I love Florence & the Machine!

Hot on the heels of news that the second album will be released in the UK on November 7th, there’s also a new video to accompany the song What The Water Gave Me.

Sounds absolutely stunning, a really strong return.

Florence & The Machine Official Website

Florence & The Machine‘s as yet untitled second album will be available to download on iTunes on November 7th, but until then, check out her first album, Lungs, here…

Wow! Is this for real?!

If it is, then it will change the way we think about photography.

A company called Lytro are developing a new camera based on the concept of Light Fields, rather than traditional DSLR light sensors or camera film.

The Light Field sensor captures the colour, intensity and direction of every ray of light in the scene that you’re photographing, and then does some pretty hard-core processing to render the scene afterwards.

OK, so what’s the big difference? Here’s what Lytro say on their website:

The way we communicate visually is evolving rapidly, and people’s expectations are changing in lockstep. Light field cameras offer astonishing capabilities. They allow both the picture taker and the viewer to focus pictures after they’re snapped, shift their perspective of the scene, and even switch seamlessly between 2D and 3D views. With these amazing capabilities, pictures become immersive, interactive visual stories that were never before possible – they become living pictures.

Focus pictures AFTER you’ve taken them? NO WAY!

“Shoot now, focus later: Because the camera captures the entire light field, there is no need to focus ahead of time. You can simply capture the moment, and adjust the focus later. This means you can concentrate on what’s happening in the scene, not fiddle with your camera. Lytro pictures can be focused to your liking days, weeks, even years after they’re taken.”

Check out this example of what you can do. Click anywhere on the picture to shift the focus, looks incredible!

Another feature of interest to me as a gig photographer is the low-light sensitivity, and according to Lytro, the camera will capture all of the available light in a scene, giving great pictures in low light environments without use of a flash – from clubs to concerts to candlelit dinners.

There’s no concrete release date yet, and no word of price – don’t they say if you have to ask how much then you can’t afford it?

Lytro have promised the camera will be available later on this year, and will be both affordable and portable.

I can’t wait!

www.lytro.com
New York Times Article

It was a beautiful spring morning, and I was reading the paper on the train. There was a feature about the Sony World Photography Awards, accompanied by some stunning pictures. One of them in particular caught my eye…

Natural History Museum by Marek Troszczynski is a very interesting photo. It’s interesting to me because it looks remarkably similar to one of my own photos:

Natural History Museum Main Hall by Jamie Gladden 2007

I was trying to figure out how I felt about this. Should I be shocked that someone could steal my idea? Should I be concerned that it’s hard to come up with something original and I’m just being derivative like everyone else. Or (most likely) should I be thinking, Damn! Why didn’t I enter that myself?

Reading further down on the WPO site, there are several comments below Marek’s photo. It seems some people are actually accusing him of plagiarism. The main complaint is coming from a guy called Nobuyuki Taguchi, who asserts that Marek has stolen his intellectual property by taking that photograph. You can read for yourself what Nobuyuki had to say, and compare the photographs in question on Nobuyuki’s site here:

http://www.nobuyukitaguchi.com/article/photography_and_plagiarism.aspx

You want to know what I think? I’m not convinced by any of this… OK, I read Nobuyuki’s complaint, and looked at his comparison of the photos, and sure, they’re similar, but they’re not identical. It seems to be two similar black and white shots, taken from the same position, about a year or so apart. Is that plagiarism? I don’t think it is. In fact my photo and Marek’s are a closer match. Should I be accusing him of plagiarism? I don’t think so.

Nobuyuki complains that since he took his photo first, Marek must have copied him, and he must have seen it, because it’s been published. So, does that also mean that since I took my photo in 2007, and uploaded it to flickr, that I can also accuse Nobuyuki of plagiarism? No. If I did that, then you know there will be 10 people who complain to me, saying that they’ve got a similar shot, taken years before I got mine. As I noted in the comments on the flickr page, that spot was pretty popular on the day I was there, and there was even a queue of people lining up to take the same shot – and I went on a quiet day. If we take this to it’s logical conclusion, then the first photographer to point their camera in a certain direction at a given location will own all future rights to any photograph taken there, like planting a flag on the moon. If that’s the case, then it’s time to put your cameras down, as Google will have sewn up pretty much all exterior photography with their Streetview cars.

I don’t think you can expect to go to any tourist attraction in a major city and take a photograph that isn’t in some way similar to what’s been done before. Does that mean we’re all guilty of plagiarism?

No, it doesn’t.

UPDATE: 25/03/2011
I spoke to a representative of the WPO, as I was interested to know their position on this issue. Here’s what Astrid Merget, Creative Director of the World Photography Organisation, had to say:

“Plagiarism is a very complicated issue in the world of photography and one that the World Photography Organisation (which organises the awards) takes very seriously – especially as we have so many photographers entering the competition each year, and thousands who make their living from photography.

WPO has investigated the claims made, consulted the judging panel for this year and been in touch with both the photographer making the claim and our winning photographer. The result of the investigation shows that the claim is unfounded and at this point there is no evidence of intended plagiarism, thus the matter is closed. WPO supports their winning photographer Marek Troszczynski and is delighted to have awarded him the prize.”

A new exhibition, Stormtroopers In Stilettos, which marks the 40th anniversary of rock band Queen has just opened at The Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane, London, E1.

Opening times:
11am – 9pm Monday – Sunday
From 12pm 25th February until 6pm 12th March 2011
ADMISSION IS FREE

The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2010 has been won by David Chancellor, 49, for his portrait, Huntress with Buck, of 14 year old Josie Slaughter from Alabama on her first hunting trip to South Africa. He says: ‘Josie had hunted her buck earlier in the day and was returning to camp. As we arrived, the sun set below the cloud cover and I had almost unreal light for around a minute. The contrast between the peace and tranquillity of the location, plus Josie’s ethereal beauty and the dead buck, was what I wanted to explore. Here was a vulnerability and yet also a strength.’

Huntress with Buck from the series Hunters by David Chancellor ©David Chancellor

The £12,000 award was presented to Chancellor at the National Portrait Gallery, London. The portrait is from his project documenting hunters, the hunted and spaces associated with hunting. He says: ‘As a child I was fascinated by the tales of Colonel Jim Corbett hunting man-eating tigers in India. As an art student it was Peter Beard’s seminal work The End of the Game that fascinated and inspired. This work will seek to explore the intricate and complex relationship between man and animals and how both struggle to adapt to their changing environments.’

Chancellor spent two days with the 14 year old and her family, shooting Kodak 160VC 120 film on a Mamiya 7 II camera. The painterly quality of light is a striking component of Chancellor’s winning entry. ‘I’ve always been interested in Africa; it’s impossible not to be inspired by the place,’ he says. ‘Once you are bitten by the continent you never recover. And for an artist or photographer, the light is indescribable.’ While Chancellor acknowledges that hunting is an emotive subject, he stresses the importance of remaining objective in his reportage. ‘The aim is always to be detached’, he says. ‘In reality that’s rarely possible, but I do hope I can observe without an agenda and without the necessity to shout.’

Born in Solihull in 1961, Chancellor inherited his interest in photography from his father, a keen amateur photographer, and started taking photographs of his boyhood passions: wildlife and motorsport. After an unfulfilling early career in banking, he studied photography at Kent Institute of Art and Design. Now based in both London and Cape Town, he shoots documentary reportage and portraiture for a range of clients, and regularly works on projects for Non-Governmental Organisations. Named Nikon Press Photographer of the Year three times, he also received a World Press Photo Award earlier this year, and a study of his wife and son was exhibited in last year’s Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize.

Sandy Nairne, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, says: ‘David Chancellor’s Huntress with Buck is a powerful and beautiful portrait; a worthy winner amidst a strong international submission.’

The ELLE COMMISSION

The winner of the ELLE Commission 2010 is Clare Shilland, 36, for her portrait Merel. Shilland will be given the opportunity to shoot a feature story for ELLE magazine. Now in its second year, the ELLE Commission was judged by the fashion magazine’s editor-in-chief, Lorraine Candy, together with the art director, Tom Meredith, and picture editor, Hannah Ridley.

Merel by Clare Shilland ©Clare Shilland

Shilland, from South London, met Merel in Milan when she shot her for an Italian magazine and later asked her if she could photograph her for her exhibition Girls! Girls! Girls! She says: ‘The concept was that it would be a combination of female nudes and female drummers. I asked Merel if I could photograph her for it and she agreed. I travelled to Antwerp where she lives and we spent a few days there taking pictures. One day we rode bicycles out of the city to some woods and fields – that is where I took this picture.’

Shilland studied at Camberwell College of Arts and the Royal College of Art. She has shot for clients including Marni, Hardy Amies, Warner Music, Lyle & Scott and H&M, and her photographs have been published in i-D, Italian Rolling Stone, GQ Style and Teen Vogue amongst others.

Lorraine Candy, Editor-in-Chief of ELLE magazine says: ‘Whether it’s new designers, models or photographers, discovering and supporting emerging talent is part of ELLE’s heritage. So it has been an honour for us to work with the National Portrait Gallery on this prestigious photography competition. Entries were strong but we decided on Claire Shilland’s portrait because of her evident ability to capture a striking scene with remarkable technical skill. The lighting captured is wonderful and is of the same calibre of photography that you would find in our magazine.’

Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2010
11 November 2010 – 20 February 2011
Porter Gallery
Admission £2
Supported by Taylor Wessing

National Portrait Gallery
St Martin’s Place
London WC2H 0HE

Opening hours Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday: 10am – 6pm (Gallery closure commences at 5.50pm)
Late Opening: Thursday, Friday: 10am – 9pm (Gallery closure commences at 8.50pm)
Nearest Underground: Leicester Square/Charing Cross
Recorded information: 020 7312 2463
General information: 020 7306 0055
Website: www.npg.org.uk

I was recently asked to write a Guest Blog article by Haje over at Photocritic.org, so I thought it would be cool to expand on something I wrote about in my previous Lightroom retouching article – using the graduated filter tool to selectively darken an area of a portrait photo. People sometimes tend to think the the grad filter is only really useful on skies, so I wanted to give an alternative view.

Check out the article here…
Lightroom’s Graduated Filter – not just for skies!

The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2010 will showcase the work of some of the most talented emerging young photographers, alongside that of established professionals, photography students and gifted amateurs. Selected anonymously from an open competition, the diversity of styles reflects the international mix of entrants as well as the range of approaches to the portrait genre, encompassing editorial, advertising and fine art images. The judges have selected 60 portraits for the exhibition from nearly 6,000 submissions entered by 2,401 photographers. The exhibition will run from 11 November 2010 through to 20 February 2011 at the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Tic Tac and Tootsie aka (twin sisters Carrol and Shelly McKean) by Jeffrey Stockbridge © Jeffrey Stockbridge

Four photographers have been shortlisted for the £12,000 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize:

David Chancellor for Huntress with Buck, from the series Hunters;
Panayiotis Lamprou for Portrait of my British wife;
Jeffrey Stockbridge for Tic Tac and Tootsie (twin sisters Carroll and Shelly McKean) from the series Nowhere but Here;
Abbie Trayler-Smith for Untitled 2 from the series Childhood Obesity.

As well as the first-prize winner and three runners-up, the exhibition will feature the ELLE Commission. For the second year running, ELLE magazine will commission a photographer selected for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition to shoot a feature story. The ELLE Commission was judged by the fashion magazine’s editor-in-chief, Lorraine Candy, together with the art director, Tom Meredith, and picture editor, Hannah Ridley.

The prizes for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2010 will be announced at the awards ceremony on Tuesday 9 November 2010 at 7pm, along with the winner of the ELLE Commission 2010.

The exhibition opens to the public on Thursday 11 November and will be on display at the National Portrait Gallery, London until 20 February 2011, before touring to The Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens from 16 April – 26 June 2011, and one further tour venue.

The competition was judged from original prints by: Harry Borden, photographer; Rodney Dukes, Partner and Business Group Director, Taylor Wessing LLP; Jillian Edelstein, photographer; Lucy Davies, Photography Critic, The Telegraph, Picture Editor, Sunday Telegraph SEVEN Magazine, Editor Telephoto; Sandy Nairne, Director, National Portrait Gallery (Chair); Terence Pepper, Curator of Photographs, National Portrait Gallery

Sandy Nairne, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, says: ‘The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize has once again attracted some outstanding photographers from around the world. This is an exciting shortlist.’

Tim Eyles, Managing Partner of international law firm Taylor Wessing says: ‘As in previous years, the entries clearly demonstrate the depth of talent and artistic vision of today’s photographers at both the professional and amateur level.’

PUBLICATION
A fully illustrated book including photographs from this year’s exhibition features an essay by Lucy Davies, (Photography Critic, The Telegraph, Picture Editor, Sunday Telegraph SEVEN Magazine, Editor Telephoto), and interviews with the prize winners by Richard McClure. Price £15, 72 pages paperback. (Available from 11 November 2010)

Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2010
11 November 2010 – 20 February 2011
Porter Gallery
Admission £2
Supported by Taylor Wessing

National Portrait Gallery
St Martin’s Place
London WC2H 0HE

Opening hours Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday: 10am – 6pm (Gallery closure commences at 5.50pm)
Late Opening: Thursday, Friday: 10am – 9pm (Gallery closure commences at 8.50pm)
Nearest Underground: Leicester Square/Charing Cross
Recorded information: 020 7312 2463
General information: 020 7306 0055
Website: www.npg.org.uk

This summer, photographer Matt Humphrey has embarked on an ambitious innovative
photographic project to take 31 portraits in 31 days. The shoots took place over the
month of August around the capital at various locations. These images will be released
online gradually during October, culminating in an exhibition & silent auction of bespoke
signed and framed prints from 1 – 7 November at The Strand Gallery (former Proud Central).

31 Thirtyone Portrait Photography Exhibition, by Matt Humphrey

An all-star cast of actors and directors from the stage and screen have signed up to this
exciting project, including Kevin Spacey, Sam Mendes, Jeff Goldblum, Jeremy Irons, Sinead
Cusack, Michelle Ryan, Catherine Tate, Simon Russell Beale, Benedict Cumberbatch,
Sir Richard Eyre, Noel Clarke, and many others. The photos are natural, organic portraits in black & white, using no additional lighting.

The proceeds from all sales of the auction and limited edition online print sales will be donated
to this year’s nominated charity, Crohn’s & Colitis UK (NACC).

PRINT SALES

The bespoke framed prints available at the exhibition will be signed by both the sitter and
the photographer and will go on public, silent auction for the duration of the exhibition
week (1-7 November). The exhibition will take place at The Strand Gallery, 32 John Adam
St, WC2N 6BP, London.

In addition to these special prints, there will also be a limited numbered run of unframed
prints (31 of each sitter), that will be available to purchase only through the website at the
affordable price of £31.31 each.

This exciting project will open up the art-buying process to become more accessible to
both those who are able to view the exhibition as well as those who follow the project online.

INTERACTIVE PROJECT

The public will be able to follow the project online through the blog on the official website,
by joining the facebook group and by following feeds through twitter. There will also be a
gradual daily release of the photographs on the official website in the run-up to the exhibition
during the 31 days of October, to build up interest in the project.

LINKS

website: http://www.31thirtyone.com
twitter: http://twitter.com/31thirtyone
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=112414375474961

The Strand Gallery
32 John Adam St
London WC2N 6BP

Here’s a shot from a Lucha Libre! shoot I did with make-up artist Nohelia Reyes and model Deirdre.
If you mouse over the image, you’ll see the untouched, straight out of the camera, before image. No enhancements, no smoothing, nothing. Read on below the image…

I see a lot of ads in fashion magazines that have been retouched and airbrushed to within an inch of their lives, and then retouched some more, just to make sure. Sometimes, they don’t even look like photos any more. So much smoothing that you can barely make out the model’s facial features. But, you know, I get it, you’re high end, it’s what people expect. It’s just my opinion, but I prefer a more natural end result, someone who still looks like a person. It’s a fact of life that you do have to do post-processing work, smooth the skin, removes blemishes, etc. But you can still do all these things and keep it real.

The retouching in this shot was all done in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, and I think it’s done the job pretty well. The exposure was pretty much spot on in-camera, so that just needed a slight tweak to increase, then a general saturation and contrast boost, applying a shallow S-curve to the Tone Curve tool. I used the targeted adjustment tool on the skin to slightly increase the red/orange saturation levels, to boost the skin tone slightly.

Most of the heavy work was done using the Clone/Heal tool, and the adjustment brushes. I used the clone tool to remove blemishes from the skin (and dust spots from the background – curse my old dusty sensor!), to give the skin a smoother appearance. To finish that off, I applied an adjustment brush to her skin on the face and neck, and reduced the clarity, therefore smoothing out any tiny lines and shadows. But, there’s still some texture in the skin, and it looks natural.

Next up was an adjustment brush over her left eye (your right as you view the photo), just to lighten it a little. Then the same with her right eye, although that was a two stage job. First, I applied the brush to the iris, to lighten it and increase the saturation a little, making it appear a similar brightness to the other eye. Then another brush onto the white of the eye, to clean it up and add whiteness.

The final touch was a small lighting correction. The main light for this shot was coming from camera right (as you can tell by looking at the reflection in her eyes). I thought her skin looked a little hot nearest the light, just a bit too much brightness. So, I applied the gradient tool just to tone it down on her neck and the right side of her face.

I’m loving this video by LA band The Like, it really evokes the spirit of those 60s girl groups perfectly. Great performance by singer/guitarist Z Berg and her killer eyelashes, too!

The Like on myspace: www.myspace.com/thelike

Download The Like on iTunes:

The band are touring the UK during September, here’s where you can catch them.

1 Sep 2010, King Tuts, Glasgow
2 Sep 2010, The Cluny, Newcastle
3 Sep 2010, The Ruby Lounge, Manchester
4 Sep 2010, Plug, Sheffield
5 Sep 2010, Bodega, Nottingham
7 Sep 2010, Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff
8 Sep 2010, The Rainbow, Birmingham
9 Sep 2010, Start the Bus, Bristol
10 Sep 2010, Jericho Tavern, Oxford
11 Sep 2010, Audio, Brighton
13 Sep 2010, Haymakers, Cambridge
15 Sep 2010, ICA, London