Prints for sale

Just a quick entry today to let you all know that things are changing quite a bit regarding the sale of photographic prints. What I can definitely tell you is that I am aiming to have just under 30 true photographic prints available sometime in the middle of June. Ten from Scotland, the remainder from around the world.

More information will be made available once I've got everything ironed out, but I'm getting quite excited about this now as the development on the store for these prints is really taking shape.

I'm off to the isle of Harris on Thursday for the start of a weeks workshop there.

a book on Portraiture

For the past week or so, I've been collecting images and stories from my trips around the world for a forthcoming ebook I plan to release about Street Photography, or more specifically, portraiture in a street environment.

It's coming together really nicely at the moment and is going to be a bit of a whopper this one I feel. I have three sections to the proposed ebook now:

Approach

This is where I discuss the conscious and subconscious decisions I make whilst out shooting.

Technique

This is where I discuss the kinds of lenses, the types of film, the choice of light I use and the pre-picture taking techniques I use (my camera for instance, is always pre-focussed).

Street Stories

This is more a 'making of' section, where I discuss what happened on a case by case basis with each of the images I illustrate.

I have topics like 'From Within - getting into the picture', a section on body language which is very important. How you convey yourself to your subject can make or break the exchange.

Which is really what portraiture is : an exchange or dialogue between you and the subject.

Anyway, it's very exciting. I'm really enjoying writing this one as I think I was originally wondering how I would approach it. But now that I've laid out the guidelines for each of the chapters, I'm on a roll now.

I keep getting some folks out in the web call me a 'landscape shooter', but that's only really part of the story for me. Originally yes, I started in landscapes, but I feel that in around 2004, things changed. I'd been interested in shooting people for a long time, but I had simply never made the leap. It all seemed to happen for me in 2005 when I went to Cambodia.

Armed with a collection of cameras, I remember trying each of them out to find which ones worked best. The EOS 1n was put away pretty soon as it was too obtrusive for me. I had a Bessa R3a which was a joy to use and most of my subjects didn't take me too seriously with my small, quiet camera. But strangely, I got the same response with my Mamiya 7II. It was possible to make street photos with a big camera so long as it was quiet.

I've moved onto the Contax 645 system now, primarily because the Mamiya7II has hopeless close focussing (it's a rangefinder) - it's possible to get away with some street shots like this one below:

Anyway, time to get on with my writing, which is great fun because I get to relive the experiences of being back in all the places I've been to. Sort of like a virtual holiday :-)

Wide Gamut & Browsers

It seems that my main issue with sRGB files not being displayed correctly on my Wide Gamut display stems from them being untagged. Each file needs to have an embedded profile to explain what colour space it was intended to be displayed on. This profile is used by the browser (if the browser is colour manage aware) to display the file correctly.

My issue this week stemmed from an error on my part. When I was preparing an image for the web, I failed to tag it with the sRGB profile. Now that I've done that, Safari is now displaying the colours of the file correctly.

Wide Gamut Displays

Colour management is not always as straight forward as all the books tell you it is. But for the most part, calibrating screens *should* be a straightforward task, provided you've got a decent monitor, decent calibrator and know what you're doing. I often feel that this equation is often broken down by folks having monitors that can't be calibrated. Some monitors for instance are too bright, others won't work well unless set at native white point, which means you're never working at 6500K......

I digress.

A friend of mine had been warning me of the down-sides to buying a wide gamut display (are there any?). It was not until this week that I've taken on board what he was trying to tell me for months.... the inability of a Wide Gamut display to display sRGB files correctly, and more importantly, how web sites look pretty awful on a Wide Gamut Display.

I'm going to quote from this site, because I'm no expert, but to sum it up:

"As a result, monitors with an extended color gamut – which is extended relative to the standard sRGB gamut – will distort colors when displaying sRGB-oriented pictures prepared in sRGB-oriented software that does not know anything about non-sRGB monitors. The monitor will just stretch the sRGB-oriented picture out to fit its own gamut. Not only the pure colors, but also halftones will shift. The only exception is white and gray which are going to look correctly on any monitor unless the monitor is set up badly."

So in essence, small colour spaces are stretched out to fit the wide gamut display, hence this is why a lot of sites, including my own are looking a bit freaky.

I should stress that i'm very happy with the Eizo CG241w display I bought. It is a great monitor, and perhaps for the first time, I'm seeing on screen a close proximity to what I get printed out (did some comparisons).

If you're buying a Wide Gamut display, you just have to accept that it is being used to proof prints, graphics, anything that is going to be printed or sent for duplication elsewhere. They're not intended for working with small colour space files because they simply don't know how to render a colour space they know nothing about.

So this is why I am now on the lookout for a second sRGB monitor that I can use to check colour for web presentation. I hear that HP have some new displays that claim to allow you to swap between Wide Gamut and sRGB (but it's too late for me, and besides, I'm not an early adopter). My old Apple Cinema has been going pink around the edges of the display.

So this isn't a 'bug' or problem with Wide Gamut displays, it's just part of the deal. If you spend most of your time working with images that are only ever going to end up on the web, then you can get a nice IPS display with sRGB colour space for a lot less than the Eizo I bought.

Edward Burtynsky photographs the landscape of oil

I came across a really interesting site today (petapixel.com) which has some great TED video's on it. When I was in Patagonia several years ago, a couple (hi Mary & Chris) on my workshop kindly sent me a coffee table book of the works of Edward Burtynsky.

I'd never heard of him before, but his work I feel, is very compelling.

Photography should know no bounds. It's easy to classify things into 'landscape', 'portraiture', etc, etc, but as one moves on through photography, we hear and learn about photographers who are doing astonishing things.

A few posts ago, I was discussing 'voice', that part of you which governs your style and how you move forward with your photography. Watching this vide of Burtynsky, it's clear he has a very strong motivation for why he makes his images. He's very defined. He's not out there shooting coastal sea scapes (sorry, but this is perhaps a dig of mine at the countless web sites I see which just seem to feature water in every shot). He's got direction and focus.

His images are pretty inspiring and they remind me that so long as you have a strong sense of what it is you want to do, the photography will flourish.

Monthly Print Offer

In a few weeks time, I hope to announce the sale of one of my images as a true photographic print (not inkjet), matted, signed & numbered. I've decided that I will offer one image per month. Therefore, offering 12 images a year for sale.

The prints will be delicately put together - small - 10x8 images, with a large matt surround approximately 15 inches.

More details to come and respective prices too.

Visual Sense

I've been busy writing an eBook about 'visualisation', to compliment my existing ebooks, which I am pleased to let you all know that I've currently finished the first draft of. It is now in the hands of some reviewers to proof read it and also, to get back to me on what they feel may be missing. Writing about what you're passionate about is an enjoyable endeavour. But like anything creative, it takes time to distill ideas, to put things in the right order, to let it be born correctly.

Over the past few years that I've been doing my workshops, I've found it immensely helpful to myself to 'understand' why I choose certain compositions over others, or why I'm drawn to one subject over another. It's helped me become a stronger photographer. I understand that there is a relationship between vision and your own style (or 'voice' as others like to call it).

Take this contact sheet for instance.

This is a collection of images I made whilst in Bolivia in 2009. One thing I've learned about visualisation is to be able to visualise my imagery in a style that suits what I do. That *is* what I do. We should not be only striving to create good images through visualisation, but we should also be striving to create a body of work that has a cohesive feel to it. Everything must sit together as part of a whole. I like the idea that the final collection is greater than the sum of its parts.

Having a strong sense of your own style helps you form your vision, helps you visualise just what it is you want to do, and where you need to go with your own photography. We only reach that by being able to interrogate ourselves, analyse our previous efforts and find out what our style is.

Often I hear participants on my workshops tell me they don't know what their style is, or if they even have one. I think this is down to looking at your own work and filtering it down to what matters. What you are left with should indicate your style, what you're drawn to, and also, where you are probably heading too. Just don't forget that visualisation and style are interlinked.

I'll let you know when my new eBook is out. I hope to have it out end of this month, depending on any amendments or further things come my way that I'd like to add :-)

Leaving Lewis

Today is my last day on the Hebrides until the 28th of May when I'll be back for a workshop with what looks like a nice group of photographers :-) I've enjoyed coming to see Barra, the Uists and of course, my beloved Harris. Harris, I must say, is the jewel in the Hebrides. There is something very magical about the landscapes here and the seascapes specifically.

I feel I was in need of a rest. I didn't do much photography whist here, but instead, just seemed to be happy enjoying the daylight, the silence, the sound of the ocean waves crash periodically. I had taken a little iPod with me to keep me company, but strangely, I found it to be too much 'noise pollution'. It seemed that the silence, the noise of the wind and rain and ocean were more than enough to keep me company after all.

One thing that has come to mind over the past two weeks is the 'need' to make pictures. I've been fighting myself about this. On one hand, not making pictures feels very alien - it is after all what I do, but I also recognise that there is a time and a place for such things and sometimes, I'm just not in that mode.

We're a greedy lot, Photographers. We always want more images.... and we're never satisfied. The light has to be just right. I feel I've done a lot in the past year: India portraits, Nepal Portraits, Bolivian altiplano landscapes, Harris, Skye and Assynt landscape portfolios. Normally I produce that amount of work over two or three years, not one year. So I think it is 'take a break' time.

I don't feel any urgency at the moment to make any more images. I feel at peace with that. I would normally feel concerned - perhaps I've lost what it takes? Perhaps I'm not good enough? Perhaps my muse has left me for good..... these are all, I feel, very common concerns, but making images for the sake of making them, when you feel you're not into that mode, will only create mediocre work.

So I have one last workshop for this side of the year - my Harris trip this May 28th. Then after, I don't have another workshop until the end of August on the isle of Arran (trip only has a couple of spaces left). So I think it's time to work on some new projects.

I have a few things in the pipeline: a hard bound book, workshop schedule for 2011, trip to Ethiopia in September (if I can get my passport renewed in time), folio collections that I hope to start selling - nicely bound, presented collections of my photographs. Lots to work on.

So I'm off home now, going to set  up that Eizo monitor and see how the colour management stuff hangs together. Wish me luck.

Back on Harris

Well, I'm back on the Isle of Harris and it is, in my opinion, the best of the outer Hebrides. What a stunning place !  :-)

I'm camped at Horgabost camp site tonight and last night I spent the evening at Scarista making some nice images with my Contax 645 outfit. I've decided to leave the Mamiya 7 in the boot of the car because having two camera systems just leads to confusion and I'd really like to master using the Contax as a landscape outfit.... I've been feeling lately that I tend to rely on the Mamiya far too much and as such, I feel a rut has been forming.

So tonight I thought I would forget about the beaches of Harris. Stunning as they are, it's really about time I tried to do something with the lunar aspects of the other side of Harris. Rocky, wild, confusing, this part of the landscape is very different from the silky smooth beaches.

Tent smash

Well last night I camped with a nice view over to the Harris hills on north Uist. I have two tents with me, a small 2 man tent which can handle just about anything and a much larger tent which allows me to have a bit more space. So we had a calm day yesterday so I took a chance and set up the bigger tent. Last night at 2am, I was running for cover to my car as my tent poles were pulverised by the wind. The tent was coming down on top of me and everything inside had to be recovered.

It's crap sleeping in a car and my tent this morning is in pretty bad shape. Full of water and all the poles are so smashed, they're a right off.

I'm off to Harris today. I was hoping to go to St. Kilda this week, but it seems that the ferry operator is doing very fine business as his trips at £180 for the day are completely full for the next week. I should have planned better.

I've been talking to my oldest friend Callum, who I met in 1st year at High School. He's from the Uists and has just sent me this photo, which shows St.Kilda in the distance. This is quite something because the group of islands is actually around 40 miles away. Such was the clarity of the day and perhaps the use of a telephoto to compress the scene, it looks a lot closer!

I feel I've gotten over my creative-slump. It's taken a while to 'get-the scenery'. Sometimes I feel I go places and think 'I'm not in the mood to shoot beaches', which is what the Hebrides is really all about.

I've almost got a solution for my Eizo display as well. It seems that I'm getting a lot of reports that 'BasicColour' is the best approach for calibrating wide gamut displays. I'm also of the opinion that I'll need a second display that works with sRGB, because Wide Gamut is not ideal for editing stuff for the web.

I've also been working on a 'Compendium for photographer's', which is coming along nicely. It's great to have something to do middle of the day when the light is really bleached out. Any of you who know my work, know that I'm a low light shooter predominantly.

Off to get the ferry with a rather murky car full of banana skins, smelly socks, broken tent poles, camping gear, books and one rough looking 42 year old photographer.