Update on Yorkshire BIPP

Back in December, I floated the idea of BIPP activity local to South Yorkshire. Since then, I've been going to meetings in Selby most months. The drive can be a pain, expecially when it takes me 50 minutes to get to the M1 from my home on the other side of Sheffield. But it's been well worth it.

The meetings are advertised on the regional website, as well as via email. I've found them really helpful. Most of the presentations have been skills-oriented, which has suited me as I've still so much to learn. There's a very friendly and supportive atmosphere, with informal discussion and networking during breaks and continuing after the meeting's been formally closed. The committee, experienced and busy photographers, obviously put a lot of effort into putting on stimulating and productive meetings. And they must find the attendance levels and feedback they get very rewarding.

For example, there have been two presentations on off-camera flash for outdoor portraiture, one by Clare Louise using Speedlites and another by Steve Howdle, using Elinchrom Ranger Quadra kit. Taken together, these gave lots of practical guidance and inspiration.

Most recently, there was an excellent full-day workshop on Photoshop retouching of portraits by Dave Wall. He's a very engaging speaker, witty, friendly and informal, and explains things very clearly. His teaching methods are very sound, including frequent admonitions against writing things down whilst he's demonstrating them, with promises to repeat instructions specifically for the purpose of everyone writing notes on a process before he moves on to the next item. He covered a lot of ground and seemed to satisfy participants with varying levels of knowledge of Photoshop.

Most of us brought our laptops and Dave passed around pen drives with the images we were to work on. The committee had set us all up with trestle tables and power extensions to make us convenient workstations.

It was especially helpful to see how to make subtle changes to an image rather than "overcooking" them. I did find it ethically challenging, though, to be invited to make changes that the subject would not be aware of, but which would leave them feeling better about themselves (e.g., by having their width reduced by 5%). I couldn't help wondering whether this doesn't reinforce potentially damaging ideas that people need to be seen as thinner than they are in order to feel acceptable. Is it OK for us photographers to encourage our clients to subscribe to the potentially unhealthy "size zero" norm of thinness?

Dave took us through the process of whitening a white background by masking off the subject. I'd read this up before but had never seen such a clear, thorough and systematic demonstration. I have since found this a promising tool for unpainted background areas of my reproductions of watercolour paintings or botanical illustrations.

I made a point of spending much of the following day reviewing my notes and trying out the techniques Dave had presented. This went very well. I was able to reproduce nearly all that Dave had presented without difficulty, testimony to his first-rate skills as a teacher.

Altogether an excellent event, for which I'm very grateful to Dave and to the committee for organising it so well.

Although the Owl at Hambleton (near Selby) is a very suitable venue -- comfortable enough without being too plush or pricey, unpretentious but well-prepared meals at reasonable prices, and very convenient for the motorway network -- the committee are interested in reaching out to members based some way away, such as South Yorkshire. This might be by putting on additional, local meetings. I said I'd ask around for ideas re possible venues. Any ideas, fellow-members from South Yorkshire?

Richard Heeps @ Cupola

Returning to Sheffield after a break, I caught the last day of the show of photographs by Richard Heeps at the Cupola Gallery. Some of the pictures are reproduced in his book Man's Ruin. Although this is a fine book, inevitably the images made much more impact as big original prints on the wall. As well, their trademark bright colours were so much more subtle in the chemical prints.

Richard's work is inspirational to the photographer. There's life and attitude in the people, the images are timelessly engaging, and their compositions very satisfying. Of course, the pictures are superb in terms of technique. But this mastery is almost understated, serving rather than driving the vision, never showy, even when that's exactly what the subjects are! I came away buzzing with visual ideas, and with two of Richard's books under my arm; Man's Ruin and his project on a Scunthorpe mill, Rolled Out.

In my own work, I thought I'd more-or-less resolved the film vs. digital debate in favour of the practical convenience of digital. But Richard's adherence to film is a bit of a challenge to that. In my first steps toward shooting hot metal in a Sheffield foundry a couple of years ago, I shot similar images on both colour negative film and digital. The film images certainly captured a wider range of tones.

HCYA Fun Day

With it being the Fourth of July, Hallam Community and Youth Association's annual Fun Day had an American theme. There's so much happening at this event, that when I was invited to photograph it I was delighted to recruit Malcolm and Anne Sales of Buttercross Photography to help me out. Take a look at Malcolm's blog for his take on the day.

Everyone had a good time. The police horses and riders who led the parade evidently found this one of their more relaxing assignments.






Hathersage Band were on fine form ...





... as were jazzy singer Katie Campbell and her backing group.







The field was busy with many colourful stalls and rides.








The Fun Run was strongly contested from the off ...






and kids enjoyed taking part in an impressive demonstration by dog trainers Boney Fido.





In all, the Fun Day lived up to its name!

More images taken by Malcolm, Anne and myself can be seen on my site, where prints and downloads are for sale with a share of profits to HCYA funds.

Purple Cats at Sheffield Green Fair

The Sheffield-based community Choir, Purple Cats, sang at the Sheffield Green Fair on 27th June. I enjoyed photographing this and have posted images on my site.

Farewell to Elias Quartet

The Elias String Quartet said (another) farewell to some of its Sheffield audience on 25th June, in the intimate setting of Patrick Vaughan's home. The Quartet have rehearsed there regularly during their time in Sheffield. Evidently a win-win for both sides, as Patrick has enjoyed and learned from their music-making.

The Quartet played Schubert's Rosamunde Qaurtet D804, followed by a very satisfying selection of movements from Britten, Mendelssohn, Bartok, Schumann and Mozart. This served as a timely reminder of the breadth and range of the quartet repertoire.

I photographed them rehearsing prior to the concert; images are posted on my site.

The concert was sublime, the atmosphere warm and friendly, and the food was excellent. Their Sheffield fans will follow the Quartet's future career with great interest.

Ensemble 360 @ Millennium Gallery

On 22nd April 2009, members of Ensemble 360 performed in Sheffield's Millenium Gallery, with a promenading audience. I had a go at photographing this event. Not easy, as the light levels were diabolically low and flash would have spoiled the experience for the audience. The required wide apertures, slow shutter speeds and maximum camera sensitivity conspired to limit the quality of the images, but I've put a few on my website.

Artists Open Studios South Yorkshire 2009

Enjoyed two weekends visiting studios around Sheffield during this year's Open Up event. There were way too many to get round all of them, but those I did manage to catch included:

• Penny Withers' fine ceramics
• Kristan Baggaley's dramatic paintings, including atmospheric seascapes alongside Derbyshire's gritstone edges
• Cath Dunn's semi-abstract landscapes, in a fascinatingly distinctive, almost constructivist, style
• Katherine Rhodes, whose excellent flowers and landscapes I've reproduced, also showed impactful figures
  
• Strong colours in acrylic and gouache from Terry Brooker
• Simon Clements was showing prints, etchings and watercolours, including cityscapes, landscapes, industrial scenes and musicians in concert. Simon told me he'd sold some of my prints of his watercolours.
• Erica Just, an out-of-town guest with Sheffield friends, with finely executed original watercolours inspired by grasses. I sought these out as a challenge for my Imaging for Artists service. Any attempt to reproduce these paintings must leave the large areas of unpainted white space untouched by ink in the reproduction. But Erica declared herself robustly uninterested in reproductions of her work, preferring these to remain prized as originals.
• Toby Hazel's colourful abstract acrylics, including some made whilst blindfolded. I was drawn to those reminiscent of Miro and Kandinsky. In a classic "village Sheffield" moment, I enjoyed telling Toby that, in the 1970's, his neurosciences PhD supervisor, Paul Dean, had stayed with me when I lived opposite Toby's home and studio.
• Neil Kay's small-scale but highly atmospheric acrylic and soft pastel landscapes of mountains, moors, wetlands and seashores. Neil's name was familiar to me as Sheffield's Director of Social Services way back when ...
• Alison Down's evocative watercolours and mixed-media paintings of landscapes, streetscapes, still life and gardens
• Steve Elliott's impressively large display of Derbyshire pastels and oils, which showed a compelling evolution over time towards increasing abstraction as well as an increasingly distinctive and dramatic colour palette.
• Martin Field's splendid photography -- landscapes and seascapes -- using square format and wide angles to great compositional effect, with a delicious range of tones and colours
• Lyn Littlewood's brilliantly colourful Derbyshire landscapes and flowers. Her home and studio nestle deep in the hills beneath Stanage Edge. When I got into embarrassing difficulties turning my camper van in their narrow lane, Lyn's husband kindly and expertly rescued me.
  

Extreme Cellists Attacked by Japanese Cats

I was amused to see a post from kebaneco in Japan, whose prints of my Extreme Cellists images were subject to unwanted attention from cats! I can't read the Japanese but recognise the pics well enough. Kebaneco's shiny cello case doesn't look as if it's been up many mountains. Not yet, least ... Many thanks, kebaneco, for showing me this.

Silverdale Pupils Get Fighting Fit

Earlier this month, I was pleased to be commissioned by the Fitness Industry Association to shoot a showcase event with pupils from Sheffield's Silverdale School -- my daughters' old school -- at Ladyzone on Ecclesall Road. Pupils enjoyed a Boxercise class, then posed for for a group shot with instructors and local MP Richard Caborn.

Sheffield Chamber Orchestra

I've now completed post-production on a shoot with the Sheffield Chamber Orchestra. This long-established group of around 40 players gives three concerts a year, under their two resident conductors, Robin McEwan and Richard Haworth. I was commissioned to provide rehearsal images, formal shots of the orchestra and conductors before the concert, and shots during applause. The occasion was a concert at Firth Hall, University of Sheffield. The soloist in Beethoven's Violin Concerto was Jiafeng Chen.



Before the shoot, I found inspiration in the work of David Bazemore. I wonder how he achieves such fine images? They set a standard for photographers working with classical musicians. Of course, actual performance in concert dress gives stronger images of musicians at work than does rehearsal. But camera noise can be an issue, more for audience than for performers. A sound-deadening enclose for the camera, known as a "blimp", is very expensive.

Of course, the quality of imagery you can get is constrained by the extent to which the players are able and willing to adjust to the needs of the photographer. Most of my work with classical musicians has been opportunistic -- and, hopefully, minimally obtrusive -- rather than resulting from time having been dedicated to a photoshoot. For example, cleaner images of groups of players could be obtained by re-arranging the platform to isolate small groups. But this would not be compatible with effective rehearsal. However, the SCO rehearsal shoot could have been improved simply by taking the time to clear the auditorium of musicians' belongings and darkening the windows.

So I tried to convey the atmosphere of rehearsal, including visual communication among players and conductor, and including the informalities of the rehearsal context. I hope SCO members will feel free to add their comments as to how far we succeeded in this.

As always, I found it hard not to be distracted from my work by enjoyment of the music. But I was free to enjoy the concert itself. Although an "amateur" orchestra, SCO members have all achieved at least Grade 8 on their instruments, so their playing is excellent. And Jiafeng Chen was stunning in the Beethoven, obviously a rising star of the violin.



I'm grateful to SCO for favouring me with this commission and hope the images do not disappoint.

Getting Colours Right

Gearing up for my Imaging for Artists service, this week I've had my system colour calibrated by the excellent Simon Clifford-Smith. Although Simon travels over a wide area -- his car has 200k miles on the clock-- I'm fortunate that he's based near me in Sheffield. An accomplished landscape photographer, he combines technical mastery with a keen understanding of photographers' needs. His charges are reasonable and the results consistently excellent. He's also a mine of information and helps his clients understand what's going on. In addition to calibrating my printer for the fine art papers I'm offering to artists, he showed me the correct use of advanced settings with my eye-1 monitor calibrator. Result of Simon's visit: total confidence that what is seen on screen will be faithfully reproduced on paper.

To complete the flow of accurate colour information from the digital file to viewing of the final print, I've also recently invested in a GrafiLite desk lamp. You can't judge your print output under biased lighting, and Simon's measurement confirmed that this lamp is, er, spot-on.

Vista 64 -- nightmare over

Last year I replaced my desktop computer. Not before time, as I'd had it for 5 years, during which time the only upgrade was additional memory and new peripherals (NEC Spectraview 2190 monitor, Wacom tablet, USB disk drives). In an attempt to make the new machine last as long as possible, I went for a 64-bit operating system. This means you can use more memory, which should speed up heavy-duty processing of photographic images. Seemed a good idea to future-proof against the demands of higher-resolution cameras. I thought I'd checked that my existing kit was compatible. But not carefully enough, it transpired.

Here's a list of (the most important) stuff that didn't work for me:

Canon driver for 5D camera (web searches suggested this is down to the installer rather than the driver itself)

Adobe Photoshop (CS3) Bridge (various windows mysteriously greyed over; increasingly frequent crashes)

Nikon CoolScan 5000 35mm film scanner (no 64-bit drivers available)

Wacom Intuos 3 graphics tablet (all sorts of hassles)

Asus WL-BTD201M Bluetooth dongle (failed to install)

Installation of ICC profiles

Sound card (stopped working)


Of course, it's possible that some of the above was down to user error. I've been using PCs for over 20 years but have never considered myself an expert. Just learned as much as I needed to get by, with the aid of a resourceful and helpful local supplier: The Real Computer Shop. After patiently fielding my frustration for many weeks, they finally advised me to give up and revert to 32-bit XP. I've now been running that for a week. Bliss! I'd forgotten what it's like when everything installs and works first time. Of course it may be that a more expert user wouldn't have had as much grief. But I suspect my own computer skills are no worse than average. So, if anyone considering a 64-bit system finds this posting, I hope it might save you hassle.

Geoff Roe on Photographic Composition

An intriguing 5-star short review in Amateur Photographer dated 3 January '09 led me to a brilliant, self-published book by Geoff Roe on Photographic Composition. The author is a retired academic, and this succinct little book chimes with my background in psychology, as well as making frequent links with painting and music. Informed by cognitive science, it goes far beyond the usual, hugely dissatisfying, platitudes about the Rule of Thirds and Lead-in Lines. Very informative and refreshing. ISBN 978-0-9529867-2-0, available from GE Roe, PO Box 220, Bramhall, Stockport SK7 2UZ, for £12 plus £2 p&p.