CAPITAL INTEREST SEPTEMBER 2015 / VOLUME 1 / NUMBER 8 / WW.RPS.ORG
IMAGE © DAVE HARRIS LRPS
WELCOME EDITORIAL
Welcome to this month’s Capital Interest and, once more, we have lots of interesting features from the London Region. We have some stunning distinction panels, a guide to photographic courses in London as well as updates from some of the micro-groups and a new feature Dave’s Diary. This month, we’ve also updated and expanded our Facebook presence – all the links and details can be found on the back page. Finally, we are still looking for volunteers. We have a bumper programme lined up for 2016, but our existing volunteers are running out of bandwidth. We need more people to contribute blog posts and articles; we’re looing for admin help with the micro-groups and we’d love to hear from anyone who spends too much time on Twitter and Facebook. We’re also creating a volunteer pool for members who can help out on an occasional basis. Don’t forget, if you have anything worth sharing, do drop us a line via london-news@rps.org.
BOOKWORM CORNER
I’ve recently discovered the Hoxton Mini Press and their amazing range of books about East London. Hoxton Mini Press ( http://www.hoxtonminipress.com ) is a small independent publisher with an ethos that just reeks of top quality. I ordered the incredible volume one, entitled “I’ve lived in East London for 86½ years” and it arrived (free postage) beautifully wrapped in tissue paper and with a hand written note. The book is nothing short of arresting. The blurb on the website says: “Joseph Markovitch has left London only once to go to the seaside with his mother. He loves Nicolas Cage, has five sugars in his tea, would have married a six foot two Hispanic woman but in the end had bad chest catarrh and never had a girlfriend”. This is a heartwarming and poignant photographic story of a proud man who has lived his whole life in London. The pictures are touching, humorous and a sincere reminder that behind every person there is a real story, a real life with hopes, fears and disappointments. Accompanying each image is a short narrative which is a series of Joseph’s opinions and thoughts. This might be a slim volume of 80 pages, but it has left a huge impression on me and I can thoroughly recommend it.
CONTENTS LONDON, CINE BY MARK PERCIVAL LRPS
3
LONDON, INTERVIEW ONE - ANDRÉ DU PLESSIS FRPS
4-9
LONDON, INTERVIEW TWO - KEITH HOUGHTON LRPS
10-13
DISTINCTION - SIMON GLYNN ARPS (CREATIVE)
14-15
LONDON, STREET - NORMAN SMITH LRPS
16-17
LONDON, TOPICAL - LONDON, MEDIA BLOGGER
18-19
DAVES DIARY - DAVE HARRIS LRPS
20-21
LONDON, CINE CINE FROM SCRATCH By Mark Percival LRPS
John Tarby FRPS is giving his cine basics course on 14th, 21st and 28th September. John’s teaching style means you quickly get to try out techniques and receive rapid useful feedback. I took John’s course last year. Looking back, this is an accessible fast track to what is best practice. Best practice means what works cinematographically. Trying out techniques with John’s simple “point and film” cameras focuses on what and how to film and not on what button to press. Filming with DSLR couldn’t be simpler? Understanding the basic cine techniques first gets you to recognise when something isn’t right then, by implication, how to fix it. These basics apply whether you are filming on a £50,000 Arri Alexa or a mobile phone. The video output from any and all cameras has to be edited to make a story flow. John Tarby’s cine basics can start you on the road to making more of your video output editable and able usefully to contribute to the storyline. If you come to Pimlico on Monday evenings in September, expect to see folk out videoing. On Monday 14th they are likely to be a little tentative. By Monday 28th their efforts at likely to be assured and more adventurous. Just 5 minutes from Pimlico tube, St Saviours Church hall is a splendid base from which to womble for footage. The process ensures that everyone gets to review each exercise, projected on a screen, therefore logistically numbers must be limited. We will be posting a video blog during the 3 weeks but only to whet your appetite should another opportunity arise to rerun the course. London, Cine, our new London micro-group, is dedicated to making video that is well conceived, filmed, edited and the credit to London RPS. We welcome your ideas for future events. We are currently planning events into 2016. Email londoncine@rps.org to get email updates and/or to join in.
IMAGE © MARK PERCIVAL LRPS
LONDON, INTERVIEW ONE
ANDRÉ DU PLESSIS FRPS
RPS London member, André du Plessis FRPS, has recently been awarded The Society’s highly coveted Fellowship and, remarkably, he achieved this within a few months of receiving his Associateship.
ALL IMAGES © ANDRÉ DU PLESSIS FRPS
ANDRÉ DU PLESSIS FRPS AND HIS PHOTOGRAPHY By Adrian McCarthy
RPS London member, André du Plessis FRPS, has recently been awarded The Society’s highly coveted Fellowship and, remarkably, he achieved this within a few months of receiving his Associateship. As soon as I saw André’s monochrome environmental portraits (mainly taken in his country of birth, South Africa) I knew I wanted to interview him. We met in the London Society for Medicine where André is a member, so that prompted my first questions. André is a doctor and has worked in a number of countries, and as a ship surgeon. He now specialises as an anaesthetist and is a partner in a Harley street clinic. We began by discussing André ’s style of photography. I had read his statement of intent, and was intrigued as to how he gets his subjects in the African townships, most of whom he has never seen before, to co-operate with him. His approach, he said, is direct. He knocks on the door and asks whoever answers if he can take their photograph inside their house; he is rarely rebuffed he said, but there is surprise and curiosity as to why he would be doing it. Because of cultural differences and recent politics, he has to be careful not to be exploitative and he tries to produce pictures that will please his subjects as well as making the people feel like they are friends, which they often become.
Once inside he will quickly assess the lighting and try to position his subject or subjects to take advantage of the available light, while including as much of the environment as possible. André likes his pictures to tell a story and always works in landscape format with a wide angle zoom and tripod. He tries to include the surrounding area or features in the room, whether they be furniture, crumbling or poorly decorated walls and the acquisitions of life. Sometimes there will be things in the background that other photographers might remove or position the subject differently so they are not seen, “In most situations I do not do that” André said. “ I concentrate on how the light falls on the subject and that might be the only reason for moving the subject more usually I move the camera to a better position to take advantage of the light. The fact there are things in the background is an important part of the story. In post processing I will pull background things forward or hold them back to enhance the overall image, but I rarely remove anything, the main thing is to get separation of the subject from the background by means of contrast.” Sometimes André has the opportunity to photograph his subjects outside, in which case “I usually move them into the shade otherwise it can be very difficult in post processing to get detail in both highlights and shadows”.
ALL IMAGES © ANDRÉ DU PLESSIS FRPS
André developed his skills to see in monochrome, when younger, by walking around with a yellow filter, which developed his ability to see contrast. Nowadays he always photographs in colour and converts to monochrome in post processing. I ask what software he used for post processing. “I work on the colour image in Camera Raw and then make adjustments in Photoshop using levels. I spend many hours enhancing and adjusting sometimes very small areas, such as a nostril, to bring out the image”.
Printed on hard papers, his portraits achieve incredible skin tones and depth of contrast while maintaining detail in a wide tonal range. I was impressed particularly with some of his side-lit pictures of women and girls, in narrow face lighting, which show incredible skin textures. Having for many years done traditional film photography and printed his own pictures in the darkroom he feels he had a very good grounding in enhancing prints - a process he tries to replicate in Camera Raw and Photoshop now that he works exclusively with digital; and if you saw his prints you would see how successful he’s been at achieving this feel. Why had he decided to apply for The Society’s distinctions? “I wanted some recognition and a way for my work to be seen and criticised by experts. I was introduced to the RPS and they gave me a tremendous amount of support and advice enabling me to achieve these distinctions.” I then wanted to know whether there were any other photographers who had influenced him. André said that there had been several, but particularly Roger Ballen, and his book Dorps, and David Goldblatt. Asked what he was doing now, André replied: “I am working on a book for which I need more images from the townships and I’ll return there periodically to get them. I want to produce the book to show the people, and to help increase awareness of their plight and poverty. The real needs are to improve education and to provide business support and apprenticeships, but that all needs funding and organisation.” It is evident that André’s bedside manner puts his subjects at ease, but the main message I took away from my meeting with André, is the genuine compassion that he has for his subjects. And this really shines through in his images.
VIEW ANDRE’S FELLOWSHIP PANEL - HERE -
THE VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM HAS A COLLECTION OF DAVID GOLDBLATT’S PHOTOGRAPHS AND MAINTAINS A LIST OF PUBLICATIONS THAT INCLUDE HIS WORK. - CLICK HERE -
ALL IMAGES © ANDRÉ DU PLESSIS FRPS
LONDON, INTERVIEW KEITH HOUGHTON LRPS
TWO
RPS London recently enjoyed another society first, when Keith Houghton LRPS gained his Licentiateship with a panel of images entirely from the Instagram App. It just shows that you don’t need a DSLR and expensive editing software to produce a panel. Capital Interest caught up with Keith and asked him to share his experience with us. Capital Interest (CI): Before you became involved with the Bleeding London project, were you aware of the RPS? Keith Houghton (KH): I’d heard of it as I knew someone who was a member but had absolutely no idea what it involved. As an iPhone-only photographer, I had an image in my head that it would all be DSLR-wielding types and not the sort of organisation that would want anything to do with mobile photography. CI: As far as we know, you’re the first member to gain a distinction using Instagram images. Can you explain what Instagram is and how it works? KH: Instagram is a photo sharing app on iPhone and Android phones. I’ve been on Instagram since April 2011 when I followed a link on Twitter out of curiosity. I quickly became hooked! I found it fascinating that I could post a photo on the app and it could be seen by people all around the world within seconds. I also discovered a community that had been brought together by the app. Contrary to what you might see in the media, Instagram is not just teenagers posting selfies (though there is a lot of that about!) but some quite serious photographers use it. Through the social aspect of the Instagramers London community, which I co-organise, I’ve made some great friends and it was through one of them that I discovered Bleeding London and the RPS. CI: You take all your pictures on a phone - how do you deal with post processing and editing? KH: I do all my editing on my iPhone or iPad. All the images in my L panel are shot and edited on my iPhone. One of my favourite apps is Hipstamatic (the three black and white images in the panel are all taken using Hipstamatic) - this requires you to think before you take the picture as it applies various filters as you take the image. It also takes square pictures which is really handy when posting to Instagram! I’m currently beta testing the latest version of this which promises to be quite amazing when it is released in the autumn.
For general editing I use Snapseed or Enlight - they both have very useful tools to sharpen images and correct things like contrast etc. I also use Touch Retouch which is a godsend for removing offending objects from images and Big Lens which creates DSLR-like blur effects. I tend not to use the editing tools or filters within Instagram itself though on occasion they are useful if I think an image needs a little something else. With the exception of Hipstamatic presets, all my edits are generally manual. CI: Have you ever had a non-phone camera? KH: Prior to starting to take pictures with my iPhone, I only ever had very basic point and shoot film or more recently digital cameras. However, I now own no less than four retro film cameras - a Lomography Diana F+ and a Lubitel 2 (both medium format) and an Olympus Trip and Rolleimat AF (bothv35mm) and am starting to experiment with film, in addition to mobile photography. CI: Are there any limitations to phone photography? KH: Yes - I think you’d be hard-pressed with natural history photography with an iPhone as you simply can’t get close enough to the subject. Also night-time photography can be a bit of a challenge and it does feel really odd putting an iPhone on a big tripod! Some of the editing apps can reduce the image size which means that they don’t print very well but I have found that most of my images will print fine up to 8 inch square at 300dpi with no pixelation or loss of resolution. CI: Any tips for other phone users looking for a distinction? KH: You don’t need a big expensive DSLR to get a distinction. If you have a good eye you’re already a long way there. Make sure you read the requirements and attend an Advisory Day - I found that really helpful having someone else giving me an honest critique of my images. Likes on Instagram are all well and good but you do still need to meet the required standard. Go with your gut instinct. Strong images stand out and will get the attention of the assessors on the day. And don’t over-edit - this can make images really grainy or too small to print at a decent resolution. All images © Keith Houghton LRPS
DISTINCTIONS SIMON GLYNN ARPS (CREATIVE)
I have been exploring images at the edge of what people regard as photography – illustrated by a remark from a photographic printer recently who described one of my images as ‘half photograph and half… not.’ So I was pleased to discover the new Creative category, but still apprehensive about how the world’s oldest photographic society would react. Fortunately the first comment on the Assessment Day was a welcoming observation that it was rare to see something so new. The Advisory Day had also been really helpful – for the advice from Rikki O’Neil FRPS, helping me create the best overall panel by missing out a favourite picture or two; the opportunity to see, and hear the critique of, other work; and to feel the visceral reaction of the audience as work was displayed.
I was also concerned that my panel has a broader range of subjects than most, because its theme is more about the way of showing something, rather than what each picture is of. This seemed to be understood and appreciated, though, with the judges commenting on the way the same technique is used to show trees in the top row, buildings in the second, and more graphic lines in the third. STATEMENT OF INTENT My pictures use a blend of more than one perspective – occasionally even different views – to evoke the feel of a place rather than represent it literally. My aim is to create a single image in which textures, shapes and colours are heightened by partially abstracting them from their original forms.
ALL IMAGES © SIMON GLYNN ARPS
ALL IMAGES © SIMON GLYNN ARPS
LONDON, STREET HANGING ABOUT IN HACKNEY
Report of his latest London, Street walk by Norman Smith LRPS
“Do not get too awestruck by the graffiti and murals on their own. Nice as they are a photo of someone else’s artwo rk is … well a photo of someone el se’s artwork!”
I chose an area for today’s shoot that I have driven though on many occasions but only spent a little time exploring. Today would be different and despite the rather dull weather forecast around a dozen of us turned up to be rewarded with a fine day. There is a great deal of street art in this location with the collective artistic consciousness painting giant hares, faces and other curiosities on the shops and building sites with murals encouraged on many street corners. Regularly changing, they provide an intriguing backdrop to whatever street action we find and which allowed some of our number to compare the changing street scene with how it looked on the Bleeding London shoots. We started from Cambridge Heath station, using a handily placed coffee shop for a chat, but the more experienced members were keen to press on so we set off as quickly as possible with me bringing up the rear with any newcomers. My advice on the day was to not get too awestruck by the graffiti and murals on their own. Nice as they are a photo of someone else’s artwork is … well a photo of someone else’s artwork! So we discussed street photography with a view to how these fascinating facades might be incorporated to provide comment on the action in the street. We progressed along Hackney Road, full of specialist antique dealers, leather goods stores and picture framers, pausing outside the Hackney City Farm for advice and a bit confidence building. The remainder of Hackney Road was then walked without incident to meet at St. Leonards Church for the second meet up point. Things were really coming alive in the Shoreditch area which has been transformed in recent times and we couldn’t help but divert to the interesting side streets with even more murals, art establishments and bars, though it was a little early to partake of any refreshment! We found an artist keenly recording the street scene which caused much curiosity from passers-by. I wondered how long the ‘exposure‘ would be for his image! We walked the Shoreditch High Street, nearly to the Overground, so that we could pass back along Great Eastern Street for the classic Shoreditch street art on the way to Old Street Station and our sign off point. Amazingly most of us met up together at the Shoreditch Grind for lunch and compared experiences for a very enjoyable day, with, I think, a few new converts to street photography. Job done!
Supported by Olympus Cameras
Click here to see more images from our Flickr Group and click here for the latest Olympus Online Magazine ALL IMAGES © NORMAN SMITH LRPS
LONDON, TOPICAL IMPROVE YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY
The London, Media Blogger has been exploring photography courses in the capital. Photography is a never ending process - there is always something new to learn or improve and always new experiences to photograph. So if you are a Londoner or find yourself with a few hours to spare and anything from a few pound to a small fortune in your wallet, you might choose to take a photography course or workshop. Your intrepid blogger has spent some hard-earned cash on a few such courses over the last year and this is my roundup of some of the courses London has to offer. At this point I should say, of course, that none of these is endorsed by the RPS and no I didn’t get any freebies or discounts but if anyone wants to try a bribe then please feel free to get in touch.
At the more affordable end of the scale is http://www.36exp.co.uk who run some great workshops for under £40. I signed up for a nighttime portrait session (£25) and an architecture walk (£18) via www.meetup.com but you can also book via their website. Andrew is the pro-photographer leading the workshops and quite a laconic character - almost diffident, but good fun and very knowledgeable. The beauty of the workshops is that they are short, interactive, sociable and often in the evening and in very central locations - so great for after work and any type of camera will do.
London Photographic Workshop is run by Luca Monti a very italian Italian! His timekeeping is pretty Italian but he is simply a genius when it comes to lighting. I have been on several of his workshops - they start at around £50 and are aimed at photographers who know how to direct a model, decide what lighting they want and have an interest in a concept. The only downside for me is that there are quite a few fine art nude shoots - which is not for me, but there are also good fashion and portrait shoots too. He is based in Bethnal Green, close to the tube and it’s a real experience to work with him. I tend to book through meetup.com, although you can go via his website http://www.londonphotographicworkshop.com
Rossella Vanon http://www.rvanonworkshops.com/fashion-workshops.html also offers workshops for fashion photography and indoor studio lighting and she is an experienced and well published fashion photographer herself. I attended a portrait/fashion shoot in East London and it was fun and she had lots of ideas and I got some great images.
If you’re a reasonably competent portrait photographer, who is interested in an advanced course then the Portrait Masterclass from PCL http://www.photographycourselondon. com could be just the ticket. This is much less about lenses, f-stops and lights and much more about developing personal style and conveying emotion through portraiture. PCL is based in EC1 near Old Street and the day I attended was led by a pro photographer who spent time with us looking at seminal portrait photographers and we discussed and deconstructed images. There was a bit of hands-on but this course was a true masterclass and in that respect, unique as far as I can tell. Relatively expensive at around £170, it was a fantastic experience and there are plenty of other more traditional courses to choose from at PCL. The course admin was particularly good - with some great follow up that I hadn’t expected. My final suggestion is Going Digital (London & South East) run by Tish Hornsby who has limitless enthusiasm and energy for photography. I did 2 ‘courses’ here - one which was macro and close up in a tropical zoo in Hounslow (yes, I know, Hounslow!) which is not usually open to the public and the second in Chessington Zoo on a day when it was closed to the general public and the course of 8 students had the run of the place and all the animals. This is a slick operation, Tish is great and very knowledgeable. For me I enjoyed the social aspect and the opportunity to shoot in a very relaxed environment. Tuition is there if you want or need it, but Tish will also leave you to get on with it yourself, if you prefer. There are plenty of courses to choose from on their website ( http://www.goingdigital.co.uk )and a pretty active Facebook page too. It might seem like I am always going on courses, but as I am relatively short of time I find it a great way of getting ready-made opportunities without having to organise anything - I just pay and turn up. But I do usually know what shots I want and what I am setting out to achieve. I don’t necessarily go just for the learning. I like the variety and the company. I find that meetup.com is a great source of inspiration - there are streetwalks, courses, workshops and social groups from under £10 (and many are free) to over £200 - all in, and around London. Not to mention a rich source of courses and events on our very own RPS London web pages http://www.rps.org/regions-and-chapters/regions/london/events . Above all, when I pay for a course, I know it will only be as good as I make it. So I still think about it beforehand, plan my shots and make my own decisions on the day rather than expect to be led by the nose. Of course, it depends where you are on your photographic journey - wherever you are, I’d recommend a course or a workshop to help develop your photography and make contacts and above all, have some photographic fun.
ALL IMAGES © THE LONDON, MEDIA BLOGGER
Dave’s Diary Photo24 2015 - A Day to Remember Noon on Saturday.: We meet on the first floor of a swish hotel in London. Plush carpet, soft lighting, cup and saucer (mugs are always better). Welcome by the friendly Nikon staff and Will Cheung FRPS, of A dvanced Photographer and Photography News. Names taken, instructions passed out, all efficient as it should be. Hi Chaps. 200 of you are here today for a 24 hour photomarathon. Starts at noon on Saturday; snap away for 24 hours, through the night until noon on Sunday. No sleep. No breaks. Just joking. T he day is yours to do as you want. A photofest, shooting the best of the best capital in the world. A t your service. Both the Capital, me and the Nikon staff. Help is on hand if required. Only if required. T he light touch. It’s our 24 hours. We have six informal meetings throughout the 24 hours, points to give structure to the day. Safety is a key issue. Buddy-up over the small hours as reassurance. We spill out into Central London . Some in groups, some alone. No pressure. Our day. First challenge. T he Colour of Camden. A human hive of activity, everything (truly!) for sale. Creative colour shots required. Graffiti, clothes, signs, shop-fronts. Street photography at its best. Second challenge. Where’s the Shard? A Babel of steel and glass you either love or hate. I love it. T he challenge: Show and hide the shard at the same time. Creative mind spinning. Fingers snapping. In the bag? We’ll see (or maybe not!). T hird challenge by the river. Icons of London. Early evening light. Bridges, buses, buildings - ah! T hat’s definitely London. London Bridge; London Eye, London life. London’s brill. Go for it. Getting late now. Sun down. Some go off to hotels. Some go home. Some stay put. Buddy-up for the wee hours. Keep safe. Fourth challenge. T he City Asleep. Optional. A guided walk through the City. I’m up for it. London lit-up but so quiet. Windows and puddles give night reflections. Stations locked up. Maybe we should be?
Dave Harris LRPS was one of several RPS London members to take part in this year’s Nikon/ A dvanced Photographer ‘Photo24’.
Sunday: 2am. Back to Nikon HQ. Back for food, coffee, rest, review. Rest. But not for long. Fifth challenge. London Waking Up. Sunrise. Very flat today. No good pictures today. Lateral thought. Early morning walkers. Cleaners, bakers, shop-workers. Late night reveller crosses early morning jogger. Two people. Two ways. One London. Sixth challenge. Capture the Spirit. Columbia flower market. One of the most spectacular of London’s markets. Colour. Bustle. Noise (can you photograph noise?). Not much space in the narrow street. Wide-angle. Up. Down. Get that unusual angle. It’s coming up to Noon. 24 hours nearly passed. We head back to the hotel for a debriefing. Six challenges. A photographic treasure hunt. Nikon’s #DiscoverDifferent competition. So much to go for. Prizes galore. We have two weeks to enter our best images. Will and the folk at Nikon will choose the best. Not long to wait! Ding Dong. Noon. Tired. Happy. Photo24 2016 in the diary. T hanks chaps. Fantastic day.
r join ou o t e t on u’d lik If yo Dawn Shoo RE: ‘t il HE Dusk ign-up s , r e b o t 9th Oc
ALL IMAGES © DAVE HARRIS LRPS
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