Master Photography Dec/Jan 2013/14

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ma ster p hotography DECEMBER 2013/JANUARY 2014 • £5.00 • ISSN 2042-0234 MPA’S NEW PRESIDENT – JOHN PARRIS FMPA • SONY’S MIRRORLESS EVOLUTION BARRETT BECOMES A BOUDOIR SUPERSTAR • A WISH FOR ELLIE ERIC JENKINS Hon.FMPA – ARCHIVING THE ATOM • SAMSUNG GALAXY NX SMART CAMERA NEWS • REGIONS • QUALIFICATIONS • TRADE • EVENTS • COVER PHOTOGRAPH BY DERMOT MURPHY LMPA

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Meet John Parris - Boudoir Superstar Andrea - Sony's Mirrorles Revolution - Eric the Atomic Photographer - Samsung Galaxy NX - news from the pro sector

Transcript of Master Photography Dec/Jan 2013/14

Page 1: Master Photography Dec/Jan 2013/14

master photographyDECEMBER 2013/JANUARY 2014 • £5.00 • ISSN 2042-0234

MPA’S NEW PRESIDENT – JOHN PARRIS FMPA • SONY’S MIRRORLESS EVOLUTIONBARRETT BECOMES A BOUDOIR SUPERSTAR • A WISH FOR ELLIE

ERIC JENKINS Hon.FMPA – ARCHIVING THE ATOM • SAMSUNG GALAXY NX SMART CAMERANEWS • REGIONS • QUALIFICATIONS • TRADE • EVENTS • COVER PHOTOGRAPH BY DERMOT MURPHY LMPA

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Vol 10 No 8 • Dec 2013/Jan 2014

4 Editor’s Report – Teamwork at the Top

6 NewsThe Nikon Df, and other news from the trade.

12 Stepping UpPresident of MPA for the coming year, John Parris FMPA continues to develop his vision and his business.

18 Eric Jenkins HonFMPATechnical, scientific, industrial and commercial photographer Eric now has an archive named after him. Nuclear research and photographic qualifications both owe him a great deal.

24 Wishing on a SuperstarAndrea Barrett has re-invented her career, moving from weddings to boudoir with a lively team and great marketing.

28 A Wish for EllieSheryl Long gave her time to help a charity make a little girl’s dream come true – and now her picture is helping funds for others, in a Christmas promotion.

30 Equipment: Sony’s mirrorless A7 and A7RDavid Kilpatrick looks at the new full-frame ‘compact’ and its potential for applied uses.

32 Cherubs’ Corner: Photographer of the YearHow Hannah Gamble of Artis Studios has made good use of her 2013/14 title and rewarded her clients as well.

34 Technology Review: Samsung Galaxy NX cameraIs it a phone? No. Is it smart? Yes. So maybe it’s a new thing – a smartcam. Richard Kilpatrick explains the Galaxy NX, the ILC which can create a 4G wireless hotspot…

38 The Photography ShowOur first look at the March event where MPA will be exhibiting.

40 MPA Regional Reports

42 Business: Budget Report & Utility Warehouse update

BROUGHT TO YOU WITH THE SUPPORT OF MPA TRADE PARTNERS, SPONSORS & ADVERTISERS

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masterphotography

Cover by Dermot Murphy LMPA of Newtownabbey, from the Master Photography Awards 2013/14 exhibition. Dermot is Professional Photographers of Northern Ireland Photographer of the Year 2013, and well known for his family, newborn, baby, graduation and wedding photography from his Belfast studio.See: www.dermotmurphy.com

master photographyDECEMBER 2013/JANUARY 2014 • £5.00 • ISSN 2042-0234

MPA’S NEW PRESIDENT – JOHN PARRIS FMPA • SONY’S MIRRORLESS EVOLUTIONBARRETT BECOMES A BOUDOIR SUPERSTAR • A WISH FOR ELLIE

ERIC JENKINS Hon.FMPA – ARCHIVING THE ATOM • SAMSUNG GALAXY NX SMART CAMERANEWS • REGIONS • QUALIFICATIONS • TRADE • EVENTS • COVER PHOTOGRAPH BY DERMOT MURPHY LMPA

MPJan2014.indd 1 08/12/2013 22:59

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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 re-view or test rests with the owner. Views expressed in this magazine are those of the individual contribu-tors and do not necessarily represent the views and policies of The Master Photographers Association, 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, nei-ther Icon Publications Ltd or the Master Photographers Association can accept any legal responsibility for unjustified claims or the quality of goods or services arising from advertising in this publication. All contents including advertising artwork created by Icon Publications Ltd are copyright and cannot be reproduced by any means without prior permission. ©2013/14 Icon Publications Ltd. E&OE.

MASTER PHOTOGRAPHY DEC 2013/JAN 2014ISSN 2042-0234 Vol 10 No 8 published for the membership of

The Master Photographers Associationten times each year

Icon Publications LimitedMaxwell Place, Maxwell Lane, Kelso, Scottish Borders TD5 7BB

www.iconpublications.com

Editor: Richard KilpatrickRTK Media, The Grange, North Kilworth, Leicestershire LE17 6NE

Mobile: 07979 691965email: [email protected]

Publisher: David Kilpatrick Hon. FMPA FBIPPTel: 01573 226032 Mobile: 07971 250786

email: [email protected]

President

John Parris FMPATel: 01450 370523 e-mail: [email protected]

Chairman

Deborah Selwood AMPATel: 0115 944 7727 e-mail: [email protected]

National Executive Committee

Steve Ramsden LMPATel: 01904 479063 e-mail: [email protected]

Clare Louise FMPATel: 01926 811270 e-mail: [email protected]

Seppi Preston LMPATel: 01786 475007 e-mail: [email protected]

Regional & Co-opted Directors

Dave Thexton LMPATel: 01229 835035 e-mail: [email protected]

Collin Davies LMPATel: 01792 883274 e-mail: [email protected]

Phil Flowers LMPATel: 01458 273144 e-mail: [email protected]

Ray Lowe Hon.FMPATel: 01992 636152 e-mail: [email protected]>

MPA, Jubilee House, 1 Chancery Lane, Darlington DL1 5QPTel: 01325 356555 Fax: 01325 357813

Website: http://www.thempa.com

Head Office Contacts

Membership Amanda Buckle – [email protected] Noel Davies – [email protected]

master introphotographyAs one of the most exciting years in recent history for the Master

Photographers Association draws to a close, we look forward to 2014 with a vital, energetic team keen to build the profile both

of professional photographers, and of the photographic industry. Setting a precedent for breaking old patterns, both the new CEO and Chairman of the Board of directors are women. Clare Louise is well known to members as an inspirational and award-winning photographer and as the interim CEO for much of this year, a position she has done justice to with much personal sacrifice. Deborah Selwood, as Chair, is also 2013/14’s Master Photographer of the Year and has a background and education reflecting a wide range of skills and talents. Normally, we would invite the CEO or Chair to write this column. With so many changes, and the unanimous vote at this year’s AGM to drop the full-time requirement from membership, the close working relationship between Clare Louise and Deborah made it possible for us to interview them together and see the team effort that is behind the MPA’s rebirth. At the former lace-mill that Deborah is restoring to form a creative hub in Ilkeston, there’s an overall atmosphere of rebuilding, development and potential that seems apt. Clare Louise’s new appointment as CEO ensures the pace of development and work we’ve seen over 2013 will continue unabated. Working together, Clare and Deborah see themselves faced with the duty to nurture and support the growth of professional photography, via the Association, in all areas. “In February I had my notice in my handbag, ready to resign from the board and focus on my career as a fine artist”, said Clare. “In that meeting, the directors were presented with the situation facing the Association, and had to make some difficult choices. I put my notice back in the bag, and put the MPA first. I knew if I did not hand my notice in, my responsibilities as a director of the MPA would mean changing the path I’d been planning for the previous 12 months.” The evidence of Clare Louise’s work is evident throughout the MPA. The Awards show marked the beginning of new trade relationships that will culminate in a closer co-operation with industry partners. There is a long-term aim of setting up a trade council providing representation and intelligence for MPA members. “It’s not in me to do something half-heartedly, it never has been. I’m a very passionate person and I throw myself fully into anything, and run, full steam ahead. I knew this was going to take up my life”, Clare said. Perhaps the most obvious change to the MPA came after the Awards, where at the AGM a unanimous vote saw the term “full time” struck from the M&As. The MPA remains very much an organisation for and representing professional photographers, yet it is necessary to evolve to reflect the realities of a career forged in art and vision; the fact that an artist may not work in a single field yet remains fully professional in service, in standards and in responsibility. Newly elected Chairman of the Board of Directors, Deborah Selwood, becomes a complementary force in the MPA’s guidance. Many photographers in the Association will know Deborah, not just as an award-winning Master Photographer but as a hard working committee member and director. Her images may build credibility as a leading light in the photographic world, yet Deborah’s CV provides the equity for a successful chairmanship. The ‘creative mill’ is only the tip of the iceberg, a nod to her parents’ roots in the textiles and lace industry as well as an ambitious and astute renovation project. Ten years with ZF Transmissions with resulting qualifications in negotiation, marketing and management have been supplemented with continued learning and education; sound engineering, music, a law degree and of course, photography. Deborah is also the chair of the local PTA and actively involved in supporting regional business through Totally Locally. It may seem like a cliché, but at this stage we all recognise that the photographic industry, photography and the MPA need nuturing, growth. It is hard to imagine two people better qualified for this, both in life experience and eduction, than Clare Louise and Deborah Selwood. – Richard Kilpatrick

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master newsphotographyNIKON SURPRISED the world in November by releasing a retro-styled hybrid manual-auto digital body, the Nikon Df, based on memories of the FE2 and similar post-Nikkormat, sub-F designs. Equipped with the 16 megapixel ultra low noise full frame sensor from the D4, the Df is a smaller body with a traditional metal skin and a special feature set which allows it to make full use of the earliest Nikon lenses including a record of EXIF data. A folding coupling pin connects to Nikon lenses from as far back as the 1950s, allowing the aperture setting to be registered by the camera. Focusing with these manual Nikkors – almost three decades of classic Nikon glass – is of course manual but aided by a focus confirmation signal and one of the best large optical prism viewfinders now to be found. When shooting with a non-AI lens in A (Aperture Priority) or M (Manual) mode, the Df allows full-aperture metering—equivalent to that of AI lenses. Lens characteristics such as focal length and the widest aperture setting can be easily defined via simple camera settings, enabling the camera to recognise the aperture setting and calculate correct exposure. Although the camera lacks video – a deliberate omission – it nevertheless does have Live View, probably inspired by the popularity of LV on mirrorless cameras which can secure far more accurate focus from almost all lenses, bypassing the calibration needed for sepaerate focus sensors, mirrors, screens and focus plane. Its Multi-CAM 4800 39-point AF system is sensitive down to -1 EV, compatible with lenses up to ƒ8, and features four AF-area modes (including 3D tracking). In keeping with its retro heritage, the Df enables highly accurate manual white balance settings by letting you quickly assign a Spot White Balance to the specific area

of the frame you select during Live View shooting. Also included is a modern Scene Recognition system. The image sensor, focus module 2,016-pixel RGB metering sensor provide precise data to the Scene Recognition System, which optimises exposure, autofocus, and white balance immediately before the shutter is released. The glass pentaprism viewfinder offers approximately 100% frame coverage and 0.7x magnification, as well as a DX Crop Mode with viewfinder markings. An 8 cm (3.2”) 921k-dot LCD screen with wide-viewing-angle and reinforced glass is found on the camera back but it’s not articulated for use as a waist level finder. The LCD is useful when the electronic horizon levelling display is needed, and there’s also a simplified display in the finder to keep the camera straight. Quiet Release Mode reduces sound of the camera’s mirror return mechanism during the burst shooting. There is an auto HDR (High Dynamic Range) Mode using three sequence frame for up to ±3 EV spread, and for normal shooting Nikon’s Active D-Lighting retains the details in both dark and bright areas using adaptive local processing. Most of the familiar picture controls and post-process functions found in Nikon’s consumer and pro models are retained in the menu-driven features of the Df. However, its strong selling point is the top plate (right) which has just a small LCD display and a full set of mechanical-feel setting dials including ISO sensitivity, ±EV compensation, shutter speeds 4 seconds to 1/4000th with B, T ad X, focus mode and dive mode all visible at a glance. A new AF-S Nikkor 58mm ƒ1.4 G lens with extreme performance has been launched at the same time as the new camera.

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The Nikon Df is a classicdesign with round eyepieceand a fixed rear screen,with the mechanical dialcontrols for most keyadjustments and settingsbeing its big selling pointalong with special backcompatibility for NikonF lenses from the 1950sonwards. The cameracosts around £2,750 bodyonly and the new 58mmlens, right, is around £1,600 – asa premium lens also ideal for usewith the high resolution NikonD800E.

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Vitec group Sachtler, Petrol, Litepanels rebatesIF YOU purchase a Sachtler FSB 6, FSB 8, or Ace L tripod system before January 1st 2014, you can obtain a 5% rebate of the purchase price (up to a limit of £150). If you choose a portable energy solution by Anton/Bauer, a bag by Petrol Bags, or lights by Litepanels, you can get up to £250 or 10%. On any one or more of the selected accessories from the Vitec Videocom group, the rebate is 5% or 10% up to £150 or £250. To get the rebate, simply fill out the form and send a copy of the invoice to Sachtler by January 30, 2014. Details and the form to submit the invoice can be found at www.sachtler.com/en/cashback. The following products are eligible for the rebate: Sachtler FSB 6 tripod systems (SKU 0442/0443/0450/0473/0475/0477)Sachtler FSB 8 tripod systems (SKU 0742/0750/0770/0771/0772/0773/0775)Sachtler Ace L tripod system (SKU 1011/1012/1013)Petrol Bags Dr. D-SLD Camera Bag (PD443)Petrol Bags DSLR Backpack (PD335)Petrol Bags Deca Campack Plus (PC303)Petrol Bags Deca Dr. Bag 4 (PC004)Petrol Bags Deca Mini Camporter (PC206)Litepanels Croma (905-4023) Litepanels Luma (905-5001)Litepanels 1x1 LS Flood (903-1111) Litepanels 1x1 LS Spot (903-1112)Litepanels Sola 4 (906-4102) Litepanels Sola ENG (906-1102)Sola ENG Flight Kit (906-1130)Anton/Bauer Dionic GC (incl. plate) (8675-0074)

master newsphotography

FUJIFILM has published a new Photo Imaging trade price list, designed to help customers quickly and easily locate products, together with relevant technical data and prices. Weighing-in with over 50 pages, this new printed brochure is divided into the following sections, Wet Process, Dry Process, Inkjet, Dye Sublimation, Ancillaries, Photobooks and Software. Sections include chemistry, printers, accessories and a wide range of print media. Peter Wigington, Marketing

SAMYANG has introduced an APS-C version of their best selling ultra wide 14mm full frame lens.The new Samyang 10mm ƒ2.8 ED AS NCS CS lens gives almost exactly the same field of view but on the smaller 1.5X format Covering 109.5° with rectilinear drawing, it uses 14 elements in 10 groups, with two aspherical AS lenses and one extra-low dispersion glass. It is the first Samyang Optics lens to feature a nano crystal anti-reflection coating system. The lens will be available from the end of January 2014.The suggested retail price for the Nikon version is £469.99 inc VAT. All other fittings carry a suggested retail price of £429.99 inc VAT. These will include Canon EOS and M, Nikon, Pentax, Sony E

Samyang 10mm 1:2.8 ED AS NCS CS

and NEX (E), Fujifilm X, Samsung NX and MicroFourThirds. Only the Nikon mount version offers auto aperture coupling to the body, and the lens is manual focus. See: www.samyang.co.uk

TAMRON has announced a new 150-60mm ƒ5-6.3 stabilised tele zoom with image stabilisation and a close 2.7m minimum focus. With a silent USD and new eBand coating, this 20 elements 13 group design becomes unique in its category for either full frame of APS-C DSLRs. It uses 95mm filters, is 257.8mm long before zooming, weighs just under 2 kilos and is to be available in Canon, Nikon, and Sony (though the last will not have the VC stabilisation function). See: www.tamron.co.uk

Tamron SP 150-600mm

Nikon D5300 – ticks all the boxesALTHOUGH it’s a consumer market camera, Nikon’s new D5300 has more features than any other similar model. It has 24 megapixels, WiFi connection, a built-in GPS module, articulated screen, full video control including audio input, live view with contrast detect focusing anywhere in the imageduring video, anda new type ofbody materialwhich is verylight andstrong. Theideal travelNikon? Report innext edition!

THE LOMOGRAPHY Society has created the ideal Christmas stocking filler for anyone owning a MicroFourThirds camera. “Analogue Vibes For Digital Lovers” is how they describe their experimental lens kit. “Take multiple exposure photos, experiment with crazy colour filters and get magical optical effects. Well, we’ve had one to play with, and it’s certainly fun but the overall quality will not allow much professional potential. You could call these plastic lenses a cracker of a gift… at about £70. The kit Includes a Fisheye lens for 160° shots, a wide-angle 12mm lens and a standard 24mm lens. They do all work, they come with some coloured filters (fitted inside the camera, on the rear) and each has a simple box-camera T and I type shutter, which lets you do multi exposures using Olympus ‘Live Time’ exposure. For info, see: http://microsites.lomography.com/micro-four-thirds-experimental-lens-kit

New trade price list from Fujifilm

Manager for Fujifilm Photo Imaging Group made this comment: "Even in this time of digital lists, PDFs and websites there is still a place for a good, old fashioned printed catalogue. Our new trade price list will be a useful resource for labs and photo retailers who now have all Fujifilm's papers, inks and other consumables in one, easy to use reference book." To order a copy of the price list, email:[email protected] or call 0844 553 2301.

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master newsphotographyFree inkjet calibration checkupA FREE, simple way to check the accuracy of your inkjet printer is being offered by Marrutt Digital to Master Photographers worldwide. Marrutt will post a free certified accurate colour print to you and you can download the same image from www.marrutt.com/print.php to produce your own comparison print, to check for colour, density and neutral tones. For your free colour check print, email [email protected] with the words “colour checker print” in the Subject and give your full postal address. Marrutt will send the print to you anywhere in the world by return. For those whose printers are shown to be inaccurate, Marrutt will provide a Free custom printer profile when you buy any Marrutt Professional Photographic Inkjet Paper from their website www.marrutt.com “In addition, we will carry out a six-monthly colour check free of charge for regular Marrutt customers to ensure their inkjet printer is producing accurate colour over time,” said John Read, Marrutt MD.

Sigma DP cashbacksSIGMA IMAGING UK is offering a special £150 cashback program for all new purchases of Sigma’s innovative digital camera DP product line incorporating Foveon image sensor technology, up to 31st January 2014. Terms & conditions apply and claims must be received by 28th February 2014. Valid purchasing period: from 1st November 2013 until 31st January 2014. The products covered are the DP1 Merrill, DP2 Merrill and DP3 Merrill with 16 megapixel (48 megapixel equivalent) sensors and 19mm, 30mm or 60mm ƒ2.8 lenses.

In search of European Photographic ExcellenceTHE FEP European Professional Photographer of the Year Awards 2013 are now open for entries. “Europe has many great international photographers leading in their fields of Photography.”, says Chairman of the Jury and FEP President Jørgen Brandt, Master QEP, and adds “It is going to be very exciting to see all the images they will enter in the 2013, FEP European Professional Photographer of the Year Awards” The aim of this competition is to showcase excellence throughout Europe. The competition is a non-profit making event and all fees will be used to promote the FEP and its member associations. It is open to all professional photographers who are registered and resident in a European country. There are six categories in the competition: Wedding; Commercial; Portrait; Reportage; Landscape; Illustration/Digital Art/Fine Art. A special section Students & Young Photographers open to the students of recognized schools of photography and to photographers and assistants under 25 years of age. Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards will be given in each category and the overall winner will become FEP European Professional Photographer of the Year 2013. Deadline for entries: January, 6th, 2014 Results will be announced in February 2014. The Awards Ceremony will be held at Photokina, Cologne, Germany, in September 2014. You may enter the competition at:http://competition.europeanphotographers.eu/competition.asp?compo_id=26

Sony World Photography Awards deadlineENTRIES to the Open and Youth competitions of the 2014 Sony World Photography Awards will close on 6 January, followed by the deadline for the Professional competition on 9 January. All entries are free via www.worldphoto.org

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Fuji� lm Corporation has been declared one of the world’s Top 100 Innovators

for the second year running, in the � omson Reuters list for 2013. � e list recognises Fuji� lm’s patent portfolio,

and deployment of intellectual property to drive innovation in the company’s

world-leading product range.It’s show-time for Fuji� lm in 2014

with three major trade shows open to photographers coming up. Time to

show o� the best user-friendly fast, dry printing systems ideal for retail and

studio businesses – plus the acclaimed Finepix X camera series.

DATES FORYOUR DIARY

Also ask to see ASK 4000, 2500 and the Quick Print Station 300 (above) – check the full range of print sizes and output o� ered by Fuji� lm’s specialists in vibrant new dry, chemical-free, photo� nishing. � e ASK-4000 makes prints up to 8 x 12" inches and delivers an 8 x 10" in only 40 seconds. � e ASK-2500 makes prints up to 5 x 7" and produces 6 x 4s in under 7 seconds each, making 600 prints from one loading of economical dye sublimation media. � e star for independent photographers is the QPS shown, based on the ASK-300 at less than £1,500+VAT, which makes prints up to 8 x 6 (300 6 x 4s per hour) and is so small you can transport it to events. � e touch screen terminal system incorporated in this boosts sales as customers choose photo a� er photo themselves to output!

Here’s when and where you can meet Fuji� lm UK from January to

March 2014

The Societies Trade ShowJanuary 17-19th

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Spring Fair – February 2-6thNEC Birmingham

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The Photography ShowMarch 1st-4th

NEC Birminghamwww.photographyshow.com Pre Register for Free Entry for

professionals and trade

Also ask to see ASK 4000 2500 and the

� e new X-E2 kit and acclaimed 14mm ƒ/2.8 superwide, right.

Long lenses are not o� limits for mirrorless sys-tems! � e new Fujinon XC 50-230mm ƒ3.5-6.3 gives you all the stabilised reach you need.

Fuji� lm’s Finepix X series cameras are taking over the mirrorless compact system world, with a full range of bodies from the tiny X-A1 to the now classic professional grade X-Pro1, and a constantly expanding roadmap of unbeatable Fujinon lenses. Alongside these the X20 and X100S with � xed zoom or prime lenses stand out as stand-alone photographic companions. � e latest pocketable X-Q1 puts the X20’s sensor and quality into a family and fashion friendly deluxe design with optional real leather case.

Tel: 01234 572138email: [email protected]

web: www.fuji� lm.co.uk

See the new FRONTIER-S Dry Minilab, above, with new six-colour Vividia® inkjet technology on Fuji� lm Dry Photo Paper in Lustre or Gloss. It has a super-small worktop footprint of only 43 x 46cm (under 18" square). Find out more at all the shows! Maximise Your Business Opportunity – ideal for Kiosk system, Minilab, Event Photography, Retail, Studios. Make print sizes from 5 x 3.5" right up to 8 x 39" panoramic, 360 prints an hour (6 x 4"). It’s scalable to � t volume – buy in con� gurations of one, two, or three (below).

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See the Epson 24" T3000 wide format printer at Spring Fair. Faster print times and more competitively priced than other models this 4-colour printer can also print direct from a digital scanner. Bundled with Fuji� lm’s Easy Studio Print RIP you can create an impressive range of pro� table products from POS to pop up banners and so much more.

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stepping upIn business and in the profession, John Parris FMPA FBIPP has pushed onwards and upwards with a determined blend of hard work and native talent. Now he promises to contribute the same energy as 2014 President of MPA.

Few are more ardent about the need to promote professional-

ism than John Parris FMPA. He’s turned down invitations to speak when he felt the organisation inviting him fell short of the standards of the MPA and BIPP, where he has qualified to the highest level of distinction. At the same time, his own career leads him to conclu-sion that MPA’s decision to remove ‘full-time’ from the terms for membership is the right one. He joined MPA as soon as he had a full-time business but believes the as-sociation needs to recruit and educate new photographers right at the start of their jour-ney. His own journey started when he was still employed by one of the great textile firms of his home town, Ha-wick in the Scottish Borders. He worked for both Pringle of Scotland and Peter Scott but his passion was photography. “I just loved the camera”, he told us. “I had a Carl Zeiss Jenaflex, which was another name in the 1980s for one of the Praktica models. I joined the local camera club and I learned to do darkroom work and succeed in competitions. “I really wanted to be a photographer, and I was so keen that the tutor on the full-time HND photography course at the local college secured my admission as a part-time student when I was still working. “Being a student was great as we competed to produce the best pictures and make the best prints.” The college course was

“I left my job and in 1999 opened my first studio business with Sandra”, he explained. “Sandra was work-ing with me and we got on so well together we were mar-ried in 2001. The first studio was in buildings with shop windows facing traffic lights where the traffic would pause, opposite the leisure centre. One part of the premises was for the studio, the other half for a busy framing workshop. “Six months after we moved in, they started major road alterations and the traf-fic lights were taken away – it was a nightmare”, John said. His passing business either stopped passing or stopped looking. “We came through it despite everything and in 2005 we moved to a business suite in the Crown Buildings, a former High Street hotel converted into units. We were on the third floor, we did not really have any passing trade and people had to make quite a trek to reach us. We did not have any window on to the main street. There was a lift but not many people used it. “We had about 800 square feet and the clients entered past a reception area and the framing shop before reaching the studio. People knew us, and we got our work by word of mouth, by recommenda-tion. I was also working for my old employers on com-mercial fashion shoots. It was not ideal and we started building our new house on the outskirts of the town, with its own studio and of-fice, and a garden we planned to make a good outdoor set-ting.

in 1991-2, but John did not leave the hosiery mills until 1998. He had started to do weddings and portraits, upgrading to use rollfilm with a Bronica ETR-S 6 x 4.5cm outfit. “I have a thing about quality”, he said. Oth-ers might have used their 35mm gear for commis-sioned work in the 1990s, but not John. He also had two minilabs right on his door-step in Hawick and a very large photofinisher, Listers

of Peebles, offering low cost packages. Instead, he sent his work to national labs includ-ing Colab (now One Vision) and Colorworld whose van service called twice a week to collect and deliver. Today his premium products are mostly from Loxley Colour and despite having an impressive large format Epson printer on the premises the workload and the ambitious scale of the finished work keeps him loyal to top photo labs.

Aspects of a social photography master – above, fashion; top right, ‘Vinnie’s Cigar’, a character portrait genre which John has discovered both close to home and as a cruise Master; below right, bridal poise.

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“It’s just got there this year – the planting had grown enough in eight years to be the garden we wanted for our clients.” On a sunny day even in winter, looking out from John’s spacious white studio, three huge French doors opened to the landscaped hillside garden. John let a butterfly out and we resumed the story. It was on completing the house and studio, approach-ing his 40th birthday, that John changed gear and ceased to be just a local photogra-pher. “I had told myself I wanted to be a Fellow by the age of 40, so in 2006 I went for it, and got there. “My Fellowships of MPA and BIPP are in Portraiture, with a strong fashion slant. The high school had a Crea-tive Fashion course, which has now moved to a different town as a private enterprise, and I was engaged to produce a portfolio. I have benefited greatly from the school and colleges in my town – learn-ing my photography, and ultimately achieving my Fel-lowship by keeping in touch with this scene. “From the early 2000s, the whole wedding scene was really ‘upping the game’ and people were starting to spend serious money on photography. Scotland was a great place to be, we have the castles, the landscape and the scenery. We’ve got it all up here! “Since then we have been a destination for international weddings. We’ve had clients from the USA and Australia, and been invited to travel further afield, providing the photography for weddings in Slovenia and Spain recently.”

World traveller

This all pales beside the most significant development in John and Sandra’s business, his pioneering involvement with the cruise ship photogra-phy company Paragon Pixels. Five years ago, John became the first Fellow in Portraiture to be recruited by

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Paragon as a ‘Master’ – un-connected with the MPA – with a special brief to provide bespoke portraiture to the hghest level cruise clients. “I was flown out to a Greek island, and introduced to a couple who were high profile cruise guests – from the USA. “We sat down and talked about the type of photography they would like, which turned out to include both business portraits and more relaxed fun pictures as a couple. “I had two assistants, members of the regular Para-gon Pixels photography team on the ship, Elinchrom light-ing and a range of backdrops. Even when we took pictures outdoors, I used the lighting. They were some of the best portraits I had produced.” Later on, after recruiting further Masters from the élite circle of portraiture Fellows, Paragon Pixels invited MPA to learn about the venture and discuss Licentiate level train-ing for their regular on-board photo teams. As is usual with cruises, there are some perks with time to go ashore – though this is often with clients for a more adventurous session – and some extra responsibili-ties like the talks John gives to the guests, and his appear-ance as a guest on the ship’s own TV channel. He also trains the photo crews, and has high praise for their abili-ties in a high pressure, high volume environment. On board, no prints are ever seen from John’s work. Instead, both projection and large screen TV is used for previews. He now joins Crys-tal Cruises as their Portrait Master for two or three trips each year, sometimes joined by Sandra. For the most recent one which set off just after we did this interview, Sandra had to remain in charge of the Hawick busi-ness, with so much work to be completed in time for Christmas. Apart from all the administration and final deliveries, Sandra also has to tackle any jobs which arrive when John is away and keep

make their behaviour unpre-dictable. We could fit a horse into the studio”, he said indi-cating the large white-walled and ceilinged expanse with its wooden floor and wide vinyl background roll, “but I’d never want to try it!”. Hawick is an equestrian town with studs and liver-ies. Horses for steeplechase, point-to-point and hunting are often large and powerful. The local common ridings take place every year in the Border and attract thousands of visitors who hire horses to attempt the often extreme cross-country rideouts. “It’s a new venture, but we must keep pushing ourselves. Our weddings and portraits have built up through refer-rals, and now we hope we will get a reputation for our equestrian portraiture.”

in touch. “At the moment we are working seven days and seven nights a week to hit our deadlines”, John said. “We al-low every booking two hours, which may seem a lot but it’s essential for families with children”. They charge a modest £45 sitting fee and offer prints for as little as £50 each, but in the studio John lifts an impressive 50-inch acrylic laminated metal framed fam-ily group off the wall. “This print sells for £1,000”, he told us. “I know we have all the odds against us, our studio is on the outskirts of a town in one of the least populated regions of Britain, it’s often supposed to be in a recession, but there’s money out there. You just have to find it. Our clients regularly order prints worth £600 or £1,000.”

Horse sense

Chasing good money, or at least preferring to deal with clients who are likely to value premium products, John and Sandra have recently started offering specialist equestrian portraits. “We have always done horses as we have done pets like dogs, but this is a new venture. It’s not my little pony! The farming families we are producing these por-traits for want large prints for their walls. “We’ve just bought Elinchrom Ranger Quadra battery operated location flash, and we take the studio to the stables, complete with backdrops. Horses are not easy to work with but the modelling lights and flash don’t seem to worry them. It is other things which can

It was the client’s reaction to this image, from John’s first session visiting stables complete with location lighting kit and canvas background, that persuaded equestrian photography was a field to explore in future.

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Backing MPA

During his year in office, John’s priority is to bring new photographers into the MPA and return lapsed members to the association, but he does not want to concentrate on selling the benefits of MPA to photographers. “I’m hoping that we can get MPA and the idea of using a Master Photographer out to the public. I want to attract new membership because they see MPA getting a high profile in wedding directories and lifestyle magazines. “Regions who would like a visit should contact me to ask. I am available, although we have a very busy diary throughout the year, and I look forward to meeting the regions. “Qualifications are im-portant. We always make a great deal of the fact that I have Fellowships, and of the awards we have both won. Visiting our new website, which Sandra has designed after learning the skills re-quired, people often comment on the page which lists our regional and national awards achieved since 2005. We do not list any merits, only the major awards, whether a Scot-tish title or national.” In the studio, a double width glass case holds an impressive array of modern glass and metal trophies with

Before our interview ended – fitted into one of those two-hour slots between sittings in the diary – John revealed a great sales secret he had learned. “But you mustn’t print it”, he added. And we won’t, because John paid for expert consultancy to hone his sales session skills and refine the way the studio and viewing room are used. He says that this investment was more than worthwhile and turned him from a poor salesman (of his own work) into a success-ful one. From the very outset – as an amateur, as a student, as a part-timer and ultimately as a full time professional – John’s use of education and training stands out as a key to his long-term success. Membership of MPA has been a vital part of this process, with the progression from Licentiate to Associate and ultimately Fellow. His election as President for 2014, taking over from Hossain Mahdavi at the awards in late Octo-ber, rewards years of diligent hard work and brings a year of even more. You can find John’s contact details at the front of this magazine. – David Kilpatrick

Á

See:www.parrisphotography.co.uk for the studio’s new website

Studio workout – beautiful solid prints this size keep John and his bank account fighting fit! Top, a different kind of image John sees purchased as large wall art by his clients. He is constantly studying the countryside for the perfect time to take clients to locations he picks in advance.

hardly any old-style statuettes or shields. You can see imme-diately that these are contem-porary awards, not resting on old laurels, and that John and Sandra have been adding to this collection year on year, every year. Your editor came to the Scottish Borders, some 20 miles from John’s location, in 1988 when he was a young member of the Hawick Cam-era Club. Judging one of the club’s competitions shortly after arriving, John stood out from the generally older membership and expressed his intention to become a professional. Contemporaries on his HND college course a little later noted the same thing – “if anyone’s going to make it, it will be John Parris…”.

Approaching 50, he’s lucky enough to look more like someone approaching 40 and he keeps himself as fit as his business. Power walks on the Border hillside around his modern custom built home start every day, and lifting those 50 and 60 inch acryl-ics on and off the wall makes a good alternative to weight training. He has great energy and enthusiasm and never wants to stay still. Late in 2013, he returned to a High Street presence in Hawick although he is now so well known he needs little ad-vertising or promotion to fill the diary. He has acquired the window space at the entrance to the Crown Building where he once rented the third-floor studio, so now traffic and pedestrians can see his work.

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Above – wedding sunset on a long Scottish summer evening. Below: a remarkable portrait of the legendary Border piper and former rock guitarist Matt Seattle, which earned John a place in the MPA 2013/14 awards exhibition.

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eric jenkinsOne man has helped maintain the standards of entry qualification across both the UK’s main professional bodies, and now he has been honoured by the Master Photographers Association – meet Eric Jenkins Hon.FMPA

Even those who have the daunting experience of failing Licentiateship

always have a good word to say for Eric Jenkins. That’s because he has always had the right words to say to them, over the many years he has been congratulating the passes and encouraging the misses to try for a bullseye next time. When you meet Eric you need to remember he’s the same age as Mick Jagger, and has never felt obliged to part with his hair and join today’s generation of shaven-topped photographers (or the slightly more senior ones who no longer need the shaver to achieve the same con-formity). He has 54 years of career behind him, all in the industrial and scientific field. He started as a teenager when Britain’s booming technology required in-house photogra-phy and offered both first-class training and long term.staff career prospects. Today, the most important image archives of the UK nuclear industry are named in honour of Eric Jenkins, a school-leaver with four O-levels who used the techni-cal further education system of his day to concentrate on strong vocational qualifica-tions. He gained his national certificate Level S1/S2 in Applied Physics, and became a Laboratory Assitant trainee at 17. Becoming an assistant photographer at 19, he took his City & Guilds Finals in Industrial Commercial Scien-tific & Technical Photography. To follow this, he gained his Associateship of the Royal Photographic Society

Above, the waste encapsulation plant at Harwell. Copyright of Research Sites Restoration Ltd. Top of page: Eric is presented with his Honorary Fellowship by MPA acting chief executive Clare Louise FMPA.

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(a very different distinction) followed by the Final Certifi-cate examination of the IIP (now the BIPP) specialising in Industrial and Commer-cial. It would be difficult to plan the pursuit of training and qualifications like these today, and few photographic courses cover the skills called for in the era of large format studio monorail cameras, film processing and hand printing. Eric’s career started as an assistant in the UK Atomic

Energy Authority (UKAEA), becoming its photographic services manager in 1991. “Following the privatisa-tion of AEA in 1996 I fulfilled the role of Account Manager for the Imaging Centre, with special responsibilities for photography”, he writes. “In 2000 I was invited by UKAEA to create and man-age the newly formed Image Resources with responsibility to develop a comprehensive photo archive.

“This major collection of Nuclear and Scientific mate-rial with over one million images and hundreds of miles of moving image is now rec-ognised by the Public Records Office as a place of deposit and by the Nuclear Decom-missioning Authority as a unique and important facility. The collection was named the Eric Jenkins Collection in recognition of my work.” Today, Eric is an independ-ent photographer, offering

creative photography as well as the scientific and forensic work he is well qualified to handle. He still works for the nuclear industry as a consult-ant to the Nuclear Decommis-sioning Authority on imaging issues applicable to the planned National Nuclear Ar-chive. He has been handling the photographic documenta-tion of the historic Harwell research site, covering the decommissioning work for Research Sites Restoration Ltd.

The Gleep nuclear reactor at Harwell, the first in Europe, started (went critical) as long ago as 1947. This image looking down onto the pile shows the decommissioning work underway. Copyright of the Nuclear Decomissioning Authority.

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He also produces video, DVD multimedia and projection programmes. Before receiving his Honor-ary Fellowship from MPA at the October annual dinner, Eric was already an Honorary Fellow of the British Institute of Photography (BIPP) wih his underlying qualification in Commercial/Industrial. His MPA qualification is in Scientific Photography. Eric is completely impar-tial and contributes a great deal of time to both the

professional bodies. He was one of the strongest sup-ports of the joint Professional Photographic Qualifications Board which unified the standard of BIPP and MPA for five years during the last decade. He is a member of the BIPP Continuing Professional Development Advisory Board (responsibile for (Scientific, Forensic, Government Service, The Armed Forces and Natu-ral History) and has served on their Industrial Committee as chairman for ten years and

a past BIPP council member and Admissions and Qualifi-cations Group Manager. It was the PPQB which brought Eric into contact with the MPA. He was ap-pointed chairman of the BIPP Licentiateship panel in 2002 and continued in this rôle when the PPQB was set up. He continued to chair the MPA Licentiateship Qualifica-tions following the closure of the joint venture in 2008. Eric has played an important part in establishing a success-

ful mentoring structure and assessor training. He has also won many awards for at regional, na-tional and international level, including three BIPP national print awards in Scientific/Applied photography and a past winner of the Institute of Physics ‘Beauty of Physics’ photographic competition.His work has been exhibited on many occasions at pres-tigious venues, including the Science Museum, London. Eric has also been called

An image from several years ago, this probably Eric’s most successful, winning several competitions. It shows spent fuel rods in a storage pond, showing “the characteristic blue glow of Cerenkov radiation”.

ERIC JENKINS Hon.FMPA

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upon to judge high profile photo imaging competitions, including the Daily Tele-graph/Novartis Photo Science Photographic Competition, the Royal Navy Peregrine trophy, the BIPP Art of Sci-ence (setting this up in 2003, later continued by MPA), the Police Photographer of the Year, and the Royal Airforce Photographic Competition. In 2005 Eric was awarded a rare lifetime achievement award. The award, made on behalf of the BIPP and the

MPA jointly, was in recogni-tion of commitment to the profession over a forty-five year career, in particular help given to mentor and encour-age other photographers in their quest for qualification, and to fulfill their potential In 2008 Eric received an Honorary Fellowship from the BIPP, and this has been followed by his Honorary Fel-lowship 2013 awarded by the MPA for work with Licentiate qualifications as Chairman. Eric has also received

Presidential awards from both bodies. Today, he is a consultant on imaging to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and documents the long and exacting processes involved in ending the life of nuclear facilities safely. As a staff photographer, his work was subject to copyright held by his employ-ers and today as a consult-ant photographer the same usually applies, due to the sensitive nature of the work. Eric has obtained permission

for the images shown here to be reproduced – our thanks to those involved for this. Although nuclear power is back in favour now, it’s unlikely there will be lifelong career paths in photography for today’s school leavers. There will be careers of a dif-ferent type, often independ-ent, their progress marked by the qualifications which Eric has devoted so much energy to improving and promoting. – DK

 Ó

Catalyst material research at Harwell. Copyrigh of the Nuclear Decomissioning Authority.

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In less than three years, Andrea Barrett has gone from photographing 70

weddings per year, to pho-tographing over 70 boudoir sessions per month. “Ive completely rebranded the business, calling the new company Boudoir Superstar!”, she explains. “Having photographed make-overs in the 80s and early 90s, I seemed fall in to the new styles of boudoir photography quite easily and found it lots more fulfilling than photographing wed-dings. “I saw the number of wed-dings going down and down, and it soon became apparent that the market was changing fast, not just that the brides were wanting to pay less but expect far more, but that in this present recession, a lot of people who could take a half decent picture were turning to wedding photography as a way of supplementing their income. “Not wanting to compete in this over-saturated market, I also found the twelve-hour days were not conducive to watching Saturday night television!” Andrea, it has to be said, stumbled into boudoir pho-tography by chance. Friends had recommended that she contacted the website crowdsourcing deal-maker Groupon, with a view to a boudoir deal. After a brief conversation, she realised they wanted far too much to make it viable and quickly said “thanks, but no thanks”. Three weeks later they rang back, and said ‘OK, we’ll play it your way’. “The rest is history, as they say”, said Andrea. “We’ve never looked back”. Now she only has a ‘couple of weddings for friends’ left to photograph, with no regrets. “I never thought I would give up wed-dings. I thought I was put

wishing on a superstarAndrea Barrett, well known for her wedding photography for the last 28 years, has now decided to hang her wedding shoes up for a new career in Boudoir photography

– and the new room which has more duck-egg blue and shades of pink and lilac, having just bought a chaise-longue and a velvet chair. “I think the success of the business has been down to having an all-female team. I shoot and process every session. Adelle handles the sales, and also designs all the albums. Gail is on customer service, making sure every ap-pointment – whether a shoot or a preview – is confirmed, which is very important. Vicki is an accomplished hair and make up artist, and Nichola is on admin and our main exhibitionist… sorry, exhibition manager! “We seem to have found the right formula. I’ve got every blokes dream job! I love photographing the bigger girls as I can do so much with them, and flatter them. My worst nightmare is a 6ft size zero walking through the door! We don't use any Photoshop retouching, they're pretty much straight off cam-era, and processed in Aperture. Each session takes me around 25 mins per shoot to post-process to viewing standards. “I shoot for sales, not for vanity, or to play – we do up to eight shoots a day on the hour every hour. Yes, we all work hard, but I never complain. The alternative these days is the house up for sale, for all too many pho-tographers. No matter what people say Groupon has been the best source of leads up to now, and long may it con-tinue.” So, if you feel that part of your business has run its course, diversify – Andrea’s made the transition from wedding photographer to a studio-based business in a short time. “There’s lots of work out there, you just have to look in unexpected places for it”, she concludes.  Á

Andrea, for many years revered as the woman whose finger on the calculator keypad was as keen as the one on the shutter release, has re-invented her business with a great sense of fun and an all-girl crew – above (in her words) Nichola, The Princess; Adelle, The Brains; Andrea, The Boss; Vicki, The Transformer; and Gail, The Fixer (Studio Manager).

Where would you sell risqué fun boudoir sessions? Why, at a wedding fair, of course – far better, says Andrea, than turning up with your wedding albums to compete with ten other photographers doing exactly the same. “We have been very successful marketing boudoir at wedding fairs”, she says . “We sold over 100 vouchers at the National Wedding Fair at Sheffield Ice, which is a big one. Vouchers are usually bought as a gift for the groom, and a lot of our girls bring bridal underwear and veils.”

on this planet to photograph weddings – but now I can’t wait to finish them.” Andrea now has four full time members of staff, and various part time and casual helpers. “I never planned to be in this position, especially as I’m coming up to retire-ment age”, she adds. “We’ve all got silly titles like Andrea, The Boss; Adelle, The Brains; Gail, The Fixer (alias Studio Manager); Vicki , The Trans-former! Well what else would you call a make-up artist? “And then we have Nichola, The Princess, my youngest daughter, and must not omit Janette, The Corset Queen!

“We all wear a uniform, with our title and name on it – this isn’t just a joke, it’s a marketing image.”

Shooting to sell

Andrea’s mix of flow pos-ing, different scenes and three outfit changes ensures enough variety for a decent sale. The boudoir studio con-sist of two (soon to be three) different rooms, with four or five different wallpapers in each room. “We have a high key daylight room”, she ex-plains, “a low key room with a black bed, pink and black walls, and a big black mirror

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wishing on a superstar

mixing creative arts and the commercial eyeOur selection of photographs from Boudoir Superstar reflects, as well as we can, the great variety in the portfolio Andrea presented to the magazine. The importance of the team – especially the make-up and dressing – is obvious in the subtle differential focus portrait above, which uses no retouching. Everything is in the pose, the lighting, the camera angle and the simple focus on eyes and lips without strong facial modelling. The team helps dress the clients (below left) and put those difficult subjects – couples – at ease, centre. The use of a camera angle from above the eyes, below right and also centre, is guaranteed to flatter as Hollywood has always been aware. It also appeals to the male perspective, and thus to the male wallet.

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Andrea has to find the most flattering angles to capture girls of all ages and sizes. Years of experience in studio and bridal portraiture and groups provide the almost-instinctive know-how to set up the shot and find the camera angle. Lighting is kept natural and simple, overcoming the flat quality of digital sensors with the use of strong contrast and vivid colours. “I have to think like a bloke”, Andrea admits, “hence all the cleavage, bums and suspender shots – I think that’s what they like?” “One of the girls I’ve photographed is by her own admission a SIZE 30, but it was no problem, she wore the right outfit, an all-in-one as opposed to bra and knickers – which we discourage for all sizes – and she looked amazing!” Boudoir Superstar’s Bramley, Leeds, base is the heart of a rich and diverse community with clients of all origins and lifestyles sharing one wish – to look stunning for someone they love. And that can include looking stunning when there’sa new one to love on the way (right).

www.boudoirsuperstar.co.uk

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Sometimes it’s nice to give something back. Our great working relation-

ship with top local wedding venue, Clearwell Castle saw Sheryl being invited to bring the gift of memories to a very deserving Monmouthshire family. Ellie was four and had been very poorly. We’re talking through the mill here. Every parent’s nightmare, including mine. Ellie had a dream – a magical wish – to become a REAL princess for the day. Through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and with the help of the fabulous team at the castle, Ellie’s dream became a reality on a sunny August day in 2012. Clearwell Castle staff asked us to donate our time to document the family’s very special day and gift a disk of images to Ellie’s family as a lasting memory of her princess experience. We were only to glad to help and to contribute our time and tal-ent for such a special request. The pictures here are a small selection of the shots I made on the day. I shot

everything in natural light so that the photography did not distract Ellie and her younger sister, and remained unobtru-sive throughout. Ellie and family had a superb day, with all the stops

pulled out. It all started with hair and make-up in the brid-al suite and Ellie looked right at home in her personalized embroidered dressing gown! She walked the grounds in her gown and robe and fed

the resident ducks at the lake, had a horse and carriage ride through the village, released doves, played croquet and had high tea in style under the care of her own personal butler for the day, Darren! I was sure to shoot some lovely group portraits for the family too. As Ellie left in her limo and headed for home, We collected our kit and made our way back to the studio after a long, rewarding and touching day to edit the hundreds of images taken. Soon we sent a disk of images to Make-A-Wish for forward-ing on to Ellie’s family.

Fairy princess

What happened next was completely unexpected! Make-A-Wish LOVED Ellie’s photo’s so much that they asked for permission from us to use their favourite image on their UK web and face-

a wish for ellieSheryl Long LMPA gave love, time, and creative enthusiasm to record the

Make-a-Wish Foundation’s special gift to four-year-old Eloise – an unforgettable chance to be a Princess for a Day as she braved vital cancer treatment.

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To celebrate, Sheryl Long LMPA and her assistant Nikki decided Sheryl should have a photo-shoot of her own to mark this once in a lifetime accomplishment… and here are the results. We think they sum up the feel good factor at the studio!

book pages. Fame indeed! It was made even more signifi-cant, to us, by the volume of professional images they see every year of their ‘Wish children’. But there’s more. In December 2012 my images of Ellie were in the spotlight again! This time in national chat magazine Best. Of course I bought a few copies for my portfolio! Then it got crazy! We received word that national brand Fairy were seeking per-mission to add Sheryl’s image of Ellie to the front of their Make-A-Wish bottle label over the Christmas period 2013. For every bottle sold nation-wide this Christmas, Fairy will donate a contribution directly to the foundation. We are told this is worth over £1m to the charity. Usually Fairy choose their favourite wish child and re-photograph them especially for the label project – but for 2013 (their 10th year of sup-porting Make-A-Wish) they chose our image. We were only too pleased to release the image without a commer-cial fee. We hope Ellie’s family are enjoying the special artwork of their brave little girl and it was my absolute pleasure to have been able to help. All of us at the studio in Tintern wish you all every happy blessing for Ellie’s recovery (we gather this is going well – Ed). We are certain that more wonderful things will continue to happen for Ellie as she goes from strength to strength. A beautiful little girl, lovely family and fond memories of a lovely day. It’s true what they say – Do a good turn and it will come back three-fold. The Wish Day itself was added to greatly by local contributors helping to make it complete. Our studio gifted a disk of over 100 high resolution retouched images with a personal license to the family and the full day's photogra-phy.

Á See more at: http://bit.ly/1cppRWo

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master gearphotography Sony’s evolution – or retro revolution?

So many professionals have bought the compact mirrorless NEX system

models from Sony, or the re-vitalised OM-Ds from Olym-pus, that new arrivals on the ‘CSC’ scene cause a buzz. When Sony launched two mirrorless NEX-mount cam-eras which look similar to the retro-SLR style of Olympus, but have the full frame sen-sors found in the Sony RX1 and Nikon D800E, advance orders cleared the shelves despite the fact that most of the lenses able to work with these new bodies were not yet in production. The 36-megapixel, AA filter free A7R body was sold in the UK without lens, and no other option, during its first weeks of stock from late November onwards. The less compelling 24 megapixel A7 was generally being sold with a budget sub-£500 28-70mm ƒ3.5-5.6. In the meantime, a prime 35mm ƒ2.8 Carl Zeiss and companion 55mm ƒ1.8 CZ with a combined shelf price close to £2,000 were probably not going to be any-where before 2014. Given a body costing over £1,600 you would expect at least some lenses – the £1,100 Carl Zeiss stabilised 24-70mm ƒ4 for example – might have been issued at the same time. But no! So it was that I took delivery of a lensless A7R, a mirrorless full frame 36 megapixel camera with a built-in electronic viewfinder. I had to think of this as a kind of camera back (it is suf-ficiently slim to act like one) for whatever lenses I could manage to attach to it. Unlike the Olympus OM-D E-M1 which competes in price and features, with one-quarter of the format area, the Alpha 7 design does not include in-body stabilisation. So far only the zoom lenses announced have Optical

Steady Shot. Those expensive 35mm and 55mm primes – which I seem to remember as two of the most disappoint-ing focal lengths ever to own on 35mm – have no OSS. There’s no roadmap showing a proper wide-angle, not the 20mm or 24mm or 28mm which would be popular, nor a true portrait lens such as an 85mm or 105mm, nor an ultrawide in the 14mm zone. So exactly what is the ap-peal of this camera? Let’s just say that within a couple of days of first test-ing, the idea of ever buying the FE mount autofocus lenses began to fade. Not only

would a decent kit of these end up costing several thou-sand pounds, for the most part they seemed to defeat the purpose of the camera. Instead, I found myself strug-gling to get neutral coloured corners from a superbly sharp and tiny Voigtlander 15mm ƒ4.5 Heliar, buying a Sony 10-18mm ƒ4 OSS E lens because like many ultrawide zooms it proves able to cover a larger sensor as you shift from short to long, trying many older SLR lenses, Leica mount lenses, and ultimately putting down £300 for a used Voigt-lander 40mm ƒ1.4 Nokton MC in M-bayonet.

What makes this practical is the excellent magnified live view focusing with peaking. Because the finder is an EVF, lens aperture is no issue. You can focus a lens, stop down to ƒ11, and the finder looks as bright as it does at ƒ1.4. The focusing is so accurate and fast that after a while you stop thinking about the missing AF. AF is rarely needed where 36 megapixel resolution is also needed. The camera can auto-crop to 15 megapixels APS-C and use any of my existing NEX lenses such as the Tamron VC DiIII 18-200mm zoom. With an adaptor it can use either full frame or APS-C lenses from Sony, but it can also use Canon EF and EF-S lenses with full auto control and AF. There’s not yet such a good adaptor for Nikon, but for legacy lenses of many systems the full-frame A7 and A7R bring a second incarnation. There’s even an autofocusing adaptor made for Contax G lenses. Prime lenses are generally better than zooms, and new lenses are often better than old. It seems there are excep-tions. Testing out a modest Minolta MD ƒ2.8 28mm from around 1982 (bought for £25, I think) revealed a lens with good straight geometry and corner to corner high resolution from ƒ4 down. The exquisite detail resolu-tion of assorted old prime glass proves that progress has sacrificed some qualities. To this I must add the easy availability of tilt and tilt-shift mounts, the adaptors for medium format lenses and the novelty of getting a ‘36 megapixel Leica’ for £1,600. Maybe those CZ AF lenses will join my system in future but right now there’s almost no job my antiques cabinet and the Sony Alpha 7R can’t handle! – David Kilpatrick

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The Sony A7R – a 24 x 36mm sensor able to use Leica, custom tilt, vintage macro or NEX cropped frame lenses. Not shown: its own FE mount autofocus lenses.

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32 MASTER PHOTOGRAPHY

PERFECT PRESENTATIONHannah Gamble makes the most of Cherubs win

CHERUBS’ CORNER – YOUR REGULAR SPOT FOR KEEPING IN TOUCH

Back in June our new Cherubs’ Corner fea-tured Artis Studios and

Hannah Gamble as the first profile to encourage Cherubs business development. Well, it was no surprise that one of Hannah’s image scooped the Cherubs Photographer of the Year award, and quite correctly not an image we had published. The picture of little Tobias Hardman at his second Cher-ubs shoot paired one of the Artis Studios props (the small top hat) with the mini-adult tweed jacket outfit his parents Michael and Michela had dressed him in. “We are incredibly proud if this award”, Hannah wrote on the studio’s highly profes-sional website blog. “We work hard on our Cherubs scheme and we’re so pleased to be recognised on a national level against such stiff competition. We gather this year’s category saw the highest number of entries ever. “His parents dressed him in this brilliant tweed jacket which inspired us to get out our toy top hat and turn him into a miniature ‘gent’. They were fantastic at just trusting me to try out some new ideas and we got this brilliant shot. “The award was voted for by mums at the Bounty Par-enting Group. Bounty told us that the image won because “It tugged our heart strings, without question it has qual-ity, but its cute, its exactly how we would love our babies and children photographed” Hannah added, “Although it was my name on the award it is completely a team effort as everyone at Artis con-

equal prize, and made them a canvas wrap 20 x 16" (worth £325) from Tobias’s third and final session (right). The studio has continued to lead the way in a discerning area – Sunninghill, close to Ascot and Epsom – and uses referral marketing to tap into the social circles of young mothers. Though their Cher-ubs package costs £65 with an optional £20 extra for a ‘bump’ prenatal session, any mum referring a friend as a new client receives a £40 gift credit voucher to spend at the studio. The friend also gets a £10 discount to sign up for Cherubs. This way the studio has built up a community of ‘reps’ and runs a competition for the most referrals. Each year, the winner with the most referrals in a six-month period receives a canvas wrap like the print presented to the Hardman family.

Á

tributes to every one of our customers’ experiences with us. This award means more than any other as it’s voted for by the consumer and our main business aim is to keep our customers happy!”

MPA Awards sponsors Colorworld presented Han-nah with a Box Framed 20 x 16" print of the winning shot for the studio to display. Artis Studios decided the Hardmans should have an

Hannah receives her certificate and trophy at the Master Photography Awards from Cherubs Award sponsors, Calum Thomson of Loxley Colour and Monica Brennan of Bounty.

Hannah with winning Cherub Tobias and his parents Michael and Michela pose for celebratory studio shot with the Colorworld Boxed Frame print.

Tobias with the canvas wrap print Artis Studios gave to the family as a special reward for helping Hannah create a top award winning shot.

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Not using Cherubs yet? Call Noel Davies on the Cherubs hotline at MPA to discuss what is available in your area now! Ring 01325 341400 – or visit the Cherubs website first, www.cherubs.uk.com

If you want more information on the Cherubs scheme then phone the MPA’s Cherubs director Ray Lowe on 01992 636152. Ray can also point you at training resources to help you build up your baby and family portrait business.

Stages and ages

From the rest of the Hardmans’ Cherubs shoot for baby Tobias – a laid-back approach to early days, left, and stepping out with his big sister as a young man just a week after the awards event in October. It’s always important to make the best use of our short Autumn season for outdoor sessions while the light and leaves last. Taken only a month before this issue was in production, the landscape and weather could hardly be more different by the time you read this.

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PHOTO TRAINING OVERSEAS

27th Annual Training Course 25th January - 1st February 2014at the 4 Star Elba Carlota Beach & Convention Resort, Fuerteventuraon all inclusive - flights from Glasgow, B/ham, Gatwick & Manchester

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

Damian McGillicuddy - Fashion & LightingMartine Hamilton-Knight - Architecture

Dave Wall - Table Top CommercialDavid P MacDonald - Modern Portraits

Liz Roberts - Newborn BabiesLouise Sumner - Classical Weddings

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

Plus Evening seminars on: Social networking & SEO:Ten Minute Tantalizers: An Evening With a Legend plusthe popular Digital Photo Critique Competition with the

fantastic Gala Awards Event and other great competitions

Master Class Tutors

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MASTER PHOTOGRAPHY 35

PHOTO TRAINING OVERSEAS

27th Annual Training Course 25th January - 1st February 2014at the 4 Star Elba Carlota Beach & Convention Resort, Fuerteventuraon all inclusive - flights from Glasgow, B/ham, Gatwick & Manchester

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

Damian McGillicuddy - Fashion & LightingMartine Hamilton-Knight - Architecture

Dave Wall - Table Top CommercialDavid P MacDonald - Modern Portraits

Liz Roberts - Newborn BabiesLouise Sumner - Classical Weddings

Dave Dave Wall - Photoshop StuffKevin Mullins - Documentary Weddings

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

Plus Evening seminars on: Social networking & SEO:Ten Minute Tantalizers: An Evening With a Legend plusthe popular Digital Photo Critique Competition with the

fantastic Gala Awards Event and other great competitions

Master Class Tutors

master techphotography Crossed eyes – the Samsung Galaxy NX

It’s the first of new kind of hybrid between a smartphone and a mirrorless system camera – Richard Kilpatrick looks at Samsung’s highly communicative Galaxy NX

Last year the Samsung Galaxy Camera made a significant impact

on the converging worlds of smartphone and digital pho-tography. The compact device has become almost ubiquitous in the hands of bloggers, with current deals pushing it ever closer to the £200 price point and bundling it with Sam-sung smartphones and tablets through mobile phone pro-viders, it is likely to continue that success. Now Samsung is looking to the mirrorless market, and the Galaxy NX packs a lot of processing power into a slim, light body. At around £1,200, this is not a cheap option, yet from a professional perspective it has capabilities to rival a DSLR. Where Samsung got the Galaxy Camera’s balance cor-rect was in taking the bold step of allowing the screen and processing power to be used for the photographic ca-pabilities. Already a powerful tablet architecture, the GC’s functions were more acces-sible to third-party apps than other attempts at merging Android and compact cam-era, with zoom and effects directly supported. The lens and sensor are competitive for the segment. A clever UI surpassed the ability of many compacts to allow manual control. Meanwhile, the NX range of mirrorless APS-C cameras has proven to be a mod-

Snapseed will resize the JPEGs to manageable

dimensions for sharing and editing. Android is the first smart-phone and tablet OS to have raw file editing capability through PhotoMate. Now in version 2, this application handles the Samsung’s 20Mp raw files with ease, costing around £7 and easily accom-modated on the 4.8" screen. Unlike which use Samsung’s own AMOLED displays, the Galaxy NX has an IPS LCD similar to desktop displays for more consistent and natural tones. It’s possible to make significant and useful correc-tions and apply effects. As you would expect from a high-spec tablet, GPS with GLONASS, WiFi, Bluetooth and 4G radio are included. This combination of features allows things like weather reports to pop up on the screen, or a travel app to suggest picturesque locations. Of rather more use to the pro-fessional photographer, the huge interchangeable battery (4360mAh, twice the capacity of typical tablet batteries) al-lows the Galaxy NX to sit and run as a 3G/4G WiFi hotspot for ages. With a decent con-nection the fast speed of up-load allowed by cellular data makes shooting large JPEG or even raw files direct to Dropbox or other cloud storage a feasible option. In the rural location I’ve relocated to,

est seller for Samsung, not a major pres-ence in the UK market despite impressive features. The current range uses a 20Mp sensor not found in other systems and added wireless sharing and social media capabilities long before the other camera firms integrated them into similar bodies. Even now, Samsung’s willingness to cram features into the camera helps the on-paper comparisons, and that’s only half the story. Unlike the original Galaxy camera, the NX retains a dedicated (DRIMe IV) proces-sor for photographic func-tions alongside the quad-core Exynos chip for the Galaxy tablet side. Nevertheless it’s such a seamless blend that

it’s hard to tell whether

this is a Galaxy Camera with NX mount, or an NX Camera with Galaxy features. The distinction depends on where you place the emphasis on technology, and the unique features are all derived from the Galaxy’s arsenal. As you would expect from a model a year younger and handling larger files, the Galaxy NX is more advanced than the original camera. The tablet processor is faster, with a 1.6GHz quad-core unit and 2GB RAM, storage being 16GB with expansion via MicroSD. More than enough to handle the wide range of Android applications and files from the 20Mp sen-sor, though applications like

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Visit us at SWPPConventionStand M61-M64

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The NX system: EVF, big touch screen, slim body, intelligent mount

Although the Galaxy NX shows the typical slim body of a mirrorless system, it’s not as skinny as Fujifilm X or Sony E, at 25.5mm compared to approximately 18mm. It also has a slightly narrower diameter bayonet but can fit most SLR lenses via adaptors. Leica M and screw lenses can both be used. Samsung’s lens range from 10mm fisheye to 200mm tele zoom includes several ‘pancake’ lenses and most have iFn, i-function transfer of control to rings and buttons on the lens away from body controls, for better ergonomics. The NX has a 20.3 megapixelAPS-C sensors capable of 8.3fpssequence shooting.

most data services have been unusable – yet with Three’s network and the Galaxy NX the download speed has approached the best cop-per ADSL and eclipsed both the outright speeds we can attain at this distance from the exchange, and the upload speeds any ADSL user is likely to achieve. At £25/month for a 25GB contract, it’s not an unreasonable cost either. Coming to the camera side, the NX is closely related to the Samsung NX300. The high ISO performance is reasonable, and the dynamic range approaches 13-stops according to DxOmark. The highlight and shadow behav-iour when editing raw files suggests that the numbers are realistic. The kit lens falls well short of allowing the camera to shine. Hybrid AF gives a little over 8fps, with a maximum shutter speed of 1/6,000th. The hot shoe is not standard, and needs an adaptor to ensure a safe trigger voltage and inform the NX a flash is attached. The pop-up flash is par for the course on a compact mirror-less system. Colours and detail and generally good, though noise reduction tends to come in a little aggressively and the raw files aren’t the cleanest. Sam-sung now bundle the Galaxy NX with Lightroom 5, though previously in Europe the NX

bodies shipped with Capture One – a learning curve some consumers may have found hard, but with great results from the NX200. Video modes are the usual set, losing the super-high-speed mode the NX200/300 models offered. There are few mechani-cal controls. A single control push/wheel works in tandem with the i-Function button on the lenses for manual/priority mode adjustments, defaulting to changing mode if you do not click a couple of times first to select your adjust-ment. It’s intuitive when you get over the initial need to select first, then rotate, to avoid changing mode. The immense 4.8" touch screen provides quick access to most functions in Professional mode, with a lens graphic for aperture/shutter/ISO in Standard mode, similar to the Galaxy Camera. This is a nice paradigm on a compact, and allows the NX to bridge the gap for inexperienced users. The shutter control is joined by a direct video button, and in keeping with the minimal-ist interface the only external connections are USB and HDMI, with a combined mi-crophone/headset port above. The flash has automatic pop-up as well as a manual button, and the 800 x 600 pixel EVF has an easy-to-use diopter adjustment.

The user interface is both a blessing and a curse for professional users. Android inherently takes time to boot from a cold start, so switch-ing on a camera not in stand-by takes over 20 seconds. It’s infallible once you’re making adjustments, and shooting speed is fine in most condi-tions, but the reliance on the touch screen can make mixed shooting styles a little harder to flick between. Samsung would do well to allow more than one user ‘saved’ favour-ite setup – a touchscreen like this could allow simple setups to be accessed, maybe even six custom modes. Letting the Galaxy NX fall into the role of consumer camera, it shines. All the typi-cal features of a compact cam-era are there, the multi-shot modes for HDR and night shooting, simple panning panoramas, the way the JPEG processing handles mixed light sources well. Recently, at the NEC Classic Car show the Galaxy Camera made light work of the awful sodium and stand lighting, when it was simply impossible to get one consistent source to work on my regular DSLR without extensive editing. As an event camera, it really offers a lot of potential for shooting directly to shared storage, flexible and rapid high-quality JPEG cap-ture and in theory, the ability to work with studio lighting.

With a range of 18 NX-mount lenses available including the special 45mm ƒ1.8 2D/3D and the impres-sive 60mm macro, the Galaxy NX is sufficient camera to handle most jobs a profes-sional would want. Not only that, it’ll let you keep on top of your Facebook and Twit-ter networking, allow your laptop to go online anywhere there’s a cellular signal, and even get you to the client’s location working with Google Maps’ navigation feature. In practice, it needs to be a little easier to access the photo-graphic functions without resorting to the touch screen, and the NX mount needs to gain traction with third-party manufacturers of adaptors and lenses, as right now the available options span from 12mm to 200mm (x1.5 for the equivalent field of view). It shows how effective Android’s integration with a camera can be, and the price only looks high due to the cut-throat deals on existing bodies. It performs the three roles it takes on as well as any single, dedicated device – camera, tablet and cellular communications, and as such even if you’ve no intention of changing platforms, it’s a surprisingly useful gadget for the professional photographer which just happens to be a very capable camera as well.

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Visit us at SWPPConventionStand M61-M64

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38 MASTER PHOTOGRAPHY

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Big names are starting to gather under the banner of The Photography

Show, the new industry event you can’t have failed to notice by now organised by Future Publishing to fill the March 1st to 4th slot at the National Exhibition Centre next year, vacated by Focus on Imaging. MPA has already reached an agreement to exhibit at the show, and with the help of trade partners including the Royal Shakespeare Com-pany Store who did so much at the awards event, will be staging activities including talks and live shoots. We have also heard from The Flash Centre that they have booked top burlesque boudoir shooter Tigz Rice along with training guru Mark Cleghorn and Kelby’s Frank Doorhof to headline a new stage on their stand. Chris Whittle says it will

Left: Steve McCurry © Bruno Barbey/Magnum Photos. Above: Joe McNally. Right: Rankin. Three stars for the show!

be a less informal than the immensely popular ‘standing room only’ scrum which hap-pened at recent Focus events. Celebrity portrait pho-tographer Rankin will now be appearing as one of the speakers booked by the show organisers. They’ve already signed up the legendary ‘girl with the green eyes’ photo-journalist Steve McCurry, and colleague Joe McNally of Magnum. Canon is the latest major manufacturer to confirm attendance – and a signing which Future says it is ‘delighted’ by. “Canon’s importance to the market is obvious and with Olympus, Panasonic, Nikon, Manfrotto, Epson, Tetenal and Sigma among those also on board it means that our professional, retail and enthusiast audience will be able to experience all the very best, and the lat-

est, products on the market,” says Future’s Head of Events Jonny Sullens. Canon’s UK Country Director Lee Bonniface adds: “We’re very excited to work with The Photography Show and be part of the inaugural event. With emphasis on experiences and interactivity, we want the visitors to come away excited and empowered, ready to take whatever their next step will be.” Lomography is another new addition to the show. It promises a series of ‘Kon-struktor’ workshops allowing analogue enthusiasts to build, from scratch, their own cam-era; the world’s first DIY SLR. As well as hosting live DIY camera building workshops, it will showcase some of its latest film gadgets such as the Smartphone Film Scanner and the all-new Petzval Lens for digital and analogue SLR cameras alike. In terms of providing inspiration, photographers Rankin, Joe McNally and Steve McCurry of Magnum will be just some of the big names appearing on the ‘Su-per Stage’ at The Photography Show. Described as three of the most celebrated photogra-phers of the modern age, the trio will be discussing their careers and taking questions.

Rankin will be interviewed live on Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd March, Joe will present on location and light and his career on Sunday through Tuesday. Steve will present the stories behind his photos in morning and after-noon sessions on Monday 3rd March. The Photography Show is supported by a major six-figure marketing campaign, including targeting Future’s own leading technology brands T3 and TechRadar.com, which, as the UK’s big-gest tech review site, reaches over four million tech enthu-siasts every month. Tickets are already on sale for the event, though professionals and trade go free. We can confirm that this will not be just an amateur show although Future, the group involved, does not yet publish a professional market magazine title. Graphistudio will have a stand – we are hoping they will be bringing along then winners of the Graphistudio/MPA Album of the Year award – and the leading UK pro labs One Vision, Colorworld, Dunns, SIM Imaging, DS Colour and Loxley Colour will all be there. Look out too for In-tro2020 (Tamron and other

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MASTER PHOTOGRAPHY 39

“We will be launching some new Wall Display products and our ‘Allura’ Matted albums next year”, said Derek Poulston of One Vision Imaging. “Luxury matted al-bums in two leather finishes, Nubuck and Suede. We are on stand L60 at The Photography Show.

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brands), Fujfilm, Bowens, LuxS Studio Decor, Has-selblad, Profoto, Lencarta, Kenro, Lee Filters, Lowepro, Mario Acerboni, Permajet, Calumet, SRB Imaging, Carl Zeiss, Flaghead Photo-graphic, Fotospeed, onOne Software and many other big names in the professional market. All of the major photo associations will be represented and so will several photo publishers such as EC1 (f2 Freelance Photog-rapher and the RPS Journal) and GMC (Black and White, Outdoor Photography, etc). Many of the smaller stands familiar from Focus will also be there including key camera dealers such as Cameraworld, Park Cameras and London Camera Exchange. There will be the usual opportuni-

Colorworld Imaging has announced that their dis-tributorship for Seldex Albums, which have offered a combination of high quality traditional covers and custom designed matte overlay pages, is to end at the beginning of 2014. The leading national imaging lab plans to launch their own manufactured range using the same ap-proach where photographers specify the print sizes and layouts using dedicated soft-ware and on-line ordering, and the lab despatches the finished album ready for the client. Mike Brydon, Business Development Director of Colorworld Imaging remarks, “We have had an excellent working relationship with Seldex over the last three and a half years. Seldex produce exceptionally high quality products and customers adore them. It was a difficult deci-sion to make, but as our own product development con-tinues we now feel that we have something of our own to bring to the market, which unfortunately will compete with Seldex. Our own range of Digital Albums have been a huge success for Colorworld and we are looking at repeat-

Labs go for the matted marketing that success with our matted albums.” Colorworld Imaging ex-pects to showcase the first of their own new matted page albums to professionals at SWPP Convention in January and also at The Photography Show in March.

ties to buy at the show and we expect the big names to do their usual and make some exceptional deals available. Future has retained the spe-cial place Focus allowed for The Disabled Photographers’ Society as well. Master Photography will be publishing a special edition for the show, a 2014 showcase for MPA which will be avail-able at the show in place of our regular March issue. We’ll give details in our next issue, February 2014, of the MPA activities at the show. These will include admissions for new members, and qualifications, as well as the usual assessments, ‘meet the Masters’ and mini-men-toring sessions.

Á www.photographyshow.com

Page 40: Master Photography Dec/Jan 2013/14

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International

January 7-10th 2014 – PMA@CES, the Photo Marketing Association 90th Anniversary show presented as partof the Consumer Electronics Show. Las Vegas Hilton Hotel.

January 25th – February 1st 2014 – Photo Training Overseas, Caleta del Fuste, Fuerteventure, Canary Islands.

National

January 15-20th 2014 – The Societies Convention, Hilton London Metropole Hotel, Edgware Road, London.

February 2-6th 2014 – The International Spring Fair, NEC, Birmingham.

March 1st-4th 2014 – The Photography Show, NEC, Birmingham. MPA will have a stand and will be organising several activities and events.

master regionsphotography March 27th-30th 2014 – London Imaging Live, the ExCEL Centre, London E16.

Central

Meetings quarterly on a Tuesday night at 8pm unless otherwise stated. Contact Hoss Mahdavi on 01923 494532 or email: [email protected]

East & West Midlands

Contact Deborah Selwood, tel 0115 9447727 or email: [email protected]

London & Essex/SE

Meeting at Ye Olde Plough House, Brentwood Road, Bulphan, Essex RM14 3SR. Contact Ray Lowe: [email protected]

Great Western

Please contact Head Office.

Northern Region

Contact Steven Ramsden LMPA. Telephone: 01904 479063, email: [email protected]

North West

Contact David Thexton LMPA, telephone 01229 835 035 or email: [email protected]

Scottish Region

Contact Seppi Preston 01786 475007 or email: [email protected]

South West

Contact Phil Flowers, 01458 273 144 or email: [email protected]

Welsh Region

Contacts: Collin Davies 01792 883274. Secretary: Mike Roberts 01639 820840.

Wessex Region

Chairman, Anthony von Roretz, 01722 422224 or [email protected]. Secretary, Belinda Harvey AMPA, 023 8025 3666 or email: [email protected]

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Your chance to learn new skills fromthe masters. Areas covered;• Weddings• Photoshop

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Sell your photo equipment forFREE. Details on our website.

www.forwardevents.co.uk

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Photo Equipment & Technology Show

FREE Entry • FREE Parking • FREE Seminars • Live Demos • Live ModelsSeminars Start at 10am • Trade Show 11am to 4pm

NEXT EVENT EDINBURGHRoyal Highland Centre 25th March 2014

• Turning Pro Advice• Sales & Marketing

HertfordshireSopwell House 23rd April 2014ManchesterMan Utd Football Stadium 13th May 2014ExeterMatford Centre 3rd June 2014WindsorRoyal Windsor Racecourse 18th June 2014BirminghamCranmore Park 1st July 2014

BristolAshton Gate Stadium 15th July 2014DublinCroke Park Stadium 2nd September 2014PeterboroughPeterborough Arena 16th September 2014SouthamptonThe Ageas Bowl 1st October 2014KentBrands Hatch Circuit 21st October 2014LondonILEC Conference Centre 11th November 2014

Studio Area Live Seminars & Live DemosPhotographersEquipment Fair Star Attractions

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Regions are now planning their diaries for 2014

Panikos Hajistilly LMPA won the London Portrait Group’s annual Photographer of the Year competition. He is seen with his winning print and trophy presented by judge Simon John, left.

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REGIONAL CONTACTS

CENTRALHOSSAIN MAHDAVI FMPAHOSS PhotographyThe Gallery24 The CrescentAbbots LangleyHerts WD5 0DSTelephone: 01923 [email protected]

EAST MIDLANDSDEBORAH SELWOOD AMPAGecko Studios Photography LimitedThe Old Lace Mill112 Station RoadIlkestonDerbyshire DE7 5LLTelephone: 0115 944 7727Mobile: 07870 [email protected]

GREAT WESTERN – enquire to Head Office

LONDON & ESSEXRAYMOND R LOWE Hon FMPA123 Crossbrook StreetCheshuntHertfordshire EN8 8LYTelephone: 01992 [email protected]

NORTHERN REGIONSTEVEN RAMSDEN LMPA10 Gillingwood RoadClifton MoorYorkNorth Yorkshire YO30 4STTelephone: 01904 [email protected]

NORTH WESTDAVID THEXTON LMPAT&J Photographic111 Ramsden StreetBarrow in FurnessCumbria LA14 2BWTelephone: 01229 835 [email protected]

SCOTLANDSEPPI PRESTON LMPA13 Alloa RoadCauseway HeadStirlingshire FK9 5LHTelephone: 01786 [email protected]

SOUTH EAST – enquire to Head Office

SOUTH WESTPHIL FLOWERS LMPA 12 SevenacresSomertonSomerset TA11 6HFTelephone: 01458 273 [email protected]

WALESCOLLIN DAVIES LMPAHigh Society PhotographyCaecarrig House15 Caecarrig RoadPontarddulaisWest Glamorgan SA4 8PBTelephone: 01792 [email protected]

WESSEX ANTHONY VON RORETZ LMPA22/24 Trinity StreetSalisburyWiltshire SP1 2BDTelephone: 01722 [email protected]

WEST MIDLANDSDEBORAH SELWOOD AMPAGecko Studios Photography LimitedThe Old Lace Mill112 Station RoadIlkestonDerbyshire DE7 5LLTelephone: 0115 944 7727Mobile: 07870 [email protected]

MPA Singapore’s annual seminars and judging – a group: from left Keda Z. Feng, Matthew Tan, Ryan Wong Teck Yan, Roger Tan (Rest of World Master Photographer of the Year 2013/14)Clare Louise, James Tan.

Singapore successesNINETEEN new members joined at the 2013 Singapore MPA seminar. Qualifying as Assocate were Johnson Wee and Chern Yui Tan. Licenti-ates were Maryann Koh, Simmon Cheong, Bill Goh, Chen Kin Siong, Sun Kong Wei, Glenn Ying Tze Woon, Mike Piong, Alvin Kean Wong, Muhammad Kazry bin Kas Kazan, Muhammad Nuruddin, Eric Goh Kian Chye, Adrian Lee, Desmond Teo Tse Shin, David Lawrence, Lin Jisheng and Michael Lee. Adrian Ong Heng Lee, not yet qualified. Nine existing members acquired or up-graded their qualifiations. Fellowships were awarded to Jonathan Ho, Aaron Ang and Mi-chael Chan. Associateships went to Colin Ho, Michael Gronon, Hart Tan, Mohammed Fauzi Anuar, and Vanessa Sng. Licentiateship was passed by Dave Wong. Photos: top left, Johnson Wee AMPA; top right, Michael Chan FMPA; left, Jonathan Ho FMPA.

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master business photography

The Autumn Statement from the Chancellor, George Osborne gave

photographers a boost with fuel duty frozen, £1,000 rebate on business rates and a subsidy on employing young people. Energy prices – the greatest concern for many in the win-ter months – were not tackled directly as the major energy suppliers have not shown how they might pass on the benefit of reduced green taxa-tion levies to households and businesses. Business rates are capped at 2%, with extension of Small Business Rate Relief for another year and £1,000 dis-count on Business Rates bills for retail premises with up to £50,000 rateable value. There is a further £1,000 discount for retail properties with a rateable value of less than £50,000 . Measures to tackle youth unemployment were outlined, including apprentice train-ing schemes. Benefits for 18 to 21 year old unemployed who don’t have English and Maths passes from school will be made dependent on their continuing to study to obtain these vital basic skills. From 2015 you will not have to pay Employer’s Con-tribution NI for under 21s. An Employment Allowance will further allow employers to save £2,000 on the National Insurance bill. The New Enterprise Al-lowance to help unemployed people set up their own businesses is to be extended to March 2016. People are entitled to a six-month al-lowance of up to £1,274 paid in weekly installments. This could bring new recruits into photography – but to get the allowance, they have to set up a bona fide business so it ensures they are paying tax and not moonlighting.

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New UWDC deal

The Utility Warehouse Discount Club deals for members have been changed slightly, and David Thexton (MPA Director looking after this benefit) has been circu-lating info accordingly. The membership fee has been scrapped and put onto “Bill Protector”. If that’s not required you can cancel it and save yourself £2.00. The free calls have been reduced to just evening and weekends, but if you pay £5.50 a month for “Peak Saver” (effectively using the money that was paying the membership fee) that gives you back free calls 24/7 and now includes 0845 and 0870 numbers too. At the same time, the company behind Utilities Warehouse, Telecom Plus PLC (LON:TEP) announced news which sent shares soaring last month. Andrew Lindsay MBE, their Chief Executive Officer, revealed that the company had acquired Ofgem licenced distribution channels via subsidiaries bought from nPower (otherwise known as the National Grid). “We have agreed to buy two companies from npower that hold the Ofgem licences we use to supply gas and electricity to your customers. In order to pay them we are issuing around £130m of new Telecom Plus shares, and bor-rowing £100m from Barclays which we will repay over the next few years”, he said. Telecom Plus, like Royal Mail, found that their new share issue was greatly over-subscribed by interested investors in the City (notably, pension funds). “We went looking for £130m and came away with orders for well over £300m of new Telecom Plus shares… almost three times as much as we were looking for!! “This is a fantastic deal

Autumn mini-budgetand new utilities deal

which not only enables us to offer customers even better value on their en-ergy (through our recently launched tariffs), but also means that the profile of the Utility Warehouse will become significantly higher. “You may have heard the Chancellor’s announcement about cutting some of the “green costs” that have played a big part in pushing up everyone’s energy bills. The reduction of these charges is something for which we have long campaigned. “We’re delighted to con-firm that we will be passing the full saving on to our customers – pound for pound. We’re currently busy work-ing out our new tariffs, and will tell you about our new, cheaper energy prices in Janu-ary’s bill.” Switch with MPA

The Utility Warehouse offers businesses and households the lowest costs for heat, light, power and communica-tions and also puts all the charges on to a single clear regular bill, which makes accounts management much simpler. MPA has signed up as an Independent Representative for the Utility Warehouse Discount Club, enabling the Association to pass on those benefits to you. UWDC have

massive buying power, and by becoming an Independ-ent Representative the Master Photographers Association can pass on those discounts to you for both residential and business use. With every penny you save, you support your association too. With no minimum con-tract, and guaranteed savings, this is a great opportunity to save money at work and at home. It’s easy to switch, with no interruption to supply. UWDC take care of every-thing. We are seeing the ben-efits at HQ with our savings and hope you sign up and see them too. You can save money on Gas and Electric-ity, Home Phone, Internet, Mobile Phone and and also obtain a Cashback Card. David Thexton, the MPA Director overseeing this benefit, can be contacted on 01229 835035. Signing up is via this URL:https://www.utilitywarehouse.co.uk/?exref=L20059 or contact Kevin Nedd at Utility Warehouse on 0800 131 3000 quoting ID L20059 The Master Photographers Association.

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Perfectly sized, feature-packed: the new fl agship OLYMPUS OM-D gives you more freedom to take all the shots you

want, with all the image quality you expect. When it comes to size, this compact system camera leaves D-SLRs in the

shade with a perfectly-dimensioned design and a portable weight. This superiority extends to imaging excellence and

performance – enhanced with the newest sensor and image processer generation including DUAL FAST AF using both

Contrast AF and On-chip Phase Detection AF. And the OM-D E-M1 offers fantastic versatility – with over 65 different

Micro Four Thirds and Four Thirds lenses at your disposal.

Find out more at your local dealer or visit: olympus.co.uk/e-m1