a safari holiday in Kenya. I’m a semi-pro photographer, so I would be taking huge numbers of photographs and I was sure I’d have enough to make a reasonable photobook for myself. I’d invested in a netbook so that I had a low-cost way of copying images from memory cards and it proved to be ideal for note-taking too, so each day I would sit by the lodge pool and write up a few notes. I soon had enough notes to make a small book without photographs and so the idea evolved.

I’d make an illustrated book, identify all of the animals, make it a travelogue and add a few photography hints in there as well for the geekily minded reader.

We arrived back from the safari in early October and after a couple of weeks, I started getting the text into shape. In early November I was ready to start layout using Adobe InDesign, in fact ready to start learning how to use Adobe InDesign! Progress was slow and pretty much stalled, as I could never find large enough chunks of time to make an impact in the production of the book, but a change to my work travelling in April of 2009 was to come to the rescue. I live in Farnborough, and have worked in, and driven to, Basingstoke for many years, but our office was to relocate to Reigate. Rather than drive every day and endure what used to be a twenty minute drive each way becoming an one hour drive, I would get the train. This not only is quicker than the car, but it gives me 34 minutes in the morning and 38 minutes in the evening to whip out the MacBook and make progress. It wasn’t long before I was making great progress, but hit upon some other hurdles. So, from this low point, and almost six months of non-progress, the book would suddenly start to take shape.

My typography skills were non-existent. I couldn’t understand why all the pages looked like I’d thrown the text and pictures at them. That was probably because I had. In desperation, I gave in and asked my cousin Vanessa of www.foliotypo.com for some advice. She’s been designing and laying out brochures, flyers and all sorts of promotional material for years, and she gave me some simple guidelines that made everything so easy. “Use three columns” she said. “Make the text flow over one, two or all three, and the pictures to fit the columns too”. Some pictures would be full bleed, but pretty much these were the only exceptions. Now, where I had struggled looking at a page, everything just flowed, and by the end of May I had a manuscript ready for my proof readers.

Vanessa would take a copy and a final look at the layout and a good friend Linda (formerly a teacher, now a jeweller, but a fully paid up member of the English Language Police) would read another copy. They found most (maybe all) of my typos, lazy mistakes and schoolboy grammatical errors and by early June, I had the final proof.

So, now to lulu.com, my chosen print house and publisher. I’d made the book a square format, seven and a half inches square. Now I read the small print, I discovered that for some reason, this format was not compatible with the distribution models I wanted to use. Lulu offer an “expanded distribution” package where you get an ISBN and a listing through Amazon and other book sellers this was what I wanted to use, so I reformatted to a compatible size, now eight and half inches square – another week of train journeys just for this!

Lulu takes two PDF documents, one for the main book itself, and another for the cover. At this stage I wanted to get a printed proof, so I went ahead and ordered one. After just a week, I received this copy, looking just like the real thing. This was the real high point of the whole project. All of a sudden, the book was real, tangible and in my hands! However, the print process leaves some of the pictures a little dark and I spotted a few more mistakes. Another revision, but this time, I’m more confident, so I order the expanded distribution package. I duly receive an ISBN number, modify the document to include it within the book and on the cover, and upload once again to Lulu. Now you MUST order a proof before accepting the book as done and ready to publish. Another few days go by, I receive the final document and there it is, done! – click the â??Accept Proof’ button in Lulu and it’s all ready to go. Another six weeks or so, and it should appear in all good bookshops…

Writing a book is something many people say they would like to achieve in their lives and having now done it, I must say the excitement has gone away. It’s such a long process, that at times it felt impossible, I wondered if it was worth it, but one of the things that kept me going was the intention I had for the dedications in the book. It is nice to leave a statement in such a profound way. Having passed the finish post though, I can say that I’ve done it and have learned what’s needed if I want to do it again, or need to do it commercially. I’m sure the next one will be bigger, better and easier to produce. If I did do one commercially, I would use Vanessa’s help at a professional level.

I’m not planning anything else yet, I don’t believe this sort of project (for me anyway) is something you can just say “oh, I’ll write a book”. I need a subject about which I’m knowledgeable and can confidently write. Content is King, I’m not writing a novel after all (nor I expect will I ever write a novel either). If I do something else, it will be based upon experience and most likely illustrated with my photography. It could even be based on some of my stranger photographic creations, or even about the rise of my local rugby team (for who I am the photographer) to the national leagues. Honestly though, we might have to wait for that one!

What are my expectations of sales of “Kenya Safari”? If I’m honest, zero. It’s a project for myself to document the holiday and to share with family and friends. I’ll order a batch of 25 for this purpose, maybe I’ll sell a few copies to some other people, but we will see. Maybe a few libraries will order copies for their shelves! I doubt I’ll be touring the UK doing book signings! – but I can imagine a few talks to societies, camera clubs and the like happening before long.

At least now, I can look up the local bookshop in the Yellow Pages, call them and ask “Do you have a copy of Kenya Safari by Simon Taylor”. “Oh my name? Simon Taylor…”

ISBN 978-1-4092-9474-0 (should be available mid-September 2009, but available now from Lulu.com). More information is available from Simon’s website.

Extract :

“Later in the lodge we watched as a crocodile, a large beast, estimated to be some seventeen feet or so (and part of the tail was missing!), fed on scraps left out for it.

The local cat would dodge in and out, braving the creature’s jaws to steal the occasional morsel, and I crept forward to get a few shots.

Crouched down so I could get as close to an eye level shot as possible, I was taking a few pictures when the crocodile lurched forwards. I nearly fell over backwards as my reactions took me away from the crocodile, now probably only about two feet away. This was one of those life defining moments when you realise how quickly these lumbering giants can actually react, and possibly how foolish I had been to trust the low three course brick wall that separated us. Had the crocodile not been quite so well fed, it might have tried just a little harder.”

“Our landing, as warned, is likely to be a “tip and drag” one, where the leading edge of the basket comes into contact with the ground and the inertia of the balloon pulls the basket over and along the ground. In preparation, we stow our cameras into their bags (except for me of course, as, by carrying two cameras, I have more camera than bag space), and we lower ourselves down into the basket onto bench seats we have previously been standing on. Gripping handles inside (and clamping my un-protected camera), we wait for the bump. Sure enough, it comes, we bounce, and a second bump makes harder contact. All goes quiet for a moment as the basket teeters slowly and tips over, and now, lying on our backs, the whole balloon and basket assembly slides along the ground for ten or fifteen seconds. You can’t see anything from inside the basket, so it’s a trusting experience – that this has happened many times before, and all will be OK – and that the lion we saw only a couple of minutes earlier won’t be standing outside as we scramble out, looking for breakfast!”

John Henshall, the internationally acclaimed, and often outspoken, digital imaging guru, has been awarded a Master of Arts Honorary degree by the University for the Creative Arts, for his ‘profound influence,’ in the development of digital photography technologies over the past twenty years.

Oxfordshire-based Henshall, a former British Institute of Professional Photography President, who has Fellowships with five key photo-bodies, was the first photographer consultant in the UK to predict that the use of the ‘pixel’ would ultimately lead to the decline of the photo-chemical industry.

Often courting controversy, and even hostility, in the media and at exhibitions and conferences worldwide for his evangelical approach to the evolution of digital imaging, Henshall was dubbed either ‘heretic’ or ‘prophet’ by a rapidly changing photographic industry through the Nineties.

He founded Electronic Photo-Imaging (the EPI-Centre) as an independent consultancy in the art and science of digital imaging in 1993 and was frequently hired, through digital imaging’s fledgling years, by key global imaging companies – often working alongside keynote speakers and major influencers like Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Apple’s Steve Jobs.

Said Henshall, who trained as a BBC cameramen and worked extensively as Director of Photography on programmes such as ‘Spitting Image’:

“This is a wonderful and completely unexpected honour for me. It’s true that some of my press articles and seminar topics met with scepticism and opposition in some quarters of the photographic industry but I was simply arguing the case that digital was not a threat but an opportunity for all of us in the industry.”

Tony Eatough, former European Head of Kodak Professional who engaged Henshall as a consultant and advisor throughout the emergent digital imaging years, said:

“John has been a key influencer with research and development centres for several of the companies that pioneered the digital photography revolution.

And still today he continues to provide specialist knowledge and great vision to photographers, laboratories and organisations worldwide with his unique style and compelling delivery.

He is never afraid to speak his mind and has earned global respect and recognition for his counsel and experience.”

Brian Whitehead, senior lecturer at the University for Creative Arts, added:

“As a digital imaging evangelist John fuelled important dialogue during the monumental shift from analogue to digital photography. His passion and outspoken views on the subject have both informed and encouraged opinions for over two decades. He is an international authority on his subject.”

Henshall has recently returned from Korea and China after fulfilling research commissions with companies specialising in the development of digital camera firmware.

John Henshall: www.epi-centre.com

Part of the reason for this is that the very idea of it scares me. I see some of the results some photographers achieve and I wish I could do the same.

So I have been working on some ideas for a series of articles all centred around this time of year, with it being wedding season and, therefore, wedding photography season. Perhaps I can learn enough to finally overcome my demons and give it a go.

So far I have begun conversations with a couple of local photographers with a view to learning about their different approaches and styles, and I have also been trying to find a wedding photographer making use of the video capabilities of recent DSLRs (I’m hearing them called “VSLR” now).

This article is really a request to anyone out there who could make a contribution to this series. I really need to find someone using a video DSLR (as already mentioned). I would also be interested in any wedding photographers doing anything really unusual – that sounds all wrong, but I can’t think of a better way to put it. If you have anything you feel would be helpful, please add a comment to this article, email me via the contact form (sorry, had to remove my address as it was getting harvested!) or you can send a direct message through Twitter, if that is your thing.

I’m looking forward to seeing where this takes us.

Oh, and he has arranged this amazing trip from Rome to Venice aboard a magnificent clipper, where the only things to do are take photographs or talk photography and he has kindly invited me along. When I say “invited me” I mean he has a number of places to fill and I could go if I could only get the PIN number to our savings account away from my wife.

I have to say I am really quite excited about this trip, even though I am only going to be reporting it from my exotic Basingstoke headquarters. I’m still dropping (not particularly subtle) hints in key locations about how great it would be to find a generous sponsor, but I’m not holding out too much hope.

Anyway, as I am not able to actually be aboard the clipper, Jack and I have agreed we should see if we can cover the adventure through The Decisive Moment and perhaps we (by “we” I mean “me” – Jack seems to know a shed load about it already!) can learn something about shooting for “micro stock” along the way.

We have not worked out the nuts and bolts of reporting the trip yet, but I do have some information about it for anyone who might be able to partake.

Sailing Dates: July 18-29, 2009

• Embark in Rome on July 18
• Disembark in Venice on July 29
• Optional Pre and Post Shooting Opportunities (Rome and Venice)
• Sailing onboard the largest in the Star Clippers fleet, the Royal Clipper.

Itinerary

• July 18 (Sat): Civitavecchi
• July 19 (Sun): Ponza, Italy
• July 20 (Mon): Capri, Italy
• July 21 (Tue): Taormina, Sicily
• July 22 (Wed): At Sea
• July 23 (Thu): Corfu, Greece
• July 24 (Fri): Kotor, Montenegro
• July 25 (Sat): Dubrovnik, Croatia
• July 26 (Sun): Kurcola, Croatia
• July 27 (Mon): Hvar, Croatia
• July 28 (Tue): Rovinj, Croatia
• July 29 (Wed): Venice, Italy

What Your Investment Includes:

• Sailing Costs (July 18-29)
• Eating Costs (while onboard ship)
• Photographic Instruction for all 11 days

What Your Investment Does Not Include:

• Round-trip international airfare
• Transfers from airport to port & port to airport
• Port Fee’s (per person)
• Telephone service onboard
• Onboard incidentals (such as laundry, massage, special excursions, Alcoholic beverages, water & soft drinks, internet service, etc)
• Any pre and post trip excursions in Rome and/or Venice (on your own)
• Single Cabin Supplement

The cost is around $4205.00 per person (you really need to check this with Jack – DO NOT take my word for it!)

Your host will be none other than Jack Hollingsworth of jackhollingsworth.com as well as working pros with working knowledge of DSLR camera exposure, capture and post-production.

There will be private transportation at each port of call. The itinerary will allow for both group shooting, as well as solo shooting.

In 3 of the 11 ports of call Jack will be hiring 4-5 cultural models (for group shooting only). All released for stock photography.

This trip will officially launch Jack and the Bean Stock, a royalty-free, micro stock collection of travel imagery. Shot by all who choose to participate in this cruise shoot (as well as future shoots). All imagery will be edited and submitted, non-exclusively, to more than 10 different micro stock agencies. Here is your chance to earn back your investment.

This trip is not for the faint of heart. You will eat, breathe, sleep and live all things photography. Day and night. If that’s your thing… you’ll be in great company.

This information is not exhaustive – if you are at all interested you should get in touch with Jack without hesitation.

Contact Jack Hollingsworth:

email: jack@jackhollingsworth.com
studio: 512.320.0803 (that’s in the USA – you’ll need to work out the international version from where you are)
twitter: twitter.com/photojack

Philip Townsend by Kate Cross

Words such as “awesome” and “genius” are, in my opinion, used a little too freely. So I have given much careful consideration before using the word “genius” to describe Philip Townsend. For the moment you are going to have to trust me on this, but I intend to back it up – the man is pure genius!

As a child of the Sixties and the youngest of four siblings, I recognize many of Philip’s images and recall the excitement they brought about; my sister going all dizzy over The Beatles; my elder brothers getting all rebellious and growing their hair like the Rolling Stones. Having been fortunate enough to be invited to the launch party of Philip’s new book “Sorry You Missed the Sixties” at the Photographers Lounge in Swanage, I relished the opportunity to study some of these original prints up close. I spent a lot of time (and money!) honing my own darkroom skills, but it still gives me the shivers to see the product of a true master.

I converted to digital quite a few years ago and confess to being completely happy with the qualty I can achieve (although I didn’t confess that to Philip when we were chatting – sorry). However, there is undoubtedly a quality, a warmth and a depth to silver gelatin prints from film that just isn’t there with digital. Digital is, perhaps, a little too perfect sometimes; a little too clinical. Philip’s prints are not all technically perfect (it’s okay, this is something we did discuss!) and I feel this is a big part of what makes them so brilliant; they are real and warm and deep and fascinating and packed with charm, life and character.

Then there is the man himself. As Kate Cross of the Photographers Lounge put it:

“And what an incredible man he his… full of the most unbelievable anecdotes… we are trying to persuade him to write his autobiography, it would be one of the most informative, entertaining and colourful memoirs ever..! Was there really anyone he didn’t meet/photograph in the 60′s?! “

I couldn’t agree more. I only got to speak to Philip for quarter of an hour or so, but what a privilege. My favourite moment was when I asked him how it feels to have photographed the Rolling Stones before they made it big:

“It was interesting. I had to drive them everywhere in my car. And buy them chickens.”

All without a hint of irony.

I am really pleased that Kate managed to secure the book launch – on the surface it would seem surprising that a small, ordinary gallery in a little seaside town in the south of England should be able to host such an event. However, spend ten minutes in the gallery talking to Kate and you will know that it may indeed be small, but it is in no way ordinary.

I believe there are still some signed first editions of Philip’s book at the Photographers Lounge so get along there and get one if you can.

Best of all is that Philip and I discussed the possibility of an exclusive interview for The Decisive Moment and he agreed it should happen. I really, really can’t wait.

I was doing a little research into our local photographers and I found myself looking at the website of Piotr Stryjewski. I’m guessing he is not a Basingstoke native, judging by his name and his website; “Stryjewski” is not a typical Hampshire surname. Not that it matters, of course! I’d like to find out a little more about where he is from, what his influences were and how he came to be living and working in exotic Basingstoke!

To be honest, I can’t say I am excited by all of his photos, but what I really do like is the way his fashion work seems to spill over into his wedding photography. It gives it an edge and, in my humble opinion, really makes it stand out. Wedding photographs can be quite boring for anyone outside of those directly involved, so creating images which are interesting in their own right is an achievement.

Some investigation is required.