f2 Freelance Photographer 2014-05-06

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MAY/JUNE 2014 • £4.95PHOTOGRAPH BY KRISTHIAN CASTRO – SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS

GETTY PROMISES PHOTOGRAPHERS INNOVATION & DISRUPTION

STUART WOOD A UNIQUE MIXOF SOCIAL AND EDITORIAL

ARCHITECTURE MARTINE HAMILTON KNIGHTPLUS – SAMYANG’S 24MM TILT-SHIFT

SMOOTH OPERATORSFROM SIGMA AND SONYTO… LOMO AND ZENIT!

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ƒ2 FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHERIcon Publications LtdMaxwell PlaceMaxwell LaneKelsoScottish Borders TD5 7BB • UK

ISSN 1754-0615

DirectorsDAVID KILPATRICKSHIRLEY KILPATRICKVAT Reg. No. 458 1014 63Company Reg. in EnglandApril 14th 1987 No. 2122711

Publisher & Editor-in-ChiefDAVID [email protected]+44(0)1573 226032

Editor (England)RICHARD KILPATRICKRTK MediaThe Grange, Pincet LaneNorth KilworthLeicestershire LE17 [email protected]+44(0)1858 882105

Advertising & PromotionDIANE E. [email protected]+44(0)1573 226000

ƒ2 magazine is published six times a year with future publication cover dates of July/August, September/October, November/December, January/February, March/April, May/June. Editions go on sale in the first week of the month prior to the first month of the cover date. Distributed by COMAG, www.comag.co.uk

UK subscriptions cost £29.70 for six issues. Europe £35.70. Rest of World £41.70. Cheques to the publisher’s address made payable to ‘Icon Publications Ltd’ or visit our website,www.iconpublications.comto subscribe to ƒ2 and our other photographic magazines.

Icon Publications Ltd can accept no responsibility for loss of or damage to photographs and manuscripts submitted, however caused. Responsibility for insurance and return carriage of equipment submitted for review or test rests with the owner. Views expressed in this magazine are those of the individual contributors and do not necessarily represent the views and policies of Icon Publications Ltd or its advertisers. All technical data and pricing information contained in news and feature articles is printed in good faith. While all advertising copy is accepted in good faith, Icon Publications Ltd can not accept any legal responsibility for claims made or the quality of goods and services arising from advertising in this publication. All contents including advertising artwork created by Icon Publications Ltd are copyright of the publishers or the creators of the works, and must not be reproduced by any means without prior permission. ©2014 Icon Publications Ltd. E&OE.

VOLUME 8 No 3 (Issue #70)MAY/JUNE 2014

CONTENTS

COVERFrom the Sony World Photography Awards 2014, 2nd Place, Colombia National open section, by Kristhian Castro

4NEWSTrade talk and updates

9DISARMING DISSENTControversy over a $120,000 photo competition winner ended in denial of any problem

10INNOVATION & DISRUPTIONIt’s probably not an original bizspeak term from Jonathan Klein of Getty, but it was certainly an appropriate description

14PROFILE: STUART WOOD FROM GROOMS & BRIDES TO TV GUIDESIt’s not every day that your wedding photographer turns out to have taken the shots you have just seen in your weekly magazine. Richard Kilpatrick talks to triple wedding Fellow and editorial portrait master Stuart

24RIFT LABS KICK LIGHTAmazing multicoloured light painting with a tiny palm-sized LED light you can program using your iPhone

26COVER STORY:SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2014You can go to see the show in London this month – with gallery walls of images to choose from, here’s our selection

33PROFILE: MARTINE HAMILTON KNIGHT – BUILDING AN ARCHITECTURAL REPUTATIONMaking the transition from 5 x 4” film to full frame digital, Martine maintains the highest technical standards. Interview by Richard Kilpatrick

40LENS REVIEW: SAMYANG 24mm ƒ3.5 TILT-SHIFTFor architectural work in the classical tradition, or special effects with restricted focus zones, the

26ƒ2 FREELANCEPHOTOGRAPHER

manual focus Samyang offers a modestly priced solution for many different camera systems

42BEING A BRAND AMBASSADORGavin Stoker talks to four photographers who have become evangelists – often of their own choice – for their favourite brands. Is it something which anyone can do if they work at it?

52LIGHT READINGwith Martin Grahame-DunnA page of tips and knowledge from one of the industry’s best teachers. The story of a night-time snapshot which captures the spirit of Dublin

54SMOOTH OPERATORSWe take a look at equipment – lenses in particular – which brings a new slick and silent approach to

your work. From shutter sounds to zoom feel and optical bokeh, welcome to the world of smooth

58UNDERXPOSUREA missive from the Antipodes, by writer-photographer David Bigwood

60NOKIA LUMIA 1020It’s the highest resolution smartphone ever made

62YOUR VISIONAn open gallery with reward vouchers by courtesy of top imaging lab One Vision

65TEST: BARGAIN STILE+ BAGSTwo end-of-line Manfrotto bags, one of them definitely worth finding if you can

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Photographs – top, ‘The Knight and his Steed’ by Nicolas Reusens, Spain (Shortlist, Open Nature & Wildlife, 2014 Sony World Photography Awards). Above, taken during Photo Training Overseas 2013 by Stuart Wood.

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”Once you try it,it changes everything”

- Richard Walch, Extreme Sport Photograper

THE PROFOTO B1 WITH TTLWITHOUT CORDSThe revolutionary Profoto B1 makes it easier than ever to take the flash off your camera. With TTL you set the light in a flash. With battery-power and without cords, you take the B1 wherever you go and put it wherever you want.

Add to that the power, speed and light shaping possibilities that Profoto lights are known for, and you have an off-camera flash that makes great light easy.

For more information visit www.profoto.com/uk/b1

Try now at these stockistsAJ’s - www.aj-s.co.ukCalumet - www.calumetphoto.co.ukCVP - www.cvp.co.ukFixation - www.fixationuk.comPro Centre - www.procentre.co.ukTRY NOW!

20579_F2_Profoto_May14_210mmx297mm.indd 1 20/03/2014 16:32

ƒ2 May/June 2014 5

ƒ2NEWS

May 1st-18th 2014Sony World Photography Awards ExhibitionSomerset House, Londonwww.worldphoto.org

May 6th-8th 2014Photoworld Dubai, Hall 6,Dubai World Trade Centrewww.photoworld-dubai.com

May 13th 2014Photovision Photo Equipment & Technology RoadshowMan United Football Stadium10am-4pmwww.forwardevents.co.uk

May 22nd - June 14th 2014Prix Pictet: Consumption exhibition at the V&A, Londonwww.prixpictet.com

June 3rd 2014Photovision Photo Equipment & Technology RoadshowMatford CentreExeter 10am-4pmwww.forwardevents.co.uk

June 18th 2014Photovision Photo Equipment & Technology RoadshowRoyal Windsor Racecourse10am-4pmwww.forwardevents.co.uk

July 1st 2014Photovision Photo Equipment & Technology RoadshowDonington Park Race Circuit10am-4pmwww.forwardevents.co.uk

July 15th 2014Photovision Photo Equipment & Technology Roadshow Bristol City Football Club10am-4pmwww.forwardevents.co.uk

September 16th-20th 2014photokinaBiennial world trade photo fair Cologne/Köln, Germanywww.photokina.com

January 14th-18th 2015The Societies’ ConventionTrade Show 16th-18thHilton London Metropole Hotelwww.swpp.co.uk

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”Once you try it,it changes everything”

- Richard Walch, Extreme Sport Photograper

THE PROFOTO B1 WITH TTLWITHOUT CORDSThe revolutionary Profoto B1 makes it easier than ever to take the flash off your camera. With TTL you set the light in a flash. With battery-power and without cords, you take the B1 wherever you go and put it wherever you want.

Add to that the power, speed and light shaping possibilities that Profoto lights are known for, and you have an off-camera flash that makes great light easy.

For more information visit www.profoto.com/uk/b1

Try now at these stockistsAJ’s - www.aj-s.co.ukCalumet - www.calumetphoto.co.ukCVP - www.cvp.co.ukFixation - www.fixationuk.comPro Centre - www.procentre.co.ukTRY NOW!

20579_F2_Profoto_May14_210mmx297mm.indd 1 20/03/2014 16:32

THE PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW, replacing Focus on Imaging unofficially, was held at Birmingham’s NEC from March 1st-4th and the initial unaudited count showed 30,134 through the turnstiles. ƒ2 Freelance Photographer, Cameracraft and Master Photography magazines were all present with new editions on the Icon Publications Ltd stand, which was small but very busy. David Kilpatrick, Richard Kilpatrick and Helen Green manned the stand

while also shooting show pictures and (we regret to say) investing in new bargain camera gear from Calumet, who had both the Fujfilm X and Sony NEX kits at internet-beating prices. There were over 180 exhibiting brands and 400 seminars, workshops and demos. Big name supporters included Canon, Nikon, Panasonic, Samsung, Olympus and Fujifilm but not Sony – their executives were present to consider next year’s involvement. Celebrities of the cameraside

included Rankin, Steve McCurry, Joe McNally and Terry O’Neill who addressed audiences in a closed, ticket admission 500-seat Super Stage. The Live Stage and Catwalk featured open photography masterclasses. The Studio and Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom Studios provided a smaller audience with tailored tutorials. In 2015 the Photography Show will return to the Birmingham NEC from 21st - 24th March, in Hall 5 which offers almost twice the area. www.thephotographyshow.com

NEW PORTRAITPRO 12 offers new, patent applied for face relighting technology, so you can now literally ‘show your subject in their best light’, bringing out the beauty or character of any face naturally. It has an enhanced capability to slim faces, which can have a dramatic effect on how happy people are with their photos. The latest skin enhancer has a brush which detects edges automatically making it faster and easier to use. PortraitPro is claimed to be the only software that can improve the appearance of hair – thickened and made smoother, recoloured, or highlights added, by moving sliders. The industry’s ‘most accurate automatic facial feature finder’ is combined with a world-first automatic gender and age detector. There is a new Automatic Batch Mode for large jobs (Studio Max edition only) which enables an entire photo shoot to be enhanced without human intervention. V12 is said to be four times faster than its predecessor. The launch price of PortraitPro 12 standard edition is $49.95 (normally $99.95) and ƒ2 readers can obtain a further 10% discount using code F214. www.PortraitPro.com

New light

NEW FROM Fotospeed is Panoramic cut sheet paper, with a dimension of 210mm x 594mm so the user can feed this paper through almost any inkjet printer from A4 upwards. The 3:1 ratio suits most panoramic views without the need for roll paper. Fotospeed’s Panoramic range comes in six types (three Art papers and three Photo Quality papers): Smooth Cotton 300, new Platinum Etching 285, Platinum Baryta 300, PF Gloss 270, PF Lustre 270, and new Photo Smooth Pearl 290. Photoshop templates are available for customers to download from the Fotospeed website www.fotospeed.com to help place their images when printing. Test packs are available with 4 sheets of each paper for £29.99 inc VAT, including A4 sheets for bespoke profiling (generic profiles available on-line, and bespoke profiles are available free of charge if you e-mail [email protected]. An even larger wall print size for A3 or bigger printers, 297mm x 900mm, is on the way.

Panoramic paper

THE NEW Samyang 12 mm ƒ2 NCS CS matches the focal length and coverage of the Carl Zeiss Touit 12mm ƒ2.8 for APS-C mirrorless systems, and offers the same fast maximum aperture as Olympus’s 12mm with 30% more angle of view. With 98.9° coverage and rectilinear image mapping, its optical construction is 12 elements in 10 groups, including one aspherical lens (ASP), one hybrid aspherical lens (H-ASP) and three ED glass. Nanocrystal anti-reflective coating gives maximum light transmission, higher resistance to reflections and higher contrast. This manual focus, manual aperture lens comes with a removable lens hood and 67 mm filter mount, and it weighs 245g. The lens is not chipped, which will help keep its cost down, but also means no EXIF data is recorded. Available mounts will be Canon M, Fujifilm X, Samyang NX, Sony E and MicroFourThirds. For further details visit the Samyang website at: www.samyang.co.uk

Samyang 12mm ƒ2

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Portfolio Series - more features, more designs, lower cost PRO Series websites - the easy way to get a custom site for less Bespoke - the ultimate tool for the professional photographer

020 8977 8943 [email protected] www.amazinginternet.com

Amazing Internet� e art of creative web designA� e art of creative web design

“I challenged Amazing Internet to build a site to be proud of. Which they did and then some.” – katehopewellsmith.com

020 8977 8943 [email protected] www.amazinginternet.com

ƒ2NEWS

THE MPA/OLYMPUS Wedding & Portrait Awards are now in their second year, after many years of association first with Kodak and later with Fujifilm. It is an open competition, with categories for MPA members and non-members treated equally in the judging. You must however be a professional to enter. The top prizes in Wedding and Portrait are £1,000 for each of the clients (not for the photographer!) and it’s entered by submitting physical prints, 5 x 4” to 10 x 8” unmounted, not digital files. Each entry costs only £2 and all entry fees go to nominated charities. You can download printable information and entry forms from: http://bit.ly/1pnky16 There are two rounds with closing dates of May 17th and August 31st 2014.

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Nikon goes to courtWITH the announcement of the Nikon 1 V3 and the entry of the Samsung NX Mini to the 1” system arena, a new sensor format is now firmly established as a smaller option than FourThirds or MicroFourThirds, both of which are supported by a consortium of manufacturers. Kodak is set to market a Chinese-made MicroFourThirds model in the Chinese market only under the Kodak brand. One-inch is not a consortium and Samsung’s system is not connected with Nikon’s, or with Sony though the NX Mini is equipped with a sensor similar to the RX100II and RX10. Nikon has won an injunction to prevent Sakar from launching a 1” sensor ILC under the Polaroid iM1836 name, on the grounds that it copied the appearance of the Nikon 1 J1. Nikon has also been successful in a contested action against Sigma for use of technology similar to Nikon VR lens stabilisation, though not for the original sum claimed.

ENTER your images for the MPA Wedding and Portrait Awards!All professionals can enter, with categories for MPA members and non-members. Make the most of publicity opportunities! • Release selected great pictures to your local media and tell them these have been chosen to enter in the presitigious MPA Olympus awards. •Ifyoumakeitintotheshortlistoffivenominationsforeachcategoryinthefirstorsecond round, publicise that too. • If you are one of the two top winners presented in October – go national with the news! Success breeds success. Use this powerful tool to enhance your local reputation and

create new business opportunities. There are two ‘rounds’ judged and closing dates for entry are:Round One 17/5/2014Round Two 31/8/2014Twofinalwinnerswill be unveiled in October at the Master Photography Awards 2014/15 – with a headlining cash reward for each client, trophies

andcertificatesforthephotographers,andahost of PR opportunities! Tell your customers they can win! Both categories carry a £1,000 cash prize direct to the consumer – a fantastic incentive to promote your business now. Let all potential and existing portrait and wedding clients know they can be entered into this fantastic competition. Entry Fee: £2.00 per picture

MPA/OLYMPUSWEDDING & PORTRAIT AWARDS

2014/15

2013/14 Wedding Winner – Simon Mackney

2013/14 Portrait Winner – Lisa Visser FMPA

www.masterphotographyawards.co.uk

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NIKON HAS introduced a replacement for the ‘1’ system V2 we featured in our last issue. The higher resolution V3 omits the built-in viewfinder for the first time in a V model – the DF-N1000 electronic viewfinder is an optional extra. The V3 has an 18.4 megapixel CMOS sensor, ISO to 12,800, a tilting touch screen monitor, built-in WiFi, Expeed 4A image processor, and hybrid AF with 171 auto focus points 105 of which are phase detection AF points. The accessory GR-N1010 grip, along with the EVF, add up to DSLR looks in a small package. Nikon has also announced a VR 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6 PD-Zoom with automatic lenscap shutter, and a VR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 (810mm view) at £249.99 and £879.99 respectively. Suggested pricing for the V3 is £799.99 with a VR 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6 PD-Zoom lens, and £1049.99 for a kit with EVF and grip. www.nikon.co.uk

Nikon 1 V3

Samsung NX Mini

WITH A depth of 22.5mm and a body only 158g weight, the Samsung NX Mini introduces a new complete mirrorless mini interchangeable lens system using the one-inch 20 megapixel backside illuminated CMOS sensor, and brings it in at a market-beating SRP. Three new mini ‘NX-M’ lenses are the 9mm ƒ3.5 ED pancake (24mm equivalent); a 9-27mm f/3.5-5.6 ED OIS compact zoom, and a 17mm f/1.8 OIS lens (45mm equivalent with smooth bokeh). The 15 existing NX optics can be used with the camera via the NX-M Mount Adapter ED-MA4NXM. Price is confirmed at £399.99 with a 9mm lens and the system should be on sale now. www.samsung.com

TETENAL has launched a new addition to its Spectrajet range, filling a gap left by Ilford’s pre-mounted inkjet boards. Tetenal Photo Board allows exhibition prints to be made directly on a 1.3mm thick base which feeds in Epson and Canon wide format printers. Acid free and PH neutral, the result is a frame-ready mounted print. There are three finishes available in Premium Satin, Premium Gloss and Double Side Archival Matt. www.tetenaluk.com

Look no mounting!

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In March a debate broke out on internet about the Grand Winner of the HIPA awards, with the

release of the $120,000-winning image (right) by Chinese photographer Fuyang Zhou. The theme of the contest was ‘Creating the Future’ and it meets the brief. The HIPA Awards like most today outlaw manipulation and alteration of images. You are not supposed to do is Photoshop an image to add or remove elements. Fuyang Zhou received his award at a ceremony attending by over 1,000 guests in Dubai on March 17th. By March 18th, versions of the winning image were appearing on-line, and on March 19th PetaPixel shared a blog page suggesting the teacher’s right arm was shopped into place – upon which others suggested the scale of the figures, the direction of shadows and other aspects indicated the whole image was a composited fiction. The competition received more than 26,000 entries from 156 countries, including India, Indonesia, Brazil, Malaysia and the Russian Federation, as well as countries in the United Arab Emirates. The top prize is $120,000 which makes the controversy quite heated. It’s true that the arm looks odd. On PetaPixel’s blog ‘expert’ posters claimed the arm to be anatomically impossible, wrong position, wrong angle, wrong length, the hand the wrong size and so on. The 24mm lens of Zhou’s Canon EOS 1D-X camera is positioned just above the height of the table on the left. The teacher is seen from below. Hasty conclusions are best avoided. I set up a camera at a similar height and posed myself the same way, draping some cloth over my shoulder. It only took half a dozen shots with my arm raised a little more each time, followed by copying and pasting as a transparent layer (right) over the original (left), to prove that the picture shows a normal arm position from an unusual angle, with layers of clothing. As we went to press it had not been confirmed that the image was free from Photoshop work but I hope my dphotoexpert.com web page moderated those accusations against Fuyang Zhou. Then, we learned it is not a real classroom. The mayor of the village models as the teacher, and puts payments received for the use of his old building towards village

funds. There was one other image from the same location in the awards and others have now been found on-line. With prize money totalling $389,000, HIPA is the richest photography competition in the world. The Hamdan International Photography Awards (HIPA) were launched in 2011 by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai. The theme of the 2014 season is ‘Life in Colour’. My experience as a magazine editor enables me to recognise many subjects which are reproduced by photographers year after year, almost down to the tripod marks on the ground. No-one could expect international judges to recognise this location – maybe a Chinese photo magazine editor would have done so. Photographers do revisit and repeat each others’ work and

many locations or events are perennial subjects. Last issue’s cover and folio from José Ramos were no exception – like Britain’s beaches, Portugal’s lagoons and fishing jetties are photographed thousands of times a year. That doesn’t rule out making new and truly excellent views which, like José’s, have real merit. If Zhou’s image has great merit the award is deserved regardless of the ‘back story’. – David Kilpatrick

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As we went to press, HIPA made an official statement: “The HIPA management was made aware of certain “accusations and discussions” on social media questioning the authenticity of the ‘Grand Prize’ winning photograph from the third season of competition Creating the Future. “We can assure the global

DISARMINGDISSENT

photographic community, that all winning photographs with HIPA pass through several stages of evaluation by our international panel of judges before a final analysis of the (raw file) takes place, to ensure full compliance with all rules and regulations.” “It is only after these thorough checks of authenticity, that winners are announced at the annual awards ceremony, and their photographs are then shared with international media outlets.” “The management at HIPA would like to thank everyone for their input over the last few weeks and we hope to have more talented photographers take part in our new season of competition‘Life in Colour’.” For the full list of the 2013-2014 HIPA Judging committee: http://bit.ly/1lyjmZO To learn more about HIPA see: www.hipa.ae

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INNOVATION & DISRUPTIONWe all like innovation. Without anything new, nothing changes. But Getty Images CEO Jonathan Klein likes another word from the Harvard Business School – ‘disruption’. In that world, messing things up can be good. It’s like clearing a useless rain forest ecosystem to make way for useful palm oil plantations. Sure, a few orang-utans get mashed in the process. But Mr Klein is not a photographic orang-utan, he’s a palm planter. You are the orang-utan and you’d better hope someone is protecting a bit of that forest to keep you alive.

There are “no gods, and precious few heroes” – that’s the way it is going in the

online stock business right now. A little bit before the Idea of March 2014 the oracle of Getty revealed the future for many editorial and general stock photographers – that the value of their work would be judged against the value of 35 million existing Getty images to be given away as free licences to almost all online users, including the electronic editions of major international news media. It is from the words of Getty Images President Jonathan Klein that we take our headline. He said that Getty was in the business of “innovation and disruption”. He might as well have dropped the formal language and said, “we’re gonna do new stuff which will muck this market up” – because that’s the meaning hiding behind the MBA-patois. We would have written something which rhymes with ‘muck’ had we not been in the decent and respectable company of our readers, who only use casual vulgarities every time they check their Alamy sales. ‘Disruption’ really is one hell of a word. Change, you can live with that. Good enough for Lao Tse, not a bad principle. All things must change. If they don’t change, life ends. Existence ends. The fundamental vibrations of the universe are nothing more than a perpetual state of change. Disruption? This sounds more the philosophy of Britain’s coalition government when faced with any system which happens to work efficiently without distributing profit. Klein’s decision to freelicence 35 million images is puzzling because it’s not motivated by profit. Kleptocracies, such as the current UK political system, steal from the creators of wealth (anyone who works, in any way) and hand that wealth over to those who don’t work. Getty has instead stolen the work of thousands of photographers and given it to all comers while gaining no benefit in the process. You’re going to have get used to ‘disruption’. Blur Group plc, a dotcom we’ll be investigating in a future edition of ƒ2, uses the word to describe the way their project-based creative sourcing has changed the way advertising agencies find photographers and video producers, companies

Getty EmbedYou really have to think whether, as a photographer, you want to get in Embed with Getty. It’s well worth looking at the site. The front page produces a link the search all embeddable images. This then shows you many options, such as pictures with one person, two, and so on. It lets you select specific people. The top person has over 50,000 embeddable images to choose from. It is – see left – Paris Hilton. See left.

Web commentary on the Getty free-for-allhttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/mar/07/photographers-getty-imageshttp://www.bjp-online.com/2014/03/getty-images-makes-35-million-images-free-in-fight-against-copyright-infringementhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-26463886http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/5/5475202/getty-images-made-its-pictures-free-to-ushttp://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-03-07/photographers-hate-getty-imagess-plan-to-give-away-their-workhttp://photobusinessforum.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/monetizing-gettys-35m-image-archive-via.html?m=1http://weeder.org/rLHYBqr

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INNOVATION & DISRUPTIONdo their recruitment and headhunting, and so on. Blur’s Global Services Exchange is in its infancy, but this is what their MD Philip Letts says about their latest drive to link corporations wanting video work to creatives able to provide the service: “Video has always been a popular project on the Exchange; driven by an incredible array of expert providers around the globe who are able to be more competitive by working directly through the platform. However we recognized that these providers could deliver on the full gamut of production and further disrupt the older-style network agencies.” Notice the disrupt word again, in conjunction with older-style indicating that the world of traditional advertising and media agencies is something of the past. We could argue that the arrival of printing disrupted the work of scribes, that photography disrupted art and engraving, that digital photography disrupted the entire commercial structure of silver imaging along with the markets for silver and for the rare earth minerals needed to make digital sensors. However, not one of these cases involves the idea that because you can no longer prevent the theft of your stock, you give it all away. Here’s the original news from Getty as issued in early March.

Getty press releaseNEW YORK and AUSTIN, Texas, March 5, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Global digital media company Getty Images today announces, for the first time, the ability for people to easily embed and share its imagery – at no cost – for non-commercial use on websites, blogs and social media channels through a new embed tool. With people increasingly turning to imagery to communicate and tell their stories online, the embed capability opens up Getty Images’ award-winning imagery for seamless sharing. Through the embed tool, individuals can draw on Getty Images’ latest news, sports, celebrity, music and fashion coverage; immense digital photo archive; and rich conceptual images to illustrate their unique passions, ideas and interests.

million users, is the world’s most popular blogging platform. “This new Getty Images embed capability will open users up to a huge new creative repository in a simple, legal way,” said Raanan Bar-Cohen, senior vice president of commercial services at Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com. “We look forward to seeing all the amazing ways that our users can take advantage of this new access.” This is the latest in a series of moves by Getty Images to harness technology and social media to drive broader exposure and usage of its content. Recent initiatives include a unique partnership with Pinterest, the content sharing channel, announced in October 2013, whereby Pinterest pays Getty Images a fee in exchange for metadata. Getty Images then shares these fees with its contributors, who also receive attribution when their content is used. For more information visit www.gettyimages.com/embed

A publisher’s angleFirst of all, as specialist magazine publishers, we don’t like to see any move which retains costs on printed media while removing such costs from websites. There is no intrinsic difference in copyright terms between a page in this magazine and one on the web, except that this page will be seen by a few thousand readers and the web page may be seen by millions. Getty is not granting any similar right for physical publishers – non-profit or otherwise – to access this collection. By doing this, Getty creates conditions where printed media become less able to compete with web media. Forget the term ‘blogging’, it’s a weasel-word used to make the creation of websites sound like a friendly little casual hobby. WordPress may have 75 million ‘blogging’ users but you would be amazed at how widely WordPress is used to construct commercial websites, including almost all websites our own company has designed in the last ten years. By creating this discrimination against printed media – a kind of restriction of trade which could perhaps be challenged in court – Getty Images weakens the very sector from which its remaining

This innovation opens one of the largest, deepest and most comprehensive image collections in the world for easy sharing, thereby making the world an even more visual place. “Images are the communication medium of today and imagery has become the world’s most spoken language,” said Jonathan Klein, co-founder and CEO of Getty Images. “Whether via a blog, website or social media, everyone is a publisher and increasingly visually literate. “Innovation and disruption are the foundation of Getty Images, and we are excited to open up our vast and growing image collection for easy, legal sharing in a new way that benefits our content contributors and partners, and advances our core mission to enable a more visually-rich world.”

Embedded images will include photographer attribution and, when clicked, will link back to www.gettyimages.com where the image can be licensed for commercial use. This will provide people with a simple and legal way to utilize content that respects creators’ rights, including the opportunity to generate licensing revenue. “You have to adapt to survive,” said Kevin Mazur, celebrity photographer and director, and co-founder of WireImage Inc*. “Evolving to embrace technology that encourages responsible image sharing is the way forward for the industry.” *Now part of Getty – Ed The embed capability will be supported anywhere HTML can be posted and users will also be able to share images on major social platforms including Twitter, as well as WordPress, which, with 75

StockimoAlamy’s iPhone only App is called Stockimo, and it’s a collection as well as a submission method – edited, unlike regular Alamy content. At first it produced howls of rage. Then, when Getty dropped their bombshell, Stockimo suddenly seemed wonderful.


paid photographers earn their living. The highest fees, the big money which keeps Getty viable, are still created across multiple media platforms ranging from broadcast television to billboards, encompassing newspapers and magazines and websites on the way. By allowing a freelicence for the on-line media only, but imposing no restrictions of the nature of the ‘blog’ or web pages involved as long as they are editorial, Klein doesn’t so much disrupt as skew the market. The British Journal of Photography website probably gave the best commentary and interviews during the week in March when this news broke. Most other photo sites and major media followed. Photographers were dismayed, to say the least, and we have heard from many readers who announced their intention to leave Getty – or thanked fortune that they had departed earlier, or never made it past the selection process. This remains one of the strangest aspects of Getty’s behaviour. Shortly after dropping this bombshell, Getty terminated the deal with Flickr under which their editors could find new talent via Flickr’s photo sharing galleries. It’s almost as if they have a message: we want images, but we don’t want image creators. We want to harvest the crop but we don’t want to plough the field or plant the seeds.

Fighting disruptionThe magazine you are reading is the result of disruption, before the term was used this way. In 1984 we bought the first Macintosh system with a laser printer in the UK. By 1986, we’d collaborated with a pioneering Linotype bureau to create the world’s first desktop designed periodical. Either that year or in 1988, David Kilpatrick spent an evening on

zero – regardless of complexity. Where books had colour sections scattered through black and white text, and magazines had mono on one side of the paper with CMYK on the other, the new technology led to full colour throughout. Where each image once carried a three-figure cost for scanning, separations and ‘stripping in’, progress led first to single page film with everything in place, then to multiple pages imposed to make plates, and finally in 2003 to the end of silver film (developed and fixed) in the print industry. It was this, the final change from silver imaging to Computer-to-Plate, which ended or vastly changed the viability of Kodak, Afga, Ilford Anitec, Du Pont, 3M and many others. It coincided with the change from silver film to digital capture in photography, aerial and X-ray imaging. The ‘disruption’ was huge but in the process the use of colour images in print increased greatly. Magazines today often have dozens of colour pictures on a single spread and hundreds in an issue, and all these images cost not a single penny in materials at any stage until the press rolls. Not in-camera, not in post-production, not in proofing as very few hard proofs are ever made now. The only photosensitive material used is the printing plate, and if the press is digital (like those used to create Graphistudio wedding books, VisionImpress leaflets, or Vistaprint business cards) even that is a re-usable drum. This magazine started in 1989 as PHOTOpro, and was a direct result of innovation and disruption, produced from the start using new methods. For a decade the result was nothing but an increase in economic activity – more pictures taken, more pictures used, more scanners and printers sold, great advances in traditional photography. We then saw a further decade in which the

a photokina riverboat talking to two entrepreneurs from a new company, Future Publishing, about the workings of Mac-based imaging and design systems. Today those guys have the most successful print and web media in the UK photographic market. Icon was formed in 1987, and moved to Scotland in 1988 to ‘disrupt’ publishing and

printing further with the earliest imagesetting and scanning of this type. However, the disruption was not all negative. Over a seven-year period magazines and books changed radically, from a model where every page needed many stages of labour-intensive production and high costs to one where costs are identical – and could be considered to be

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innovation and disruption came partly from digital photography, but mainly from improvements to internet and mobile communications. Photographers often blame the shift from film to digital for their changed circumstances, but this is an illusion. If the web was still using 1200bps modems and phone lines, if WiFi did not exist, if there were no smartphones, if computers still cost the same as cars… digital photography even at today’s level would function much as film once used to.

Alternative portalsPhotographers certainly want their work to be seen, and shared. They also want to secure revenue from it (our last issue’s article on Revenue Streams might have read slightly differently after this Getty announcement). In the last issue, we also featured websites with direct selling which may involve some storage charges or take commissions (though rarely at the 40% to 90% levels taken by picture libraries). One of these, theimagefile.com, notes that costs were shown incorrectly. Websites can be had from £3 a month – the £12 a month figure related to a photographer using 70GB of storage – and theimagefile does not take any commission on PayPal sales, the only deduction is the PayPal charge. In the case of theimagefile, it’s a site we have been following for some years to see whether it will develop its library-style sales to a level able to compete with Alamy, Getty or Fotolibra (this last one being perhaps the most comparable). Because such sales normally depend on a user community as well as a contributor community, photographers have to drive traffic to sites like theimagefile, otherwise the content remains mostly

www.photographersdirect.com which is a site issuing requests from picture buyers, but building all the submitted work into a searchable picture library for future clients to browse. Some of the requests are so precise they amount to a commission brief, the only problem being that a few dozen competing photographers could also try to fulfil that brief and win the sale. Run by Gwyn Headley, the Welsh-based www.fotolibra.com also issues photographer briefings, but not as precise. They deal with organisations like Ordnance Survey, needing great pictures from specific areas but open to whatever subjects make the strongest shot. They also provide book publishers with covers.

Art salesWe’re seeing freelances now use more sites like Artflakes and Fine Art America, which instead of trying to sell image rights, sell finished wall art. As digital licence values erode to zero – thanks to disruption – limited edition and fine art print values seem to be increasing. At the same time, other sites like Flickr and 500px have added print sales options (not always active – we tested the licence option for an image on 500px and got the response that this was not yet enabled for that image). Photographers …who sell for the art print market tend not to allow digital downloads, because this opens up the risk of the buyer making their own print outwith the control of the photographer. So to secure any rights to reproduce such images, direct contact and negotiation is needed – further increasing the non-disrupted value of the work. – ƒ2

Á

unseen by newspapers, agencies and other image buyers. There’s also a matter of volume. It takes a lot of work to create a collection of tens of thousands of images for stock sales, and that is what you may need in today’s world where libraries allow a search of millions of pictures. James Duncan of theimagefile expressed a belief that “the image belongs to the image creator” – and that the creator should be able to price, sell, distribute and print his own work individually.

offers not only sales of the images but also the opportunity to receive commissions and create new clients. You can get a trial 60-day account from: www.theimagefile.com/try by entering the discount code F2APR. If you are a specialist, there are still many small libraries which secure excellent fees and regular sales. We spoke to Heather Angel, whose own work is known around the world. She accepts other

“Sure, the price will be the deciding factor of the image selling or not, but it should be the photographer that makes that decision”, he told us. “Within theimagefile the photographer can run his own stock agency, through his own web site – attract his or her own clients and be in control of the imagery. There are different models to suit different workflows.Automated licensed sales – rights managed, royalty free or editorial only – or “by negotiation” sales, as well as fine art print sales are all possible, either from the photographer’s existing web site, a web site built within theimagefile system, or through theimagefile web site. “For search engine optimisation, links back to the photographer’s web site are included from every image displayed on theimagefile web site. It is a transparent service that

natural history photography into her library: www.naturalvisions.co.uk It’s worth looking at this site because the images on offer provide a snapshot of what sells – well – in this niche market. As Heather emphasises, she’s a biologist and when we spoke, she was engaged in work on a major project at Kew Gardens which requires her scientific discipline as much as her photographic skill. Anyone planning to enter this field without in-depth knowledge of what they are photographing won’t be able to provide the rock-solid guarantee of correct identification and naming. These two points alone are why serious users of natural history images go to her library and not to microstock sites. General out-and-about photographers should also consider subscribing to:

Theimagefile website started out as a proofing and ordering service, typically used by events and wedding photographers to host complete shoots for the client to view and order from. Over the years it’s gathered momentum to become a collective picture library, each photographer managing their own files and their price structure, but globally searchable.The website now looks just like a mainsteam image library.


STUARTWOODFROM GROOMS&BRIDES TO TV GUIDESChances are, you’ve seen the

work of UK photographer Stuart Wood many times.

With over twenty years in the industry, he’s a model for the vital get-up-and-go attitude that defies the doom-and-gloom attitude that has pervaded so many professions recently. Despite a full diary, he always finds time to learn from other and develop his photographic skills. Stuart’s career began, like so many, with enthusiasm rather than a vocational education choice. He was about to go into management with Sainsbury’s when his family supported his “wonder if” moment. “I thought long and hard about it – you get one shot at life. I like working at Sainsbury’s, but I wanted to be a photographer. I was doing an O-Level at Derby College, and went up to Martin, the photography lecturer, in the evening. I gave him my Kodachrome slides, and asked him if I was good enough.” Stuart got his response a couple of weeks later – told by Martin, “you’ve got this innate ability to make a picture… it’s up to you… you’ll have to work your nuts off for it, but you could become very high end”. From that point in, his career has been dedicated to making that prediction a reality. It’s not been a walkover, and has required dedication to working hard to achieve each goal, rather than expecting them just to fall into place through natural ability. The life-changing decision to jump careers from a steady progression through the ranks at a major employer to the double-edge sword of self-employment and a market dominated by personal creativity can often seem a safe choice only for those with a talent identified and affirmed by major awards or an income from photography which starts exceeding their main job. That doesn’t happen often, and it’s happening less today as speculative editorial and stock routes into the professional suffer from ever more eroded values. Stuart could see that the “amateur turns pro” path was not a predictable one to tread, and turned instead to the educational options available to him, opting to attend Salisbury College

of Art after visiting Blackpool and Bournemouth to choose between the available options. All three of these have a long history with top UK photographic courses accredited by the BIPP and accepted as Associateship equivalent on graduating. “I had the best training to be a photographer. After being a watchmaker and jeweller, I had gone into supermarket management, learning not only that fine attention to detail, but also the discipline to get stuck in when needed”.

Safe and sureStuart learned when Polaroid proofing was normal, and now sees the camera’s LCD screen and histogram as the equivalent. Delivering a good finished image is all that really counts, and he does confirm his histograms and focus are spot-on before taking the final shots, as in many of the high-pressure jobs he’s commissioned to do there isn’t the ability to go back and do it again. The ability to change gear has equipped him to handle those brutal cuts in available time working with multiple creative teams in the TV world can engender. “Twenty minutes with the talent can quickly be reduced to two – I just have to get it done”. The benefits of a good course, and supportive lecturers, has helped Stuart – choosing a course based not on the prestige of the institution, but on the rapport, the feedback with the individuals he’d be working with to complete the course. Identifying people skills quickly ensured Stuart was encouraged in the direction of portraiture, with feedback from the college focusing as much on the stories alongside the images as the images themselves.

Upper left: Sheridan Smith, publicity shot for iTV Drama ‘Mrs. Biggs’ in 2012. Lit with Elinchrom Ranger RX; Stuart is now working with Sheridan Smith again for the new show “Cilla”

Left: Publicity shot for “Vera”, with Brenda Blethyn during filming in Newcastle.

Right: Wedding at Four Seasons Hotel.


Over the period of the 3 year course, Stuart began building a portfolio working with people. He wrote to over 250 Celebrities - and 25 replied. “The first one I did was John Inman, of Are You Being Served. He’d given me two hours; my next one was Melvin Bragg - and he gave me 10 minutes. Just using window light at South Bank studios, I got a cracking picture. I’m remembering it now, and it was a real Road to Damascus moment; I’d gone with a reflector and a tripod, and I had that two-hour experience crammed into 10 minutes, and I thought this is what I want to do.” Writing, calling, and putting in the legwork has remained very relevant, but has evolved with modern technology and the demands of clients. From a simple setup he has progressed to a carload of equipment, including the Nikon bodies Stuart relies on and the Elinchrom Ranger Quadra RX battery powered location flash which has allowed him to create many of the striking images that fill his current portfolio. Having found he had the ability to get into the right places at the right times, now the agents are calling him. Stuart’s creative process often starts with previsualising the image long before the actual photography. Getting fired up and excited before the shoot,

he’s honed a skill to see great backgrounds and settings in the most mundane of locations. As we sat in the Hilton lounge during one Photo Training Overseas week, he identified many spots in the interior with features ideal for a portrait background. He’s very sure about what is going to work, and how to make it work. At this event, Stuart was one of the tutors taking on four sessions with a wide variety of delegates, and his high energy, focused presentation demonstrated this rapid way of thinking and seeing – with locations around the hotel complex we’d walked past many times were revealed as the perfect contrast, framing or background. He demonstrated how to communicate with a subject and set them at ease very quickly.

The contact processThough based in Derby, Stuart is quick to emphasis the importance of London – “right at the start, I’d be in London at least twice a week, slogging around the streets, and making my face and my work known”. An early break was to be thrown in to work during the BBC production of Pride & Prejudice, when the images captured in the busy arena of production won

Above: Village Wisewoman Laetitia Latham-Jones, shot in Cornwall. Lit using video light for warm skin-tones against steel skies.

Below: Bridal shot at Thrumpton Hall in Nottingham, back-light with Jerry Ghionis Ice Light.

Facing page: Publicity shot for iTV Drama ‘Making of a Lady’ with the brief for a sinister atmosphere; the show cast with lighting from Elinchrom Ranger Quadra.


favour with this high-profile client. He has gone on to work with many independent production companies and his work is seen in ITV publications as well. After years of working alongside camera crews who don’t want the stills photographer to be seen or heard, Stuart can’t emphasise enough the need to remember your rôle and the needs of the client – “I don’t want to give people excuses, I want to give people pictures”. It’s an attitude that also applies to almost any photographer working with people, and undoubtedly reflected in Stuart’s wedding work. Increasingly in demand, Stuart’s calm professionalism under pressure has been a key factor in his shift towards a greater number of weddings. The requirements and standards in the sector having increased dramatically since the traditionalism of the ‘80s and early ‘90s, the work has become more of a challenge. And with fashion and media cover shoots to show to aspirational clients, Stuart is attracting the high-end of the market – and with it, high-end locations. Working so long with the BBC, ITV and media clients, Stuart’s portfolio is impressive. Since those college days, he has made the effort to sell himself through his images, and carries an expensively produced, heavy and bespoke portfolio which impresses

instantly. Despite this investment and the undoubted impact this makes, Stuart has found that Apple’s iPad is a compelling device for presentations. “I’ve been doing folio visits for over 22 years – and yes, there has been resistance from photographers (to adopting iPads) as they are hard to colour calibrate. I’ve done research with picture editors and far from going against me, every magazine up to and including Vogue has been positive about viewing images on an iPad – particularly with the new Retina display”. With many Radio Times covers, award winning images, Fellowship and a catalogue of clients that would be the envy of any photographer, what really impressed me on meeting Stuart was simply how keen he is to teach others. Even with PTO’s remit of training, there’s an open and inspirational attitude that ensured the delegates on his course were fired up for days, and meeting up again for the interview just reinforced that impression. In an era when it’s hard to find confidence without arrogance, and many commercial photographers are seeking to protect their own businesses, Stuart’s attitude is encouraging to a whole new generation. Some strong lessons are there to be learned, not least the real effort of finding clients and leads, but he makes no attempt to hide it or imply that the work simply lands at his feet.

Doorway, facing page: Prog Rock magazine commission of supergroup Transatlantic, shot at abandoned asylum in Peckham and lit with the Ranger Quadra.

Above : For the same magazine, the Guy Manning Band, looking for a steampunk appearance. Elinchrom Quadra used in baking heat, despite the costumes.

Below: Head Chef and Fisherman of Titchwell Manor Norfolk, captured in a blend of available light and interior tungsten lights for Olive magazine.


Paris Parle, dancer with Royal Ballet, captured in on the beach, personal work shot during the 2013 Photo Training Overseas in Lanzarote. Daylight and Elinchrom Ranger Quadra RX flash, final image unaltered in-camera exposure. Nikon D3, 24-70mm ƒ2.8 at 31mm, ISO 200, 1/250th at ƒ8.


And with that, it’s clear that Stuart Wood is going to continue to win over clients, be it behind the camera facing the celebrity PR shoot or the local wedding, because he is not resting on his past successes. The decision to take on teaching on top of all of that – well, if you get the opportunity to attend one of his courses, take it!

D-Day Veterans Stuart’s current personal project has been to photograph D-day veterans for an exhibition and book, shown on this spread. Each veteran is treated separately, reflecting their personality – “They’re so enthusiastic – in their 90s and acting like they’re in their 20s. “The challenge is to retain a variety and visual interest throughout the group. My admiration for these guys knows no bounds, it’s a pleasure to record them. “Summed up by a quote from the film A Few Good Men – ‘Because they stand on a wall and they say ‘nothing will hurt you tonight, not on my watch.’ “ – Richard Kilpatrick

ÁSee:www.stuart-wood.com – for photographic training please see the ‘workshops’ section of the websiteSee also:www.stuartwoodweddings.com

Right – In memoriam: Jim Ratcliffe of Bolton, who passed away on 19th February.


One of the fascinating ways in which “the internet” has changed the world is in

invention. From faster discussion, to reaching new markets and even 3D prototyping with downloaded components, the most interesting development in recent years has been Kickstarter. This is a platform upon which inventors and artists can seek funding for their products without the inertia and resistance of traditional sources, many unusual and innovative gadgets have hit the market thanks to the demand from connected consumers willing to commit no more than the purchase price of the yet to be released item. The crucial difference between this, and risking your cheque or postal order on Sir Clive Sinclair’s latest brainwave? No money is taken until the funding target is hit, and it’s all protected. Sinclair’s great talent, of course, was to look at an established market and with a bit of lateral thinking and technological cunning, fill a gap, and do so at a good price. Rift Labs emulated that skill with 2013’s KICK light, now offered through UK distributors Colour Confidence. Compact, with a similar form factor to the iPhone that the casing is designed to house, the KICK light is now in full production at with a price around £119.

Editor’s Note: Sinclair’s presence in early 1980s computing in the UK was driven by the low cost, popular computer the Spectrum. The author acknowledges that he is an old geek, and there may be readers that have never seen the rubber keyed wonder referred to above. It’s been taken for granted that LED lights have a couple of weaknesses, and this is the way it must be. A narrow spectrum of light – often tailored for a preferred colour temperature – and an equally narrow beam angle give coverage typically of 30°. KICK’s approach is to use large lenses to spread the beam to a more usable 60°, and RGB LED modules that emit light across the full spectrum. A 400 lumen output, with easy control, and a built in rechargeable battery pack would have represented enough advance on typical lights to be notable, yet the hardware goes way beyond this specification. The RGB emitters allow any colour temperature to be created. Selectable from presets via buttons on the light, more flexibility is offered by starting the WiFi option. Smartphone control, via the KICK Light app on iOS and Android, expands the abilities of the compact unit dramatically.

Colour temperature can be quickly matched to ambient light by aiming the smartphone camera at a neutral target and selecting a sample point. Effects are created in a similar way, by choosing a colour to match, or dragging the sampler across a palette to allow a cycle effect matching the colour scheme of a location. There’s a set of pre-loaded strobe, flash and cycle settings including a rainbow loop as used for my long exposure shot in the flooded brewery cellar. Direct selection of colours from a palette is also incorporated. Through WiFi, multiple KICK

lights can be connected and controlled individually or as a group. There are no fans, and minimal whine from the power circuits even when plugged into USB power supplies, though the running time can extend to around four hours easily. Heat is more likely to stop play, though in 40 minutes of continuous operation neither of our review units shut down. Some minor weaknesses in the overall stability of the WiFi connection – largely down to the quirks of iOS – do little to lessen the experience of working with the lights. The smartphone emphasis extends to the app

RIFT LABS KICKRichard Kilpatrick discovers a unique variable colour smartphone controlled hand held LED light source

Chain-mail necktie photographed in a pub, where the maker of the chain-mail garments was showing off stuff. Mail on table surface, draped over iPhone as a support, KICK light held overhead and panned across during two-second exposures on Nikon Df with 105mm Sigma macro lens set to ƒ22 at ISO 100. The output from the KICK is far higher than you would imagine from a phone-sized array.

Expensive tricolor LEDs visible here under the large 60° angle lenses allow the KICK to output any balance of R, G, B light with a higher Colour Rendering Index than typical LED battery lighting. Interfaces and controls, right.


being capable of capturing stills or video. The lights are ideal for stills photography, light painting and simply providing fill in mixed lighting conditions, with enough output to work with a good distance from the subject. Skin tones and subtle colours are preserved, with the KICK able to vary between 2,800 and 12,000 Kelvins whilst providing a full spectrum of light. The lightweight unit features a screwed-on casing, indicating easily replaced batteries in the long run. The large lenses spread light evenly. A diffuser option, if you don’t want to improvise, is probably the only feature lacking.

Doubling as an iPhone case, both the 4 and 5 fit with a soft padded insert for the slimmer form factor of the 5/S. It adds a tripod mount. There are other LED panels that attempt a high CRI colour spectrum, and some which allow some variation in colour temperature, but few offer the flexibility, output, sophistication and compact dimensions of the KICK light. Now, with a UK distributor, it’s possible to get your hands on one before buying. But without the confidence of those early Kickstarter backers it might never have reached production. www.colourconfidence.com

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This may look impossible to light with a phone-sized LED, as it was totally dark – the flooded cellar of an old brewery bring re-opened in Northampton. But the Nikon D4 at ISO 100 needed its Schneider 28mm stopped well down and used with a circular polariser to secure 10 seconds at ISO 100. Using two KICK lights set to colour cycle, Richard Kilpatrick walked through the water, in-shot.

Grey model MGF on studio perspex table. Top, one light on rainbow cycle moved round the subject from the back then to the front, D4, 105mm macro, ISO 100, ƒ32. Bottom, with the Kick moved across behind the subject, ƒ29, 30 seconds.

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SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2014The Sony World Photography Awards

Exhibition 2014 can be seen at Somerset House in London from May 1st to 18th.

Here we present our edited selection from the exhibition.

The World Photography Organisation holds annual awards which have now

been sponsored by Sony for seven years. For the 2014 Awards, photographers from 166 countries submitted nearly 140,000 images, the highest ever. From the submissions the judges have selected a shortlist – and from this shortlist, we have edited our own choice. Unlike many world photo competitions, these are entirely free to enter. Professionals submit sets of images on a theme (from three to ten pictures) while the Open section is for single images. The Somerset House exhibition prints have been produced by the print sponsor of the awards, Metro Imaging. Tickets to see the show are now available at:www.worldphoto.org/2014exhibition The winners of the Open and Youth categories were announced on March 18th. Professional category winners, and L’Iris d’Or/Sony World Photography Awards Photographer of the Year title, are due to be announced in London on April 30th.

L’Iris d’Or winner receives $25,000 (US) and the Open Photographer of the Year receives $5,000 (US). All winners, including category winners, receive digital imaging equipment from Sony. To enter the 2015 awards, visit www.worldphoto.org after June 1st 2014, when entry opens.


SONY WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS 2014

Facing page: two photographs by George Logan, UK, from the professional Campaign category – Whiskas cat food advertising.This page: two photographs by Gonzaga Manso, Spain, Campaign category – from the World Wildlife Fund’s ‘Extinction Can’t Be Fixed’ series.


Left hand page – one of your editor’s favourites from the entry, by Yves Devleminck, given third position in the Belgian national ranking. ‘Reflets’, and most reminiscent of the 1930s work of Kértesz and his contemporary pioneers of viewfinder vision. On this page, the only two uses of infrared imaging in the

show. Above, ‘Below the Mystery’ by Christian Vilz of Mexico, finalist in the professional Travel category. Below, 1st place in Central America National open award, by Gabriel Solis Carmona.


Water and cameras do not always mix well! Top, entered in the Split Second category by Hairul Azizi Harun of Malaysia, this rather wonderful moment took the overall prize for the

Open section. Above, entered in Low Light by Vlad Eftenie of Romania, a contemporary view of night and rain which also made the top ten finalists in Open.


The weather, when not raining in Romania, produced some exceptional conditions during 2013. Top picture, ‘Starry Lighthouse’ by Ivan Pedretti from Italy, which took the award for Open Panoramic and a place in the final ten of the Open classes. Bottom, Northern Lights

by Raymond Hoffman took 2nd Place National award for the Nordic region (which is classed as one country in this competition).

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+90°

±12 mm

3YEARGUARANTEE

Focal length: 24 mmMaximum aperture: 3.5Angle of view: 83.5° diagonalMinimum focusing distance: 0.2 mMinimum aperture: 22Lens Construction: 16 elements, 11 groups, 1 Aspherical.Available mounts:Canon EF, Nikon F, Sony Weight: 640 g


MARTINE HAMILTON KNIGHT

BUILDINGAN ARCHITECTURAL REPUTATION

Martine Hamilton Knight working with her vehicle roof platform and Linhof Technikardan, in the days before high resolution DSLRs replaced sheet film for most work. Armada Housing, s’Hertegenbosch, Holland (BDP) 2003.

Left, Martine today – a lighter Manfrotto tripod with essential three-way geared head and Digital Pro SV on-axis camera rotator bracket now hold Canon full-frame bodies with a choice of 17mm, 24mm, 45mm and 90mm TS-E tilt-shift lenses. She has also collected on Honorary Doctorate from Nottingham University and a ‘Woman of Substance’ award.

Richard Kilpatrick talks to one of Britain’s leading photographers of the

built environment at her Nottingham studio and image library Builtvision

In an era of photography being driven by technology and the act of photography itself, it

sometimes pays to remember the most important aspect of photography is the subject and presentation. Martine Hamilton Knight’s career has been successful due to a passion for architecture and buildings. Although her reputation has been founded within this field, her venture into training and education is extending the exposure and recognition her work receives, and offering an opportunity for enthusiasts to learn from an eye trained by a true understanding of, immersion in her subject. Living in Nottingham – and growing up around the construction industry – the world of building sites and the network of the city may seem like a natural path. At a time when commercial photography was a very male-dominated profession, Martine soon carved out a niche and recognition for her energetic, enthusiastic and professional personality as much as her images. Since 1990, she has created a library of architectural, cultural and historical images, evolving to include video and film work by Paul Mottram, her husband and a former international broadcast documentary cameraman. Martine’s career was forged in the era of film, each capture the result of a significant planning and investment. This single shot approach remains even in the era of digital, with ambient and interior lighting managed in camera. In an era when £20,000 a year was spent on film alone getting it right was a worthwhile investment. Understanding the environment and balancing the requirements of the image with the requirements and deadlines of the client can, on occasion, present some significant challenges. Winter light in particular can make working with architecture in built-up areas a tricky business, and thinking outside the box, taking in the setting and environment and

getting further away or finding a high viewpoint may be the only solutions. Still subjects may seem like the focus in these photographs, yet the importance of people should not be overlooked. Bringing the buildings to life, digital photography has improved working speed and interaction with the users of the buildings. They have become another aspect of the presentation to be watched, worked with and controlled, rather than ignored or avoided. One of the most telling qualities of Martine’s work is thrown into sharp relief when looking at photographs submitted by entrants to the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) awards. The awards are focused on the buildings, not the photography. Too many presentation images are submitted with flat, grey skies, frontages in shadow, interiors with narrow angles of view and features cut off. If ever a case could and should be made for the value of commissioned professional photography, this is it. Martine has found that the accessibility of digital photography has affected the working relationship with clients even when they value professional work and have good budgets. Rather than lowering prices to compete, it’s necessary to engage with all of the suppliers and contractors involved in the project and co-ordinate the requirements for a full package. The market for the day-to-day, stage shots and progress or compliance images has fallen away as managers and other team members involved in the industry will inevitably own a digital camera or smartphone, and record these themselves. Even time-lapse work is often set up by the contractors, armed with low-cost GoPro cameras, both to demonstrate compliance and to create visually appealing media for marketing. As such, many of Martine’s images are commissions for the “hero” shot, with architects looking for the professional’s talents for


Below, the University of Nottingham’s Jubilee Campus Extension (MAKE Architects, 2008) photographed with the Canon 24mm TS-E lens. Above, the buildings and landscapes areas of the campus make an ideal location for students on Martine’s Line & Light photographic training courses – here shooting the natural aspect not the architecture.

the finished product, looking to RIBA Awards and final marketing and promotional material. As we look through years of images, Martine is as excited by the details, the near abstract, as she is by the impressive interior and exterior shots. “Though I talk about my job as one involving patience and precision, I’m inevitably to be found running because I’ve seen something and need to catch it before the light changes”. Along with the “hero shot” often taken with the widest angle lens she emphasises the need for mid-focal length (35/40/50/70mm) views to tell the story of the design and use of a building, and close-up detail shots to showcase the materials and craftsmanship involved.

Martine has been known in architectural circles for years as “a safe pair of hands”, and has built up an enviable reputation around Nottingham and internationally, working with the Universities and Council, receiving distinctions and recognition from sources that reassuringly also acknowledge the importance of photography in society. Martine has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Nottingham and also a Woman of Substance award (celebrating 100 years of International Women’s Day) for her impact on Nottingham’s perception during its regeneration, by showing the culture and beauty of the city. Her relationship with the region continues to grow, with an exhibition in May celebrating

After looking for a conventional high viewpoint to avoid the heavy shadows (left, an iPhone record shot) Martine chose an even higher distant overview of Nottingham Trent University Byron Students’ Union building (Church Lukas Architects 2013 - RIBA Award Shortlist 2014). It shows context and solves the winter light problem.


Remote controlled peopleMartine often needs to photograph buildings at night, both to show the lighting as a part of the architecture, and to create more interesting results regardless of the prevailing weather. Modern buildings like the Teesside University block above have automatically switched space lighting to save energy, so the lights can not just be switched on and left. Instead, teams of helpers must be recruited, and controlled by mobile phone – in this case running to beat the clock and get all the lights on at the same time. Below, Westfield Folkhouse – Lewis & Hickey Architects 2011, with figures inside directed into position for the 1.3 second exposure.


Canon’s four TS-E tilt shift lenses are essential for Martine’s work on full-frame Canon 1Ds series bodies. Above, Newport University of Wales 2011, using the 17mm lens. Below left, University of Sunderland, Faulkner Browns Architects 2009, using the 45mm for a solid weighty perspective. Below right, Climbing Wall in the Byron Students’ Union, taken using the 17mm and 0.4 second exposure at ƒ11 and ISO 320, with carefully posed figures.Facing page, West Herts College (Weedon Partnership 2010) rigorously corrected with the modest angle of view of the 90mm TS-E.


Colour can be an important aspect of architectural work, especially when dealing with designed interiors. The new Canon EOS 1D X was used for this lighting installation interior of Nottingham Trent University Byron Students’ Union (Church Lukas Architects 2013 - RIBA Award Shortlist 2014). 24mm TS-E lens.

Left – 1, Nottingham Science Park (Studio Egret West 2008) is one example where the use of perspective controls would be inappropriate. Mixed daylight and artificial light.Above – Crowne Plaza Marlow by Conran & Partners (2003) using the 150mm Schneider on the Linhof Technikardan.


Yarm School Theatre (Associated Architects 2013 – RIBA Award winner 2013) photographed for BUILT magazine. The students had to pose as the exposure with the 17mm Canon TS-E lens was 1/6th at ƒ11, using the Canon EOS 1D X at ISO 320. Though it has excellent high ISO performance, keeping the setting below ISO 400 ensures maximum dynamic range and colour information. Below, as part of an assignment like this close-ups of detailing are very important. Here the long lens of the Canon TS-E series, the 90mm, was used to show the complex acoustic woodwork.

the architecture of Sir Michael Hopkins in shaping the city’s landscape, as depicted through Martine’s work. Her passion for photography burns as strongly as it did 25 years ago. Through her training offered as Line & Light, Martine gets to teach enthusiastic photographers a wide range of disciplines such as wildlife or portraiture as well as urban and built environments. These have proved popular and some are offered under the English Heritage umbrella. While she does offer architectural training, this is on a one-to-one basis for overseas students only. Martine puts considerable effort into to planning and arranging the affordable programmes. Her lively presentation style and strong technical knowledge proved popular at Photo Training Overseas 2014 and at The Photography Show. She’s an Ambassador for the Manfrotto tripods and heads she has always used.

ÓSee: http://bit.ly/1gyp3Ve(the Nottingham exhibition mentioned in the text, which has a very long web address – just use this shortened Bitly version)andhttp://www.lineandlight.co.uk

Martine’s toolboxFor location work in the UK, after switching to digital capture in 2005, Martine carries: Canon EOS-1D X body Set of Canon TSE lenses Manfrottto MT057C4-G tripod Manfrotto 405 geared head Digital Pro SV rotator Metz flash units Continuous lighting

For overseas or construction site work, she uses lighter weight equipment: Canon EOS-5D MkIII body Set of TSE lenses Manfrotto 190 Pro Carbon Fibre Manfrotto 410 Junior head Digital Pro SV rotator Canon Speedlights

Martine does not use high levels of post-processing, her technique is based on film methods and relies on lighting and exposure control in-camera. She shoots raw files and uses Adobe Camera Raw from Bridge to organise and process her files. BuiltVision is also an image library and retains the (Flextight) systems needed to scan 5 x 4” and other film formats to high quality.

See:http://www.builtvision.co.uk


SAMYANG 24mm TSThere are only two marque

brands offering tilt-shift lenses with a coverage

angle of 83° and wider, Nikon and Canon. Nikon offers a 24mm PC-E, while Canon has both 24mm and 17mm TS-E lenses. For owners of mirrorless camera systems these lenses don’t adapt easily or cheaply as the ‘E’ in their names refers to electronic transmitted aperture adjustment. In the case of the Nikon design, the tilt and shift are fixed at 90° to each other and can be aligned by a factory modification; Canon’s post-2009 lenses have a rotation step between shift and tilt with 45° click stops. Into this market steps Samyang, the ambitious South Korean optical corporation with a good track record from a range of manual lenses from fisheye to mirror telephoto. The lenses which made Samyang’s reputation are the 14mm ƒ2.8 ultra-wide, 24mm ƒ1.4 super fast wide angle, and 85mm ƒ1.4 portrait. Their 24mm ƒ3.5 TS lens has a very large image circle and a rotation stage between shift (closest to the camera) and tilt (front section) with 30° click stops, as well as a rotating camera mount stage with the same intervals. Because it has a manual aperture, it can be used directly on mirrorless bodies almost regardless of the native fit bought. The TS controls are almost identical in range to Canon’s 24mm, which the lens seems to be modelled on. You can set plus or minus 8.5° of tilt, and plus or minus 12mm shift. If you try to use the maximum for both, quality at the edge of the image circle could be limited. In practice very few subjects need more than a very slight tilt and most architectural situations seem to need around 8 to 10mm of shift, very rarely the maximum even on full frame. Four mirrorless system versions are made – for Canon M, Fujifilm X, Samsung NX and Sony E – but it makes far more sense to buy the Samyang in a DSLR mount where there is a choice of Canon, Nikon or Sony Alpha. It’s a way of future-proofing the purchase if for example you are using Sony A7 and find that Fujifilm introduce a full frame X-mount body which persuades you to change system. No tilt-shift lens is ever going to be small or light, and this one measures around 110mm long (mirrorless mount version have a further 28-39mm of extension tube built in) with an 86mm maximum diameter, taking 82mm filters and weighing in around 630g. In practical use the controls and locks of the Samyang are on the small side, especially for the shift action which is more likely to be used frequently. The idea is that you unscrew a small grey locking screw, then turn the slightly larger adjustment screw to move the shift action. However, this adjustment is not a large finger-and-thumb knob like the tilt action and it seems

to have more force to deal with, perhaps because rise is the usual function and gravity prevents easy rise. So, the tendency in real use is to unlock the movement, and just push the lens in its track without using the precision adjustment screw, then lock it. The tilt action is easier to handle because the tilt knob is far bigger than the shift one, and does not tend to get overhung by the rest of the lens – it’s in clear space beyond all the other controls. The rotation releases are small spring and return flanges made of bright metal, which need a fingernail to hold down before turning the lens to a different click stop. These again are not ergonomic. Overall, all the controls work and the lens can be locked up firmly which is vital. All actions are smooth and without unwanted play or binding. There are markings on both sides of the lens, adjustment or locking, and the assembly centres up perfectly on the camera’s lens mount and therefore is aligned correctly with the sensor frame.

With focus down 0.2m and apertures to ƒ22, the Samyang offers the necessary control to keep most subjects sharp using tilt. You should not feel too

concerned about stopping down and risking diffraction loss. The field is not flat, and at full shift, there’s some loss of sharpness on subjects like buildings at the limits of the image circle unless you push the focus back towards infinity and stop down to bring centre and edge both well into focus.

Certainly, you may want to use ƒ3.5 with focus peaking on live view to get your focus

right but you will not consider shooting wide open unless the lens is centred. The whole frame is sharp when no shift is used, and as you add shift, it becomes necessary to

use smaller apertures. Do not trust ƒ8 as a safe setting, go for ƒ11 or ƒ16 whenever

possible. It’s practical to use this lens hand-held with today’s horizon level displays giving easy

alignment but a tripod is essential to cope with anything except bright sunshine.

There is little point is using this lens for shift alone on APS-C, or on low resolution full frame cameras like the Nikon D3 or D4/f models. Even at 24 megapixels, you may find that cropping an 18mm view matches

the result, and with the 36 megapixel body we used a crop from around a 15-

16mm starting from a composition with spare foreground will match the lower pixel count full-framer with a shifted 24mm. Its ideal companions are the Nikon D800/800E and the Sony A7R, as then you get the full benefit of the lens quality in a very large image file composed to fill the frame.

As for the tilt function, we’ll take a look at this in its own right in a future article along with some

For full-frame Nikon, Canon or the versatile Sony A7 Samyang’s manual focus, manual aperture tilt-shift wide angle breaks price barriers and offers unique independently

rotating tilt and shift stages

Above: the small grey locking screws and second scales of the lens. Below: complex shift and tilt used together. The black knobs adjust the movements.


of the many adaptors now sold to allow tilt, shift or both. Let’s just say that attaching a regular 24mm wide angle to a tilt adaptor does not give you anything like the same result. Most tilt adaptors move the axis of the image and most 24mms have no leeway at all to cope with the vignetting created when the lens is moved off centre relative to the frame. The shift mechanism of the Samyang enables you to bring the image circle back into position with the sensor in its sharpest central zone, after tilting the lens to change the plane of focus. An electronic viewfinder helps greatly, as it’s much easier to see vignetting as it happens. This brings us to focus and exposure. Neither can be relied on unless you use Live View. Even the chipped focus confirmation of the Nikon and Canon lenses does little to help check the sharpness in detail across the frame, and that’s something you need to do when using tilt. Live View or EVF operation, with focus magnification and perhaps with peaking to delineate the best point of focus on edges, transforms the usefulness of all lenses like this. The same goes for exposure, where traditional SLR metering fails once the lens is off centre, but exposure taken directly from the sensor is generally accurate and can be previewed. At around £900 the 24mm TS is not a budget lens, and it needs careful use to extract the best. If you’re into architecture it could be a workhorse to last a lifetime. – David Kilpatrick

ÁSee: www.samyang.co.uk

Top pair, black and white – from a close viewpoint, the 24mm with 10mm vertical shift has a dramatic effect on the apparent scale and shape of the overhanging glazed roof section. Vertical elongation is a quality of wide-angle shift lens drawing. Centre, gravestone – at this angle, 4° of swing brought the face of the memorial and the distance to the left side both into sharp focus. Above, shopping mall – here the shift was rotated to 30° to have a slight vertical effect and substantial horizontal ‘cross front’, while around 1.5° of swing aligned the plane of focus. These examples were all made hand-held using the A7R’s viewfinder horizon level display. Right – minimising the ground or floor, maximising the roof or ceiling. Small images show eye-level view with no shift, then ground level view with no shift. The large view, colour corrected to remove a strong green cast from sunlight reflected off grass outside the cloister, uses the ground level view with 9mm of rise shift and about 3° of swing to the left. The lens is set to ƒ13. A tripod was used and the exposure was 1/15th of a second at ISO 50. Any softening of detail occurs towards the top right only.


BEING A BRANDAMBASSADORFor those of us of a certain age,

David Bailey will be forever synonymous with Olympus,

and specifically the Olympus Trip, even if, now in his 70s, he was last seen doing promotional activity for Samsung and Nokia. Arguably, and for better or for worse, such TV spots cemented him just as much in the public consciousness as the iconic black and white images in his famous Box of Pin Ups. In this digital age with so much media and so many channels fighting for our attention, ‘brand ambassadors’ seem to everywhere: somebody celebrated in their field associating with a well-known brand – with both basking in the warm glow – is so common that we barely raise an eye muscle. But, as the following interviewees demonstrate, whether you’ve been in the business 30 years or three, there are opportunities to be had from an ambassadorial role that might not only get you free bits of kit and a regular fee, but lead to jobs and commissions you might not have got prior to such an association. Who knows, they may even lead you down new creative avenues. With that in mind, can becoming a promotional ambassador for a brand truly work both ways, and do as much for your career as it does for the company in question? We spoke to some of photography’s leading lights in this country, as well as a relative newcomer, to find out.

Yerburys – FujifilmNEWLY-APPOINTED Fujifilm ambassadors Trevor & Faye Yerbury have had a long and distinguished career creating fine art portraiture. As a result, approaches now come to them, and they already have associations with Bowens, Loxley Colour, Nik Software and Kubota Image Tools. “Fuji recently got in touch about doing some seminars with the X-Pro1 and X-T1, which are lovely,” Trevor says. “They lent me a camera with the 56mm portrait lens, which is beautiful.” The whole point is that Fujifilm want to get back into the professional market when it comes to cameras.

Is becoming an ambassador for a photographic industry brand a way to

boost your own career, profile and income – or simply a perk of having a successful

career in the first place? Gavin Stoker speaks to photographers acting as the

public faces of camera manufacturers and service providers to discover how both

sides benefit.

here – that Fuji’s quality is there and others will agree if they can get past the size of the camera not matching up to perhaps what’s expected of a pro. He also tells us that there have been no restrictions imposed as part of the ambassadorial role on using alternative kit. For example, for creative reasons he still shoots medium and large format on Hasselblad and 10 x 8 for certain jobs. “I’m still playing with the old, or rather new, Petzval portrait lens, which my great grandfather used in the studio. Invented back in 1840 it was a great portrait lens and was used by the majority of studio photographers for many, many years. You can still get original ones but they’re around £3,000 to £4,000. Lomography did a kickstarter campaign to replicate a version in brass, done by Zenit in Russia, which raised over a million dollars. I first used one back in January, it’s for Nikon and Canon fit only. You focus via a knob on the side and your apertures fit through a slot in the top of the lens where you drop in metal Waterhouse stops that give you ƒ2.2, ƒ4, ƒ5.6, ƒ8 and so on. It gives you some really nice, different portrait effects and it’s good fun to play with.” In other words by all means ally yourself with a brand but don’t let creativity be compromised in the process? “No, I’d never do that. I haven’t picked up my Nikon since we got the Fuji, but that’s not to say I wouldn’t use it – and I have a Nikon lens mount adaptor for the Fujifilm X cameras.” The relationships with Bowens and Loxley also came about fairly organically. “My father was using Bowens kit way back, so that was just a natural progression. I don’t think we’ve gone up to anybody and said ‘will you sponsor us please?’ It’s just come about because of certain conversations – and I’ve never felt pressure on me as a result.” Trevor and Faye still use Bowens lighting and says the company offers all the products he would ever need for his work and lends appropriate systems for seminars. “If they’re doing The Photography Show or the

”Previously there has been that whole thing about pros feeling inadequate turning up at a wedding with an X-Pro1 because it’s not a huge camera with a huge lens,” confirms Trevor. “But having

said that what they’re really selling to the bride and groom is what they do, not what they use to do it.” The photographer is happy with the new relationship because he believes – like others canvassed

At The Photography Show, NEC, UK, in March – above, Mark Seymour talks to a packed house for Nikon; below, Trevor and Faye Yerbury on the Catwalk Stage with Bowens lighting and Fujifilm X cameras (equally large audience out of shot!).


Convention, we’re more than delighted to demonstrate their kit to the public. It’s more of a gentlemen’s agreement, there’s nothing in writing: they trust you and you trust them and that’s the way that it should be.” Alliance to a brand has resulted in many more people approaching the Yerburys via the likes of social media. “We’re always getting emails about lighting set ups – and with the Fuji particularly of late I’m being asked what we use it for, or what my favourite lens is. So you do spend quite a bit of time answering people’s correspondence – which I hadn’t realized until you mentioned it!” In addition, being ambassadors for several brands seems to attract even more, which is all well and good as long as conflicts are avoided. For example, Trevor explains: “We use Fotospeed’s paper because we print a lot of our own black and white – and they supply Loxley with a large proportion of their large format papers – so that kind of works nicely. We’re not stepping on anybody’s toes. “We’re also about to do a four-city tour sponsored by Loxley Colour. Fuji wanted to come on board, so we obviously had to run this past Loxley – but Fuji supply Loxley with paper too so it all ties in nicely together. There are other lighting companies and labs who have tried very hard to poach us, but I think if you’re happy with the equipment and services you’re being supplied with and they do what you want, there is no reason to change. If it comes to monetary bribes tempting you to jump ship, I don’t think that is particularly honourable.” At the end of the day it comes down to personal and professional integrity, and not wanting it to appear to the wider world that you’re extolling the virtues of one brand one minute and another the next. As to whether a brand ambassador is something you can become after just a few years in business rather than decades, Trevor thinks each case will be different. “Brands want people to represent them who are well known enough to get their message across to the maximum number of people, but there are photographers who have only been in the industry two or three year and are already picking up small sponsorship deals. “They have made a mark so they are noticed. To the industry these days anybody and everybody is a ‘professional’, but the proof of the pudding is always in the eating.…” Ph

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PHOTO TRAINING OVERSEAS

28th Annual Training Course 30th January - 6th February 2015at the 4 Star ‘Be Live’, Playa La Arena Hotel, Puerto Santiago Tenerifeon all inclusive - flights from Glasgow, B/ham, Gatwick & Manchester

For full information visit www.pto-uk.comand join the ‘PTO group’ on facebook

Glyn Dewis - PhotoshopGerry Coe - Portrait & I phone ArtJulie Oswin - Classical Wedding

Brian J. McLernon - Sea & LandscapesDave Wall - Stock Photography

Mark Seymour - Documentary WeddingFrank Doorhof Frank Doorhof - Fashion Portraits

Sandi Friend - Contemporary Children

There will also be two major ‘Super Classes’ on the final day

Plus Evening seminars: Ten Minute Tantalizers:An Evening With A Legend plus the popular DigitalPhoto Critique Competition with the fantastic Gala

Awards Event and other great competitions

Master Class Tutors

PHOTO TRAINING OVERSEAS

28th Annual Training Course 30th January - 6th February 2015at the 4 Star ‘Be Live’, Playa La Arena Hotel, Puerto Santiago Tenerifeon all inclusive - flights from Glasgow, B/ham, Gatwick & Manchester

For full information visit www.pto-uk.comand join the ‘PTO group’ on facebook

Glyn Dewis - PhotoshopGerry Coe - Portrait & I phone ArtJulie Oswin - Classical Wedding

Brian J. McLernon - Sea & LandscapesDave Wall - Stock Photography

Mark Seymour - Documentary WeddingFrank Doorhof Frank Doorhof - Fashion Portraits

Sandi Friend - Contemporary Children

There will also be two major ‘Super Classes’ on the final day

Plus Evening seminars: Ten Minute Tantalizers:An Evening With A Legend plus the popular DigitalPhoto Critique Competition with the fantastic Gala

Awards Event and other great competitions

Master Class Tutors


Dave Jagger – PTOAS Trevor Yerbury notes, you don’t have to have been a long term pro to necessarily find yourself in an ambassador role. A case in point is wedding and portrait photographer Dave Jagger, who has been a pro for just three. David recently struck up a mutually beneficial relationship with Photography Training Overseas (‘PTO’), having retired after 30 years in the Manchester police force, where he dealt with murders and financial investigations. “Whilst I haven’t been going so long, I fell in love with PTO during my first year,” he reveals. “Two days into one of PTO’s training events I said to organizer George Dawber ‘I’ll be back next year, do you want my deposit?’” Dave is further fortunate in having a wife who runs the photography business, leaving him to get on with the art of taking photos – as well as, naturally, driving fellow photographer customers to PTO. “Representing PTO works out very well because we go abroad for two weeks, and treat the second week as a holiday, as quite a lot of the actual delegates do. My wife works really hard, so she spends the first week mostly sleeping, and just joins us for the socialising in the evening.” In terms of what is required of him in his ambassador role, beyond encouraging people to enrol on PTO’s courses in the first place, “I tell people what it’s all about, what they’re likely to experience, what the set up is, how it all fits together,” says Dave. “And I answer any further questions and concerns that they might have and well as ensuring that they feel welcome – both in the run up to the course and whilst they’re actually in resort. There’s a social aspect to it too – PTO is unique in that regard. I call it a ‘work hard, play hard’ course.” Apart from the attractiveness of being able to go to foreign locations and take pictures, David gets a financial incentive of £50 for each photographer he’s befriended who books. “I don’t know whether other ambassadors do this – and I don’t think they do – but I often give the £50 back to the delegate whilst in the resort. I do that because I have such a great time whilst I’m there and I want people to experience it in the same way. Another way I look at it is that it’s £50 off my booking fee. And for each new person the price would reduce by £50.” Social interaction with your peers and the opportunity to make a little bit of money out of it at the

same time may well be a draw for others considering ambassadorial opportunities. “I steer people to PTO by word of mouth and also keep an eye on the photography forums. If anybody at all expresses interest in photo training I get to know them and tell them all about PTO. One of the things about being an ambassador is that you have to book in a particular year to become an ambassador for them. It’s on a yearly renewing basis, so you can’t just opt out of all the courses. You’re also expected to welcome people at the resort.” Dave explains that you’re not on your own however – the PTO management team is at the resort as naturally are the course tutors, of which there can be eight in number. “There are morning and evening sessions and all the delegates are split up into groups dependent on location and ability. And then you go to the different sessions throughout the week. When you go as a new delegate it can be quite daunting, so that’s where you need the ambassadorial input to help the delegates bond. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have a good time and make lifelong friends.” As to whether his alliance with PTO has bled back into his own work and business and led to opportunities that he wouldn’t otherwise have got, David notes that: “you pick up a lot of contacts and may meet different types of wedding photographer – traditional and documentary – that enable you to learn new tips and tricks all the time.” The photographer adds that, moreover, should he fall ill or be already booked on a certain date, it is good to have fellow pros he knows well and can call on to step in and take up the slack. www.xclusivphotos.co.uk

Above: a technique Dave Jagger learned from Glyn Dewis (one of the tutors for PTO 2015). “I have done a few images using this style”, he says, “usually taken on a grey background with the colour added later, plus dodging and burning and Glyn’s technique to add the waxy skin look. The model is my son, always karaoke singing on holiday… so we just did a fun image. Left: PTO wedding demonstration. Right: PTO flashmob!

Left: Dave Jagger’s regular work, as he develops his business, is social and wedding coverage. Attending and helping promote Photo Training Overseas works well as he enjoys networking with contemporaries.


Mark Seymour – Nikon and LoxleyAWARD winning wedding photographer Mark Seymour has had a close relationship with Nikon UK for a number of years – which has even extended to photographing weddings of its staff. “It came about initially because I chaired the London Portrait Group which led to a low level relationship with them,” Mark recalls. “I was a Canon user at the time – Canon had its 1D Mark III and I felt that Nikon didn’t really have anything to compete – but they coaxed me back into the Nikon fold. I then won Wedding Photographer of the Year with the MPA, gained my Associateship in documentary wedding photography and gradually developed the relationship. They’d give me a little discount off new gear and I gained the trust of various people in the Nikon group.” As regards the actual ambassadorship though, Mark says that Nikon “totally approached me. I don’t think many photographers would be able to ring up Canon or Nikon and say ‘would you sponsor me’? They probably keep their cards quite close to their chest.” It sounds a bit like joining the secret service? “Back in February last year I had a call to say Nikon’s Group Support Manager James Banfield would like to meet me off-site for a chat. The gist was that they’d like to work with me more and I was offered the role of

Nikon ambassador for weddings in the UK. They said ‘this is what we expect from you and this is what we will give you back.’ I have a contract that is quite detailed and runs to five or six pages, basically tying me to Nikon for any imaging equipment.” As one would expect, getting to play with the latest and greatest bits of kit is one of the added perks. “Indeed. I have a Nikon D4S on the way. But as photography is my love and my passion it’s almost irrelevant what I’m given – it’s just lovely to be a part of it.” The association has also led to further opportunities above and beyond the ambassador role, or as Mark puts it: “loads of stuff; it’s been quite unbelievable really. We’ve had a lot of exposure in photography magazines, and a lot of articles done on my photography and what gear I use. And at The Photography Show this March I was one of Nikon’s main speakers. Nikon also has an ambassadors page on its website, and from an SEO point of view a link from Nikon to my website is pretty priceless!” Traffic to Mark Seymour’s site has, he says, increased massively from around 10 or 15 hits per day to an average of 80 to 100, though there have been days when it has peaked at 800 hits. “I wouldn’t say it has led directly to more work because my wedding clients book

Rachel Esther Taylor’s wedding was one of Mark’s recent glowing successes – but who could fail with such a stunning bride and reception venue?


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me regardless. Having said that it’s quite nice to wave the flag that I’m a Nikon ambassador; it differentiates me and adds kudos when talking to prospective brides.” The other thing that has spun off from the Nikon association is that Seymour has become involved with Loxley Colour in a similarly promotional way. “They flew me up to Glasgow two months ago. All my album orders now go through Loxley – we’re gradually moving over to them. The other thing that’s come off the back of it is that I’ve become involved with Mark Cleghorn’s Photo Academy. I’ve known Mark for quite a while and did a ‘webinar’ for him after Nikon signed me up. They’ve also asked me to talk on their stand at the Gadget Show. All these little things are ticking away…” It leads us to wonder how much of an impact being an ambassador can have on your ability to still get out there and take pictures. “It doesn’t impact massively because these are all things that don’t take up a huge amount of time, and I value being part of a bigger unit. Once you start it elevates you and you start mixing in a higher echelon, because you’ve got a company pushing you and endorsing you. “Nikon have just written me the most lovely letter of thanks for my contribution on The Photography

Show stand. There are masses of benefits that have come off the back of it. Photo Training Overseas for example have asked me to do a talk for them. These things have all started happening since Nikon made me their ambassador.”

To see more of Mark’s work please visit:www.markseymourphotography.co.uk

Mark’s real wedding images (left) are loved by his clients, who say ‘yes’ to such uses. He’s renowned for his iconic images of Jewish weddings, capturing devotion and exuberance alike.


LAST YEAR Damian McGillicuddy – dubbed ‘Big Dog’ – was announced by Olympus as their official brand ambassador, replacing the long-serving David Bailey, big shoes to fill for sure. “When I was at school, about 15 years old, I used to watch David Bailey’s Olympus adverts on television and tell my mum ‘that’s where I want to end up,” Damian recalls. “About four years ago we were doing something at Focus on Imaging and Mark Thackara at Olympus asked if I would take a shot with a new camera – the XZ-1 – for them. They used the shot for an A3 pull out brochure. It went a bit quiet after that but then I received an E-3 through the post to try, then an E-5, and I was quite smitten. I was a Nikon user at that point but I liked the quality of the files. Even at high ISOs the look was quite filmic. And the camera was quite a lot smaller than my D3. “Then the new OM-D E-M5 came out, and by this time we’d established an informal arrangement Olympus and I, all based on a handshake. The only contract is a verbal one. I have to say when the OM-D came out I genuinely didn’t want to like it. It was small and I’m a ‘superstar professional photographer’… but the more I shot with it, the more it beguiled me and the more it compelled me to want to use it. It happened gradually: there was never a ‘next Monday you will be working for us’ conversation, though we made it official last year, having been working for 12 or 18 months before that. They had to make sure I was the right man for the job, and I had to make sure it was what I wanted to do.” Damian adds that from his point of view he wasn’t prepared to jump into bed with anybody just on a financial arrangement. “I genuinely believe that the E-M1 and the OM-D system as a whole is a revolutionary concept. I had a very long association with Fuji, their films and papers, and was a little bit disappointed I couldn’t say to them ‘right, I’ll use this camera’ because for me the OM-D is a better product for the way I work. I’m not knocking them, but for me the Fuji X series was more rangefinder than SLR and the focus wasn’t fast enough for me. So I made a deliberate choice to go with a company I thought had good product. Because the truth of the matter is that I can’t do a

Damian McGillicuddy – Olympus

demonstration and stand on stage and tell people something’s good if it’s not.” The photographer reveals that furthermore he has not been told to shoot only on Olympus and ignore any alternatives. “I could shoot on my Nikon if I wanted to but the truth of the matter is I don’t want to. We’ve got Phase One backs at work that haven’t been touched for two years. To be totally honest the capability of most cameras on the market now far exceeds the ability of most photographers. So I’m not making any compromises in quality as far as I’m concerned. It works really well for the way I work and I get massive logistical benefits from the OM-D because of the small form factor and get massive usability benefits because of the viewfinder. It’s a no brainer.” Damien says that 2015 is already planned out in terms of his Olympus activities, so that much is formalized. “And we certainly don’t do it for nothing,” he adds, speaking to me from a motorway having spent two days down in London at Olympus’ East London Image Space. “Really the whole of my existence now is based around what we are doing for Olympus. First job of the year we went to Las Vegas, though I only spent two hours in CES, looking at the TVs! I do the equipment testing. We spent four days with various journalists showing off the 25mm ƒ1.8 lens, which at that point hadn’t been released, and generating advertising pictures. As much as Olympus use everything we do, I retain the copyright.” The photographer will also answer questions from Olympus users online. “Our web presence is quite massive – we get tens of thousands of unique visitors a month, with an even higher level of Facebook impressions, which to me is quite a lot. My role is to show what the mighty Four Thirds system is capable of. I do use it in my own commercial and private commission work. “ As to how all this impacts on his creativity, Damian recalls that there was a period in his career 10 years ago of doing 40-50 portrait sessions a week plus two or three weddings. “And that got too much for me, so we re-branded so we were back down to doing three or four sessions a week for higher paying clients. That organically got to the point of doing four or six sessions a month for really high-end clients. This year for Olympus I’ve done the SWPP show, then we went to Fuerteventura, then to London, Birmingham and back to London and then Sweden… but I’m not complaining. When


I was at art school I was like a naïve teenager thinking that one day when they say ‘David Bailey, who’s he?’ they’ll actually mean it, because I will have replaced him. Back then it was pure fantasy. Ten years ago it was still pure fantasy. But obviously it’s been in my

subconscious for the past 30 years and I’ve been working towards it. I’m a big believer in fate and that we make our own chances, so I genuinely think Olympus have got the right man for the job!”

Áwww.damianmcgillicuddy.com


LIGHTREADINGA LITTLE

Back in March of 2009 I was running a professional development training course in Dublin’s fair city and after a fruitful day, decided

to go for a pre-dinner walk along the banks of the Liffey. On this particular evening I was being treated to a tour of the town with its lights and sights. Strolling casually along the banks of the Liffey I caught saw a musician busking in a dark alley under some beautiful and interesting directional lighting. I was eager to capture the scene without him being aware of my presence. I was so happy I’d taken my camera with me! My Nikon D700 was armed with a 24-70mm ƒ2.8 lens, a most amazing piece of glass – unusual for me as I’m a huge fan of ‘Prime Lenses’. I had been eager to really push the ISO capabilities of the camera. The guy was still unaware of my presence and continued performing with passion. He stopped for a moment to draw on the hand rolled cigarette and I just had to capture that moment of savouring the pleasure he was clearly experiencing. Camera down, eyes wide open, ISO pushed to 1600, aperture to ƒ2.8, scene reviewed and I lifted the Nikon to my face setting the focal length to 55mm and ‘click’, captured my shot. In fact I only took three frames before he noticed I was there and the moment was over. I knew that the initial capture was only the beginning of the road for this image. I couldn’t wait to download the JPEG (yes, I did say JPEG!) and start playing with my vision using my Nik software suite, now free to try as an older version to all following Google’s takeover of Nik. First I wanted to check the noise levels, even though I am well aware of the amazing low or even no noise capabilities of Nikon cameras. With an ISO of 1600 selected I just wanted to be sure particularly in such a low light situation. And so I gave it a courtesy ‘swipe’ through Nik Dfine 2.0 ‘to be sure, to be sure!’. I also did a little ‘mess clearing’ removing the obvious unwanted bits and pieces that just had to go. De-cluttering is so important and as I often feel I suffer from OCD in my photography, it was doubly important to me. Of course the way we view an image can change throughout the manipulation process and I was totally sure I would be doing more tidying later. Next step was to apply a tricky effect known as ‘Tonal Contrast’ from the Nik Color Efex 3.0 palette (this has now been superseded with Color Efex 4.0 in the Nik suite now from Google). Go to www.niksoftware.com for an amazing deal on this invaluable collection of seven products! In the latest version of Color Efex you will find a different tool called ‘Detail Extractor’ which I’d certainly use in preference to ‘Tonal Contrast’. This

effect or similar has been used by some fairly well known shooters in the production of more surreal than figurative images. I know we see a huge amount of HDR ‘feel’ images, but there is a time and a place where it simply works and this to me i was one of them. My main objective was to pull out detail and texture in the brickwork and this filter is a marvel at that! The key thing is to play with the sliders and apply the effect in a painterly way. I was particularly careful to avoid the subject’s skin. So, texture abundant… and on to the next step. Using the ever popular and probably most misused ‘Midnight’ filter I decided to apply a kind of vignetted feel to accentuate the ‘hot’ area and draw

the viewers attention to the key subjects. I so love this tool but if it is not applied in the right way there will be banding at worst and halation around your subject at best. So, beware and use with caution! A little more retouching now removing any remaining annoying highlights towards the edges of the image that would further constitute distractions if this were ever to become a ‘competition’ print. It is at this stage I have become at my most critical, and to be honest and before any of you say it, Yes! I am bothered about the brightness of that street light! But it should not the ‘be all and end all’ of an image. I get a little weary of the constant spouting of so called photographic rules. After all, who says they are rules? Aren’t the only real ‘rules’ the laws of physics that govern the use and mechanics of light? The last thing is all about the colour. I am no fan of green tones and lean more towards ‘hot’ images. First task was to beef up certain areas with the magic of Nik Viveza (I so wanted to heat up that guitar) which having sorted that and the tip of his glowing cigarette

I finished up by a preferred colour adjustment simply through Photoshop. And there we have it, my “Liffey Serenade”. Just to end this story, I thanked the guy profusely and offered him some money which he politely declined as he was simply busking for fun! I so love Dublin and the Irish! The software I selected for this image way back in 2009 was Adobe Photoshop, with the ‘Nik Professional Suite’ comprising Dfine for noise reduction, Viveza for targeted colour adjustment, Color Efex for an amazing pack of controllable filters and Sharpener Pro for the best selective sharpening tool on the market. http://www.martingrahamedunn.com Á

with Martin Grahame-Dunn


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SMOOTH OPERATORSIt’s almost 40 years ago that

Canon and Minolta previewed the first polycarbonate (and

other plastic) camera parts with the claim that lenses mounted in these new light-weight barrels could and would be better centred than traditional brass and steel designs. At the same time Yashica-Contax introduced a stainless steel bayonet mount which operated as smoothly as a plated brass one, and Minolta created a type of stainless steel with crystals of lubricant mineral in its structure. Just exactly what happened after these advanced of the 1970s we can only guess, but was a bumpy ride through the era of autofocus SLRs and into the creation of the first digital generations. You’ve got to remember that in 1997 Minolta Canon and Nikon, as members of the APS Consortium, told the world that regular SLR lenses were just not accurate enough for the new smaller format – and that their mainly plastic, entirely new dedicated lenses for Vectis, Nexia and IXUS were superior. Then digital arrived and the dominant SLR format was similar, APS-C. Instead of building the future round those abandoned APS film systems and their ‘better’ lenses every maker reverted to conversions of traditional SLRs and most ‘digital’ lenses were nothing more than 20-year-old designs with new coatings, information chips and perhaps a focus motor. The design and quality of those film-era AF lenses, however updated, proved disappointing. From endemic front or back focus to strong distortions and chromatic aberration, the whole DSLR system basis struggled even when cameras were only 6 megapixels. Fixes like in-camera AF calibration and in lens correction arrived to save the day. Digital just kept getting higher in resolution. Certain lenses acquired new good reputations, others lost once-good reputations, and photographers became ever more aware of subtle aspects of lens design, ‘bokeh’, aperture-related focus shift and so on. In this informed and critical environment every manufacturer was going to have to improve the look, feel and performance of enthusiast and professional equipment. The leaders in this should have been Nikon and Canon. They’ve

not been idle, but their improved products have often been revisions of familiar ones. Lenses have gone through two or three generations and the latest variants are as good as their considerably increased costs suggest. The real pacemakers instead have turned out to be relative outsiders – Sony, Fujifilm, Samsung, Samyang, Panasonic, Olympus, Tamron, and Sigma – along with a revived and innovative Carl Zeiss. Photographers who have never thought of deviating from their Canon 85mm ƒ1.2 L USM II now find the Fujinon XF 56mm ƒ1.2 exerts a magical pull, along with the entire system that goes with it.

Silent shootingWe’re used to the sound of massed SLRs at news events – quieter now there’s no film motordrive, but faster frame to frame so just as offensive. Within two or three years, most of this will go quiet. There are already silent shutter modes or quiet modes, though only Panasonic claims a true silent mode in advertising. The leaf shutter of Sony’s RX cameras series – from the basic RX100 through the superzoom RX10 to the high end RX1/R – is effectively silent and of all the cameras I’ve used recently, the RX10 points most firmly to the future. Samsung’s new NX Mini system is based on a similar sensor and has silent shooting to 1/16,000th shutter speed so I may revise that view. The RX10 is not only silent, it’s the most amazing smooth camera in every sense. The entire body feels rock solid (it’s magnesium) and the lens though a motorised zoom has a similar feel. It’s an illusion, as the central extending tube has the usual slight play you expect from any 24-200mm range superzoom. It just doesn’t happen unless you push it around. The RX10 is based on a one-inch 20 megapixel sensor, 8.8 x 13.2mm (a 2.7X factor reduction from full frame). This sensor delivers finely toned, noise free raw images from ISO 80 to 200 and can be used confidently at 400 to 1600, noise needing strong control or treatment only kicking in at 2000 and above. Because the Carl Zeiss zoom lens is ƒ2.8 constant maximum aperture all the way from 24mm to 200mm equivalent, and also has excellent full bore

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 has the ability to do almost everything anyone needs – superb video with audio gain control and live headphone monitoring, a 35mm 2:3 image format and 24-200mm equivalent lens with constant ƒ2.8. Even so it feels like a risk to rely on it without a backup camera.Above, ISO 800 still shot of Rory McLeod, 1/200th at ƒ3.5, full tele reach, completely silent shooting. Video was also taken with great results. Below, acrylic paints for sale, quickly arranged to align the labels and photographed in a shop, 1/25th and ƒ4 at ISO 80, auto WB. The silent operation avoided any odd reactions from shop staff, and the lens bokeh at 49mm (=132mm) proved just right.


SMOOTH OPERATORS Optics, engineering, and electronics come together to give today’s gear fluid qualities of handling and imaging.

Sony, Zeiss, Sigma, and even Lomography/Zenit are in on the act.

performance combined with pinpoint contrast-detection AF the ISO rating rarely needs to be taken high. The depth of field of the lens is between two and three stops more than equivalent full frame; ƒ2.8 has the same effect as ƒ6.3. The RX10 has very crisp mechanical dials but an odd motorized zoom with a touch-responsive barrel – if you turn it very gently, the zoom is slower than if you twist it quickly. It is matched by a lever round the shutter release which operates faster when you need access to the other end of the zoom range in a hurry, but it’s never instant. It has a mechanically clickstopped aperture ring on one-third steps, with slightly soft detentes. This can be disengaged using a small switch on the underside of the lens, to become a video-friendly continuous aperture adjustment. The whole package is the same overall size as one of Minolta’s smallest good quality SLRs, the Dynax 5, though the fat zoom lens barrel makes it look larger.

The image quality from the RX10 is also super-smooth. The Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* lens is in a class of its own, especially if used around ƒ3.5 to ƒ5.6 for an optimum balance of resolution and depth of field. At ƒ2.8 it has fine circular-aperture bokeh as you would expect, and no trace of chromatic effects in the defocused zones. Before you ask why Zeiss don’t make such a lens for APS-C or full-frame, consider whether you want a lens the size of a bucket. Scaled up to full frame, this lens would take 170mm filters and extend about the same length as your forearm. It would also use up your baggage allowance and cost about £10,000. The fact that you get this scaled-down superlens in a £1,000 camera is easily overlooked. That much for a camera which doesn’t even have interchangeable lenses? That much for the smoothest, quietest, finest quality imaging you can get in a ‘bridge camera’. Alamy has put this on is approved camera list. It’s just something like no other current camera.

Petzval makes portraits againFor over 100 years the Petzval portrait lens in its many manufactured forms made portraits, and in the 20th century derivations of the fast triplet design became projector lenses for the new movie industry. In 2013, Lomography launched a Kickstarter project to raise investment – pledges to purchase – and commission the Russian Zenit factory to re-create the Petzval. Richard Kilpatrick was one of the first to sign up and secured in turn one of the first lenses delivered, for a price between a third and half the real value. Many Kickstarter orders made later on had to pay a higher price, as that’s how it works, but it proved a huge success and raised over $1m. The lens is engineered from brass, with multicoated optics to a slightly modified Petzval design (85mm, which is a short focal length, and ƒ2.2 which is faster than the typicalƒ3 to ƒ4 of Victorian originals around135mm focal length). It focusesby rack and pinion andthe aperture ischanged usingWaterhouse stopsdropped in via

aslot inin the lenstop. Richard is photographedhere, using the lens at ƒ5.6.


Changing lensesThe greatest transformation of quality and brand image in the last few years must be Sigma’s introduction of individual lens MTF testing using their new Foveon-based higher resolution quality control system. They have combined this with new methods of barrel construction including rear units which can be factory-service changed from one mount to another, and fully reprogrammable AF and function adjustment accessed through a low-cost USB adaptor and PC or Mac software. To top it out, they installed new coating lines which can match the standard of Zeiss T* and beyond, including nanocoatings which throw off oil, moisture and dirt while being far harder than earlier multicoating layers. We suspect the coating lines were upgraded because Sigma make lenses and lens components for big name camera brands and had to be able to replicate the coatings by these customers. While they’ve taken a $14m hit from a Nikon court action claiming infringement of some Nikon VR technology in the Sigma OS stabilisation, it’s not the $120m that Nikon originally went for and Sigma has continued to develop OS independently until, like their HSM ultrasonic motor focusing, individual Sigma lenses match or exceed the performance of camera brand lenses. For many years, Sigma sold because you just couldn’t buy a camera marque 12-24mm or 300-800mm or 20mm ƒ1.8 (and son on). They made lenses which went beyond the conservative catalogues of the big names. Now, they are rolling out lenses like the 24-105mm ƒ4 OS HSM which exactly match the nominal specs of marque designs (clearly, the Canon 24-105mm L IS USM II is the target here). When tested, Sigma’s new equivalent turns out to knock the ‘real thing’ into a cocked hat and hardly anyone disagrees. It can also be

converted from Nikon to Canon or vice-verse is you change systems, and calibrated for AF accuracy at many focal lengths, focus distances and aperture settings. It’s a future-proof super-performance replacement and the more professionals take the brave step of trusting it, the more the word gets round. This trend started with the first Sigma 50mm ƒ1.4, was confirmed with the quite amazing 35mm ƒ1.4, reinforced by the ridiculously good performance of the little DN lens set for MicroFourThirds and NEX, and has been crowned gloriously by the 24-105mm and also the unprecedented 18-35mm ƒ1.8 constant aperture APS-C. We looked at the DN lenses first on Olympus OM-D E-M5 and ended up buying the 60mm ƒ2.8 (120mm equivalent) because it was sharper than any of the kit of Olympus lenses, including the 45mm ƒ1.8 which has a great portrait quality wide open but needs to be at ƒ4 for biting crispness. The Sigma 60mm has that quality wide open. Recently, we’ve had the 19mm, 30mm and 60mm all in Sony E-mount. There was an agenda, looking to see whether any of these would actually do well covering full frame on the A7/R. They don’t, and all have well defined image circles larger than APS-C but never full frame. They do however show no loss of sharpness and illumination in the usual gradual way, instead producing a sharp field until sudden death well beyond the image corners. All three are impeccably sharp but the 60mm is still a favourite. It works especially well on extension tubes for macro, retaining its sharpness well. Then, along with the Nikon D5300 reviewed in the last ƒ2 issue, we had the Sigma 18-35mm to try out. What can you say? Things have changed. This non-stabilised lens is built to standards you’d expect from Leica or Zeiss. It can be used

The Sigma DN lenses for E-mount (also made for MicroFourThirds) are 19mm, 30mm and 60mm ƒ2.8 designs sharing the same lens hood, filter size and cap. All three have high resolution and contrast corner to corner.

The 60mm ƒ2.8 Sigma DN for E-mount was used on the Sony NEX-6 for this macro shot with two Meikle dedicated extension tubes, and the camera’s pop-up flash, with an aperture of ƒ10 at ISO 200. Even at this small aperture, the defocused image has a smooth bokeh front and back.

Maximum normal close-up focus, left, and excellent contrast and geometry, right, using the 60mm for MFT on the Olympus OM-D E-M5.

wide open at any focal length with absolute unconditional confidence. You might think ƒ1.8 is a bit limiting in depth of field even at 18mm, but in fact this lens has about the same range and practical depth of field as a 27-52mm ƒ2.8 lens on full frame. Would you buy a 27-52mm? Maybe not if it was scaled up from the solid, almost massive form of the 18-35mm. My full aperture snaps of the Citroen C3 Picasso use ƒ1.8 to blur out intruding foreground

completely (and very attractively) while the car is pixel-sharp and the distant scene just softened a touch. It makes a perfect A2 print and would clearly go to 20 x 30” or bigger from the 24 megapixel file. If you have been a critic of Sigma lenses going back ten, twenty, thirty or even more years it’s time to think again. They have always challenged the marque ranges in terms of ambitious specifications at both ends of the focal length scale. Now Sigma is competing and often winning in


other ways – optical performance, custom functions, mechanical look and feel. If you shoot portraits, commercial or editorial be sure to try the 18-35mm ƒ1.8 as soon as you can.

New starsAfter the first availability of the Fujifilm X-T1 in early March, and the promotional deals on the X-Pro1 and other models with lenses which accompanied this, it seems that almost every professional in the UK acquired a Fuji X system and discovered that the lenses deserve their legendary reputation. We can’t really add anything except to say that so far we have not heard a single complaint. We’ve had a chance to handle and make a few test shots with the Zeiss Touit lenses – 12mm ultrawide (18mm equivalent), 32mm fast standard (=48mm) and 50mm macro (=75mm). These, like Sigma DN and Fujinon-X, seem capable of transforming mediocre small mirrorless camera results into files able to compete with full frame DSLR work. We’ll be following up this trend. – ƒ2

Á

The Sigma 18-35mm ƒ1.8 DC HSM lens fitted to Nikon’s D5300 body, above. A D3300 was used for the shots of the Citroen C3 Picasso taken using the parking layby at Scott’s View, one of the best-known viewpoints in Scotland and a ten-minute drive from our office. The lens was used wide open at ƒ1.8, and at 18mm for the main view; the enlarged detail is at 150dpi, or 40” print size. The close-up, right, is also at 18mm and ƒ1.8. There’s no ‘colour bokeh’ issue at all.


Welcome to a letter from the other side of the world, from the Snowy

Mountains of New South Wales in Australia. I haven’t always lived here – born in Crewe, to Knutsford as a toddler, to London where I grew up, to the RAF where I did my National Service, to Sydney where I worked after emigrating to Australia and a delightfully named place just north of Newcastle (NSW) called Lemon Tree Passage. I have an LRPS for black and white prints and I’m a member of the Australian Society of Authors, a regularly published writer and photographer. You’ll find my name on e-books and the occasional paperback. I also founded and edited a magazine, The Black and White Enthusiast, which later became Silvershotz under its new owner. I have over a thousand images with Alamy. Right, that is enough about me.As you read this, the army of Grey Nomads here in Australia will be either on the move or thinking about heading their campervans on a trek to the red centre and beyond. Autumn is the start of the trip of a lifetime for many retirees. It is a chance for those in the south to get away from winter chill and wander in warmer climes without the fierce heat of the summer. Don’t forget, we are upside down and the cold comes from the Antarctic to our south! The roads of the Northern Territory will, at times, resemble an army on the move as convoys of campervans, motorhomes and more campervans head steadily north. Uluru or Ayers Rock will be surrounded as thousands of cameras and mobile phones will capture pictures, many of which will never be seen again after friends and family have been shown them on the camera’s little screen. If you are planning to ever visit Uluru and hoping to get images to sell, be aware that there are restrictions on making photographs for use in publications, as prints for sale, or for any purpose that is considered as profit making including use on your website. These type of restrictions are fairly common in Australia – heaven alone knows why, when one considers the valuable free publicity provided by photographers. However, if you would like to be able to offer your images for

and ProPhoto magazines replied, “This is an interesting topic. With all the UK photo mags being sold here, we make the point of emphasising ‘Australian made’ content in both Camera and ProPhoto. Additionally some UK photo mags masquerade as being Australian produced, but all the content is sourced from the UK… so, for example, any test images that appear with camera reports are clearly shot in the UK or Europe, so are the example images which accompany ‘how to’ articles. “Consequently, as far as Camera is concerned, we hardly use any overseas content even though we’re a member of TIPA and could, for instance, source all our test reports from TIPA’s bank of articles generated in Europe. As it happens, Camera currently has one UK-based regular contributor and that’s as much as we would ever consider using. “The same is mostly true of ProPhoto in that test reports, business stories and profiles are generated either in-house or by local contributors even though, in the case of the profiles and portfolios, the subject may be an overseas photographer. We cover overseas photo festivals, but always with a local contributor to provide a perspective relevant to the Australian market. “That said, we would consider portfolio submissions from UK photographers and feature articles in the event these cover something that is either particularly unique or ground-breaking. Most submissions these days are via email with images uploaded via Dropbox or Hightail or the like.” Not very encouraging? But quite understandable as our newsagents’ shelves overflow with the UK magazines – at horrendous prices I must say. Peter Eastway is the editor and publisher of Better Photography (not to be confused with the Indian magazine of the same name), a quarterly very well produced magazine that is aimed at the serious photographer. His comments were, “Always interested (in receiving work from the UK), but we have limited scope for accepting articles as we’re a quarterly magazine. We probably don’t accept more than half a dozen articles a year outside our existing contributors.”

sale legally, go to the Department of Environment website at http://tinyurl.com/mae6bmn and download an application form. I am not sure how these restrictions apply to overseas sales and, as a matter of interest I checked images of Uluru on the Alamy site – of 4,139 images only 296 have a Property Release. It would be remiss of me if I did not give a rundown on the photographic press in Australia in this first letter. There are

basically three magazines aimed at the beginner to intermediate photographers and two directed to professionals (not including the magazine of the Australian Institute of Professional Photographers, AIPP). I asked the editors whether they were interested in receiving work from the UK, how they wanted it delivered and what sort of work stood the best chance of being used. Paul Burrows, editor of Camera

UNDERXPOSURETHE VIEW FROM AUSTRALIAfrom David Bigwood

Above: a campervan on its trip of a lifetime. Below: Devil’s Marbles, Northern Territory, Australia. Both photographs ©Margaret Bigwood.


31

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In response to delivery, he wrote, “Email thanks, with a number of small thumbnails and an outline.” And as far as work with best chance of acceptance? “How-to articles with great example photos that are inspiring for readers.” I haven’t heard back from the editor of Australian Photography + Digital so include the details given on their website. “Australian Photography + Digital is Australia’s fastest growing amateur photography media brand, catering to photographers of all levels – from beginners to semi-

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2014_06_F2 quarter page 88x132_1 06/02/2014 19:05 Page 1

professionals.” You can read the rest at their site. I have been unable to contact the editor of Capture and, once again, give details off their website, which you can visit. “Capture is Australia’s leading magazine for pro photographers. It covers all aspects of running a successful photography business, from equipment, studios and techniques, to staffing, marketing, copyright and legal issues. It reaches the whole photographic community, including editorial, advertising, wedding, photojournalism, events, fashion and portrait photographers, plus assistants and aspiring students – the pros of the future.” Overall, the chance of getting work from the UK published in the Australian photographic press is, at best, slim but that should not stop you from trying. I would advise you e-mail an outline to the editor with some low resolution images before writing any article. As far as portfolio submissions are concerned, e-mail a number of thumbnail low resolution images and your bio. I use Hightail (formerly known as YouSendIt) to send my high resolution images. You can e-mail me on: [email protected] and I shall try to answer any questions.

Á

An interview I had published in Better Photography some years ago. Accepted because of the subject’s reputation even though he is an overseas photographer.

Camera: http://www.nextmedia.com.au/camera/camera-magazine.htmlProPhoto: http://www.nextmedia.com.au/prophoto/prophoto-magazine.htmlBetter Photography: http://www.betterphotography.comAustralian Photography + digital: http://www.australianphotography.comCapture: http://www.yaffa.com.au/index.php/b2b-publications/aust-capture


In 2002, Nokia launched the 7650. Whilst it was recognised for blending what would now

be considered featurephone capabilities with a small, VGA resolution camera, at the time few could have considered the impact the simple combination of a mobile telephone and a digital camera would have on society, social interaction and global media. Even fewer could have foreseen the situation where Nokia would no longer be a dominant force in mobile phones. Now, carrying a smartphone – be it from the two major players of Apple and Samsung, or one of the myriad Android-based handsets – has become almost compulsory for functioning in the modern world. Capabilities have raced beyond that early 640 x 480 image, with 8Mp being typical alongside automated HDR, sweeping panoramas, special effects and video. Samsung’s Galaxy range has expanded to tilt the balance, adding smartphone and tablet abilities to a camera with 20Mp and interchangeable lenses. Nokia continue to innovate, though from being the largest camera manufacturer in the world prior to the release of the iPhone, it’s chilling to see their market share and mindshare shrinking alike, to the extent that the smartphone division has been sold to Microsoft. The Lumia and Asha brands will, therefore, no longer carry the Nokia name as they become a vehicle for the often overlooked Windows Mobile platform. As a cliffhanger before the next chapter from the Finnish company’s smartphone+camera division, the Nokia 1020 is pretty impressive. Having made headlines in 2012 with their last home-grown Symbian handset, the PureView 808 and its 41Mp camera module that wowed reviewers and spawned endless debates in forums, they failed to gain the sales to justify the investment. Paired with dated hardware and an increasingly irrelevant operating system the handset was a commercial failure. As such, Nokia have thrown everything at the next 41Mp PureView smartphone. The Lumia 1020 is a stylish, affordable, beautifully made handset that were it to carry a familiar fruity logo and OS, would

popularised the smartphone. For all the effort, it is still an infuriating mess of dead-ends and barely connected concepts. The tile paradigm is familiar to Surface and Windows 8 users, and tries to unite social networking with your overall interface. It does so moderately well, incorporating Facebook albums with your own images, but to no real end in a handset that still offers its greatest strengths for corporate environments; Microsoft Office and Exchange are key to the integration of the Lumia. Some pleasant surprises exist, not least the convenient connection to Microsoft’s SkyDrive cloud storage which backs up your images as you shoot, data connection allowing. The ecosystem of Windows Phone (née mobile) remains tiny by comparison to the mature and extensive range of applications and accessories for iOS and Android. Developers also charge for apps that would otherwise be free, and the handling of background tasks, uploads and the like can be frustrating. For photographers, the dearth of remote triggers and support for WiFi equipped cameras is almost as infuriating as finding the new wave of stock photography apps like FOAP simply aren’t implemented. Even Nokia seem to be accepting this is a weakness and putting forward a low-end Android-based hybrid, the X; with a low end camera and basic tech, this experiment in blending Microsoft’s support and interface with Android’s core is classed as a featurephone. Microsoft wants the prestige and kudos of the high-end, but has a long way to go tempting developers in. Nevertheless, if you use Windows in particular the experience of using the Lumia 1020 is not a bad one. It is extremely responsive and pleasing to look at, and if you have Windows 8 on your desktop and perhaps, an Xbox One in your living room the consistency and connectivity is impressive. It may feel like an island, but it’s a big one. If the app selection were larger, it could be considered equal to Android, maybe even superior for offering greater consistency across devices, though the issue of updates being dependent on the mobile carrier’s approval and deployment remains. It was necessary to de-brand the

be heralded as a welcome new direction in design. The large display is seamlessly integrated into the tough polycarbonate shell, with the camera module on the rear a flat, metal disc protruding enough to keep stray fingers from obscuring the lens and lights. The metal construction here hints not only at the precision needed for the Zeiss optics and large 41Mp BSI sensor, it undoubtedly aids cooling for the processing needed to handle such large files. An optional camera grip, the PD-95G, enhances handling and completes the Lumia 1020 as a camera. Providing a secondary battery, a tripod mount and a two stage shutter button, it dramatically improves the balance of the Lumia as a camera without

interfering with the smartphone operation as well as extending the understandably poor battery life. The grip’s street price varies with colour popularity, starting at £35 and it pushes the power-hungry handset to a reasonable 24hr standby (up to three days if using apps sensibly) even when background tasks are chewing through data, whilst the 1020 itself is available free on surprisingly low-cost contracts from many networks. Having made that choice to step out of the bipartisan world of iOS and Android, the camera is essentially the reward. Windows Phone is greatly improved over the early Pocket PC, stylus driven interface that most users will have encountered before Apple’s iPhone

NOKIA LUMIA 1020THE 41 MEGAPIXEL SMARTPHONE

It’s not an Apple but it’s not a lemon either – the Nokia 1020 with PureView camera, and hybrid design look, plus an innovative touch screen interface.


Vodafone unit reviewed to get access to the OS version allowing raw capture. Shooting at 38Mp and saving as a DNG file, the raw capture reveals the true ability of the sensor and what we may expect as compact cameras pursue ever higher resolutions. The 1.1µm sensels are working hard to gather just enough light to fill a typical 8-bit per channel file - with a base ISO seemingly around 400, 100 ISO leaves little room for adjustment, and higher ISOs rely on perfect exposure whilst still displaying high noise levels. Even with the best combination of sensitivity and exposure the camera tends to leave no room to recover highlights from the raw file. Shooting at 38Mp is not the point. It’s a vanity for Nokia, pandering to their fans’ (and wider consumer market) enthusiasm for the specifications. What the 1020 really captures all that data for is to allow a combination of crop-zoom without dropping to worthless resolutions, and multisampling for an excellent, colourful, sharp and noise-free 5Mp image. With that in mind, the lens is well matched to the 41Mp sensor, and delivers stunning results with the 5Mp output. Zooming this way allows the budget to go on a compact and stunningly high quality simple lens, too, one of the strongest features of the PureView camera module. A few extra gimmicks are thrown in, of course. Cinemagraph captures short movies, allowing areas to be painted out to isolate movement of one subject then sharing the result as an animated GIF file. Refocus, meanwhile, automates the process of focus stacking, taking advantage of close subjects and the relatively clear differentiation of depth of field allowed by the ƒ2.2 lens and larger (for a phone) sensor. Refocus files can be shared, or exported at specific points of focus including an “All in focus” option, A few clever modes for action and best shot, and the obligatory filters fill out the consumer-pleasing spec. Nokia could be said to have returned to form with the 1020. All things being equal, the camera is quite simply one of the best you will find in a smartphone, and slightly slow shot-to-shot times aside, delivers amazing performance given the size of the device and the amount of data it processes. The handset itself feels like a robust, high quality and usable device with a beautiful screen and surprisingly pleasing, solid texture, as if hewn from a single element; personally I preferred it to the feel of the

iPhone in any generation. The grip resulted in a flexible camera that is smaller – and in the right conditions, much better at wide angle equivalents - than the obvious competition from the Galaxy Camera. For Windows users, the integration and user interface are improved over previous incarnations of Windows

Mobile, though as pioneers of such joined-up data it’s hard to imagine otherwise. Yet for the modern smartphone experience, the ecosystem underpinning Windows Mobile hampers the perceived value of the 1020, and that’s the only reason not to go for one; tempting owners out of their library of applications and familiar OS is hard work. If any Windows phone can do it, it’s the Lumia 1020. The most compelling argument though, is that despite similar retail prices the impressive Nokia is free on lower cost contracts than any iPhone model, let alone the 4G capable 5S. – Richard Kilpatrick

ÁSee: www.nokia.co.uk

RenaultSport Clio 200 Turbo outside Kilworth House Hotel – 38Mp leaves room for some dramatic, if not perfect, perspective adjustments. At 100% it’s apparent there is the tiniest amount of fringing on sharp edges, yet for the area covered and the resolution the lens may as well be flawless by any other benchmark. Detail: 200% scale (150dpi) from original file.

Left: the enormous depth of field of the ƒ2.2 Zeiss lens, and its wide angle, combine to make a strong shot with excellent colour and neutral black. Smaller apertures are never used, a neutral density filter controls light.

It is about 12 years since Nokia entered the camera business with the 7650 (above). The small, low quality VGA camera produced a 640 x 480 pixel image and started a revolution leading to Instagram and Facebook.

Raw image files on a smartphone!


ƒ2 galleryyourVision

Above: Dave Millard of Sedgley, West Midlands, provided this reminder of what might be in store for 2014 if the summer produces a drought to match the winter’s floods – “In 1992 when we had hosepipe bans because of the drought, the grasses in the foreground of Llyn Dinas in Wales are normally under water and just visible. They are normally green but because of the lack of rain the lake had gone down, exposing them to the surface and making them go brown. They were a way out so I had to wade with my camera and tripod, and the water was at the top of my waders. I have been there many times since but the water as never since been so low as to expose the grasses; I guess I was just lucky as I have never seen another photo like it.” Canon T90, 24mm lens, deep red filter, half a second at ƒ22, Ilford FP4.Below: Castlerigg Stone Circle in Cumbria

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Every image selected for use receives a voucher for £30 in services (inclusive of VAT) from One Vision.Submit images as JPEGS to: [email protected]


“I purchased the April issue of ƒ2 Freelance Photographer and thought I would submit my photo for the chance of featuring in your next issue. I am a teenage freelance photographer (17), and took this photo while on an

expedition in the mountains of Park City, Utah. I used a Canon 7D, with a 10-22mm Canon Lens, at a focal length of 10mm, ƒ3.5, ISO 1250, and a shutter speed of 8 secoNDS. I call the photo “Long Trail Out of Eden”.

– Steven Craig Smith


Above: “small boy holding his pet kitten, Waikkal Village, Sri Lanka, sitting outside his home”, by Findlay Rankin. Below left: “from my business trip to Shanghai” – Fuii X100s street shot by Nick Higham. Below right: “taken in Calcutta on a Colin Summers/Colin Westgate trip”, by Peter Karry.

ƒ2 galleryyourVision


PUTTING ON THE STILE: MANFROTTO’S BAGS WITH HIDDEN INNER PROTECTION

For the last year and a bit I’ve been using the Manfrotto Stile Unica VII bag, with Gitzo

Traveller 6X tripod and Sony Alpha 99, for travel. It was inexpensive, holds a vast amount, and has a full length base compartment which fits the tripod plus all kinds of accessories like MacBook Pro and camera battery chargers, rocket blower, wipes and so on. However, it’s strictly a shoulder bag and I have stopped cabin-bagging the Gitzo after Italian customs tried to confiscate it (telling them is was Italian-made by Manfrotto worked a small miracle and got it past three Italian security staff at Bari Airport). So when more affordable Stile+ bags came out last year we picked up two to try out, a backpack Stile+ Bravo 50 and a what can only be called a handbag-type Stile+ Diva 15 tote. The latter is designed with a semi-rigid insert to hold a mirrorless camera, laptop space and a zip top with the idea of looking unlike a camera bag. It does not have a shoulder strap and in the end, it didn’t get any use as there were no circumstances where a bag with only hand straps worked. The Bravo 50 backpack was a different matter. The central semi-hard shock-box turned out to be able to fit an Alpha 77 with 16-80mm – about Canon 7D or Nikon D7100 size – and gave it total travel protection, while also acting as a belt-clip holster when needed. Though the backpack looks slim, it proved easy to fit two of Sigma’s well padded zip cases either side of this central box, holding 8-16mm and 70-300mm lenses. There was room on top of these three (incredibly) for a complete waistpack holding a mirrorless body with four lenses, and the top flap was generous enough to allow a Barbour coat to be rolled up and secured. The MacBook Pro 13” was an easy fit and there was room for accessories. It was also cabin baggage size and comfortable backpack when worn. It would easily take a 70-200mm or 300mm ƒ2.8 – even one each side of the camera/lens box. This bag afforded great protection to a surprisingly large travel kit. Both these lines are now discontinued and I found WEX had them for under £30 and promptly ordered a Bravo 50 to keep. The shock box camera container is worth that on its own! – DK

Á

Top: unattended baggage – the Stile+ Bravo 50 fully loaded with two cameras, six lenses, a complete extra bag inside it and a coat, awaits departures. Detail shots, left and above. Below: the Diva 15 tote handbag with removable camera pouch didn’t prove good for us, but might suit others.


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ƒ2 FREELANCEPHOTOGRAPHER

How can you be sure of obtaining your personal copy of ƒ2 Freelance Photographer? Libraries may have copies

(especially in colleges – if they don’t, put in a request as most can decide which titles to take and ƒ2 now has a lower cost per annum). Newsagents probably won’t have any copies after the first day or two on sale. Figures show us that ƒ2 either sells out, or doesn’t sell at all, presumably depending on the demographic of the branch. Some places are full of creative people with a fiver to spare, others are not! You can overcome this problem by placing an order with any newsagent; it doesn’t matter what date the magazine next comes out, they will keep it for you. For libraries or newsagents, just specify the title and the ISSN which is 1754-0615. Issues dates are May/June, July/August, September/October, November/December, January/February, March/April. This May/June issue went on sale on April 12th. This is the normal timing for UK magazines, about three weeks before the first month of a cover date. An even better way to get ƒ2 is to subscribe. You should receive your magazine on or before the retail sale date. Subscription costs exactly the same as a counter purchase and we cover the costs of postage. You can also find special offers to reduce the cost if you order more than one title from our website: www.iconpublications.com

Cameracraft is our way of creating an affordable international publication without just giving in to progress and

making it into an app. All our printed magazines are lodged with the libraries of record in England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and the USA. Even a single copy surviving a few hundred years will be of more value to the future than any volume of PDFs, apps or web pages. We know that books and magazines survive intact, and readable, for centuries. Part of the ethos of Cameracraft comes from the idea that even if only a thousand copies are printed, it’s free of all advertising and paid for by the subscription alone. Though articles are included which deal with equipment and cover the important news from each quarter, it’s almost from a retrospective viewpoint. Cameracraft was partly inspired by the San Francisco based Camera Craft, started at the beginning of the 20th century for a new generation of photo enthusiasts which blurred the boundary between the amateur and professional. Looking back at copies, we found the contents of even a single volume gave a snapshot of the technology and art of the time. Gary Friedman is our US Associate Editor on the West Coast, and our readership is evenly split between the UK and the world in general. A three-year, 12-issue bookcase binder completes Cameracraft as a publication to keep and continue to refer to for years to come.

Master Photography is our magazine produced for members of The Master Photographers Association, the only

UK group for photographers recognised as a ‘Trade Association’. MPA did, in fact, start as a Trade Union over sixty years ago with its emphasis on securing better terms for media, forces, corporate and government photographic staff. Today, it mainly represents owners of High Street or home-based studio studios serving the public and local businesses. In the last few years, wedding photography has changed with a high proportion of weddings held at special venues or destinations, removing the local aspect and giving wedding photography a much higher value. It is now a vital part of celebrations which may cost tens of thousands and take place hundreds of miles from the couple’s home ground. The same process is also changing portrait photography, as high value commissions involve full day shoots at special locations. MPA is expanding rapidly in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and mainland China but the magazine remains focused on the UK market. The content is of general interest to anyone intending to become a full-time photographer, or to qualify as a licensed Master Photographer and progress to the two higher levels of distinction, Associateship and Fellowship. It is included with MPA UK membership, but anyone can subscribe directly to the magazine.


Jill Furmanovsky and Mark Thackara bring you Olympus in association with rockarchive.coma whole new gallery/showroom experience in the City.

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Try out the latest award winning Olympus cameras and join regular workshops and talks by top photographers.

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f2 Freelance Photographer 2014-05-06

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