Lucy And The Lens

Month: April 2016

  • UCLAN Colour Run

    UCLAN Colour Run

    This weekend was one of the most exciting but unconventional shoots I have ever done. I was at UCLAN Sports Arena shooting a colour run with Preston Photographic Society, which people of all ages participated in to raise money for Marie Curie Cancer Charity.

    What’s a colour run you ask? It’s a new craze where people run a 5K and get coloured powder thrown over them throughout the race and it’s brilliant to photograph. The key to taking a great image at this event is trying to press the shutter as the volunteer throws coloured powder at the runner and then either boosting up the contrast or saturation on photoshop to enhance the colour burst effect.

    Now to the race its self, before the race starts the runners each have a bag of coloured powder to throw up into the air for dramatic effect and to give us photographers a chance to set the scene of the event. For this throw I managed to acquire a nice position on the stage, which gave me the ability to see all the runners but to only focus on a few as, I was using my 55-200mm Zoom Lens. What I loved about this particular starting set-up is that there were about fifteen photographers but we all managed to get a different perspective of the starting throw.

    I started off at the yellow station where I ended up with my favourite shot of the day as I learnt that the most striking shots were those with the most colours and I managed to capture the volunteers throwing yellow powder at a lone runner.

    All in all what I liked about the day is that this shoot was completely different to anything I’d done before and I loved looking at the images after the shoot and spending time editing a selection of the images from each of the stations the yellow, the red and the multi-coloured. I also found it interesting to see that every photographer saw the colours with a different eye, a different view of this world in a colour burst.

    So if you are a photographer I recommend that you make it your mission to have a go at shooting a colour run. If not I suggest that you participate whether it’s for charity or for fun.

    Below is a selection of my photos from this event depicting my photography at every stage of the race:

     

     

  • Photographers That Inspire Me

    So for my second post I have decided that I want to discuss photographers I’m inspired by.

    I’m going to start with old school photographers like David Bailey, Annie Leibovitz and Norman Parkinson. Then I will move on to my impression of modern photographers like Mario Testino, Lara Jade and Emily Soto.

    While at university in my final year I undertook a fashion photography project, which involved researching into fashion and portrait photographers, and also helping to organise my own exhibition and create a photo book.

    One of the first photographers I chose to look at for this project was David Bailey, who is mostly recognised as a Vogue photographer over the last 50 years. He is a renowned fashion and portrait photographer. From the 1960s onwards name any celebrity megastar around and you can pretty much guarantee that Bailey will have photographed them.

    But for me it is not always about the glamour, fame and fortune of photographers’ models because what inspires me about Bailey is the overall look and feel of his final image. To me his portraits have a sense of class about them as he often displays his subjects in a monochromatic way but he still manages to stay current through his choice of models and the ever-changing style of outfits in his images.

    David Bailey Photography and Articles

    The influence of Norman Parkinson’s photography was a little bit different for me than David Bailey’s. Ever since my university days I have been inspired by one shot of Parkinson’s in particular titled Audrey Hepburn and Bougainvillea, which was shot in Rome, Italy in 1955. Audrey is wearing a pale pink cocktail dress and standing by a Magnolia Tree.

    Audrey Hepburn and Bougainvillea

    I love everything about this shot of Audrey and from the day I saw this shot I have been aiming to find the perfect floral accent to frame my shot so I can recreate it or take inspiration from it to create something entirely new using a similar idea.

    Annie Leibovitz was another photographer I looked at during my degree, especially her editorial shots of Nicole Kidman in Vanity Fair and Vogue and yet again it’s not about this specific model having red hair like mine. It is the eclectic opulence and strikingly beautiful effect of the backgrounds she places her models against in her editorial shots that create a sense of vintage nostalgia and appeal to the eye.

    To me Annie does standard portraits well but also adds little quirks to her images that draw your eye towards them. Her most recent work that I know of is the picture of the Queen with her two youngest grandchildren and five great grandchildren that has been circulating social media because the Queen has just turned ninety.

    I am also currently signed up to the mailing list to be notified about an online master class run by Annie when it becomes available, thanks to a friend, for recommending it to me.

    Annie Leibovitz Photography

    To me modern fashion photography is a little bit different than the vintage influences but it is also important to look at who’s current in the fashion photography world.

    Mario Testino’s shoots are still in the fashion photography dynamic but rather than impressing me with his monochromatic images I cant help but be amazed by what he can convey by using a pop of colour in his images. He is what I call the Andy Warhol of the photography world, artistic and almost pop art like photography.

    Yes, you are drawn as a viewer to black and white photography, which gives a vintage feel. But for me bright, bold and daring colours are just as appealing and Mario Testino reflects this in his photography by his use of yellow and red items.

    In his images I am drawn to the most important part of a portrait, the eyes. The eyes are the windows to the soul, you can tell a lot about a person from gazing into their eyes and Mario Testino makes sure that they are the first thing you see when you look at his photographs. He does this by having his models wearing either dark or vibrant make-up.

    Mario Testino Photography

    Fashion Photography is becoming less understated and more artistic with American photographer Emily Soto and British photographer Lara Jade making a name for themselves in New York. These two are my most recent discoveries in the Fashion photography world.

    When I noticed several of my photography friends were following Emily Soto on Social Media I took a look and I was overjoyed with what I saw. The inspiration started off with watching her video tutorials via Facebook and then I started to look at her photographs on instagram. What I love about them is the different lenses and types of cameras that Emily gets to test. Recently I have seen a lomography daguerreotype lens, a vintage Polaroid camera and the standard Digital SLR camera that every photographer has. I have recently obtained a modern Polaroid camera and I am looking forward to planning a day to go out and use it and I get full use of my Digital SLR every time I go out and shoot.

    Emily Soto Photography

    My discovery of Lara Jade was actually through one of Emily Soto’s videos from a couple of weeks ago that she shot in Paris discussing a new vintage polaroid camera and how they both started off as photographers. So after this discovery I looked for Lara Jades Facebook page and started watching her fashion Friday video tutorials for inspiration. This is a weekly segment on her page, which shares her fashion photography knowledge, and it is always worth a watch when you’re looking for tips. What I like about her photography is the props she uses in her shoots such as her whimsical headdresses and the locations she scouts for her images. Today I have also purchased Lara Jade’s Fashion Photography 101 book, which I look forward to reading and posting about soon.

    Lara Jade Photography

    I hope you enjoyed this post and think about who or what inspires you, what do you enjoy.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Photographing People

    So for my first blog post I wanted to go back to my roots, where I started to discover that my favourite subject to photograph is people. Why people in particular you ask. I believe that everyone has a story to tell, you can tell a lot about a person by the way they express themselves and I want to capture that in my photography.

    If I’m going to talk about photographing people as a subject then I think it’s important to discuss my approach to photographing them and how it has changed over time.

    Yes I’ve been taking photographs for as long as I can remember, but I still believe your always learning with photography because there’s always something new and exciting to try.

    So I’m in college and it’s my first shoot with a model, and the nerves start to sink in, but I have my accessories and my magazines open at a wide variety of different poses for my model to try and I absolutely loved doing it.

    So I’m a final university student and I’m doing my final year project on fashion photography and my model has a broken leg. This shoot was probably one of the most eye opening shoots I’ve ever had to do, how do I shoot my model without her legs. As I always say photography is about working with what you’ve got and using your imagination to think outside the box. If a model is still willing to pose for you while in a cast you work with that, put her in maxi dresses or long flowing skirts to hide it and take more close up shots cause the chances are you will still get something your happy with.

    So what portraits have I done recently? The models are more studio based and organised as part of Preston Photographic Society, this is more up close and personal with the model, I have no magazines and no props just me, the model and a few other photographers. Your one on one with the model interacting with the model, directing the model and moving around to shoot her/him from different angles and the more of these shoots you do the more comfortable you become with talking to the model.

    Now as well as doing more of these studio shoots I’m trying to branch out, looking for new and exciting people to model for me, I’m open to portraits, fashion, fitness and themed photography so if you would like something a bit out of the ordinary then ask me as I’m always happy to do something different.

    Below is a gallery detailing my progression the first two shots are from when I was in college, the next two are from university and the final three are from recent studio shoots with Preston Photographic Society.

    I hope you enjoyed my first post, be sure to follow me here or on my Facebook page Lucy And The Lens or on my Instagram @lucyandthelens to discover more.