Colour AHHHHHH

 Sometimes colour is the way to go, as much as it pains me, yes some image are better as colour than B&W. The story, vision and idea you had when you pressed the shutter was caused by the colour that presented itself in the viewfinder and to remove the distraction of colour will remove the feeling & connection  you experienced when you pressed the shutter.  By turning the image to B&W you can often change the whole story to something cold.  I tried changing these three image to B&W and I do believe I know how to do a good B&W portrait, they lost the story & vision I had for seen when I pressed the shutter. So I guess I have to admit it that, yes there is a place for colour portraiture in my images.

Be yourself

As Oscar Wilde said: "Be yourself, everyone else is taken"

Create, don't emulate.

Be yourself and not some other self. Find what defines you as a person and translate it into you work and it will become who you are as an artist and it will create your style. I believe to create authentic portraits requires equal amount of expertise with "making the connection" as it does selecting, handling and using your equipment. The more you understand your equipment and its limitations, if there is any and it usually you. The less the gear will get in the way of making the connection and capturing more interesting images.

Simplicity of an image

Simplicity of an image.
Had some interesting comments from my last post. Interesting how so many people have an opinion on someones  work and can always see room for improvement, yet their own work stays the same. Are they jealous of your creativity, Ideas or vision. You have produced work that they would love too, however do not have the time too, yet always have the time too make negative comment.  We do not need these people, however they need us, it gives them a purpose to spend time looking at our images and finding fault. Perhaps they might get the dusty camera out of the cupboard and go and capture an image, but then again, maybe the light is not just right or the sun is too high or one in a million excuses. What if they take an image and YOU who have no letters or real experience makes a comment?? An image can be simple yet effective, negative space, leaving room for the story, your story as you are the viewer.

One eyed

Feedback is  wonderful to receive or is it, it can be constructive criticism or is it just straight out mean and negative. A wee while ago I had a chap who lets say to be nice, did not like my work, that's fine it does not bother me. He decided that he would engage with me and explain how bad he felt my photography was, "that is your opinion" I said, he did not like my response and continued with the description of how I should not be teaching and the more I stayed calm and responded with, "that is your opinion" the madder he got, another time I do believe I would have found the little Glaswegian inside of me and gave him the infamous Glasgow kiss. He was English so lets not hold that against him. I guess what I am trying to say is you will always get knockers of your work, you as the artist and that is what we all are have to take from the criticism what you feel will add to the growth of your art, style & vision. Sometimes nothing another time a real gem of information to take you on the next step to finding the perfect image, it is important to have someone or several people who you send work too to get feedback however something to consider is that unless that persons growth is ahead of yours or equal too you will out grow them. 

Your unique vision

 So when we think about B&W portraiture we need to consider what we are trying to say and how we want the finished image to look like. Remembering that your unique vision and the moment that caused you to press the shutter is unique to you and you alone.
We have all lived different lives and experienced life to this point by different roads and this and this point alone makes your imagery different from anyone else.
You can stand beside 6 different photographers and we will all take different images, camera, lens, setting and most important is the sensibility of the photographer who is pressing the shutter. So consider this point, a typewrite never wrote an novel or a camera has taken a great image without first having an idea or a vision.

"If it doesn't excite you the thing that you see, how in the world are you going to excite me"-
Jay Maisel.
The image of Shyana working the horseshoe is full of attitude and determination, the type of B&W imagery I enjoy.

Someone's Face

Recently I have delved into a deeper study of B&W portraiture and loving where it is taking me too, the subtle use of light and in most cases, natural light and the files coming out of the camera, are allowing me to take my imagination to create the portraits I see in my head to an achievable level. Am going to achieve my ultimate B&W portrait, I feel it is closer, it might be next week now instead of next year and that is a big step Looking at someone's face, or into their eyes, without the distraction of colour can provide a stronger connection to your subject. It is not necessarily always the case, but if like me, you often feel more connected to a person in a Black & White image over a colour image, this could be the reason why. With the abstraction of colour it is purely the soulful connection with the subject. For me B&W is similar to Blues in music.

Been awhile.

 It has been a while since I last wrote here and life has taken many turns, some good and some not so good, however one must soldier on as they say.

I have developed a business around teaching other photographers how to take their photography on a creative path that otherwise they might have been afraid of trying. I make my workshops FUN and INSPIRATIONAL, with the emphasis on FUN.

I have updated all my camera equipment from my trusted Sony Alpha system to the Nikon system, I was finding that I needed or I should say wanted more information in my files to be able to do more with my images in the post processing stage, as well as needing or wanting more specialist lenses ,I have not been disappointed in the move.